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The New Tribe: compliance professionals By Henry J. Schumacher

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he Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s (ECI) Monitor Benchmarking Group recently released the latest best practices papers designed to provide ethics and compliance professionals insight on important topics. This new report indicates that the use of monitors, by public- and private-sector organizations, is on the rise as a preferred risk-assessment »continued on A2 tool.

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7% full-year growth still likely despite slow6.4start percent T I

On DBP as infrastructure bank

By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

he country’s economy is still poised to expand by 7 percent this year, on the back of higher government spending and more foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the second half, according to a local think tank.

First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and University of Asia and the Pacific’s (UA&P) Capital Markets Research said GDP growth in the first half would be higher, despite

the relatively weak performance of the economy in the first quarter. “The Philippine economy is expected to record a stronger growth in the first half and hit a 7-percent

The below-target GDP growth in January to March

[or higher] full-year growth, as robust investment spending continues and foreign direct investments perk up,” the report, titled “The Market Call”, read. The report noted that net FDI inflows in February stood at $366 million, higher by 7 percent over the same period last year. Higher inf lows in t he f irst two months of 2017 resulted in a

The Entrepreneur Manny B. Villar

nadequate road networks, ports and seaports, transport systems and other infrastructure facilities have often been cited as major obstacles to economic growth in the Philippines.

Although the country is now being hailed as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, it remains a laggard when it comes to infrastructure development.

Continued on A2

Continued on A10

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PHL oceans in trouble: Overfishing, pollution, climate change ail our seas BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BROADCAST DWIZ 882 AM launched on Monday its newest program, Pilipinas Ngayon Na, in a well-attended gathering at the station’s studio at the Citystate Centre Building on Shaw Boulevard, Pasig City. Former President and now Pampanga Second District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (seated, second from left) led prominent personalities who attended the event. The former president is photographed with, D. Edgard A. Cabangon (seated, from left), Aliw Broadcasting Corp. chairman; Dr. James Dy, president of Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center; and Marissa del Mar, Pilipinas Ngayon Na guest host. Standing, from left, are Sharon Tan; former Laguna Gov. E. R. Ejercito; Wilson Tieng of Solar Entertainment; Robert T. Rivera, program host; and Josephine Reyes, Aliw Broadcasting president. The program airs every Monday and Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. NONOY LACZA

ERRATUM

In the piece “Thousands of tourism firms have no DOT accreditation”, published on June 19, this paragraph should have read: Jimenez added the latest survey of the DOT’s Office of Tourism Standards and Regulation (OTSR) showed that “1,479 out of 2,995 travel and tour agencies (TTAs) and tourist transport operators (TTOs) were nonaccredited with the DOT, hence, making up the 49 percent of the whole population of operational TTAs and TTOs in the country. In 2016 alone the OTSR received a total of 59 complaints filed against tourism entities not accredited with the DOT, while nine complaints of the same nature were received by OTSR during the first quarter of 2017”. The story blurb should have also said: 1,479/The number of travel and tour agencies and tourist transport operators—out of 2,995—that have no Department of Tourism accreditation. We regret the error.

PESO exchange rates n US 49.8500

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

Part Two

ILFREDO Licuanan, a professor and fellow at the De La Salle University, said the world ’s oceans are suffering from three global threats: climate change, solid waste and sewage pollution and overfishing. These threats, he said, are experienced in the most remote areas and even in relatively pristine areas, like in the Philippines. “Philippine seas are unique, especially in terms of biodiversity, but suffer from the same threats,” Licuanan said. “The combined effects of these threats are actually enhanced locally because of our high human-population densities.” Another global trend is the destruction of mangrove forests. Also known as the “rainforest of the sea”, mangrove forests exist in tropical countries, including the Philippines.

This undated photo shows a fisherman in Sabang, Southern Leyte, preparing to alight from his makeshift boat. Oceana Philippines Vice President Gloria Estenzo-Ramos said two-thirds of the country’s fishing grounds are already overfished. NONIE REYES

Illegal wildlife trade

ASIDE from the degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems, the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines reported that large marine wildlife, despite laws to protect them, are being targeted

to the brink of extinction. Globally, deaths of large marine wildlife, such as whales, dolphins, marine turtles, sharks and rays, are attributed to pollution—mainly ingestion of plastics and other solid wastes dumped

into the ocean, habitat destruction and accidental bycatch. In the Philippines, however, deaths of large marine mammals are now also being attributed to illegal wildlife trade. Continued on A2

n japan 0.4496 n UK 63.6585 n HK 6.3907 n CHINA 7.3163 n singapore 36.0579 n australia 37.9608 n EU 55.8868 n SAUDI arabia 13.2923

Source: BSP (19 June 2017 )

A2 Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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PHL oceans in trouble: Overfishing, pollution, climate change ail our seas Continued from A1

Marine turtles are being killed for their meat and shell, while their eggs are being harvested. Sharks and rays are being targeted not only for food, but for their medicinal or pharmaceutical values. Other practices threatening ecological balance are observed in Oslob, Cebu, with whale sharks being fed to promote whale-watching as an “ecotourism” attraction. Advocacy organization Oceana Philippines said the country’s fishing grounds are overfished, very much like most of the world’s fishing grounds. Destructive fishing activities aggravate the sorry-state of Philippine seas, as commercial fishing continues to harvest fish in excess of the fish’s capacity to breed and replenish the ocean with fish stock.

Degraded mangroves

MANGROVES compose one of three habitat-forming species that are essential for the survival of fish and other marine species. According to the Department of Env ironment and Natura l Resources (DENR), of the world’s

more than 70 mangrove species, around 46 species are known to occur in various parts of the country. But over the last 50 years, mangrove forests in the Philippines have deteriorated significantly. The country now only has approximately 120,000 hectares of mangroves remaining. Mangrove reforestation efforts in the past few years have increased the country’s mangrove cover from 247,000 hectares in 2003 to 311,000 hectares in 2012. Despite such effort, the country remains unprotected from climate change’s worst impacts as demonstrated by the storm surge triggered by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in November 2013, which devastated coastal areas in Central Philippines. In response, the DENR launched a P1-billion project, dubbed “Mangrove and Beach Forest Development Project” in 2015, on top of its annual allocation for mangrove reforestation efforts under the National Greening Program (NGP) implemented between 2010 and 2016.

Climate-change effect

ASIDE from the environmental

degradation and unsustainable fishing practices, sea level rise and ocean temperature increase are starting to take its toll on coral reefs in the Philippines. In Honda Bay, Palawan, scientists have recently discovered that 90 percent of the corals in the area have suffered extensive damage because of coral bleaching. Coral bleaching have been reported to occur in other areas, as well. The government has yet to come up with its own assessment of the areas affected by coral bleaching. Scientists explain that coral bleaching occurs when corals experienced stressed caused by change in temperatures. When water temperature becomes warmer, corals expel algae living in their tissues, causing the coral to turn white. Another cause of death of corals is the extinction of reef fishes depriving the process of symbiosis to take place. Reef fishes feed on algae that cover corals, allowing it to “breathe” and survive. Without reef fishes, the health of corals suffer eventually leading to their demise. Globally, climate change is causing massive bleaching of

corals. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) warned that if current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, nearly all of the world ’s coral reefs will suffer severe bleaching every year. Coral bleaching was described by the UNEP as the gravest threat to one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems. The UN body’s report on coral bleaching was culled from a study that reviewed new climate-change projections to predict which corals will be affected first and at what rate. It says that “on average, the reefs will start to undergo annual bleaching starting in 2043”. “Without the required minimum of five years to regenerate, the annual occurrences will have a deadly effect on the corals and disrupt the ecosystems which they support,” it added.

Declining fish production

THE Philippines is one of the top fish producers in the world. However, annual fish production continues to experience slight but steady decline in the past few years. On account of “unfavorable weather”, fishery production last

The New Tribe: compliance professionals Continued from A1

T h i s g u id e , aut hore d b y leading consultants and chief ethics and compliance officers from a variety of industries, includes information related to selecting a monitor, contracting for monitoring services and completing a monitoring engagement. Simply stated, the report is a practical guide into working with voluntary or in-house monitors. The report provides valuable tips for managing the monitoring engagement in a way that establishes and sustains trust between parties, maximizing value and addressing issues related to the monitorship. In their findings, the authors recognize that a weak ethical culture can undermine even the most sophisticated system and that culture-based assessment from monitors can help provide a means for addressing risk not

considered by traditional ERM or auditing techniques. By hiring a monitor, a company can help ensure the effectiveness of its compliance risk-management efforts and help enhance an organization’s overall ethical culture. Hiring one on a part-time basis may be more cost-effective than employing one on a full-time basis. In what areas are compliance professionals needed? Accounting/tax policy ■ HR—labor law compliance ■ Data privacy/data integrity technical department/manufacturing—Quality management/ product safety ■ Sales/marketing/purchasing/logistics—Ethics throughout the business process/no bribing of private and public sectors—Supplychain management Just to highlight the need for the new tribe, let’s look at the new rules imposed by the National

Privacy Commission (NPC) on the private sector: The NPC issued NPC Advisory 2017-01 to guide personal information controllers and any natural or judicial person or other body engaged in the processing of personal data, in their designation of data-protection officers or compliance officers. Under the advisory, the data-protection officer (DPO), who must me independent in the performance of his or her functions, shall be accountable for ensuring compliance by personal data controllers or processors with privacy and data-protection laws and regulations. Where a private entity has branches, suboffices, or any other component units, it may appoint a compliance officer for privacy (COP) for each component unit. And here comes the catch: the advisory also emphasizes that the DPO and the COP must be a

full-time or organic employee and should ideally be holding a regular or permanent position. Furthermore, while the functions of a DPO or COP may be outsourced or subcontracted, to the extent possible, the DPO or COP must oversee the performance of his or her functions by the third-party service provider or providers. I feel that more training and interaction with the NPC are necessary to find solutions that are not overburdening, especially smaller companies. In general, I believe that the tribe called compliance officers with a wide area of responsibilities is needed in organizations. The functions should cover the areas I listed above. In the Integrity Initiative we are discussing these issues at the moment and will have to link up with organizations like…to find acceptable solutions, including the training of the new “tribal” people.

year went down by 6.34 percent, from 4.69 million metric ton (MMT) in 2015 to just 4.35 MMT in 2016. El Niño, which caused warmer ocean temperature, was seen as the reason behind the drop in fish production. It is also seen as the reason behind the high mortality rate of fish in the aquaculture sector. T he “Fisher ies Sit u at ion 2016” released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicate that all fisheries subsectors posted production decline. Commercial fishing dropped by 6.35 percent, municipal fisheries slid by 6.47 percent and aquaculture dropped by 6.27 percent, the report said. Commercial fisheries recorded a total volume output of 1.05 MMT, compared to the 1.084 MMT posted in 2015. Commercial fisheries accounted for 23.33 percent of the sector’s total production. Municipal fisheries production recorded an output of 1.4 MMT in 2016, down from 1.22 MMT in 2015. The subsector accounts for 26.13 percent of total output. Fish caught in inland municipal fishing grounds declined by 21.37 percent, from 204,733 MT record-

ed in 2015 to 160,989 MT in 2016. Meanwhile, the fish caught in aquaculture farms, which accounted for more than half of the country’s total production last year, dropped by 6.27 percent to 2.2 MMT, from 2.35 MMT in 2015.

Overfishing woes

OVERFISHING is seen as a serious threat to sustainable fishery production. Oceana Philippines Vice President Gloria Estenzo-Ramos said the country’s ocean badly needs resuscitation and healing from humanity’s over exploitation of its marine resources. According to Ramos, two-thirds of the country’s fishing grounds are already overfished. She added that the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) needs to come up with more accurate data so that scientists can come up with an accurate assessment, as well as possible solutions to overfishing and other threats to the country’s coastal and marine areas. From time to time, the BFAR has been declaring “fishing ban” in certain areas to allow fish stocks to recover. To be continued

7% full-year growth still likely despite slow start Continued from A1

$1.1-billion take, marking an 11-percent gain from a year-ago levels. This outlook is further propped up by continuous capital goods importation and manufacturing surge on the production side. “Capital goods imports should resume its elevated growth path starting the second quarter, while the manufacturing sector maintains its pace of double-digit gains,” the report read. “The two, underpinned by FDI and heavier infrastructure spending, should keep the shine on the country’s investment-led growth,” it added. With capital goods imports i nc rea si ng by 25 percent i n March and industrial production

Islamic State. . .

Muslim region around Marawi could make the area a terror hub, as in the 1990s. Then, the Philippines was a base of operations for al-Qaeda leaders like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Yousef, who plotted in 1994 to 1995 to blow up airliners over the Pacific. The plot was foiled. But the same men were instrumental in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Other nations share the fear. Singapore recently warned of IS exerting a radicalizing influence “well beyond” what al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah ever mustered. Jemaah Islamiyah carried out major terror attacks around the region in the 2000s. IS already has been linked to attacks in Indonesia and Malaysia, and foiled plots in Singapore, this past year. This month Mattis told the region’s defense chiefs that “together we must act now to prevent this threat from growing”. In Congress this past week, he stressed intelligence sharing and nations, like Singapore, sharing the burden, rather than deploying US troops. More than 500 US special forces were based in the Mindanao region from 2002 to 2014, advising and training Filipino forces against the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for bombings and kidnappings. When it ended, Philippine and US officials voiced concern the US withdrawal “could lead to a resurgence of a renewed terrorist threat,” the RAND Corp. later reported. Months before the withdrawal,

expanding in double digits in the same month, expectations are high public construction can again gain double-digit growth starting this second quarter. Even with GDP growth in the first quarter falling below the government target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent due to the antimining initiatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the think tank said the economy will perform better in the second half. In the first quarter of the year, the economy grew by 6.4 percent due to the perceived recalibration of government programs and the “changing of the guards”, according to National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.

Continued from A12

Abu Sayyaf pledged support to IS. Supporting the Philippines isn’t straightforward in Washington. President Duterte is accused of overlooking and even condoning indiscriminate killings by his forces in a war on drugs. Thousands have died. But that campaign has involved mainly police and antinarcotic forces, not the military leading the anti-IS fight. St i l l , t he Ph i l ip pi ne government is partly to blame for Marawi’s violence, said Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asia expert at the National War College. He said the root cause was the government’s failure to fulfill a 2014 peace agreement with the nation’s largest Muslim insurgency, which fueled recruitment for ISinspired groups. Ernst, who chairs a Senate panel on emerging threats, wants the US military to restart a higherprofile, “named operation” helping the Philippines counter IS. The Pentagon retains between 50 and 100 special forces in the region. At the request of the Philippine military, it has deployed a P3 Orion plane to surveil Marawi. It gave more than 600 assault firearms to Filipino counterterrorism forces last week. Duterte has retreated from threats to expel US forces from the Philippines as he seeks better ties with China. He said recently he hadn’t sought more US help, but was thankful for what he was getting. “They’re there to save lives,” Duterte said. AP

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Consumer groups assail ‘irresponsible, inaccurate’ statements on e-cigarettes

OCAL consumer groups on Monday denounced as “irresponsible and grossly inaccurate” the recent statements of a Department of Health official who said electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or “vapes”) contain the same chemicals used in cigarettes and can lead to more serious addiction to tobacco. “It is both alarming and disappointing to hear an experienced physician and the highest health official of the land issue statements that directly contradict scientific evidence showing e-cigarettes are overwhelmingly less harmful than conventional cigarettes and can help smokers quit,” said Tom Pinlac, president of The Vapers Philippines. “Instead of adding to the fear mongering, inaccurate information and propaganda on e-cigarettes, Health Secretary Paulyn B. RosellUbial should read the numerous independent studies supported by reputable organizations and published in respected scientific journals that show e-cigarettes are a less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes and are viable smoking cessation aids,” said Joey Dulay, president of the Philippine E-Cigarette Industry Association (Pecia). Speaking before students of Felipe G. Calderon High School in Tondo, Manila, on June 14, as part of the country’s observance of June as “National No Smoking Month”, Ubial said, “We released an advisory from the Food and Drug Administration that the products and components used in vape are still tobacco. So it still contains the 7,000 dangerous chemicals that are found in cigarettes.” Ubial said groups promoting ecigarettes are trying to mislead the public by marketing these as safe alternatives to cigarette smoking.

“They say that [e-cigarettes] are a safer alternative but we in the health sector say there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. So even if it has a small amount of tobacco, it is still not safe.” According to Pinlac, Ubial blindly follows the World Health Organization’s (WHO) opposition to tobacco harm reduction without even considering the growing body of evidence supporting e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes. “The WHO believes that the only way to reduce smoking is for smokers to ‘quit or die’, and is, therefore, highly skeptical of the potential for new technologies, such as e-cigarettes, to reduce smoking-related harms. Secretary Ubial has swallowed the WHO’s misguided position hook, line and sinker.” E-cigarettes are around 95 percent less harmful than tobacco, an expert independent evidence review by Public Health England published in August 2015 concluded that e-cigarettes are around 95 percent less harmful than smoking and that e-cigarettes may be contributing to falling smoking rates among adults and young people in the UK. The Public Health England review found that almost all of the 2.6 million adults using e-cigarettes in Great Britain are current or ex-smokers, most of whom are using the devices to help them quit smoking or to prevent them going back to cigarettes. It also provides reassurance that very few adults and young people who have never smoked are becoming regular e-cigarette users (less than 1 percent in each group). Public Health England is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the UK Department of Health. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

CA justices stand pat on ‘Ilocos 6’ ruling By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE appellate court justices who ordered the release of six Ilocos Norte officials being detained by the House of Representatives for contempt on Monday stood pat on their decision, despite threats to have them disbarred. Associate Justice Stephen Cruz, one of the three members of the Court of Appeals (CA) Fourth Division handling the case, insisted that the division’s issuance of the writ of habeas corpus in favor of the six Ilocos Norte officials was part of its duty. “We found that the writ should be issued. Again, if we falter because of some threats, that will show our weakness as magistrates. And as I have said, let justice be done though the heavens fall. If we are wrong, they could always go up to the Supreme Court,” Cruz said. Cruz defended the appellate court’s decisions to issue a writ of habeas corpus and a show cause order against the sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives, retired Lt. Gen. Roland Detabali, during his interview by the members of the Judicial and Bar Council for his application to a vacancy in the Supreme Court to be left by the retirement of Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes next month. When asked about the possible filing of disbarment cases against them by the House leadership, Cruz said he would welcome such action as an opportunity to ferret out the truth. Cruz explained that they issued the writ “to determine really if the detention was legal”. “We want the bodies to be presented to the court and the person who is detaining them, and determine whether it is legal. Because if it is legal, we will dismiss the petition,” he said.

As for the release order, he replied: “That was pursuant to a case, Enrile v Salazar wherein persons subject of writ of habeas corpus, while the merits are being determined, can be released on bail.” Cruz also dismissed insinuations that their order violated the principle of separation of powers. “Under the principles of checks and balance, the courts can inquire like in a habeas corpus case, inquire whether the detained person is being detained legally because if the detention is legal, we will dismiss the petition for being unmeritorious,” Cruz explained. The other two members of the CA division are Associate Justices Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonino-Valenzuela. The habeas corpus case involves the petition of Pedro Agcaoili, Provincial Planning and Development Office chairman; Josephine Calajate, provincial treasurer; Eden Battulayan, Encarnacion Gaor and Genedine Jambaro, employees at the Provincial Treasurer’s Office; and Evangeline Tabulog, provincial budget officer. They have been detained since May 29 after being cited in contempt by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability during its investigation into the alleged misuse of P66.45 million in tobacco funds to buy motor vehicles. The CA has ordered Detabali to present the six petitioners, but the House rejected the service of the writ three times. The CA also issued a show cause order requiring Detabali to explain why he should not be cited in contempt for the defying the order and twice rejecting the service of the CA ruling. House officials refused to accept the orders and reportedly insisted that they were invalid because the appellate court has no jurisdiction over the matter.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, June 20, 2017 A3

Military starts mustering reserve personnel, units in Metro Manila

O determine if its pool of trained manpower is up to par, the Armed Forces has started mustering all its reserve units in Metro Manila.

“As our operations against terrorist groups and other lawless elements continue to intensify, our reservists must remain steadfast, dependable and ready to be deployed any time,” the Armed Forces Public Affairs Office chief, Col. Edgard Arevalo, said in a statement on Monday.

Mustering started last Saturday and it was spearheaded by the Armed Forces’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Reservists and Retiree Affairs (J-9). Initially, 112 officers and 555 enlisted personnel in National Capital Region reported in the

mustering process. Arevalo said these figures are expected to increase once mustering goes into high gear. Mustering will determine the present status of the operational readiness and the responsiveness of the reserve force. “Our reservists are not only force multipliers, but also our partners in various nonlethal military operations and activities that contribute to nation-building and national wellbeing,” he added. Armed Forces data indicate that for the first quarter of 2017, there are a total 386,116 Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine reservists all over the country, among them former Vice

President Jejomar C. Binay, who is a Marines reserve colonel, and former Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III, who is an Army reserve colonel. The Armed Forces Reserve Force conducts regular assemblies to physically account, inspect, organize and update the individual records of each reservist and ready-reserve unit Arevalo said the simultaneous assembly is in compliance with Section 49 of Republic Act 7077, which states that: All reservists, particularly those belonging to the ready and standby reserves, shall be accounted for, their records and status updated and present whereabouts ascertained in order to ensure their readiness to the call to duty. PNA

Anticorruption advocate warns of glitches in e-passports By Recto L. Mercene @rectomercene

AIR FORCE personnel load relief goods bound for war-torn Marawi City in a C-295 medium cargo plane at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. The C-295 is a medium-lift transport plane manufactured by supplied by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company-Construcciones Aeronáuticas Sociedad Anonima of Spain. The company is a subsidiary of the Airbus Group. NONIE REYES

Marawi City Jail escapee surrenders to BJMP chief

N escapee from the Marawi City Jail surrendered to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) chief, Director Serafin Barretto Jr., on Monday. Marawi City Jail Inmate Mohaderin Banding Acampong, who is charged with murder, was among the 107 inmates freed by Maute bandits from the Marawi City Jail and Malabang District Jail on Lanao del Sur. “Acampong, who stayed in Novaliches, Quezon City, for weeks, is now in our custody. We are happy that he chose to surrender,” Barretto said. “We are here to ensure his safety back into the fold of the law. We know that, like him, there are other escapees who are still waiting for the

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right chance but I can assure them, they will be safer with us,” he added. Barretto credited the effective implementation of the inmate’s welfare and development at the Marawi City Jail. It encouraged inmate Acampong to surrender, especially the religious activities being conducted in the jail. “I understand that it will be a tough decision on their part to leave their family again but I assure them of a significant deduction on their possible sentence through the immediate granting of good conduct time allowance or with other incentives provided by law,” Barretto said. Out of the 107 escapees, seven inmates have already surrendered to the BJMP.

Meanwhile, all personnel in Marawi City and Malabang jails were deployed to different assignments in Iligan City and General Santos City to augment personnel on duty while government forces are exerting efforts to restore peace and order in the city. In his speech during the traditional Monday flag-raising ceremony, Barretto urged other inmates, who were freed, especially their families, to coordinate with the BJMP should they need further assistance on their plan to surrender. The BJMP chief also ordered all regional directors in Mindanao to remain vigilant and to ensure the safety of all inmates and personnel under their care. PNA

Administrator General Reynaldo Velasco (fifth from left) of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) raises seedlings to be planted at the kick-off celebration of the Annual Million Tree Challenge. With him are (from left) Joel Yu, MWSS Regulatory Office chief; Joel Palma, president of World Wide Fund for Nature; Geodino Carpio, CEO of Manila Water Co. Inc.; Roel Espiritu, head of Quality, Environment, Safety and Health of Maynilad Water Services Inc.; Lourdes Wagan, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Metro Manila; Norie Garcia, director for partnership and advocacy of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya; and Anette de Ocampo of Maynilad.

HE head of a non-governmental organization on Monday warned that serious flaws in future batches of Philippine e-passports will cause overseas workers and other Filipino travelers to be barred from entering their countries of destination. “Thousands of migrant Filipino workers and other travelers are unwittingly headed to purgatory on Earth. They may be barred from entering countries of destination and held indefinitely or deported immediately due to serious flaws in the passports produced for the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] by APO [Asian Productivity Organization]UGEC,” anti-corruption advocate Argee Guevarra said at a regular media forum in a hotel in Manila. APO Production Unit Inc. is a government-owned and -controlled corporation under t he t hen-P resident i a l Communications Operations Of f ice (PCOO), headed by Secretary Herminio Coloma during President Benigno S. Aquino’s watch. Guevarra, a lawyer, claimed that his informants have given him proof that important security features of future batches of Philippine e-passports produced will not stand up to scrutiny and may cause them to be flagged as “fake”. “Our e-passports are official documents with security features much like our c u r renc y a nd t a x st a mps. Any alteration in the design a nd mater ia ls t hat ma kes the new batch of Philippine e-passports different from previous batches may lead to the former being mistaken as fake.” Guevarra said. He revealed his informants showed that UGEC, the private corporation used by the APO, acted on its own and begun switching suppliers for a number of materials used in passport production. T he unique for mu lation and design of these materials are security features in themselves, much like the paper and ink used for Philippine currency. Any decision or move to change these materials or their suppliers must be approved by the DFA and the APO Production Unit, he said.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, June 20, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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NREB approves Green Energy Option and RE Trust Fund Rules T

Bill seeks interest condonation of farmers, fishermen’s loans

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) has approved the rules on Green Energy Option and Renewable Energy (RE) Trust Fund.

“NREB has finalized and approved the Green Energy Option Rules and RE Trust Fund Rules. With this, we will endorse the same to [the] DOE [Department of Energy] for approval,” NREB Chairman Jose Layug Jr. said in a text message. The Green Energy Option is a mechanism to provide end-users the option to choose RE as their source of energy. The DOE, in consultation with the NREB, will establish the program and formulate the implementing rules and regulations (IRR). The Energy Regulatory Commission, on the other hand, will issue the necessary regulatory framework following the objectives of the program. Moreover, parties, such as the National Transmission Corp., its concessionaire, distribution utilities (DU) and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. are mandated to provide the mechanisms for the physical connection and commercial arrangements in support of the program.

3 to 5 months The estimated processing period of the Green Energy Option and Renewable Energy Trust Fund Rules following NREB endorsement to the DOE, according to Layug Meanwhile, for end-users who will enroll under the program, the IRR states that they will be provided with information through their monthly electric bill on how much of their energy consumption and generation charge is provided by RE facilities. The Green Energy Option and the RE Trust Fund are among the priorities that the board is pursuing to fully realize the benefits of Republic Act (RA) 9513, or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008. Under the law, the said fund shall be

sourced from proceeds from the emission fees collected from all generating facilities consistent with RA 8749, or the Philippine Clean Air Act. Other sources include 1.5 percent of the net annual income of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office; 1.5 percent of the net annual income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.; 1.5 percent of the net annual dividends remitted to the National Treasury of the Philippine National Oil Co. and its subsidiaries; and 1.5 percent of the proceeds of the government share collected from the development and use of indigenous non-RE resources, among others. The creation of the RE Trust Fund Rules is meant to enhance the development and greater utilization of RE. It shall be administered by the DOE as a special account in any of the government financial institutions that shall be exclusively used to finance the research, development, demonstration and promotion of the widespread and productive use of RE systems for power and nonpower applications. The fund shall also support the development and operation of new RE resources to improve their competitiveness in the market. Layug said an endorsement from the DOE for these two programs could be processed within three to five months. “The DOE will issue a

circular on the rules. Usually, it’s just a yes or no after we have approved it,” he added. The two programs, Layug said, could be implemented this year. “It is the target that these are up for implementation within the year.” Layug also added that NREB is currently working on the rules on renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which requires DU to source a portion of their power supply from eligible RE sources. RPS is intended to contribute to the growth of RE industry. If implemented, this will help the agency attain its goal of maintaining the RE share in the national energy mix to at least 35 percent by 2030. The scope of proposed RPS rules include the following: types of RE sources; yearly minimum RPS requirement; annual minimum incremental percentage of electricity sold by each mandated participant, which is required to be sourced from eligible RE resources and which shall, in no case, be less than 1 percent of its annual energy demand over the next 10 years; and means of compliance by the mandated participant set by the government to meet the RPS requirements. The following entities would be mandated to participate in the program: DUs, licensed retail electricity supplier, directly connected customers (DCCs), supplier of last resort, entities authorized as distributors within the economic zones and generating companies only to the extent of their actual supply to their DCCs. A composite team will determine the minimum annual RPS requirement per mandated participant. The members of the said team will be composed of representatives from the NREB, Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, Renewable Energy Management Bureau, Legal Services and Energy Policy and Planning Bureau. Meanwhile, the minimum annual increment in the RPS level shall be initially set at 2.15 percent to be applied to the actual total supply portfolio of the mandated participant in each grid for the previous year, the draft circular stated. RE sources include biomass, wasteto-energy technology, wind, solar, run-of-river, impounding hydropower sources that meet internationally accepted standards, ocean, hybrid systems, geothermal and other RE technologies that may be later identified by the DOE.

he House of Representatives has endorsed for Senate approval a measure seeking to condone the unpaid loan interests secured by farmers, fishermen and agrarian-reform beneficiaries. Party-list Reps. Anthony Bravo and Sabiniano Canama of CoopNatcco, principal authors of the House Bill 187, said the proposed Agrarian and Agricultural Loan Restructuring and Condonation Act aims to provide farmers, fishermen and agrarian-reform beneficiaries the opportunity to regain access to government and commercial credit facilities through the condonation of unpaid interests, penalties and surcharges on their existing loans obtained through government lending programs. The lawmakers said such loans were secured by the said beneficiaries from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), People’s Credit and Finance Corp. (PCFC), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), National Food Authority (NFA) and Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor). According to the lawmakers, far mers and ag rar ian-refor m beneficiaries are not only entrepreneurs but are also partners in the evolution of a “ better and brighter country. It is, therefore, imperative upon use to take an overwhelming care and attention by condoning these interests that burdened the debt,” they said. It added the new scheme is expected to free the farmers, fishermen and agrarian-reform beneficiaries from the “ bondage of debt” through the condonation of unpaid interests, penalties and surcharges of their existing loans. The bill also provides that, in order to provide safeguards and prevent abuse, the proposed condonation shall be granted only on the following conditions: It is limited to force majeure, which the measure defines as “events whether natural or political, beyond the reasonable control of a loan borrower, which have a material adverse effect on the ability of the borrower to pay an obligation,” or to market aberration and shall, in no case, be applied for the willful default of the borrower to pay such loans; The accumulated payments of not less than 5 percent of the

loan principal shall have been paid at the time of application for condonation; To encourage borrowing dis cipline and enhance creditworthiness, a graduation process shall be followed in consonance with the plan of payment such that a borrower shall be granted a onetime condonation only; and The condonation of unpaid interests, penalties and surcharges from loans acquired through conduit banks and financial institutions and the agencies mentioned above shall be in conformity with the applicable general banking laws and regulations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The bill said, upon approval of the condonation, the borrowers’ financial capacity will determine the payment period for the restructured loan, and payments will be remitted to the Bureau of Treasury (BOTr) under the agrarian-fund. Meanwhile, the condonation program covers the agricultural and agrarian-reform credit secured through the Credit Assistance Program-Program Beneficiaries Development of the DAR; agricultural and agrarian-reform credit secured through the terminated credit program schemes of the DAR, such as the Dutch Rural Development Assistance Program, DAR Direct Lending Financing Program, DAR Special Projects Office Direct and the SPO Window III Financing Program for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries of the DAR and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). It also covers resettlement Loan Assistance Program of the DAR for individual agrarian-reform beneficiaries and agricultural credit secured through the High Yield Crop Loan Assistance Program of the DA. Agricultural credit secured through Microfinance Program for Small Farmers and Fisherfolk and the Household of the PCFC; Cooperative Development Loan Fund of the CDA; Farmers Level Grain Center of the NFA; Comprehensive Agrarian Reform ProgramBarangay Marketing Center; and all agri-credit guarantee programs of Quedancor have been also included under the program. The bill said the DA, CDA, PCFC, the Agriculture Credit Policy Council and the BSP shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations within 60 days from the effectivity of the act. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

DOH, NKTI spearhead drive to lower renal-disease count

he Department of Health (DOH) has raised the alarm over the rising incidence of renal diseases that had steadily gone up in the Filipino population. Data from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry showed that in 2015 there were 18,603 new patients that started dialysis nationwide. By December 2015 there were 32,077 patients on dialysis. Kidney disease often cannot be cured, but can be prevented. To create awareness, the DOH, together with the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), commemorate the month of June, as the National Kidney Month by virtue of Proclamation 184 Series 1993. The monthlong campaign stresses on the importance of kidney care in order to prevent renal diseases, which may lead to kidney failure. In line with this, the coalition Regalo Organ Donation Advocacy, spearheaded by Maria Corazon Torres Y. Javier Foundation, the Kidney Foundation of the Phil-

ippines, Kidney Transplant Association of the Philippines and Novartis Healthcare Philippines are raising awareness on organ donation, with the hope of encouraging men and women to give, care and share, which is to give themselves through organ donation; care enough to sign up and become a willing organ donor; and to share what they have done with their family and friends. On June 22 Regalo will launch the Tagalog version of the Handbook of Organ and Donor Recipient; the Presentation of the Regalo Organ Donation Commemorative Print Ad; and the testimonial of kidney-transplant recipient Gabrielle Anne Gabaton, among others. Dr. Romina A. Danguilan, organizing committee head of Regalo, said there are not enough kidney donations, and that there are nearly 40,000 people who are currently undergoing dialysis. Danguilan, a topnotch NKTI nephrologist and kidney-trans-

plant specialist, noted that individual lifestyle is the primary cause of kidney failure. Regalo Organ Donation Advocacy has partnered with the NKTI, the leading government tertiary renal referral center that prioritizes kidney transplantation as the best form of renal-replacement therapy, since patients become fully rehabilitated enjoy the highest quality of life and the highest survival. The DOH said renal diseases, which affect all age groups, are now the ninth leading cause of death in the country and emphasized that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”. Early detection and prevention of kidney failure is vital, and the need to ensure that acute cases are avoided, if possible, as the progression to chronic kidney-disease prevention and early management. Kidneys have the vital functions to perform, like filtering 200 liters of blood a day and removing 2 liters of toxins and wastes, among others. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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Macron, allies win big in France

Local people observe prayers at Finsbury Park where a vehicle struck pedestrians in London on June 19, leaving several casualties, one killed and one person arrested. Yui Mok/PA via AP

Vehicle hits pedestrians near London mosque, killing one

ONDON—A van drove into a group of pedestrians early on Monday near a mosque in London, killing one person and wounding 10 in what the mayor called a “horrific terrorist attack” that struck Muslims as they finished prayers. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the case was being investigated as a possible terrorist attack. The driver of the van, a 48-year-old man, was arrested after bystanders kept him from fleeing, the police said in a statement. One man was pronounced dead at the scene. Eight pedestrians were taken to three separate hospitals, and two were treated at the scene for minor injuries, the police said. The mayor, Sadiq K han, acknowledged that the situation w a s st i l l u n fold i n g , a nd he urged Londoners to remain calm and vigilant. “While this appears to be an attack on a particular community,” he said, “like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge, it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.” The British prime minister, T heresa May, said she would lead an emergency meeting later on Monday about the case. May said the police are investigating a “potential terrorist attack ”. “All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and the emergency services on the scene,” she said. The police had been summoned to Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, a neighborhood that is home to many immigrants, at 12:20 a.m., officials said. Witnesses there, and numerous accounts on social media, said the pedestrians were hit outside the Finsbury Park Mosque or the nearby Muslim Welfare House, a community center. “We have been informed that a van has run over worshippers as

10 The number of persons wounded near a mosque in London

they left #FinsburyPark Mosque,” the Muslim Council of Britain said on Twitter. “Our prayers are with the victims.” A Twitter post on the account of Muslim Engagement and Development, a nonprofit organization that fights Islamophobia and encourages British Muslims to get more involved in the media and politics, said, “Our prayers and thoughts with those injured outside Muslim Welfare House in Seven Sisters road hit by a van mounting pavement.” One witness, Mahroof Mohammed, said he was having his evening tea at a Somalian restaurant on Seven Sisters Road when he heard people running. He went outside and saw several injured people. “There were seven or eight. Three of them were bleeding badly,” he said. “They were all leaving the mosque when they got hit.” Mohammed sa id most of the victims he saw were men, but that he also saw one older woman wounded.

A second witness, who gave his name as Ali and did not want his surname published, said he came out of his house after hearing a loud noise and saw two men, including one in a wheelchair, on the ground, along with a woman whose lips were bleeding. “Then there was a guy underneath the van,” Ali said. “We pulled the van, and the guy underneath it was bleeding, but he could speak. He was bleeding from his head.” Ali said the driver seemed to intentionally strike the pedestrians. “I think it was deliberate because the guy accelerated when he turned left on a dead-end road,” he said. Boubou Sougou, 23, was leaving a gym at the intersection of Seven Sisters and Isledon Roads when he saw people bleeding in a parking lot near Finsbury Park Mosque, he said. “There were around five people that were injured; one old man was severely injured,” he said. “His family had gathered around him, trying to resuscitate him.” On social media, witnesses said they believed that the victims had been performing Tarawih, the evening prayers performed by Sunni Muslims at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan. The police arrived about 15 to 20 minutes after the episode, Mohammed said, adding that bystanders held the driver until the police arrived. “It was three local men that were holding the man from the van until the police came and put him inside the van,” he said. Sougou added, “I saw the attacker attempting to run away, but people from the mosque held him back.” “Some of them wanted to beat him up, but were stopped by the ones that were holding him until the police came,” he said. The police said the driver was taken to a hospital as a precaution and would be subject to a mentalhealth review. Mohammed said the man held was white, had heavily tattooed arms and was not speaking. The Finsbur y Park Mosque opened in 1994 and became a hotbed of Islamist militants,

including Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and Richard C. Reid, who tried to down an American jetliner in late 2001 with explosives packed in his shoes. In 2015 the mosque’s former imam, Mostafa Kamel Mostafa, was sentenced to life in prison in US District Court in Manhattan on 11 terrorism-related charges. The mosque was raided by the authorities in January 2003, and in February 2005, it was reconstituted—“run by a new board of trustees with a new management team, new imams, a new name and new ethos”, according to its web site. Five stories tall with space for 1,800 worshippers, it is a major house of worship for North London, in an area known for a large immigrant population. Mohammed Kozbar, the chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, sa id in a Tw itter post, “Our thoughts and prayers with those who got injured and effected by this cowardly attack in Finsbury Park area.” He said he saw many casualties on the ground. The mosque states on its web site: “The work of the new management reflects the proper role of a mosque—as a place of worship, religious learning and social interaction. It also presents the true teachings of Islam as a religion of tolerance, cooperation and peaceful harmony amongst all people who lead a life of balance, justice and mutual respect.” Attacks involving vehicles have shaken London in recent months. On March 22 a 52-year-old Briton rammed a car into a crowd of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, fatally injuring four of them, and then stabbed a police officer to death before he was gunned down by the police. On June 3 three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, before launching a knife attack in nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed before the men were shot to death by the police. New York Times News Service

and Bloomberg News

ARIS—President Emmanuel Macron of France won a crucial stamp of approval last Sunday as voters gave him and his allies a decisive majority in parliamentary elections, but a record-low turnout cast a shadow over his victory, pointing to the hurdles he will face as he seeks to revive the country’s economy and confidence. When the votes were counted, Macron’s party, La République En Marche (The Republic on the Move) and its allies had won 350 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. Macron, a relative political newcomer who was elected on May 7, had called for a strong mandate to advance his legislative agenda, including plans to loosen France’s restrictive labor laws. Voters swept in many first-time candidates, including some of Arab or African ancestry, and elected more than 200 women, a record in France’s modern history. For the two mainstream parties, the outcome was a bleak repudiation: The center-right Republicans and their allies were relegated to a distant second place, with an estimated 135 members for its bloc in Parliament, while the Socialists and their allies, who had a majority in the last election, saw their bloc reduced to an estimated 45 seats. The former Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls appeared to have barely won reelection in his district, by a margin of just 139 votes. His opponent made accusations of improprieties and asked for a recount. Several prominent Socialist representatives, including four who served as ministers in the previous government, lost their seats. Parties on both the far left and the far right won more seats—and Macron’s bloc won fewer—than analysts had projected in the past week. Still, Macron “has all the powers”, said Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, who resigned last Sunday as head of the Socialist Party, which with its allies won both the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2012, only to see their popularity erode under the leadership of Macron’s predecessor, François Hollande. A top Republican official, François Baroin, wished Macron “good luck” but said his party would continue to be heard, as the largest opposition party. Most of the better known republicans were reelected, but Nathalie KosciuskoMorizet, a moderate and one the party’s top officials, lost to a Macron-backed candidate in her Paris district. The record-low turnout, about 43 percent, dimmed Macron’s victory and pointed to the tentative, even ambivalent, view of many French citizens toward his promises to transform France. “Many people are in a state of uncertainty, a ‘wait and see’,” said Luc Rouban, a professor at the Center for the Study of French Political Life at Sciences Po. “The level of abstention in the second round is a sign that a large part of the working-class electorate are not going to vote anymore,” said Rouban, describing the sense of alienation evident in the abstention as “an invisible fracture” separating the poorest and more modestly off members of French society from the rest. Macron’s opponents seized on the abstention rate to try to discredit his victory. The leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said the abstention level was “crushing”, adding, “Our people have entered into a form of civic general strike.” He suggested that with such a high number of people declining to vote, the government was robbed of its legitimacy.

A majority of eligible voters did not show up, perhaps because they thought Macron’s candidates did not need their support or, more worryingly for Macron, because they were unwilling to give him their endorsement. Many might have been tired of voting, having been called to the polls not only for the two rounds of the presidential election and then two rounds of voting for Parliament, but also for primary elections on the left and the right ahead of the presidential election. Nonetheless, the overall picture for Macron was a positive one. “A year ago, no one could have imagined such a political renewal,” Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said, adding, “Abstention is never good news for democracy. The government interprets it as a strong obligation to succeed.” Macron, 39, has seemed like a golden child of Western liberal democracy of late, with his stunning rise to power in little more than a year and his seemingly unerring sense of how to exercise it in his first weeks in office. But Sunday’s abstention rate suggests that he has yet to convince many French voters that his ideas and legislative program will make their lives better. The high abstention rate could spur union-led street protests, a longtime staple of French politics, especially if Macron tries, as he has promised, to fast-track part of his legislative program. Still, with at least an estimated 350 representatives elected on the ballot of La République En Marche or its close ally, the Democratic Movement, Macron could justifiably say that a majority of those who voted chose his program of loosening France’s restrictive labor laws, making it easier for businesses to hire and fire employees, and reducing worker protections with the goal of creating more jobs. The National Assembly, France’s lower and more powerful house of Parliament, will lose little time getting to work and—if all unfolds as Macron hopes—the steps will begin to change France. Although Parliament will not vote on key measures in its first few weeks in office, it will start discussing the measures later this summer, setting the stage for rapid passage in the early fall, including the contentious overhaul of France’s labor laws. Also on tap for completion in the next four months is a potentially controversial codification in common law of some measures in the current state of emergency, such as the ability to conduct house raids or place people under house arrest without the prior authorization of a judge. An ethics law for politicians is also expected. In Sunday’s voting, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front party and its allies saw a precipitous drop in support since the presidential election, winning nine seats. Le Pen herself won her race for a seat in a district of northern France, but the No. 2 in her party, Florian Philippot, lost his race. Just two months ago in the immediate aftermath of the first round of the presidential election, analysts had predicted that the National Front might obtain more than 50 seats. Mélenchon, the far-left leader, won his seat in a district in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille. His party and its Communist allies won 27 seats, fewer than might have been expected after Mélenchon’s strong showing in the presidential election, but enough to challenge the Socialists for the status as the main left-wing opposition party. Only the mainstream right party, the Republicans, and its allies managed to maintain a significant presence in Parliament, with 135 seats. New York Times News Service

S. Korea scraps plants, shifts from nuke energy

EOUL, South Korea—South Korea, one of the world’s largest nuclear electricity producers, will scrap plans to add nuclear power plants, its president said on Monday, signaling a shift in decades of reliance on nuclear energy. President Moon Jae-in said South Korea will move away from nuclear energy and will not seek to extend the life of existing plants. He also vowed to cut South Korea’s reliance on coal. South Korea will shut 10 old coal power plants and stop building more coal power plants. “So far South Korea’s energy policy pursued cheap prices and efficiency. Cheap production prices were considered the priority while the public’s life and safety took a backseat,” Moon said at a ceremony marking the shutdown of the country’s oldest power plant, Kori 1, in Busan, home to South Korea’s largest cluster of nuclear power plants. “But it’s time for a change.” The speech was Moon’s follow-up on

his presidential campaigns to cut coal and nuclear power. Greenpeace and other environmental groups welcomed Moon’s announcement. Since the Kori 1 reactor went online in 1978, the resource poor-country added 24 nuclear power plants to meet rising demand for electricity from rapid industrialization and economic development. Last year a third of electricity in South Korea was produced from nuclear power plants. Its nuclear power production from 25 nuclear plants in 2016 was the fifthlargest in the world, according to the World Nuclear Association. South Korea is also one of the few countries that have exported its nuclear reactor technology, an area once seen by some of its construction companies as a new cash cow. Former President Lee Myung-bak promoted nuclear energy as part of its clean energy strategy and helped local companies win billions dollars of deals to build a nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates. AP

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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

S. Korea finance chief hopeful of easing tensions with China

South Korea Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon Bloomberg

outh Korea’s new finance chief said he hopes China and his country can put aside their political rift to forge closer economic ties, and bring about an early end to China’s action against Korean companies as part of retaliation for Seoul’s deployment of a US missile-defense system. Speaking to Bloomberg television on Saturday after the Chinaled Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held its annual conference on a South Korean resort island, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said that while there were still some “delicate issues” between the two countries, economic cooperation had been traditionally good and he looked forward to a “jump up” in relations. The AIIB gathering on Jeju Island, the lender’s first annual conference to be held outside China, “can be a good sign for an improvement in the relations”, Kim said. Relations between the two countries soured after former South Korean President Park Geun-hye decided last year to implement a US missile shield in response to provocation by North Korea. The backlash from China, which sees the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as a risk to the security balance in the region, has been wideranging. It banned package trips to South Korea by Chinese citizens, heightened customs scrutiny of Korean goods, and suspended some discount stores in China run by Lotte Group, after the retailer provided a golf course for the US to use to deploy THAAD.

Chinese counterpart

Kim said he hoped his bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Xiao Jie during AIIB and the two countries’ dialog channels would soon lead to an easing of nontariff barriers and

restriction on package tours. It was the first meeting between the two nations’ finance chiefs since July 2016. Kim said the Korean economy is in “relatively good shape” as exports grow and construction investment booms. If the economy continues as it is and a supplementary budget submitted to the parliament is fully implemented, growth this year can exceed the government’s 2.6-percent projection, according to Kim. Kim added that that government will also consider uncertainties like any further US rate hikes before making a final decision on any revision to GDP. The finance ministry is set to release updated growth and inflation projections later this month. The government recently submitted an 11.2-trillion won ($9.9-billion) extra budget proposal to parliament, which would be key to achieving President Moon Jae-in’s electoral pledge to create more jobs. One of the risks facing South Korea’s economic performance is rising global trade protectionism. President Donald J. Trump has said he wants to renegotiate or terminate the Korea-US free-trade agreement that took effect in 2012. K i m sa id t he gover n ment hasn’t received an officia l request from the US to renegotiate the pact, which has been mutua l ly beneficia l. Kim said even if the Federal Reserve continues to raise US interest rates, the upper band of which is now on a par with South Korea’s 1.25-percent benchmark rate, the Korean government is prepared to handle any resulting market reaction. Kim, 60, who was a civil servant for about 30 years through 2014 before becoming president of Ajou University, was appointed finance minister by President Moon on June 9. Bloomberg News

Oil trades below $45 as US drillers extend record rig streak

il traded below $45 a barrel after a fourth weekly loss on speculation that a record expansion by US drillers will blunt Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec)-led efforts to rebalance an oversupplied market. Futures fell 0.4 percent in New York after capping the longest run of weekly declines since August 2015. US drillers targeting crude added rigs for a 22nd straight week, the longest stretch in three decades, according to data last Friday from Baker Hughes Inc. Demand will rise during the third quarter, according to Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, energy minister for the United Arab Emirates. Oil slumped to the lowest close in seven months last week amid concerns that rising US supplies will offset output cuts by the Opec and allies including Russia. Libya, exempt from the Opec-led deal, will boost production to the highest level since 2013 by the end of July, according to the country’s National Oil Co. “The risk is to the downside at this stage, although prices may not fall too much further,” said Ric Spooner, an analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “Any more disappointing news on US inventories

this week will send oil lower.” West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for July delivery, which expires last Tuesday, was at $44.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 17 cents, at 1:13 p.m. in Hong Kong. Total volume traded was about 31 percent below the 100-day average. The contract gained 28 cents to close at $44.74 on Friday, trimming the weekly loss to 2.4 percent. Brent for August settlement slid 15 cents to $47.22 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices dropped 1.6 percent last week. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.42 to August WTI. US drillers increased the rig count by six to 747, the highest level since April 2015, according to Baker Hughes. American crude production has expanded to 9.33 million barrels a day, Energy Information Administration data shows.

Oil-market news

Supply cuts need more time to have impact on the market, United Arab Emirates’s Al Mazrouei told reporters in Dubai. There is significant downside to US oilsupply projections for 2017 and next year if prices remain at about $45 a barrel, according to industry consultant FGE. Bloomberg News

People pose for photographs backdropped by the Houses of Parliament, next to statues of Britain’s First and Second World War Prime Ministers David Lloyd George (left) and Winston Churchill in London on June 12. AP/Matt Dunham

Brexit talks begin; May under pressure to get soft split

lmost a year since Britons voted to leave the European Union, Brexit talks finally open on Monday, amid confusion over just what the UK government wants from the divorce. What UK Brexit Secretary David Davis describes as the “most complicated negotiation of all time” begins at 11 a.m. in Brussels with Prime Minister Theresa May’s government already on the backfoot. An attempt to strengthen her hand by calling an election backfired and she’s run into further domestic strife since, while the 27 other EU members started out with more leverage anyway. The electoral debacle has put May’s own position in doubt, fueling a new battle within her Conservative Party over the kind of Brexit the UK should seek. Some of her ministers want to refashion her strategy toward protecting trade with Britain’s biggest market rather than continue to aim for her original goal of winning control of immigration and law-making. May has yet to change tack formally and doing so would risk infuriating euro-skeptics in her Tory party who might still prove strong enough to scupper a deal or to topple her as leader if they believe she’s backsliding. “ T he election resu lt increased the probability of extreme outcomes,” said Phillip Souta, head of UK public policy at Clifford Chance Llp. “If there is going to be a deal, it makes it more likely to be softer than before the election, but on the other hand, the probability of no deal at all has increased.” The negotiations start against the backdrop of a mounting domestic crisis in the UK. May’s weakened post-election standing deter iorated further last week, after she was slammed for misjudging the national mood following a deadly tower block inferno in West London. T he publ ic mood has a lso been shaken by a wave of terror attacks in recent weeks. Early on Monday morning, a van hit pedestrians near a mosque in

51%

The percentage of Britons surveyed who said they would choose to stay in EU

North London. The police said one person d ied, eight were wounded and the 48-year-old driver has been arrested. In Br ussels Dav is and the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, meet with the UK keen to win back sovereignty without hurting its economy, while the EU’s aim is to maintain regional stability and stop inadvertently rewarding Britain’s decision to leave for fear of encouraging others to break away. Barnier plans to hold face-toface meetings every four weeks and he and Davis will hold a news conference after Monday’s discussions. How the negotiations progress will be monitored closely by investors and business leaders. Banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., say they will shift jobs from London to the EU if they fear their access to the bloc is jeopardized, while manufacturers in the UK, such as carmaker Nissan Motor Co. warn against trade being hurt. The pound has fallen about 14 percent against the dollar since the June 23 referendum, pushing up inflation even as the economy shows signs of slowing. Davis struck a conciliatory tone in a statement released overnight, emphasizing Britain and the EU’s “shared European values”. “I want to reiterate at the outset of these talks that the UK

will remain a committed partner and ally of our friends across the continent,” Davis said. Brexit will deliver “a deal like no other in history”, he added. Up for debate in London now is whether to safeguard trade, perhaps by staying in the bloc’s tariff-free customs union temporarily or trying to win concessions on commerce by giving ground on immigration or the power of the European Court of Justice. Such conversations mark a shift from the preelection talk of a “hard Brexit” and May’s onetime warning she would walk away from the talks if disappointed. Without a majority for her Conser vatives in the UK Parliament, May now says she will work to ref lect the wide range of views on Europe that exist in Britain, a signal her Brexit policies could soften. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said last Sunday he wanted a “jobs first” Brexit— a hint that he believes economic concerns should be prioritized over the political demand to cut immigration from the EU. Freedom of labor movement is a tenet of EU membership and May initially interpreted the referendum result as a demand to stop that. As the for EU side, it is expecting to have the final say on what Brexit entails no matter what the UK seeks. W hile denying they want to punish their neighbor, EU officials have warned Britain off trying to “cherry pick ” the benefits of membership and said it will be left worse off outside the bloc than inside. Failure to strike a deal before Britain automatically leaves the bloc on March 29, 2019, risks inflicting sweeping tariffs and uncertainty on both economies. Business leaders have already warned against such a “cliff edge” scenario and are eager to see a transitional period to give them time to adjust after the split. On Friday will mark one year since the referendum in which 52 percent of Br it ish voters chose to brea k four decades of ties to the EU. T he vote follo w e d d e c a d e s of mou nt i n g ske pt ic i sm tow a rd a projec t initia l ly based on free trade, and which became a lightning rod for complaints over r ising

immigration and bureaucrac y. The UK may already have made one concession. EU officials said last week Britain now agreed with them the early part of the talks should focus on the rights of citizens living in each other’s economy, the financial settlement the bloc argues the UK owes and maintaining a soft border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Only when “sufficient progress” is made on these matters is Barnier willing to turn to the “bold and ambitious” trade deal that May wants, a pivot most doubt is unlikely to happen much before October. The UK is reportedly planning to make a generous offer to the 3 million EU nationals living in Britain so long as it’s reciprocated for the 1 million Britons residing on the continent. The so-called Brexit bill is likely to be the biggest hurdle in the early negotiations. EU officials have indicated it could run as high as €100 billion ($112 billion) in gross terms as they push Britain to cover past budget commitments. The UK has ruled out paying such a sum, suggesting it could seek a chunk of the EU’s assets as part of a “fair settlement”, although it might have to pay something to ease a trade accord. Once the divorce is agreed, the talks will focus on that future trade deal that May wants and which she says should feature financial services. Talks must be wrapped up by the end of 2018 to allow the European and British Parliaments to rubber-stamp them, making it questionable May can secure what she wants in the timeframe allowed. W hile French President Emmanuel Macron and Ger man F i n a n c e M i n i s t e r Wo l f g a n g Schaeuble last week said the UK would be welcomed back if it decided to reverse Brexit, polls suggest little momentum behind a rethink. A Sur vation sur vey released on Monday for Good Morning Britain showed 51 percent of respondents would choose to stay in the EU now, but YouGov reported last week that 77 percent of Britons wanted the referendum result acted upon. Bloomberg News

The World BusinessMirror

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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

Trump not under probe for obstruction, lawyer says

onald J. Trump isn’t under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, a member of the president’s legal team said, despite Trump’s repeated comments on social media that he’s the target of a “witch hunt”.

“ T he president is not and has not been under investigation for obstr uction,” law yer Jay S e k u lo w s a id o n N B C ’s Meet the Press. He made similar comments in three other T V appearances last Sunday. T h e c o n s e r v at i v e l aw y e r, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, is assisting Trump law yer, Marc K asowitz, as Mueller investigates Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the potential obstruction of justice by the president in the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey in May. Tr ump last Fr iday said on Twitter that “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.” It was the first time Trump had publicly acknowledged that he’s under investigation. Yet, Sekulow said the president was referring to a news report about an investigation, not an actual probe. “The tweet from the president was in response to the five anonymous sources that were purportedly leaking information to the Washington Post,” he said.

No notice received

“We’ve received no notice of investigation. There has been no notification from the special counsel’s office that the president is under investigation. In fact, to the contrary,” Sekulow said on CBS’s Face the Nation. On Fox News Sunday, Sekulow seemed to confirm, as well as deny an investigation, as he defended Trump’s decision to fire Comey. “He ta kes t he act ion t hat [the Attorney General ’s office] recommended and now he’s being investigated by the Department of Justice,” Sekulow said of Trump. “He’s being investigated for taking the action that the attorney general and deputy attorney general recommended him to take, by the agency who recommended the terminations.” “You’ve now said he is being investigated after saying” he isn’t, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said. “No, he’s not being investigated!” Sekulow said. Sekulow cited testimony by Comey earlier this month that the president wasn’t a target of an investigation. The suggestion that Mueller is expanding his probe of Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the Trump team’s actions into a possible obstruction

President Donald J. Trump (center), first lady Melania Trump (left) and their son, Barron Trump, walk to Marine One across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on June 17, en route to Camp David in Maryland. AP/Carolyn Kaster

case has emerged since Comey spoke to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8.

Camp David

Taking to Twitter last Sunday while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump again referenced the “distraction of the Witch Hunt”. He’s used the term repeatedly—notably last Thursday, when he said the “ single greatest witch hunt in American political history” is being led by “very bad and conflicted people”. The future of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein seemed in doubt last Friday, when Trump appeared to attack him in the tweet about being investigated. A US official last week confirmed that Rosenstein has told colleagues he may have to recuse himself from the inquiry because he’d criticized Comey in a memo before Trump fired the FBI chief.

Although the White House initially said Rosenstein’s memo led Trump to fire Comey, the president later said in a television interview that he did so because of the Russia investigation. Asked on NBC whether Trump’s social-media commentary may be designed to intimidate Rosenstein or Mueller, Sen. Marco Rubio said, “I have no basis on which to make a decision on what his intent is”, but added that the tweets “in no way” will impede the work of the investigation.

‘Very pugnacious’

The FBI “doesn’t sit around all day and read tweets”, said Rubio, a Republican from Florida who’s a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The FBI’s going to do their job. Mueller’s going to do his job.” For mer R e publ ic a n Hou se Speaker New t Gingr ich, a Trump ally, said the president’s

The president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction.”—Sekulow

tweet seemingly acknowledging that he’s under investigation wasn’t helpful. “ Tr u mp h a s a compu l sion to counterattack and is ver y pugnacious,” Gingrich said on ABC’s This Week. Sekulow downplayed Trump’s tweets, saying the president is simply responding to what he sees in the media in a way that can reach millions of his supporters. “So that tweet takes, let’s say, 15 seconds,” Sekulow said on NBC. “This is not taking up the president of the United States’s day.” Even so, W hite House Spokesman Sean Spicer said in a June 6 news conference that Tr ump’s t weets shou ld be considered “officia l statements”. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on House Intelligence Committee, said last Sunday that Trump and his personal attorney are trying to “take down” Mueller before he finishes his investigation.

‘Scorched-earth litigation’

“They want to lay the foundation to discredit whatever Bob Mueller comes up with,” Schiff said on ABC. “They’re essentially engaging in a scorched-earth litigation strategy that is beginning with trying to discredit the prosecutor.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said on Fox News Sunday that it would be a “disaster” for Trump to fire Mueller or Rosenstein, or to nudge the latter to recuse himself in an effort to slow down the investigation. Rosenstein is the only official who could fire Mueller, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously recused himself from the probe into Russian interference in last year’s presidential

65.6M people displaced in 2016

he relentless civil war in Syria and a surge of South Sudanese fleeing the collapse of peace efforts in their country helped propel the global population of displaced people to a record in 2016, the United Nations refugee agency said on Monday. The agency’s annual Global Trends report, a statistical assessment of refugees, asylum seekers and people forcibly displaced from their homes, reflected a worsening of conflict, mayhem and persecution. The new total of 65.6 million people displaced from their homes is 300,000 higher than the 2015 number, which had been the highest since World War II. “By any measure this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises, and ensuring together that the world’s refugees, internally displaced and asylum seekers are properly protected and cared for while solutions are pursued,” Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said in releasing the findings. The new report was issued at a time when governments in Europe and the US have become increasingly resistant to accepting more refugees and asylum seekers, as xenophobic political trends have helped feed hostility and mistrust. The Trump administration has vowed to restrict refugees and toughen immigration, through “extreme vetting” and a proposed suspension of visas for people from six predominantly Muslim nations. Anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe has roiled the politics in Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Germany, among others. The 2016 report showed the number of refugees worldwide reached 22.5 million, the most ever. More people fled the conflict

in Syria—5.5 million—than any other country, but the biggest new source of refugees was what the report called “the disastrous breakdown of peace efforts” in South Sudan. Nearly 750,000 people fled that fledgling country last year. Among the refugees, asylum seekers—people who have fled their country and are seeking international protection—totaled 2.8 million by the end of 2016. There were 40.3 million people displaced inside their own countries at the end of 2016, slightly fewer than the 40.8 million at the end of 2015. The report attributed that slight reduction in part to people who had returned to their homes, offsetting the number of new people who had fled. Still, the report said, many returnees “did so in less than ideal circumstances and facing uncertain prospects”. Of the 65.6 million displaced people in the world, 10.3 million had become displaced in 2016. “This equates to one person becoming displaced ever y three seconds,” the report said, “less than the time it takes to read this sentence”. About two-thirds of the newly displaced people fled somewhere else in their own country. The report showed that 84 percent of all refugees who crossed borders went to low- or middle-income countries at the end of 2016, and that roughly 1 in 3 was hosted in the poorest countries, which can least afford the burden. By popu l at ion, t he repor t said Syria still accounts for the big gest number of d ispl aced people at 12 million, followed by Colombia with 7.7 million, Afghanistan with 4.7 million, Iraq with 4.2 million and South Sudan at 3.3 million. Those rankings do not include the long-standing Palestinian population of roughly 5.3 million, but that figure is included in the total. New York Times News Service

campaign and whether anyone close to Trump colluded with the Russians. “If the president thinks he can fire Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and replace him with someone who will shut down the investigation, he’s in for a rude awakening,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said last Friday in a statement. Rubio said “that’s not going to happen”, when asked whether he’s concerned that Trump may be preparing to fire Mueller and Rosenstein. “The best thing that could happen for the president, and the country, is a full and credible investigation,” Rubio said on CNN’s State of the Union, adding that he has “no reason” to doubt Mueller and his investigation.

More sanctions

Asked on NBC where the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation stands, Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said “we’re 20 percent into” the collusion aspect of the investigation. He said it could be done “maybe by the end of the year”. Separately, Rubio said on NBC that while Trump is “pretty fired up” about the investigation, he doesn’t think the president “has a problem with additional sanctions on Russia” that the Senate approved last Thursday. The bipartisan measure, approved 98-2, now awaits action by the House. Politico reported last Saturday the White House plans to work with Republicans in the House to make changes to the bill, which curbs Trump’s ability to ease penalties against Russia. Bloomberg News

Kushner to visit Jerusalem, Ramallah to push for peace

Firefighters of the Portuguese National Republican Guard work to stop a forest fire from reaching the village of Avelar, central Portugal, at sunrise on June 18. AP/Armando Franca

Forest fire kills 62 in Portugal P EDROGAO GRANDE, Portugal—A raging forest fire in central Portugal killed at least 62 people as they desperately tried to flee, charring cars and trucks as it swept over roads. The disaster—the worst tragedy Portugal has experienced in decades—shook the nation, with the president declaring the country’s pain “ knows no end ”. A lmost 24 hours after the deaths last Saturday night, fires were still churning across the forested hillsides of central Portugal. The police and firefighters were searching charred areas of the forest and isolated homes, looking for more bodies. “It is a time of pain but also...a time to carry on the fight” against the flames, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told the nation in a televised address last Sunday evening, after the government declared three days of national mourning. A huge wall of thick smoke and bright, red flames towered over the tops of trees in the forested Pedrogao Grande area, 150 kilometers northeast of Lisbon, where a lightning strike was believed to have sparked the blaze

last Saturday. Investigators found a tree that was hit during a “dry thunderstorm”, the head of the national judicial police said. Dry thunderstorms are frequent when falling water evaporates before reaching the ground because of high temperatures. Portugal is prone to forest fires in the dry summer months, and temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius hit the area in recent days. At least four other significant wildfires were burning last Sunday elsewhere in Portugal, but the one in Pedrogao Grande was responsible for all the deaths. “The dimensions of this fire have caused a human tragedy beyond any in our memory,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa told reporters as he arrived at the scene last Sunday. “Something extraordinary has taken place and we have to wait for experts to properly determine its causes.” Interior Minister Constanca Urbano de Sousa added the death toll had risen to 62 by the end of Sunday. She said the country’s judicial police was expecting to complete the identification of the bodies soon, in order to re-

lease them as early as possible. Interior Ministry official Jorge Gomes said firefighting crews were having difficulties battling the fire, which was “very intense” in at least two of its four fronts. He added that authorities were worried about strong winds that could help spread the blaze further. More than 350 soldiers last Sunday joined the 700 firefighters who have been struggling to put out the blaze, schools in the area were closed until further notice and outdoor fires were banned. The forest fire deaths were the biggest in memory in Portugal, which saw 25 Portuguese soldiers die fighting wildfires in 1966. Last August an outbreak of fires across Portugal killed four people, including three on the island of Madeira, and destroyed huge areas of forest. Isabel Brandao told The Associated Press last Sunday she had feared for her life when she saw the Pedrogao Grande blaze. “Yesterday, we saw the fire but thought it was very far. I never thought it would come to this side,” she said. “At 3:30 a.m., my motherin-law woke me up quickly and we never went to sleep again.” AP

ared Kushner, President Donald J. Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, will travel to the Middle East this week to push for a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, according to a White House official. Kushner plans to travel to Israel on Wednesday for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. He will also meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss Kushner’s plans. The trip comes as Kushner was said to be considering hiring criminal defense lawyers to represent him in a widening federal probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, the New York Times reported last Sunday. Kushner’s meetings with Russian officials and business executives have come under scrutiny, as the investigation has probed links between the Trump campaign and the Russians. The visit to the Middle East will be Kushner’s third since Trump was elected. It serves as a follow-up to the president’s visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem in May, when he called on Israelis and Palestinians to pursue a peace deal. Kushner, 36, also visited Iraq in April. “I am personally committed to helping Israelis and Palestinians achieve a peace agreement,” Trump said in Jerusalem on May 23. “With determination, compromise, and the belief that peace is possible, Israelis and Palestinians can make a deal.”

‘Toughest deal’

The White House official said Kushner’s visit is likely to be one of many trips before significant progress is made toward a peace deal. Jason Greenblatt, the White House special representative for international negotiations, will arrive in the region on Monday, according to the official. The two will work behind the scenes to advance direct talks between the parties, the official said. Bloomberg News

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news@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Govt hails NDF order of no attack vs govt troops By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The government peace body reciprocated the move of the National Democratic Front (NDF) directing its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to halt all armed offensives against military and police formations in Mindanao, saying the Leftist group wanted to give full concentration to all forces fighting the terror groups in Mindanao. In a posting on the government web site, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, government chief negotiator and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, said he welcomed the NDF’s support to the Philippine government’s fight against the Maute, Abu Sayyaf, Ansar al-Khalifah Philippines (AKP)

groups and other terrorist organizations wreaking havoc in Marawi City and other parts of the country. “We also appreciate the NDF’s commitment in their declaration to refrain from undertaking offensive operations in Mindanao to enable the Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] and the Philippine National

Police [PNP] to focus their attention on the war against terror groups,” he said. These “voluntary gestures and expressions from the NDF in solidarity with the government against acts of terrorism augur well for the desired continuation of the stalled fifth round of peace talks as they provide, if sustained, the needed enabling environment favorable to moving the peace negotiations forward.” “The Philippine government hereby correspondingly reciprocates with the same declaration of not undertaking offensive operations against the NPA to pave the way for the eventual signing of a mutually agreed bilateral ceasefire agreement and agreements on social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and end of hostilities and disposition of forces toward a just and lasting peace,” he said. Both parties, with the NDF’s earlier statement on June 17, also expressed their commitment to continue “to adhere to mutually acceptable principles enunciated in The Hague Joint Declaration, which

was reaffirmed by both parties.” “Likewise, the Philippine government hereby unequivocally recommits its adherence to all previously signed agreements, including specifically, but not limited to, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees [Jasig]. The Philippine government commits to continue to maintain this neededenabling environment in step with the NDF’s own commitment to do the same,” he said. Both parties also expressed their appreciation to the Royal Norwegian Government’s “steadfast and indefatigable support and assistance to the entire process and for trusting that efforts are being exerted toward a final peace agreement”. Its recommendation to the Communist Party of the Philippines to order the NPA to stop further offensives was contained in a statement it posted on June 17 in its Internet web site, as it clarified its position against terrorism and to mount attacks against the terror groups. Aside from the Maute Group in the central Mindanao province of Lanao del Sur and the Abu Sayyaf Group on the southwestern

Mindanao island of Sulu and Basilan, the NDF has also identified another group, the AKP as the third terror organization to watch out for. “For all forces to be able to concentrate against Maute, Abu Sayyaf and AKP groups, the NDF has recommended to the CPP [Communist Party of the Philippines] to order all other NPA units in Mindanao to refrain from carrying out offensive operations against the AFP and the PNP,” the NDF said in its posting. It was signed by Fidel Agcaoili, the NDF chief negotiator. Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Jesus G. Dureza, said the armed skirmishes happening outside Mindanao is not covered by such commitments, citing the incidents of NPA attacks in Maasin and Iloilo. He said these and other attacks elsewhere “must be dealt with accordingly and decisively by the AFP and the PNP with the cooperation of civilian agencies and the affected communities”. “Having said this, it is disheartening to note such attacks provide a negative impact in our mutual commitment with the NDF to provide

Yolanda survivors refuse NHA houses By Elmer V. Recuerdo Correspondent

ACLOBAN CITY—Under the sweltering heat of a sunny morning, 42-year-old Elena Enciso joined a group composed mostly of women as they marched to the National Housing Authority (NHA) to formally file a notice rejecting the houses scheduled to be awarded to them soon. Leaving behind her kids and taking a one-day leave from vending fish in their community, Enciso joined hundreds of residents from the historic town of Balangiga to join a protest in Tacloban to express their dismay over the housing projects. Chanting “pabahay, pabahay sasayaw-sayaw” at the entrance of the National Housing Authority regional office here, the slogan underscores the quality of houses being built for the survivors of Supertyphoon Yolanda whose houses will be forcibly removed because they are built in so-called high-risk areas. “We are dismayed at the manner the houses were built. They have not yet been turned over to us, but you see some houses already have cracks on their walls,” she said. “We fear for our safety in those houses more than we fear the typhoons.” The NHA is building 480 units in Barangay Cansumangkay, an uphill village 3 kilometers from the coastline of Eastern Samar’s Balangiga, a sleepy town made famous

A GROUP of residents from Balangiga, Samar, stages a protest in front of the offices of the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Samar as they hold a statement refusing to accept what they call the “unsafe” houses built by the NHA for them and other survivors of Supertyphoon Yolanda. ELMER RECUERDO

by the Balangiga Massacre in 1901. Balangiga is historically known for the rousing victory of the locals against American soldiers during the Philippine-American war. The defeated American soldiers at that time retaliated by killing all men over 10 years old, making Samar a “howling wilderness”. Many of the houses are almost finished and may be endorsed for awarding to the beneficiaries within this year. From a distance, the con-

crete houses look functional and some painting could make them appear typical of other mass housing projects in the country. But those who witnessed firsthand at the workmanship attest that these are structural failures. Together with leaders of Community of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP), a broad coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting the housing rights of Yolanda survi-

vors, the residents of Balangiga formally submitted the notice of refusal to the NHA regional office. There was no NHA official present to meet the group and nobody of the rank-and-file employees present was authorized to speak to the rallyists and the media. “This is our firm refusal of the worthless relocation site being forced upon us, Yolanda survivors,” said Tessie Elacion, chairman of Kusog Este, a community organization

in Eastern Samar. “We have survived Yolanda, but we may not be so lucky with the relocation sites.” Elacion said among the problems hounding the shelter reconstruction for Yolanda survivors include its culturally inadequate relocation plans, substandard workmanship, lagging construction, job displacements, lack of basic social services, weak accountability being exhibited by government agencies, exclusion of affected communities in the decision-making process and insecure land tenure. “We have been telling the government these problems for the last four years, but it doesn’t seem to care,” she said. “All our demands have fallen on deaf ears.” Earlier this year, the NGO Rights Network organized a fact-finding mission in Balangiga to verify reports of poorly constructed housing amid complaints of some intended beneficiaries the houses are haphazardly done and some of the concrete houses shake when the wall is pushed. Balangiga Municipal Engr. Fiel Inting, who joined the mission, was convinced the houses do not look safe and do not meet the minimum structural specifications. “The workmanship is not of standard quality. They are terribly built. You will see steel bars where they are not supposed to be seen, and you don’t see them where they are needed,” he said. “For me, this is not fit for occupancy.”

Severe traffic congestion haunts Maharlika Highway in Albay

ORGANIC FARMING

A farmer in the mining village of Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, harvests organically grown Chinese cabbages, free from pesticide. As one of the pillars of “We Care” program of OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc., agriculture is given a special focus. LEONARDO PERANTE II

EGA ZPI CIT Y—The muchvaunted road-widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) along Albay’s highways continues to pester motorists. Now, the aggravation has extended to stranded cargo trucks, which hamper the delivery of goods between the Manila-Visayas-Mindanao route via the roll-on, roll-off (Roro) transport in Matnog, Sorsogon. Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of the Third District of Albay said added to the massive road widening woes are the heavy cargo trucks stranded for days along the Albay Second and Third District routes bound for the Visayas and Mindanao regions. He said for unknown reason, they do not immediately get accommodated on the Roro vessels in Matnog, Sorsogon. Gonzalez also lashed at the DPWH for calling the ongoing highway road

concreting as road widening instead of mere road improvement. He said the ongoing concreting of the road’s fourth lane is within the existing unimproved 20-meter roadway. Gonzalez said the present busy 4-lane roadway remains for the use of motorists while pedestrians use the fourth lane at their own risk. There is no lane for the exclusive use of pedestrians. DPWH officials said the primary and secondary national roads in the region have each lane measuring 3.1 meters only, or barely a total of 12.4 meters of existing busy roadway against the highway’s 20-meter roadway. For more than a month now, motorists plying the Bicol-Manila route have to bear the discomfort of severe traffic congestion, specifically the 3-kilometer Banag-Busay route that takes a motorist two hours to three hours to navigate. Manly M. Ugalde

that enabling environment conducive to the continuation of peace negotiations with them,” Dureza said. He said the “impact is not just on the peace negotiations; it illustrates the tragedy of the insurgency. Hopefully, the attack is just part of the birthpains of the agreement to stop offensive military actions, even if it covers only Mindanao as of now. It is an argument for a nation-wide cease-fire.” Skirmishes did not immediately stop, at least in Davao Oriental. The 10th Infantry Division said soldiers from the 104th Division Recon Company and one platoon from 67th Infantry Battalion in Bagangga, Davao Oriental engaged members of NPA’s Guerrilla Front 25 at Sitio 35, Barangay Taytayan, Cateel, at 1:30 a.m. on June 17. The gunbattle lasted 45 minutes and resulted to three guerrillas killed. Soldiers collected two M16 rifles, one M14, one AK47 and one M203 grenade launcher. A high-ranking guerrilla, alleged to be the Front 27 secretary, was killed in a separate encounter on the same day in Barangay Araibo, Pantukan, Compostela Valley Province.

DA chief releases fingerlings to replenish Laguna de Bay By Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas @jearcalas

OS BAÑOS, LAGUNA—The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday dispersed 5 million fingerlings of various non-invasive species in Laguna de Bay as part of its bid to rejuvenate the country’s fisheries production. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the restocking of native fish species in the country’s largest lake is the first among future rehabilitation activities under the DA’s five-year Project Basil, or “Balik Sigla sa Ilog at Lawa”. He said the project aims to lower the poverty incidence in fishing communities across the country. “Project Basil is aimed at making food accessible to poor families living near lakes, rivers and creeks as an initial step to address poverty. It is also designed to ease pressure on the country’s coastal fishing grounds, which have been overfished because of reduced catch from inland fishing grounds,” Piñol said. The Basil project is the DA’s response to President Duterte’s order to dismantle fishpens in the lake, which deprived small fishermen of space where they can freely fish or put up cages, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said. “The move was approved and accepted by stakeholders of the lake including the Laguna Lake Development Authority, local government units around Laguna de Bay, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council, and officers of fishers’ groups in Laguna de Bay,” the BFAR said. The BFAR added the 5 million fingerlings worth P3.65 million were comprised of ulang (freshwater prawn), bangus (milkfish) and tilapia. The BFAR also said it is eyeing to disperse 210 million fingerlings of suitable indigenous fishes, such as ayungin, biya, martiniko, kanduli and dalag by 2020 across identified bodies of water. The BFAR added it would need at least P100 million to disperse 210 million fingerlings.

A10 Tuesday, June 20, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Boon and bane

ot many will disagree that there are a lot harried parents in the country today because of the additional two senior high school (SHS) years of the K to 12 curriculum of the Department of Education (Deped).

Under K to 12, a student is required to undergo kindergarten, six years of elementary, four years of junior high school and two years of SHS. The implementation of mandatory kindergarten began in school year (SY) 2011-2012, followed by the new curriculum for Grade 7 to 10 in SY 20122013. SY 2016-2017 marked the nationwide implementation of the Grade 11 curriculum, followed by the Grade 12 curriculum this SY 2017-2018. In this paper’s The Broader Look story last week (See, “PHL still teaching self in journey to K to 12,” in the BusinessMirror, June 15) Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones asserts that the program will benefit Filipino students and the country. “We rolled out the K to 12 because Filipinos should realize the rich advantage of the new curriculum in making the youth more productive and competitive, not only overseas, but more so in their country,” Briones said. “We are doing K to 12 for ourselves and for Philippine education,” she added. “We are doing this to be able to compete in our own country so that we can equip our learners with appropriate skills, creativity and intelligence to cope with the changing world.” We have no quarrel with the noble intentions of this curriculum. Granted, the K to 12 Program is supposed to not only make our graduates more competitive with the rest of the world by extending our school system to match theirs, it would also make them more productive and employable in our own country. But that’s granting that those two additional years would be quality years added to a vastly improved system. Two more years of the same poor system won’t cut it. As we pointed out in last Tuesday’s editorial (See, “Quagmired,” in the BusinessMirror, June 13), the opening of this school year saw classrooms in public schools still overcrowded, their teachers having to do two or three shifts just to accommodate the huge number of students and photocopying learning materials themselves. The government’s P543.2-billion budget allocation for education this year still has not solved the perennial basic problems—the lack of classrooms, teachers, textbooks and other basic needs. Parents, students and teachers are probably telling themselves in exasperation that an additional two more years of schooling like this is the last thing they need. There are so many kinks in the K to 12 curriculum that the government has to iron out and we certainly hope President Duterte won’t just kick the can to the next administration. The League of Filipino Students (LFS) previously estimated that a student in a public SHS needs P100,000 to cover expenses for the additional two years under K to 12, and a student in a private SHS needs P200,000. The LFS said additional expenses under K to 12 will eat up most of the annual income of Filipino families, which averages at P235,000, while the poorest families in the country living on P69,000 a year would find it impossible. The costs might have been lessened somewhat because of the DepEd’s P34.5billion allocation for SHS vouchers this year and the P22 billion it spent for vouchers last year. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said though that this is no consolation to a lot of parents who do not even have enough money for their kids’ transportation to school. ACT said there are already 3.4 million dropouts because of the lack of school vouchers. The SHS is “not for free but for sale”, said ACT National Chairman Benjamin Valbuena, adding that only profit-oriented private schools are the ones benefiting from the K to 12 Program. We certainly hope this is not true.

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On DBP as infrastructure bank Manny B. Villar

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ased on the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Philippines has the worst infrastructure ranking among the original five members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean-5). The report, which covered 138 countries, ranked the Philippines No. 106 in terms of its infrastructure, far behind Singapore (No. 4), Malaysia (No. 16), Thailand (No. 71) and Indonesia (No. 81). The low ranking is not surprising because government spending on infrastructure never reached the 5-percent-to-GDP threshold in the past 30 years. Infrastructure spending averaged only 2.9 percent of GDP during the previous administration, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

The administration of President Duterte is committed to pursuing an aggressive infrastructure development program to boost the economy, generate employment and alleviate poverty. The program involves heavy investments on infrastructure amounting to P8 trillion to P9 trillion from 2017 to 2022. For this year, the national budget is allocating P847.2 billion for infrastructure projects, equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, up from P756.4 billion (5.1 percent of GDP) in 2016. I believe the proposal by the

Asean vs Islamic State: Who’s winning?

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Department of Finance to reorient the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) into an infrastructure bank will be a significant contribution to infrastructure development in the country. The move, according to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, will not require an amendment to the DBP’s name or charter, so it may be completed before the end of this year. It will be patterned after the Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ), which is an infrastructure bank that provides project financing, particularly for energy and infrastructure. Actually, infrastructure and logistics are two of the four major sectors being served by the DBP. The other three are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), social services and community development, and environment initiatives. Thus, reorienting the DBP to become an infrastructure bank should be a smooth process. As Dominguez said, it would only require declaring that infrastructure would be the bank’s major thrust. Making DBP an infrastructure bank will allow it to focus more on infrastructure projects, particu-

f you think the answer is obvious, you’re not thinking, but letting heart or gut get the better of gray matter. In the first place, the battle between the Asean and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is not between standing armies. Nor will victory come when the loser is crushed on the battlefield by force of conventional arms. That’s not how World War III—and it’s what Asean vs IS is part of—will be fought and won.

Just ask the harried police in Paris, London and Manchester, to cite just the most prominent of IS targets, if they are winning against the terror network commanded or inspired by the Arab extremists falsely claiming to be fighting for Sunni Islam. The fact is, for all the manpower, money, intelligence and technology harnessed by the West to fight IS, bloody attacks have kept erupting, either directed by IS cells or mounted by so-called lone wolves impossible to anticipate and counter. And unless IS loses its appeal and propaganda touch, there will always be impressionable or self-serving souls seeking either moral rectitude, religious purpose, heavenly reward, plain lucre, or some of the above, to hoodwink into mass murder.

Just one-tenth of 1 percent builds a global army If just one-tenth of 1 percent of all 1 billion Muslims on the planet buy the IS pitch that, as the Holy Quran says, killing infidels would land a jihadist in paradise, that’s a million crazed killers scheming to shoot, bomb, ram with pickups or otherwise exterminate non-Muslims. If they were all in one military, it would be bigger than all but the active armed forces of all but those of China, the United States, India and North Korea. That those faceless bombers, shooters and other manner of homicidal jihadists are scattered across the globe, blending with the general population, actually makes them more dangerous and harder to guard against than any standing army. And that is the real battle: keep-

ing IS from directing, funding, coordinating or otherwise spurring Muslims anywhere to use bombs, bullets, blades, blunt items and bare fists to kill perceived enemies of Sunni Islam, including adherents of the rival Shia Muslim sect. To defeat IS, it is not enough to destroy its camps in Iraq and Syria. Rather, we must extinguish its appeal and influence, and those of its fellow extremists, like al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, among thousands, maybe millions of Muslims all over the world.

Jihadist gains in Europe, Arabia and Asia Over the past month, sadly, IS propaganda and influence probably gained in Europe and Asia. Attacks in Manchester and London have brought jihadist terror to two more European capitals, after the attacks in Paris and Brussels last year. That has surely stirred the fancies and schemes of many misguided Muslims that IS power is growing, and the West is powerless to stop its fighters and supporters. And even if British police arrest dozens of suspects and raid terrorist cells, extremists would just point to similar action on the continent after killings there, yet, the terror continues. The Arab world is now rocked by the concerted action by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle East states to blockade and pressure Qatar into stopping its funding and support for Islamist and extremist groups, including the violent Hamas mounting

larly in underdeveloped areas like Mindanao. In addition, I believe that, as an infrastructure bank, the DBP will be able to help local contractors, many of which lack the capability to undertake big-ticket projects. Building up the capability of local contractors will also help them, in the long run, to compete even in the overseas markets. So far, very few Philippine companies have been able to land construction contracts overseas, which are dominated by giant foreign companies. Filipino contractors also often play second fiddle to foreign companies even in domestic infrastructure projects. Because these projects require huge capital, they have to be a partner with foreign companies that can cough up the required investment. So, reorienting the DBP to become an infrastructure bank will achieve an extra benefit, in addition to bridging the country’s infrastructure gap: help Filipino contractors become world class. For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

rocket and other attacks on Israel. The Saudi group, which US President Donald J. Trump has unabashedly claimed to have prodded in its beatdown on Qatar, seem to have taken the latter by surprise. Yet, in the eyes of Islamists, following the lead of Israel’s top backer America in isolating a fellow Muslim and Arab state, can only boost the extremist cause, and the resolve of those backing it against a perceived conspiracy among Western powers, Israel and traitorous Arab rulers. Then, there is the assault by ISinspired and -funded extremists on Marawi City in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, now billed by global media as the Middle East cabal’s first operation to take and hold territory outside its base in Iraq and Syria. No prizes for guessing what that has done for IS prestige, clout and appeal in Southeast Asia, not to mention its ability to wangle more funds from backers whose support may have wavered as IS lost ground and suffered massive losses in its home grounds. This week the Philippines is hosting top diplomatic and security officials of Indonesia and Malaysia, to discuss terrorism and plot countermeasures, including ongoing sea and air patrols. But instead of making terrorists quake in fear, the conference may well buttress the belief that IS is a bigger threat than ever, now casting its fearsome shadow on Southeast Asia. Plainly, beating IS on the ground may well mean losing the Islamic mind to the jihadists.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Customs storage scheme Change is here comes under fire John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

ort stakeholders are up in arms over the plan of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to put up temporary storage facilities for “overstaying or abandoned” goods. This, they said, could provide fertile ground for corruption and result in higher prices of consumer goods in the long term. The draft Customs administrative

order (CAO), unveiled during a forum organized by the BOC earlier this month, will implement Section 307 of the twoyear-old Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. Among those in the forum were representatives from Cargohaus Inc., DHL Express, International Container Terminal Services Inc., Paircargo, UPS, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan and the Association of Petrochemical Manufacturers of the Philippines, among others. The participants oppose the provision in the administrative order calling for the designation of Customs Facilities and Warehouses (CFWs), which shall establish and maintain the temporary storage. “This order shows how inefficient Customs is. The provisions in the draft CAO are asking for too much and what should be the BOC’s responsibility is unreasonably being transferred to the business sector,” said one of those who attended the BOC forum. “We are all alarmed at the misguided steps being taken in the guise of modernization,” the source added. The fear is that the order erodes the mandate of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), which has supervision over port terminals that may be designated as CFWs. “The PPA needs to weigh in on this, too. The PPA still exists and the designated CFWs are PPA premises. No law has been enacted to change that. Cargo handlers also pay a fixed fee for each square meter of the port terminal, and that does not cover the proposed ‘temporary storage facility’. They have to change all existing contracts, or abolish the PPA instead,” he said. Section 4.2 of the proposed CAO provides that all separate temporary storage facilities shall be part of the premises of the BOC and shall be under its control and supervision. The draft CAO also requires CFW operators to provide all necessary cargo moving trucks and equipment, as well as to physically transfer and secure the goods. The BOC shall dictate the fees and rates to be charged in approved temporary storage facilities. “But the BOC must remember there is a port or warehouse tariff and, in some cases, government shares in the use of terminal facilities and equipment. If the BOC imposes its own fees and charges, importers will be charged double, which will be passed on to consumers. The order does not only discourage foreign investors, it also threatens to jack up prices of commodities,” he said. “Cargo handling services are not free, and all relevant fees should be shouldered by the BOC. Fees and other charges are all governed by existing PPA rules.”

Under the order, the goods stored temporarily must be placed under a Customs procedure, auctioned, condemned or reexported within 90 days after due notice from the issuance of an order of abandonment. “This whole idea smacks of corruption—stay in the temporary storage area until we’re able to make areglo. But what happens after 90 days? Every day there are a number of containers whose status change from ‘live’ to ‘abandoned’. If the temporary storage facility is full, what happens to those containers? The number of overstaying containers fluctuates so a finite number of slots for temporary storage does not make sense,” the stakeholder said. In case of loss, damage and deterioration of the goods stored due to the negligence or willful misconduct of the cargo handlers, the draft CAO also holds these operators liable for the payment of duties and taxes. Another source privy to the forum, however, insisted that goods in most container yards and warehouses are insured. “Therefore, any loss will entitle the importer to claim on the insurance. The owner of the goods should then be able to pay the BOC for the duties. Moreover, the facility operator does not have control over the deterioration of certain goods, such as those that are perishable or those that require refrigeration,” he said. Instead of a temporary storage area within the ports, the source said the BOC should acquire a large plot of land outside Metro Manila where all containers can be transferred upon the issuance of an order of abandonment, which is common in other developed countries. “From a business standpoint, the provision for a temporary storage facility really does not make sense. Like transshipment, it is not efficient to allocate an area for overstaying cargo, especially those that are for auction or condemnation already. By transferring them outside Metro Manila, they will make it very difficult to get the abandoned containers, and hopefully this will discourage importers from committing the same practice,” he added. Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon has defended the draft order, which he said is consistent with the Customs modernization program even as he acknowledged that the position of key stakeholders will be taken into consideration. “We are still in the consultation stage before rolling out the implementing rules and regulations,” Faeldon said. The BOC has set the next public consultation on the CFW provision on June 22.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

verything is different today. Of course, everything was different yesterday from the day before and from the day before that. However, never in living memory has “politics” and its older brother “economics” been so intense. As I have said before, there are no longer discussions. There is only screaming and yelling in order to drown out opposing opinion.

Certainly, it is difficult to have any sympathy for the political class that has created the current situation. But being an elected—and sometimes appointed—government official is impossible in 2017. Every move they make is subject to “analysis” and then fierce commentary. British prime minister Theresa May is facing severe criticism for not immediately going to the site of the recent deadly Grenfell Tower fire as did Prime Minister want-to-be Jeremy Corbin. And there is no need to mention the con-

versations when President Duterte “disappeared” for a few days. It is easy to dismiss all this as simply the result of instant global communications by the Internet. It is much more than that. The world is going through a transition stage from “what we know” to “who knows what?” If a commentary simply tries to look at the facts—information supported by numbers—even then the explanation is discounted as biased or labeled as “fake news”. The Medieval witch hunters were amateurs in comparison to what you can

Intellectual Property Matters

nextricable from the concept of intellectual property (IP) is the concept of innovation. Where there is IP, there necessarily is innovation. But the converse may not be always true.

While both are abstract concepts, they have tangible and lasting effects. IP protection provides more value to any innovative endeavor and, depending on the intellectual property right involved, may subsist for periods ranging from five years, seven, 20, to as long as the lifetime of the creator, plus 50 thereafter. But if IP can be measured in terms of filings, of grants, of registrations, of GDP, to name a few, how can we measure if it is just as abstract? Moreover,

considering that the concept of innovation has broadened to beyond our common notion of laboratories and research papers, to include social and business innovations—is innovation even measurable at all?

The Global Innovation Index

Thus, in an attempt to measure the level of innovation of a country (economy), the Global Innovation Index (GII) project was launched in 2007. Now on

see today. And, sadly, then as now, it all comes back to viewpoints and the vested interests in those views. Previously the term “vested interest” meant financial. Now that term encompasses something much nearer religious cult beliefs. My previous columns about the likelihood of the United States falling into a recession soon— supported with what I think are disturbing economic trends—is met with “Trump Hater!” Actually the only thing I care about with Trump is that he keeps my “Fabulously huge, Double-Secret CIA Pension” check arriving on time. Otherwise—Not. My. Problem. Any transition, such as water from liquid to gas (steam), creates massive changes both internally to the water and to the surrounding environment. This occurs both politically and economically. Look at the shift in foreign policy more toward China that is occurring in all of Southeast Asia. Amazon.com Inc. just bought Whole Foods Market Inc. The closest silly comparison I can make to the Philippines in terms of impact is if SM suddenly started buying hun-

Terrorists have no human rights Cecilio T. Arillo

database

ERRORISM is a clear, present and actual danger that compels many to contemplate whether human rights should have primacy over human lives.

For those who understand the true concept of democracy, moral confusion is not a problem since always the first and highest consideration would be the welfare of the majority, the national interest, public order and public safety much as legitimate demands of minorities and even of deviants are accommodated. “It would be worthwhile to go back to that basic document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that enumerates a long list of rights and people tend to overlook its concluding two Articles, without which the preceding rights would not be viable,” said the best-selling book, A Country Imperiled—Tragic Lessons of a Distorted History, published in 2011 by Amazon, one of the world’s largest publishing houses. “Although couched in diplomatic language, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights unequivocally affirms that terrorists have no human rights. It tells us that the enjoyment of human rights is subject to the democratic requirements of public order and the general welfare,” said Gen. Guillermo Pecache, himself a respected lawyer, who wrote on the subject of terrorism and human rights

as president of the Asian Institute of Strategic Studies and of the Philippine Chapter of the Asia-Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy. “Those who insist that no threat or danger can ever justify the curtailment of certain human rights, stand on a lofty cloud of idealism, yet would not hold themselves responsible for the deaths of innocents. Their impassioned arguments only make it possible for terrorists and the lawless to move about freely and exploit human rights and liberties to violate those of others,” Pecache argued in the book authored by this writer. He explained that the current concepts on democracy have become so liberal that some insist that democratic rights include the right to rebel (which is sometimes even called a duty). Following this logic, the Republic is denied the responsibility and right to defend itself from subversive elements among its citizenry and the Republic is required not to curtail the activities of those citizens even for reasons of law enforcement and public order. Nor should the Republic interfere with free enterprise, even when the public interest so demands this. “Nor should the Republic compel

Global Innovation Index 2017: Philippines is 73rd Josephine Rima-Santiago

Tuesday, June 20, 2017 A11

its 10th edition, the 2017 GII has been released just last week as a result of collaboration between Cornell University, Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires, the World Intellectual Property Organization as copublishers, and their knowledge partners. The index computes an economy’s performance innovation-wise using the following principle: innovative and creative outputs result from a combination of factors that enable innovation. Stated in GII terms, the level of knowledge and technology outputs, as well as creative outputs—as indicated by intellectual property filings, among others—are influenced by how much the government and the market allow them to thrive.

the GII to a machine churning out products: what you put in determines what goes out. Here, both input and output subindices are measured to determine the innovation index of an economy. The five pillars that make up the Innovation Input Sub-index are institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication. On the flipside, the two that comprise the Innovation Output Sub-index are knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs. Three subpillars then constitute each one. Finally, for the entire 21 subpillars, a total of 81 indicators were measured. More on these will be tackled in the future.

Components of the Global Innovation Index

How the Philippines fared across the world

The GII is anchored on two subindices—Innovation Input Sub-index and Innovation Output Sub-index—which are in turn rooted upon “pillars”. Liken

IN the 2017 GII ranking, the Philippines placed 73rd of 127 economies (translated in percentile, the 58th). In 2016 it was 74th/128 (same percentile). The year

dreds of palengkes. It is a major shift in the US retail grocery business. Whole Foods is a high-priced personal service market with exclusive and specialty items that follow “selfcreated quality standards for being natural”. Amazon sells things like a “Nicolas Cage Pillowcase” and a 55-gallon drum of “personal lubricant”. Whole Foods wants to “go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy, delight, and nourish our customers”. Amazon wants to deliver products by drone. This merger is a good example of the global political and economic trends of “what was” to “what comes next?” Amazon-Whole Foods is going to fundamentally change the US retail grocery market as both companies did when they started business before. These two were part of a transition when they began decades ago. Now, that first phase takes another turn. The more things change, the more they actually stay the same.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

citizens to render military service or undergo military training or its equivalent. Such limitations on the Republic make it look like the people’s adversary, which should be subjected to special restraints,” Pecache pointed out, adding, “Such limiting restraints are reflected in the line of argument of the Civil Liberties Union in defending members of suspected terrorists and other subversive elements: n That the killing of soldiers in combat should not be punished as a crime; n That civilians killed in crossfire are qualified in war as “civilian casualties” and not murder victims; n The burning of buildings by rebels does not make them arsonists, because such structures have to be destroyed by fire to remove them as obstacles along the path of their military operations on their way to capture a target on which they have set their sight; n Seizing properties in the area captured is not robbery but legitimate spoils of victory; and n When rebels decide to detain any person, on suspicion that he is a spy of the forces of the government, it is to prevent him from pursuing said activity; therefore, the rebels did not commit the crime of kidnapping. The practice is legitimate under the laws of war. Such extreme stretching of democratic liberalism was used to claim human rights to groups that are mostly now considered globally as terrorist groups. A judgment handed down by an American court in 1995 in a class suit made rebellion and terrorism compensable rather than punishable. Subversives and terrorists who were injured, slain or detained in the

course of their lawless activities were able to press their claims for enormous amounts of compensation from a private estate rather than from government. The implication of this is injustice itself. For one thing, the Republic could be heavily penalized for defending itself or its citizens against rebels or terrorists. Provisions of the Constitution also make the Republic prone to instability, particularly the shortened terms of office of public officials and limitations on successive uninterrupted terms. While the intention for these are noble, these have only induced dynasties, discontinuity of policies and excessive politicking at the expense of public service. The most glaring weakness of the current charter is less in its text rather than its nonimplementation. Of what use are the provisions on elections, impeachment and recall when presidents can be deposed anytime, and the resulting extra-constitutional succession or takeover ratified or legitimized in unorthodox ways or those inconsistent with laws? Thus it is a great wonder if the Philippines, which is “democratic and Republican State”, as the 1987 Constitution phrases it, can develop the strength it needs to become competitive internationally and stable internally. In addition to structural changes based mainly on constitutional amendments, it appears that what is needed to mold a stronger Republic from the national security viewpoint is a disciplined citizenry, responsible government and a fervor for national unity, patriotism and nationalism.

before that, the country was 83rd/143 (59th percentile). According to the 2017 GII, our strongest pillar of innovation is our knowledge and technology outputs, ranked 42 or nearing the top third percentile at 33 percent. Next is business sophistication at 45 (35th); infrastructure, at 72 (57th percentile); institutions—political, regulatory and business environments combined—at 89 (70th); market sophistication at 92/128 (72rd); creative outputs at 94 (74th); and, finally, human capital— made of education, tertiary education and research and development efforts—at 95 (75th). Pitted among our Asean neighbors, excluding Myanmar and Lao PDR (they had incomplete data), we are ranked 6th out of 8. The top 2 are Singapore (6th percentile) and Malaysia (29th). Vietnam, at third place in the Asean region this year, made leaps and bounds, rising to the 37th percentile from last year’s 46th. Thailand (40th) and Brunei Darussalam

(56th) come before the Philippines (57 th). Finally, Indonesia (69th) and Cambodia (80th) complete the list. A mong t he 27 lower-midd leincome economies of the world, we ranked 8th, fol low ing Vietnam, Ukraine, Mongolia, Moldova, Armenia, India and Mexico. Tunisia and Kenya complete the top 10. Overall, however, the top 10 in the GII in the world are Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, the US, the UK, Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Germany and Iceland. They all belong to high-income economies. Of the 10, eight are from Europe, one is from Asean, and the other is for North America. More on the Global Innovation Index in the next article.

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

Josephine Rima-Santiago, Ll. M., is currently the director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. She has had more than 20 years of extensive experience in IP as a public servant, educator, practitioner and researcher. E-mail: jrsantiago@columnist.com

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Tuesday, June 20, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

FDI forecast raised to $8B for 2017

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

he resurgent global economy and sustained domestic expansion are seen to push foreign direct investments (FDI) some $1 billion higher than originally projected for the year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Monday.

$7B

The original projected foreign direct investments for the year According to the BSP, FDI—the kind of investments the government prefers because they stay for the long haul—are now estimated

to aggregate $8 billion this year, higher than the earlier forecast of $7 billion. “This is [due to] the recovery of the manufacturing sector and sustained growth in the services sectors, as well as the implementation of the PPP [public-private partnership] projects awarded in previous periods,” said Zeno Abenoja, director at the Department of Economic Research at the BSP. “This is also in line with the expected improvement in global economic conditions relative to 2016. So the push and pull

Islamic State poses growing threat to Asean

outheast Asia’s jihadis, who fought by the hundreds for the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, now have a different battle closer to home in the southern Philippines. It’s a scenario raising significant alarm in Washington. The recent assault by IS-aligned fighters on the Philippine city of Marawi has left more than 300 people dead, exposing the shortcomings of local security forces and the extremist group’s spreading reach in a region where counterterrorism gains are coming undone. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress last week that a long-running US military operation to help Philippine forces contain extremist fighters was canceled prematurely three years ago. Small numbers of US special forces remain in an “advise and assist” role, and the US is providing aerial surveillance to help the Philippines retake Marawi, an inland city of more than 200,000 people. But lawmakers, including from President Donald J. Trump’s Republican Party, want a bigger US role, short of boots on the ground. They fear the area is becoming a new hub for Islamist fighters from Southeast Asia and beyond. “I don’t know that ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] are directing operations there, but they are certainly trying to get fighters into that region,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said, using another acronym for the group. “We need to address the situation. It should not get out of control.” US intelligence and counterterrorism officials note that IS has publicly accepted pledges from various groups in the Philippines. In a June 2016 video, it called on followers in Southeast Asia to go to the Philippines if they cannot reach

In this June 9 file photo, debris and smoke rises after a Philippine Air Force fighter jets bombed suspected locations of Muslim militants in Marawi City. AP

Syria. About 40 foreigners, mostly from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, have been among 500 involved in fighting in Marawi City, the Philippine military says. Reports indicate at least one Saudi, a Chechen and a Yemeni were killed. In all, more than 200 militants have died in the standoff, now in its fourth week. A video obtained by The Associated Press from the Philippine military indicates an alliance of local

ERNST: “I don’t know that ISIS are directing operations there but they are certainly trying to get fighters into that region. We need to address the situation. It should not get out of control.”

Muslim fighters, aligned with IS, is coordinating complex attacks. They include the IS purported

leader in Southeast Asia: Isnilon Hapilon, a Filipino on Washington’s list of most-wanted terrorists, with a $5-million bounty on his head. US of f ic i a l s a re a ssessi ng whether any of the estimated 1,000 Southeast Asians who traveled to Iraq and Syria in recent years are fighting in Catholicmajority Philippines. They fear ungoverned areas in the mostly See “Islamic State,” A2

@lorenzmarasigan

he Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center has pitched anew the development of infrastructure deals between the government and prospective investors, this time parading projects that are currently under construction, and those that paved way for improved services. In a statement, the agency said there are currently seven projects with a cumulative cost of P150 billion that are under construction and are due for completion through 2020. Even with the economic managers now more keen on pursuing hybrid deals funded by taxpayers’ money and official development assistance, the agency is still actively promoting

the key infrastructure program of the Aquino administration. The seven projects under construction are the following: Mactan-Cebu International Airport New Passenger Terminal Building, Southwest Integrated Transport System (ITS) Project, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7, Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project (BBWSP), Civil Registry System-Information Technology Project (Phase II), PPP for School Infrastructure ProjectPhase II and Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3. In its statement, the agency highlighted the milestones these projects have achieved so far. For instance, after GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. took over airport in the Queen City of the South, facilities have been improved, paving way for more

airlines to launch flights to and from Cebu. The rehab of the existing terminal and the construction of a new one are now halfway done. The project is due for completion in the second quarter of 2019. It also cited developments in the Light Rail Transit Line 1 being undertaken by Light Rail Manila Corp. The company, led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., recently broke ground for the Cavite extension of the facility, and has just completed a P1-billion coach-rehab program. The agency also bragged about the development on its school infrastructure project. Megawide Construction Corp. is nearly complete with the construction of 4,370 classrooms across the Philippines. Megawide and WM Proper-

ty Management Inc. have also started the construction of the Southwest ITS Project. It will be in Parañaque City, along the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway. Luzon Clean Water Development Corp. is spearheading the development of the BBWSP, which aims to provide safe and reliable treated bulk water to 500,000 households in 569 barangays in various water districts of Bulacan. Un i s ys P ubl ic Sec tor Ser vices Corp. has also started with the construction of the service facility of the Civil Registry System. It is due for completion in September 2018. Skyway Stage 3 and MRT Line 7 are both unsolicited projects with ongoing construction. Both are being undertaken by companies under San Miguel Corp. With Verna Mae Barrozo

and motor parts; utilities, including the renewable energy and water works; real estate; entertainment; financial and insurance; and wholesale and retail trade. “These are based on the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan, as well as approved foreign investments provided by various investment-promotion agencies,” Abenoja said. In 2016 the country attracted $7.93 billion in FDI, up 40.7 percent from the 2015 level and significantly higher than the $6.7-billion forecast for that year.

PHL, INDONESIA, MALAYSIA INK TRILATERAL DEAL TO HEIGHTEN WAR VS TERROR By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

Despite preference for hybrid mode, govt still pitching beauty of PPP deals By Lorenz S. Marasigan

conditions are seen to be favorable in terms of the FDI inflows,” he added. Latest data from the Central Bank showed FDI aggregating $509 million in March, up 30.6 percent from $390 million in the comparable period last year. This pushed first quarter FDI to $1.6 billion, 16.6 percent higher than the $1.3 billion in the same period last year. The expected surge in FDI in the coming months is seen to benefit the following sectors: manufacturing, particularly electronic

@alyasjah

he Philippines on Monday forged a trilateral maritime patrol with Indonesia and Malaysia in the Sulu Sea to bolster the region’s war against terrorism and transnational crimes. In a news briefing, Military Spokesman Restituto F. Padilla Jr. said the deal will improve the monitoring of each country’s border waters. “We are keen on preventing abduction in the high seas. Aside from this, [we are trying to thwart] the movement of personnel bound from one country to another, who are fugitives of their own laws and seeking haven in [the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia],” Padilla added. The joint patrol comes in the wake of the conflict in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, where government troops and Islamist militants have been fighting for four weeks now. Padilla said the trilateral maritime patrol allows Philippine security forces to cross Indonesian and Malaysian border waters in cases of hot pursuit, and vice-versa. “In the event of hot pursuit, our troops will be permitted to go beyond our territory until our counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia approach and accost the criminals,” Padilla said. According to the military spokesman, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia will have an exchange of liaison

PADILLA: “In the event of hot pursuit, our troops will be permitted to go beyond our territory until our counterparts in Indonesia and Malaysia approach and accost the criminals.”

officers and sharing of assets, such as patrol ships, under the agreement. Padilla added personnel manning the operations will be stationed at command centers mutually agreed upon by defense ministers and army chiefs of the three countries. He added the joint patrol will also bolster intelligence sharing between the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. “The end objective of the trilateral maritime patrol is to reinforce the security in this common area [of Sulu Sea] and put an end to the movement of potential armed elements, any Jihadist organizations and any armed groups,” Padilla said. The joint patrol is expected to foil terror attacks and activities of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups based in Mindanao, which are known for kidnapping tourists, fishermen and sailors in the Sulu Sea. Indonesian authorities have earlier warned there are about 1,200 Islamic State (IS) militants operating in the Philippines. The collapse in security in Mindanao has raised alarm among Southeast Asian nations, as IS-linked groups are on the verge of establishing a caliphate in the region.

WILCON DEPOT STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING Officials of Wilcon Depot— Rosemarie Ong (from left), advisory board/senior executive vice president and COO at Wilcon Builders; William Belo, founder of Wilcon; and Mark Andrew Belo, director, treasurer and CFO—answer questions from the media during the company’s annual stockholders meeting held in Wack Wack, Madaluyong City. See related story in B1. NONIE REYES