Businessmirror march 03, 2017

Booming Asian nations

grapple with rise of shantytowns

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ast-growing emerging economies in Asia are grappling with the conundrum that a boom brings: hordes of villagers flocking to cities only—for many of them—to end up living in slums. About 55 percent of the urban population live in shantytowns in Cambodia, 43 percent in Mongolia, 41 percent in Myanmar and 38 percent in the Philippines, according to World Bank data that covers East Asia and the Pacific. The ratio is more than 20 percent in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, which are among the fastest-growing economies in the world. In some respects these nations have become a victim of their own success amid massive urbanization, where inward migration is outstripping governments’ ability to supply necessary infrastructure and services. In places like Manila and Jakarta, a dense sprawl of illegal or unplanned housing have sprouted up

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to offer homes for millions of workers who power their economies. “Emerging slums are proof that the economy is growing and the opportunities are often in cities,” Makiko Watanabe, a World Bank senior urban specialist, said in an interview in Manila. “But governments cannot keep up with providing adequate housing. There is a need to improve landuse policies and make housing finance more affordable.” Developing nations can look to the success of countries like Singapore, South Korea and Japan, which also struggled with slums in the past, Watanabe said. In Singapore the government transformed the city from a largely rural town with squatter colonies to the modern cosmopolitan city that it is today by building affordable housing. “If there is political will, it can be done,” Watanabe said. Continued on A12

The percentage of the Philippine urban population living in slums

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A broader look at today’s business Friday, March 3, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 142

Neda: PHL rice now cheaper than imports 36 T By Cai U. Ordinario

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he removal of import caps by July would not necessarily doom the local rice sector, as the production of the staple in 36 provinces is now cheaper compared to imports, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Continued on A2

The number of provinces in the country that are capable of producing rice at costs lower than imported rice slapped with a 35-percent tariff

2016 deficit disappointed fiscal planners T he national government (NG) incurred a P353.4billion deficit for 2016 as consequence of a 14-percent expenditure growth that outpaced revenue growth of just 4 percent and broadly in line with government initiatives to ramp up spending. According to data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), the deficit for 2016 was higher by P231.7 billion, from the P121.7 billion incurred in 2015. The deficit of P353.4 billion was lower by 9 percent than the revised program of P388.9 billion for the year. “The outturns reflect strong expenditure growth of 14 percent, resulting from the initiatives of the new administration to ramp up public spending for the second semester, outpacing the 4-percent increase in revenue collections,” the BTr said. Revenue collection for the year amounted to P2.195 trillion, expanding by 4 percent, or P87 billion, compared to revenues collected year-on-year amounting to P2.109 trillion. This proved inferior, or 3 percent lower, than the target collection figure of P2.256 trillion. “Relative to the economy, the deficit is still within the 2.7-percent revised target, coming in at 2.4 percent of the GDP. This is significantly higher than the 0.9-percent deficit-to-GDP ratio recorded last year, and the highest level posted in the last five years,” the BTr added. See “Deficit,” A2

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unleasHing the power of entrepreneurs in asean Jose Luis U. Yulo Jr., president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, gives his views on the Asia/Asean Emerging Economies: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Power for Peace and Co-Prosperity during the closing plenary of the Global Peace Convention 2017 held on Thursday. NONIE REYES

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TOBACCO RAIDS FOILED P1.1-B TAX-EVASION TRY By Rea Cu

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he Bureau of Customs (BOC) averted fresh attempts by unscrupulous traders to avoid payment of some P1.1 billion in taxes when it seized some P2.3 billion worth of cigarettes bearing fake-tax stamps in separate raids. BOC officials said that, while they are certain that the stamps used on the cigarettes that carried the Mighty Corp. brand were fake, they could not declare yet who the owners or manufacturers of the tobacco products are. However, the BOC officials

admitted that the warehouses in San Simon, Pampanga, and General Santos that were raided were being leased to Mighty Corp. This was confirmed by Mighty, in a statement, which stated that “the company will take steps to ask for the immediate reopening of its warehouse.” According to James A. Layug, head of the BOC’s Special Studies and Project Development Committee (SSPDC), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) estimated that P1.1 billion in revenues would have been lost had the seized cigarettes made their way into the market. See “Tobacco,” A2

Price spikes put Asean central banks on watch

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fter more than a year of disinflation, price pressures are quickly mounting across Southeast Asia as fuel costs rise, putting central banks on watch after years of policy easing. In Malaysia consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in almost a year in January and economists see that as closing the door on another interest-rate cut this year, even though the economy could do with more stimulus. From Singapore to Thailand, central banks are bracing for faster inflation. The recent spike has been mainly caused by oil pr ices, which have surged 25 percent in the past six months. In a region where countries like Indonesia have been prone to high inflation in the past, and currencies are

vulnerable—notably in Malaysia—central banks will need to monitor closely for any signs that rising fuel costs are spreading more broadly to prices in the economy. “The obvious risk is that complacency leads central banks to miss inflation pressure spreading to the spending-driven CPI components, forcing more aggressive rate hikes and greater growth slowdowns down the road,” said Timothy Condon, head of Asian research at ING Groep NV in Singapore. The pickup in inflation isn’t unique to Southeast Asia, as higher commodity prices drive up costs across Asia. China’s factory prices have snapped years of deflation, with some analysts saying this is the hidden side of the global reflation trade. Continued on A12

n japan 0.4426 n UK 61.7926 n HK 6.4783 n CHINA 7.3072 n singapore 35.7003 n australia 38.5983 n EU 53.0469 n SAUDI arabia 13.4152

Source: BSP (2 March 2017 )

A2 Friday, March 3, 2017

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Neda: PHL rice now cheaper than imports Continued from A1

In a recent presentation, Neda Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the average production cost of rice in 36 provinces will be P3 per kilogram lower than the unit cost of imported rice. This estimate assumed that the country will slap a 35-percent tariff on imported rice starting on July 1, when the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice has expired. “Those 36 provinces represent about 61 percent of our total use, 68 percent if we are just going to

Tobacco. . .

Continued from A1

“So all in all, the whole operations, three operations, resulted in seizure of P2.3 billion of fake-tax stamps and counterfeit or smuggled cigarette products. The losses from the computation of the BIR is around P1.1 billion in excise tax, if it were sold in the market already,” Layug told reporters during a news conference on Thursday at the BOC. In the Zamboanga City raid last month, 400 master cases of counterfeit smuggled cigarettes with an estimated street value of P13.5 million were seized. In the second raid on Wednesday in Pampanga, over P1.957 billion worth of assorted cigarettes from 62,000 master cases were confiscated, while the operation in General Santos City yielded 11,044 master cases of assorted cigarettes with fake-tax stamps with approximate street value of P215 million.

take food use. So its only about 39 percent shy of 100-percent selfsufficiency,” Sombilla said. Of the 36 provinces, she said 14 had an average yield of 3.5 metric tons (MT) per hectare and below. Sombilla said this means there is a high potential to increase the yield in these provinces if the government hikes its support for rice production. These 14 provinces are Palawan, Antique, Iloilo, Aklan, Surigao, Capiz, Masbate, Catanduanes, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Basilan, Samar, Guimaras and Maguindanao.

Government support could mean encouraging farmers in these provinces to use certified seeds, hybrid seeds, cultivating these seeds in suitable areas, providing irrigation facilities, and mechanizing farm facilities. There is really potential in the rice industry to be enhanced in order to become competitive, Sombilla said. Apart from the 36 provinces, Sombilla also said the Neda found there are eight large provinces that may have high yields but have recorded high production cost. These are Davao del Sur, Ilocos

Lawyer Mandy Anderson, BOC chief of staff, said the warehouses were subleased to Mighty Corp. “When we checked on the ownership of these warehouses located in Pampanga, we found out that these were subleased to Mighty Corp.” BIR representatives from Pampanga checked the tax stamps attached on cigarette packs and confirmed that fake stamps were used on each cigarette pack. “Of the warehouses we raided, so far the products found were Mighty products. And right now the warehouses are sealed of, and each warehouse is around 3,000 sq m,” Layug added. The BOC explained that an excise tax of P30 is being imposed per cigarette pack. A rim has 10 packs of cigarettes, and one master case has 50 rims. In a statement issued by Mighty Corp., the company has expressed its support to the BOC’s initiative to stop the proliferation of cigarettes with fake-tax stamps, and reiterated that it is not in the business of producing

Norte, Bulacan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Southern Leyte, Zambales and Occidental Mindoro. Sombilla added these provinces produce an average of 4 MT per hectare and above. Sombilla said if the government is able to institute reforms that could bring down the cost of production in these eight provinces, these areas can be “very competitive” in producing rice. “We should also look at how we can help these farmers lower their production cost to be more competitive,” she added. The Neda study, Sombilla said,

fake cigarettes. “Mighty Corp. is willing to open all its warehouses to cooperate with the BOC for seizure of fake cigarette products should any be found within its premises. It reiterates its longstanding position that it is not in the business of producing fake cigarette products as its own local brands are well accepted by its customers,” said Oscar Barrientos, Mighty Corp. executive vice president and spokesman. Neil Estrella, BOC director for Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS), assured that due process will be followed in the handling of the case. “Well, very obvious, No. 1, we will provide due process. Let me emphasize that, we will conduct further investigation from here since right now, what we have is just the initial information. We have 15 days before the issuance of the warrant of seizure and detention to be issued by the collector of the BOC.”

EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF SOUTHERN LUZON, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON (As of 5:00 PM - Mar. 2, 2017)

Deficit. . .

Continued from A1

Of the total revenue collection, P1.980 trillion, or 90 percent, came from taxes, up 9 percent, or P164.9 billion, from only P1.815 trillion in 2015. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) contributed P1.567 trillion to aggregate tax revenues, while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) contributed only P396 billion. “Tax collection grew by 9.1 percent, faster than the GDP in 2016, reflecting improved efficiency. Tax effort inched up to 13.7 percent, from 13.6 percent in 2015. Total revenue collection equaled 15.2 percent of GDP, just 0.3 percent short of the 15.5 percent revised target and 0.5 percent below the 15.8 percent revenue effort last year,” the BTr said. Year-on-year, the BIR performance in 2016 of P1.567 trillion grew by 9 percent compared to the P1.433 trillion in 2015, but missed its revised program of P1.620 trillion. “BIR collection is net of the P8.6-billion tax refund paid to various claimants for the

was based on their survey of 82 provinces nationwide. The agency examined rice production under normal yield levels, particularly in 2012 and 2014. Sombilla said 2012 data were used for the production cost estimates, including inputs and logistics. These were adjusted to the 2015 and 2016 levels. These costs were then compared to the unit import cost of 25-percent broken rice imported from Thailand and Vietnam using 35-percent tariff plus a transport cost of P2.50 per kg. The QR on rice, a trade privilege

year, which includes the partial settlement of tax withheld from the PEACE Bonds amounting to P3.3 billion. Inclusion of the tax refund will drive total collection to P1.575 trillion,” the BTr added. The performance of the BOC last year, on the other hand, expanded by 8 percent or by P28.8 billion compared to P367.5 billion in 2015, mainly on account of lower noncash collection. The revenue expansion failed to impress fiscal planners, which planned to collect at least P409 billion under the program, as actual revenues totaled only P396 billion, or 3 percent lower than planned. Nontax revenues for the year totaled P215 billion, 27 percent or P78 billion fewer compared to the P293.5 billion realized in 2015. Still, this was higher by 1 percent compared to the programmed target of P212.7 billion. The BTr also reported an 8-percent decline in collection for the year with only P101.7 billion versus revenue performance of P110 billion in 2015. But just the same, this exceeded the program target of P90 billion by 13 percent. The disbursement of public funds for

which the World Trade Organization has allowed the country to enjoy for two decades, will expire on June 30. This means that the government can no longer limit the volume of imported rice that may enter the Philippines starting July. To date, Congress has yet to amend a law that will allow the governmen to convert the nontariff barrier into a specific tariff rate. Earlier, the Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the Cabinet Committee on Tariff and Related Matters has decided not to pursue the extension of the QR on rice. the year amounted to P2.549 trillion, up 14 percent compared to only P2.230 trillion in 2015, but missed the revised target by 4 percent. Aggregate spending for the year was set at P2.645.6 trillion. Interest payments (IP) last December alone amounted to P304.5 billion, translating to savings of P23.3 billion against the P327.7 billion programmed for the year. Interest payments proved 2 percent lower than the P309 billion programmed in 2015. “Share of IP out of total revenues decreased to 13.9 percent from 14.7 percent in the previous year, indicating improved capacity of the NG to service its debt. IP comprised 11.9 percent of total expenditures, lower than the 13.9 percent recorded in 2015, an indication of a wider fiscal space for productive government spending,” the BTr added. Net of interest payments, NG achieved a P49 billion primary deficit for 2016, a reversal from primary surplus of P187.7 billion last year. This was also 20 percent or P12.2 billion lower than the target of P61.2 billion.

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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Friday, March 3, 2017 A3

HRW: Cops kill drug suspects, plant evidence in cover-ups

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By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

HE New York-basked Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a 117-page report that found the National Police “guilty” of carrying out extrajudicial killings of drug suspects and planting evidence on them to “prove” they fought back.

Titled “License to Kill: Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs’,” the HRW report claimed that policemen are falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings in a “war on drugs” that has caused more than 7,000 deaths. HRW said President Duterte and his underlings “have instigated and incited killings of mostly urban poor in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.”

In blasting Duterte, HRW said “the United Nations should urgently create an independent, international investigation into the killings to determine responsibility, and ensure mechanisms for accountability.” “Our investigations into the Philippine ‘drug war’ found that police routinely kill drug suspects in cold blood and then cover up their crime by planting drugs and guns at the scene,” said Peter Bouckaert, HRW emergen-

cies director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “President Duterte’s role in these killings makes him ultimately responsible for the deaths of thousands.” The study found that policemen have repeatedly carried out extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, and then falsely claimed self-defense. “They plant guns, spent ammunition and drug packets on their victims’ bodies to implicate them in drug activities. Masked gunmen taking part in killings appeared to be working closely with the police, casting doubt on government claims that the majority of killings have been committed by vigilantes or rival drug gangs. In several instances that HRW investigated, suspects in police custody were later found dead and classified by police as ‘found bodies’ or ‘deaths under investigation’. No one has been meaningfully investigated, let alone prosecuted, for any of the ‘drug war’ killings,” Bouckaert added. The report draws heavily on interviews in the Metro Manila area

with 28 family members of victims and witnesses to police killings, as well as journalists and humanrights activists. It also looked into initial police reports of killings, which HRW field research consistently contradicted. “Since taking office on June 30, 2016, Duterte and other senior officials have been outspoken in support of a nationwide campaign to kill drug dealers and users, while denying or downplaying the illegality of police actions. For instance, on August 6, Duterte warned drug dealers: My order is shoot to kill you. I don’t care about human rights, you better believe me.’ He praised the soaring body count of victims of police killings as proof of the ‘success’ of his ‘war on drugs’,” HRW said. HRW documented 24 incidents that resulted in the deaths of 32 people. “They typically occurred late at night either on the streets or inside informal shacks of urban slum areas. Witnesses told HRW that the armed assailants operated in small

groups. They typically wore black civilian clothes and shielded their faces with balaclava-style headgear or other masks, and baseball caps or helmets. The assailants would bang on doors and barge into rooms, but would not identify themselves or provide warrants. Family members reported hearing beatings and their loved ones begging for their lives. The shooting could happen immediately, behind closed doors or on the street, or the gunmen might take the suspect away, where minutes later, shots would ring out and local residents would find the body, or the body would be dumped elsewhere later, sometimes with hands tied or the head wrapped in plastic. Local residents often said they saw uniformed police on the outskirts of the incident, securing the perimeter, and even if not visible before a shooting, special crime scene investigators would arrive within minutes,” the report added. “Under the veneer of antidrug operations, the police, at Duterte’s urging, have killed thousands of

Filipinos,” Bouckaert said. “Many killings of drug suspects followed the same deadly routine and indicate a pattern of police abuse.” Duterte has frequently characterized his “war on drugs” as targeting “drug lords” and “drug pushers”. “However, in the cases investigated by HRW, the victims of drugrelated killings were all poor, except for one case of mistaken identity, and many were suspected drug users, not dealers. Almost all were either unemployed or worked menial jobs, including as rickshaw drivers or porters, and lived in slum neighborhoods or informal settlements,” the report said. Officials have failed to seriously investigate drug-war killings by either the police or “unidentified gunmen”. “Although the National Police has classified a total of 922 killings as ‘cases where investigation has concluded’, there is no evidence that those probes have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators,” the HRW report also said.

Court jails Taguig illegal DOJ issues lookout order vs QC road-rage suspect drugs dealer, two others By Christopher Lloyd T. Caliwan Philippines News Agency

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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HE Regional Trial Court in Taguig City has seentenced another member of the notorious Tinga drug syndicate to reclusion perpetua or imprisonment for at least 30 years. Judge Antonio Olivete of Branch 267 of the RTC in Taguig found Elisa Tinga guilty beyond reasonable doubt of selling P5,000 worth of shabu, or methamphetamine hydrochloride. Tinga was also ordered by the court to pay a fine of P500,000. On a separate charge, the court also issued a guilty verdict against Tinga for illegal possession of prohibited drugs and sentenced her to imprisonment of between 10 to 15 years. Convicted with Tinga were her cohorts Andrea Escalante and Daniel Datinggaling. The court ordered the immediate transfer of Tinga and Escalante from the Taguig City Jail’s Female Dormitory to the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City, while Datinggaling was ordered to be taken to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. The case against Tinga stemmed

from a buy-bust operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the District Anti-Illegal Drugs unit of the Southern Police District and the Taguig City police in July 2012 on Kalayaan Street in Ususan, Taguig City. During the entrapment operation, one of the undercover agents disguised as potential buyer of shabu handed Tinga P5,000 in exchange for a small plastic sachet containing white crystalline substance. She was arrested on the spot. Laboratory analysis revealed that the confiscated substance was shabu. Tinga was the third-most wanted person on the list of illegal-drugs distributors in Taguig at the time of her arrest. She is the seventh member of the Tinga drug syndicate arrested by the authorities since 1996. She is the wife of Noel Tinga who is reportedly the cousin of former Taguig City Mayor Freddie Tinga. In September last year Joel Tinga, another member of the Tinga drug syndicate, was also sentenced to reclusion perpetua for selling illegal drugs. There are still six other members of the syndicate, all bearing the surname Tinga, who are currently facing drug charges.

Atienza backs Pagcor in Army Navy Club deal

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OUSE of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza is supporting the deal entered into by the PhilippineAmusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) with a private company involving the Army Navy Club property. Atienza, who served as mayor of the city of Manila when the Army Navy Club property was opened up for private investors, said that while the primary objective of allowing private companies to invest in the property was for the restoration and preservation of the aging facility, it would be up for the investors to come up with other forms of business ventures to recoup their investments. “I don’t see anything wrong with Pagcor entering into a business agreement with a private corporation to put up a casino within the Army Navy Club property,” Atienza said. The House of Representatives, through the Committee on Good Government and Accountability, is currently looking into the contract entered into by Pagcor with Vanderwood Management Corp. Pagcor, then chaired by Cristino Naguiat, entered into a 15-year lease contract with Vanderwood to put up a casino and gaming facility at the Museo Pambata Complex in Roxas Boulevard. Naguiat insisted that the contract Pagcor entered into with Vanderwood to construct a P1.5-billion casino and gaming facility is legal and aboveboard, and will even save the government P187 million

a year compared to other gaming facilities the government maintains in other hotels. Aside from the savings, Naguiat said the government is ATIENZA also expected to earn about P59.17 billion in revenues from the casino and gaming facility to be built by Vanderwood in the Army Navy Club property. In a position paper he submitted to the House Committee on Good Government and Accountability looking into the controversial Pagcor-Vanderwood contract, the former Pagcor chief said the 15-year lease the government agency entered into with Vanderwood went through the proper and legal processes. The committee, chaired by PDP-Laban Rep. Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur, has started an inquiry into the alleged highly anomalous P13-million-per-month lease of Pagcor of a portion of the Army Navy Club property to Vanderwood where a casino will be put up. Atienza said the major issue Pagcor has to answer is whether there is overpricing or overestimating in the contract it entered into with Vanderwood. “Pagcor has to defend itself here and prove there was no overpricing or overestimation with regard to its agreement with Vanderwod,” Atienza said.

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HE Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (Ilbo) against Friedson Atienza, the suspect in a road-rage incident in Quezon City, who remains at large despite efforts of the authorities to locate him. In a memorandum dated March 1, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II ordered Immigration Commissioner Jaime H. Morente to instruct all immigration officers in the country’s airports and seaports to be on the lookout for Atienza, whom authorities tagged as the suspect in the killing of Anthony Mendoza following a traffic brawl on Saturday at the corner of D. Tuazon Street and Quezon Avenue. “In order not to defeat the ongoing investigation by the Quezon City Police Department, you are hereby directed to include Mr. Fredison Atienza in the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order, disseminate the infor-

mation, instruct all immigration officers to be on the lookout/alert for the above-named individual should he pass through the immigration counters in any of our international airports and seaports,” Aguirre said. “You are further directed to promptly relay to the Office of the Secretary of such information,” he added. The DOJ chief warned immigration officers not to wait until boarding time of the subject individual to inform his office or the prosecutor general of any attempt to leave the country. “Take all other appropriate actions, including, but not limited to, coordinating with other concerned offices and agencies and even airlines, especially since international passengers are customarily required to check in within a specified number of hours before the flight,” he added. An Ilbo is different from a court-issued hold departure order (HDO), since the former only directs the Bureau of Immigration to be

on the lookout for the subject and to verify the status of a case against the subject person and not to restrict an individual from leaving the country. But a person subject to the Ilbo should seek an allow-departure order (ADO) from the DOJ chief itself to be allowed to leave. Earlier, the Quezon City police chief, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, said the police have received surrender feelers from Atienza. Eleazar said, a certain Alfamil Yap, a friend of suspect Fredison Atienza, alias Sonson, turned over the vehicle to Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (Cidu) investigators before 5 p.m. on Tuesday.’ The Quezon City Police District Cidu chief, Supt. Rodelio Marcelo, said Yap surrendered the vehicle upon the advice of a lawyer. Michael Mendoza, the victim’s brother who witnessed the shooting, positively identified the surrendered Toyota Land Cruiser as the same vehicle which the suspect was driving when the shooting incident occurred.

Economy

A4 Friday, March 3, 2017 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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TransCo’s Matibag says govt should fund Visayas-Mindanao interconnection project

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) wants the P52-billion Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project (VMIP) to be shouldered by the government and not power consumers.

“I want to look for a way that the cost of the connection should not be passed on to consumers,” TransCo President Melvin Matibag said on Thursday afternoon. The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which won the concession to operate and manage the grid system in December 2007 for $3.95 billion, will undertake the project envisioned to be completed by 2020. “That [P52 billion] will be an additional cost to the consumer. Baka matapos na iyung concession, ’di pa nabayaran ’yung P52 billion. [The P52billion expense may remain unpaid beyond the expiry of the concession.]

₧52B The projected expense for the completion of VMIP

I want to look for a way that the cost of the connection should not be passed on to consumers,” he said. One option is for the project amount to be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). “I’m having some representation from our Congress. I’m thinking if it can

be included into the GAA [since it’s not included in the items]. I’m just thinking of ways for consumers will no longer bear the cost of that interconnection,” Matibag said. “I want to know if we can do that.” The TransCo chief said this is still being reviewed. He said a provision in the concession agreement states that the development and improvement of the transmission grid is exclusive to the concessionaire. “I want to define that exclusiv[ity clause,” he said. Last month NGCP made public the result of a study that will interconnect the Visayas and Mindanao grids. “NGCP is pleased to report that we already finished the hydrographic survey that will determine the route of the Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project. With this development, we now have a clearer plan on the project’s implementation. Powerresource sharing between the country’s major islands will now become a reality,” the grid operator said. In an NGCP-commissioned hydrographic survey conducted from September to November 2016, a viable route along the country’s western seaboard—be-

ginning in Cebu and terminating in Dipolog—was determined as viable for the implementation of the plans of interconnecting the Visayas and Mindanao grids. The project is envisioned to be finished by 2020, assuming all regulatory approvals are secured on time. The Luzon and the Visayas grids have long been connected via NGCP’s Naga-Ormoc High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) line. With the hydrographic survey result, NGCP will now proceed with the preparation of a conceptual design, detailed cost-estimate and update of system simulation study using the Cebu-Dipolog route, in order to complete documents needed when it filed its application before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in April this year. “We need the support of the government, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the different local government units the project will traverse, among others, to push this forward. With their full support, we are confident that we will be able to complete this project on time,” stated the company.

briefs peza m.e. road show gets $110-M investment pledges The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has secured $110 million in investment pledges after its recent investment road show in the Middle East. “Middle East investment pledges is at $110 million,” Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza said in a text message to the BusinessMirror on Wednesday. Gulf state investors, Plaza said in an earlier interview, have expressed interest to invest in agro-industrial processing. One particular investor from that region expressed interest in putting up an oil refinery and depot, she said. The Department of Trade and Industry said priority sectors for the Middle East are agribusiness/agriculture, energy-efficient technologies, infrastructure and public-private partnership projects, information-technology and business-process management, and tourism. Plaza said President Duterte is tentatively eyeing a state visit to the Middle East on February 26 onward to March 3 for Riyadh, Dubai and Qatar; part two is Bahrain Oman and Kuwait. A delegation of businessmen from Dubai, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have visited the Philippines last year for an initial meet-up with Peza. Catherine N. Pillas

phl hostS intl conference on translation in september The Philippines in September will host an international conference on translation and translation studies to discuss best practices worldwide and potential collaboration in the region. Non-governmental organization Filipinas Institute of Translation (FIT) will collaborate with the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in holding the “2017 Salinan International Conference: Translation and Translation Studies in Local and Global Contexts” from September 28 to 30 at the Ateneo de Manila University. FIT Officer in Charge and President Michael Coroza, who is also the conference director, said the event aims to raise awareness on translation, which is hampered by a lack of a regulatory body that would set standards for translators. “Although we are a country with diverse languages, translation and translation studies remain to be an underappreciated field in the Philippines. The country lacks a national agenda in the field of translation, let alone systematic study and criticism of the area. This lack of attention has made it difficult for schools, educators and the public sector to transfer various forms of knowledge,” NCCA Chairman Virgilio Almario said. Coroza also pointed out that excellent translators are sure to earn from their craft, noting that government-certified translators in Canada earn as much as $10,000. The conference will feature experts in translation, among them Lawrence Venuti from the United States, Luise von Flotow from Canada and Almario from the Philippines. Other speakers from Italy, India, Hong Kong and the Philippines will also take part in the event. “The global conference will pave the way for the Philippines to be known in the international scene as a key player in the development of translation practice. This is a unique opportunity for educators and translation practitioners to come together to learn from country case studies and best practices globally, and eventually to formulate a strategy for the development of the field in the country,” Coroza added. PNA

Paris climate deal

Sen. Loren B. Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, receives from Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Meynard Guevarra the Instrument of Accession to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Legarda thanked President Duterte for ratifying the agreement and confirmed her commitment to shepherd the Senate’s immediate concurrence. “Our ratification will send a strong signal of our continuing commitment to work with the rest of the world in ensuring the survival of our planet and its people,” Legarda said. PNA photo courtesy of Office of Sen. Loren Legarda

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‘Overworked’ Filipinos rose to 8M+ in 2015–PSA report

By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

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ome 8.105 million Filipinos were considered as “overworked” in their primary jobs in 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Based on the report on Decent Work in the Philippines, the PSA said this was a growth of 41.2 percent, or 2.363 million more than the 5.742 million recorded 20 years ago. “Having more than the usual hours of work may interfere with the balance between personal life and work, may increase injury hazard risks, may signal an inadequate pay and, in the long term, may be a threat to workers’ physical and mental capacity to work. It may also be connected in the reduction of the productivity of workers,” the PSA noted. In the Philippines decent work is measured according to working time, such as employed persons who worked for more than the prescribed 48 hours actually worked per week in both primary job and in all jobs. Primary jobs, the PSA said, can be the one job of a person regardless of permanency and hours worked in the job. In the case of more than one job, the primary job pertains to the employment that is permanent, regardless of hours worked; the job that requires more hours of work; or provides the most income. “Decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, provides security in the workplace and social protection for workers and their families, and gives people the freedom to express their concerns, to organize

and to participate in decisions that affect their lives,” the PSA quoted the International Labor Organization (ILO). PSA data showed that, despite the decline in their number, there were more men that were deemed overworked in 2015 compared to 1995. As a percent to total employed with excessive hours worked in a primary job, men accounted for more than half, or 53.8 percent, or 4.358 million of the total 8.105 million in 2015. The share in 1995 was at 59.1 percent. Women, on the other hand, accounted for the remaining 46.2 percent (3.747 million) of the total. However, this was higher than the 40.9-percent share recorded in 1995. Most of the country’s overworked employees came from the services sector. They now represent 80 percent of overworked employees, higher than the 66.1 percent posted in 1995. While the agriculture and industry sectors had almost equal shares in 2015 at 10.1 percent and 10 percent, respectively, the share of agriculture sector was comparatively lower by 13.8 percentage points in 2015, from the 23.9 percent registered in 1995. In terms of classification of the class of worker, more than half, or 52.6 percent, were wage and salaried employees. Self-employed persons only accounted for 38.5 percent of the total in 2015, a decline of 6.3 percentage points from 44.8-percent share in 1995. “This is an increase of 9.1 percentage points from the 43.5 percent share in 1995,” the PSA said.

Lawmakers question ‘disadvantageous’ ITS deal at FTI

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embers of the House Committee on Transportation on Thursday questioned the alleged “disadvantageous concession agreement” between the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Ayala Land Inc. for the construction of an Integrated Transport System (ITS) at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig City. In a joint statement, Rep. Jesulito A. Manalo of Angkla Party-list, presiding chairman of the recent congressional hearing on the South and Southwest Terminal, and Partylist Rep. Rodel M. Batocabe of AKO Bicol said the lower chamber should look further into the fine print and myriad details of the South Integrated Terminal System contract,

which reportedly glossed over various safety and cost details. South Integrated Terminal System is one of the big-ticket projects under the Public-Private Partnership Program (PPP). “A joint venture involves shared costs and revenue, but in this case, one is paying the other for the next 35 years. The concession agreement was crafted with the concessionaire in mind and not the commuting public and the public-transportation sector,” Batocabe said. The lawmakers also questioned the veracity of the feasibility study used to determine the viability of the provincial bus terminal. Meanwhile, in a letter to House Committee on Transportation Chairman and PDP-Laban Rep. Ce-

sar V. Sarmiento of Catanduanes, the Southern Luzon Bus Operators’ Association (Soluboa) said various stakeholders were not consulted by both the government and the project proponent. Soluboa is the largest organization of bus operators in Southern Luzon. The group also manifested their opposition to the government’s planned South East and South West provincial bus terminals. “[Soluboa] is not in favor, and will not support the current identified terminals for several reasons, primordial of which is the interest of the commuting public,” said Mike Salalima, executive director of Soluboa. The group said bus operators from Southern Luzon, who will be

using the system, have expressed opposition over the FTI complex site location. It said their operations would be affected by entering the heavily congested portions of Southern Luzon Expressway-Skyway, resulting in increased travel time, and reduced turnaround times when disembarking and picking up passengers. According to Soluboa, the configuration of the integrated system vis-á-vis the Skyway would mean buses would take the costly Skyway elevated system to access the terminal. Soluboa also said it was never consulted, or made participants in any discussion for the currently identified terminals in Taguig. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

PHL secures ₧14.5-B new investment commitments from Japanese businessmen

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apanese businesses remain confident of business prospects in the Philippines, as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) secures P14.5 billion in new commitments from existing Japanese firms in the country. Following an investment forum

in Tokyo, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said Japanese businessmen pledged as much as P14.5 billion in expansion projects, which include a substantial investment from shipbuilding giant Tsuneishi Heavy Industries. “We met with Tsuneishi Presi-

dent Kenji Kawanoto to discuss the expansion plans of Tsuneishi shipbuilding in the Philippines. Our discussions now include a prospective third project on ship recycling, using the latest internationally accredited green technologies. The project will generate potential

investments of over P5 billion and total job generation conservatively estimated at 6,000,” Lopez said in a message to reporters. The ship recycling project is envisioned to respond to the country’s requirements for interisland vessels for transport and logistics, as well as

cover the steel requirements of major infrastructure work, Lopez said. He clarified though that this third project was in addition to the two expansion plans signed and witnessed by President Duterte during his state visit to Japan last October. That previous visit already

brought in Tsuneishi’s two expansion projects: a ship-reuse center in Negros Occidental, with a P5.2-billion tag; and a biomass fuel project in Mindanao worth P5 billion. Tsuneishi’s three projects is seen to employ a total of 32,000 new jobs. Catherine N. Pillas

AseanFriday BusinessMirror

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Friday, March 3, 2017 A5

Saudi, Indonesia ink 11 new deals during state visit of King Kalman

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audi Arabia pledged $1 billion in development finance for Indonesia and expanded cooperation in other areas, deepening ties with Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, as the Saudi king and a huge entourage arrived on Wednesday for a nine-day visit. Enthusiastic crowds lined the route of King Salman’s heavily guarded motorcade as it arrived in Bogor, near the capital Jakarta, where official events were held at an imposing presidential palace. He was earlier welcomed at Jakarta’s Halim airport by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the minority Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who is fighting a tough election battle after being charged with blaspheming the Quran. At a joint news conference, the countries’ foreign ministers affirmed Saudi Aramco and Indonesian oil company Pertamina’s plans for a $6-billion refinery joint venture in Cilacap in central Java. The two countries also signed 11 agreements that included a Saudi commitment to provide $1 billion of financing for economic development and cooperation to combat transnational crime, such as people smuggling, terrorism and drug trafficking. Salman is on a tour of Asian countries to advance the kingdom’s economic and business interests. On his first stop in Malaysia, Saudi Aramco signed a $7-billion deal to take a 50-percent stake in a Malaysian oil refinery. Salman will also visit Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives, the official Saudi Press Agency has reported. The first visit of a Saudi monarch to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, in nearly a half century generated blanket media coverage. Live broadcasts showed the octogenarian Salman exiting his plane at Halim using a gold-colored escalator sent from Saudi Arabia for the visit, with a portable lift carrying him the final meter or so to the ground. Salman will spend six of his nine days in Indonesia vacationing on the resort island of Bali, a predominantly Hindu part of the Indonesian archipelago. “As the world’s biggest Muslim nation, Indonesia will always have a special bond

with Saudi Arabia,” Jokowi said. “Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are two big countries that have important influence in the region, and our countries should continue to improve cooperation both in bilateral and international contexts.” Indonesia practices a moderate form of Islam and has a democratic secular government, but Saudi-funded institutes in the country are known to spread a highly doctrinaire interpretation of the Koran. They are tolerated in part because Indonesia wants to at least maintain its annual quota of citizens who can enter Saudi Arabia to participate in the hajj to Islam’s holiest city. Jokowi said he appreciated that Indonesia’s hajj quota, which was reduced in the aftermath of the 2015 hajj disasters, had been restored and expanded for 2017, with 221,000 pilgrims allowed from Indonesia. The Indonesian government said Salman’s entourage and related delegations number about 1,500 people. They have booked out four hotels in a posh Jakarta neighborhood for the week and about 10,000 police and soldiers have been deployed for security, including for Salman’s Bali trip. Statues of naked men and women at the Bogor palace were removed or covered out of courtesy to the Saudi visitors. The same step was taken when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Indonesia in January. Indonesia has said it hopes for $25 billion of new investments from Saudi Arabia. The two leaders discussed possibilities, including three oil refineries, a power plant and infrastructure, such as roads, housing and sanitation. Aside from the two countries having a common faith, Saudi Arabia employs hundreds of thousands of Indonesians despite a government ban on sending domestic workers there following the execution of an Indonesian maid in 2011. AP

UK response to Thai Rolls-Royce probe being slowed by death-penalty fears

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he United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is stalling the handover of information from its corruption investigation into Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc. to Thai authorities because of fears the country may pursue the death penalty against individuals. The situation highlights the challenges prosecutors face in global probes. Sharing information across borders is essential but also often problematic as authorities are forced to tread the line between cooperation and the protection of human rights. UK and US authorities told the Thai government that it has to confirm capital punishment won’t be an option if its investigation leads to prosecutions before any evidence or other information is shared, the Thai Office of the Attorney General’s International Affairs Director-General Amnat Chotchai said at a press conference in Bangkok. Thai officials may still pursue life imprisonment for anyone convicted, Amnat said. Thai authorities opened an investigation after Rolls-Royce paid £671 million ($830 million) and entered into deferred prosecution agreements with US and UK authorities in January to resolve bribery and corruption probes. The fine also included a sanction from Brazil. Among the allegations against the jet-engine maker were examples of bribes paid to Thai agents and employees of Thai Airways International Pcl.

The UK has so-called mutual legal assistance (MLA) treaties, which set the parameters for information sharing, in place with a number of countries. Britain entered into an MLA treaty on criminal matters with Thailand in 1997, according to the UK Home Office. “It’s no secret that agencies speak to one another, and often share information, both formally and informally,” said Robert Amaee, a London lawyer at Quinn Emanuel and former head of anticorruption at the SFO. “Underpinning all of this is the need for the agencies to balance their desire to assist each other with their fundamental obligation to safeguard the human rights of suspects.” The UK DPA with Rolls-Royce states that one reason individuals are given anonymity in the agreement is because in some countries it could “lead to action or the imposition of a penalty which, in this country, we would regard as contravening Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” “We will comply with our obligations to cooperate under the agreements reached in the UK, the US and Brazil and cannot comment further on any actual or potential investigations in other countries,” a Rolls spokesman said by e-mail. A spokesman for the SFO declined to comment. Nicole Navas, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to comment. Bloomberg News

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

Investors with $6.6T reveal bets on Chinese politics

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lobal investors may have to start paying attention to Chinese politics again. While the country was a bastion of stability in the year of Brexit and Donald J. Trump, Beijing’s potential to surprise markets is rising in 2017. Not only does President Xi Jinping face external challenges from a combative American president and a belligerent regime in North Korea, his ruling Communist Party plans a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle toward yearend. The run-ups to such transitions are often tense, and this one will be crucial to cementing Xi’s grip on power. The stakes are high for investors. Gene Fr ieda, a strateg ist at Pacific Investment Management Co., says this year’s leadership sha ke-up cou ld determine whether China becomes a market-fr iend ly nation dedicated to refor m, or one where gover nment medd ling stif les economic grow th. He’ l l be look ing for ea rly clues on Sunday when the National People’s Congress (NPC) convenes its annual session in Beijing, a warm-up for the pivotal party conclave. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent on Thursday, paring this year’s gain to 4.4 percent. For tips on how to navigate China’s big political year, we spoke to Frieda and counterparts at BlackRock Inc., Templeton Emerging Markets Group and Weiss MultiStrategy Advisers—firms that oversee a combined $6.6 trillion. Here’s what they said:

the realization that poor relations with the US will probably hinder continued growth in China. “The best dance would be to mollify the US, so that China can gain time to eventually equal or even surpass the US in terms of economic strength and technology. Our stance therefore is to continue seeking good domestically oriented companies in China, particularly those that have a technological edge or are moving toward high-level technology.”

$12T The estimated value of China’s GDP, which increased from $4.5 trillion during the last administration

Pimco

Economic growth target announced at NPC may be key signal of the government’s commitment to painful reform; 15-percent to 20-percent chance it’s cut below 6 percent; abandoning target would be better China will be reactive to US moves and try to be conciliatory, except regarding Taiwan’s sovereignty; risk of a trade war favors bigger weighting in the dollar, defensive investments and securities with good liquidity Base-case forecast of 5-percent to 7-percent yuan depreciation versus the dollar this year. Still unclear whether Xi will use his power to enact tough reforms “There are two camps on what the current status of leadership means, but we can’t judge which camp is right until after

Weiss

Preparing for China’s national Communist Party congress. Bloomberg Preparing for China’s national Communist Party congress. Bloomberg

the 19th Party Congress,” said Frieda, the firm’s London-based global strategist. “One can believe this consolidation of power is the only way that China could go through all the reforms that they need to do, because you need absolute centralized control. “ T he ot her c a mp be l ie ves that we are near the era when the party’s role in the economy will increase again due to more centralized power, which we do not think is conducive to strong economic growth.”

BlackRock

China will keep focus on political stability and try to create an environment, “where a lot of hard work can be done”. Favor domestic-focused companies over those dependent on international trade;

higher-quality businesses can endure a pickup in volatility around US-China relations. Seek long-term opportunities tied to supply-side reform in commodities sector. One NPC focus will be encouraging China’s transformation to a consumption- and services-oriented economy “Some consolidation of power is useful because it can get things mov ing,” said Jeff Shen, the firm’s head of emerging markets and cohead of scientific active equity. “It is very difficult to enforce change and transformation without centrally consolidated power. Reform could go faster.”

Templeton

Xi’s Authority may not reach that of former leaders, like Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping, because power has become more dis-

persed, with competing interests at the local and provincial levels. China will project strength on Taiwan and the South China Sea, but may seek to appease the US in the short term. NPC will highlight China’s efforts to boost the technology and environmental industries. Wouldn’t be surprised to see growth target of 6 percent, but not much lower because there’s still need for infrastructure and antipollution investments “The biggest challenge facing the Chinese leadership now is the dramatic change in the stands taken by the American leadership,” said Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group. “On one side, China must show strength when it comes to relationships with the US. However, this strength must be tempered by

Xi appears to be taking bigger leadership role in global trade; unlikely to back down from the US on the next military issue in Asia. China-US trade tension will boost volatility in global markets. Fears over China from debt and reserve perspectives are overblown; Chinese equities will outperform US stocks. Reduced access to US consumer because of trade barriers could spur China and other nations to boost corporate productivity “This change in the China-US relationship to me will likely be the event that makes the world realize that China’s GDP increased from $4.5 trillion to approximately $12 trillion during the last administration,” sa id Jord i Visser, t he hedge fund ’s head of investments in New York. Weiss’s main multistrateg y fund returned 9.6 percent last year and 1.5 percent in Januar y. “ Their importance on global trade and the global economy makes this relationship far more impor tant t han before. T his recognition will likely lead to an increase in volatility within asset markets, which will be impacted by events on both trade and geopolitics.” Bloomberg News

Silver spurned as Indian Trump’s conciliatory speech an attempt to smooth hard edges farmers strapped for cash W

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ilver imports by India, one of the world’s top buyers, will probably shrink this year to the lowest since 2012 as the government cracks down on black money, farmers struggle for cash and stockpiles remain ample. Purchases f rom overseas plunged 60 percent to about 3,000 metric tons last year and will contract further in 2017, according to Chirag Sheth, an analyst at Metals Focus Ltd., an independent precious-metals research firm, in Mumbai. Demand for jewelry has suffered after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped old high-denomination notes last November to clamp down on the black market and bring more transparency to the financial system. That hit the rural economy, which depends more on cash than urban areas, and hurt demand from farmers. Inventories are “sizable” after record imports in 2015, Sheth said. “Investment demand for silver will continue to fare badly and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a 10-percent to 12-percent drop” this year in India, said Sheth, who’s tracked precious metals for 13 years. On the global market, investors have shown increasing interest because of rising political risk. Assets in exchange-traded funds rose in February for the first time in four months, while funds and other speculators almost doubled net-long bets on the Comex this year. While prices have been rising, they’re way below the peak in 2011 and haven’t even caught up with the highs seen last year. Futures in Mumbai have climbed 11 percent in 2017 to 43,408 rupees ($650) a kilogram, but are still about 10-percent short of levels in July.

“Prices have not been able to sustain at higher levels and investors who currently hold the metal will look to book profits if they go up further,” Sheth said.

‘Forced purchase’

Silver is so ingrained in Indian tradition that the countr y’s cur renc y, the r upee, is named after “Rup,” the Sanskr it word for silver. The metal is popular in rural areas where it’s viewed as the poor man’s gold because it’s many times cheaper than its fellow metal and women prefer to wear it on their feet, keeping gold for hands, neck and ears. Farmers have been finding it tough to buy bullion because of lack of money. “Silver or gold buying is a forced purchase for us as we have to send our daughters to their in-laws house with good face,” said Samarpal Singh, a 50 yearold sugar cane farmer from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. “We barely have any savings as we don’t get timely payments for our crops and many farmers resort to taking loans from banks for buying jewelry for their children’s weddings.” India imports most of its silver, from places including the UK, mainland China and Hong Kong. Locally, Hindustan Zinc Ltd. produces about 400 tons annually. “In the last six months, the silver market has become very quiet and there are hardly any sales,” said Suresh Hundia, owner of Hundia Exports Ltd. and a former president of the India Bullion and Jewellers Association. “Jewelers have enough supplies and some of them are even using their stocks to trade on the futures exchange because of lack of physical buyers.” Bloomberg News

ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump loves t he song “My Way,” bristles at the slightest alterations in his daily routine, and lashes out when the world won’t accept him on his own terms. T hen, when that does not work, he tries something completely different. Trump’s wellreceived address to Congress on Tuesday night, a conciliator y speech in which the word “we” outnumbered the word “I” by 3 -to-1, represented precisely that kind of shift. Just last week, Trump shouted himself hoarse branding the news media “enemies of the American people” at a time when he was working on an address that invoked the better angels of his own nature, national unity and an “end to trivial fights”. T his does not represent a pivot, it is not a fundamental change of approach, and it does not mean that Trump plans to abandon his t weet-first-andask-questions-later style. But it is a recognition by the White House, from Trump on down, that what it had been doing was not quite working and that a softer sales tactic was needed to sell the same hard-edge populist agenda he campaigned on, people close to Trump said. “It was not a reset speech,” the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters on Wednesday, as Trump’s team basked in its best news cycle since he took office 41 days ago. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a Trump ally and adviser, said, “ The thing people don’t get about Trump is how quickly he learns—he moves fast—so he’s going to be using different approaches.” “He started out with a set of attitudes and assumptions, and he’s gradually learning which

ones a re wor t h keeping a nd which ones he needs to throw out,” Gingrich said. “On Tuesday he rose to the occasion because he knew the countr y was watching. T hat doesn’t mean next Tuesday he won’t have a 20,000 -person rally where he strikes a different tone.” St r i k i ng t h at president i a l tone, as Tr ump did on Tuesday, was an important political move for a commander in chief facing historically low approval numbers and skepticism from fel low Republicans. Republican Senate and House members were cheered by the president’s optimistic message. But in pr ivate, they are becoming increasingly anxious about the administration’s reluctance to present a detailed plan on how to repea l and replace the A ffordable Care Act, as wel l as offer a more specific budget document than a br ief out line circu lated last week, a $1- t r i l l ion i n f r a s t r u c t u re pac k a ge t h at i s st i l l i n t he theoretica l stage, and an asyet vag ue proposa l to cut corporate ta xes. Some Republ ica n senators noted in pr ivate that nationa list edges on illegal immigration stil l cut through the speech, despite a l l the cushioning of the lang uage. Democ rats were even less charitable. “Come on, there was no pivot, and there isn’t going to be one,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat-New York, the Senate minority leader. “The speech wasn’t as harsh as some other ones, but it was basically the same things he’s been saying all along. It had the same terrible policies on immigration and other issues.” The speech on Tuesday, current and former Trump staff members said, was conceived

as a bookend to the inaugural address, which was intended to be short and businesslike—to project the new president’s impatience in enacting his America First agenda that included quickly killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and beefing up border security. Aware that Trump would be speaking to the largest television audience since his inaugural, his messaging team—led by his chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon; his top policy adviser, Stephen Miller; and the speechwriter Vince Haley, with input from his counselor Kellyanne Conway, his spokesman Hope Hicks and a handful of others—took pains to soften his often incendiary language. And they were pleased with the contrast between his slashing, improvisational speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference last Friday and his dignified delivery on Tuesday— all of which showcased Trump’s political range, according to one person close to the team. Trump also resisted any instincts he may have had to ad-lib. But Trump faces weeks of significant governing challenges that might soon overshadow the success of the speech and the weeklong schedule of follow-up events around the country by him and Vice President Mike Pence. Two people briefed on how Tuesday’s speech to Congress was crafted said the lack of details was an intentionally evasive maneuver, using phrases that allowed different groups to read in what they wanted. It buys the president more time to change the narrative that his White House is short-staffed and in disarray. But none of a dozen people in Trump’s orbit said they had expected him to sustain the tone of measured magnanimity in the speech.

Inside the White House, the success of the address—threequarters of respondents polled by CBS approved of Trump’s message—was greeted with relief after weeks of controversy over the president’s reported ties with Russia, the botched rollout of his immigration executive order and the resignation of his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night drew an audience of about 47.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Trump’s speech—which was broadcast in prime time on all the major cable news channels a nd t he fou r broadc a st networks—had about 16.4 million more v iewers than President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union Address last year. But it trailed the 52.4 million viewers that watched Obama’s first address to a joint session in 2009. More than 20 percent of the total viewers for Tuesday’s address were watching Fox News, which had 10.4 million viewers between 9 and 10:15 p.m. NBC led the broadcast networks with roughly 9 million viewers; the network probably benefited from its 8 p.m. lead-in, the return of The Voice, which was the No. 1 broadcast network show of the night, with more than 11 million viewers. Among the cable channels, MSNBC had the smallest audience, with 2.6 million viewers, compared with CNN’s 3.8 million. Univision had 3.4 million viewers, 2 percent more than Obama’s 2009 address. The viewership for Trump’s address was much larger than the audience for his inauguration, which drew about 31 million viewers. The figures from the inauguration and Tuesday’s address do not include streaming data. New York Times News Service

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briefs

Russia inadvertently struck U.S.-backed Syrians–U.S. gen WASHINGTON—A Russian air strike in northern Syria hit United States-backed Syrian Arab forces who are part of the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, a senior US general said on Wednesday. Russia denied responsibility, saying in a written statement that it had adhered to US guidance on avoiding friendly forces in that area. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, said an unspecified number of American military advisers were a few miles away from the bombed site, out of immediate danger but close enough to see their Syrian partners get hit. He declined to say how many of the US-backed Syrian fighters were killed or wounded. Townsend said the Americans sent word that quickly reached Russian officials, who acknowledged the problem and stopped the bombing. In Moscow the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement contradicting Townsend’s version of the events. It said that in communications prior to the air strike, a US officer had expressed concern about the possibility of USbacked Syrian fighters being struck inadvertently. AP

U.N. urged to add 11 parties to list of child-rights violators UNITED NATIONS—A network of organizations seeking to protect children in conflict urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday to add 11 parties to the blacklist of countries and armed groups responsible for grave violations against children. The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict’s recommended additions included the Saudi Arabialed coalition in Yemen, which was taken off last year’s list by thenSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon after the Saudis and their supporters threatened to stop funding many United Nations programs. Watchlist also called for the adding of the Israel Defense Forces, which were kept off the 2015 list after lobbying by the United States and the Israeli government. The network said the Israeli military should be added for killing and injuring children and attacking schools and hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank . AP

Malaysia to release, deport North Korean in nerve agent KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—A North Korean man will be released from custody because of lack of evidence connecting him to the fatal nerve agent attack on Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korea’s ruler, Malaysian officials said on Thursday. In a major fallout from the assassination, Malaysia also announced it was scrapping visa-free travel for North Koreans. Officials never said why they arrested Ri Jong Chol four days after Kim was attacked at Kuala Lumpur’s bustling airport. On Thursday Malaysian Attorney General Mohamad Apandi Ali said Ri would be released and deported because he does not have valid travel documents. Kim was dead within an hour as the fast-acting poison coursed through his body, authorities say. No bystanders reported falling ill. AP

Mouse delays flight for 4 hours SAN FRANCISCO—How he squeaked through security is anyone’s guess. A little mouse made for a big delay on a British Airways flight from London to San Francisco. The passengers were all buckled up and ready to go when the crew told them that a mouse-spotting meant they couldn’t take off. The crew joked that the mouse couldn’t enter US airspace without a passport, and told everyone they needed a whole new plane. That meant a four-hour delay. British Airways apologized and said they were satisfied that only two-legged passengers were on the

A man on stilts dressed in a ceremonial guardsman costume poses for photographs for tourists as he hands out flyers and collects money for charity on the southern end of Westminster Bridge back dropped by the Houses of Parliament in London on February 8. AP/Matt Dunham

UK Lords confident of defeating May over Brexit bill amendment

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nited Kingdom opposition lawmakers are confident of inflicting a first defeat for Prime Minister Theresa May on her draft law to begin Britain’s European Union (UN) withdrawal, potentially complicating her timetable for Brexit. The House of Lords, where May doesn’t have a majority, is due later on Wednesday to vote on a provision to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in Britain. With Labour and Liberal Democrat peers under orders to support the amendment, coupled with the support of a “handful” of Conservatives and perhaps twothirds of independent members, defeat for May looks likely, said Dick Newby, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the upper chamber. “It’s very difficult to see how the government can avoid a defeat on it,” Newby told reporters

3M

The number of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom in London. “I would expect a clear victory.” After the bill passed unaltered through the House of Commons last month, the unelected Lords are threatening to

make it harder for May to trigger two years of Brexit negotiations by her self-imposed deadline of March 31. While the premier has repeatedly said she wants to guarantee the rights of more than 3 million EU citizens in the UK, she says it’s contingent on reciprocal guarantees for Britons abroad.

‘Bargaining chips’

“To continue to use people as bargaining chips in this way is not only shameful but could have a dire impact on the UK’s economy and essential services,” said Angela Smith, Labour’s leader in the upper house. One senior official in May’s administration said on Tuesday there was no way the government could avoid defeat because Labour and Liberal Democrat legislators outnumber the ruling Conservatives in the House of Lords. In an effort to stave off defeat, Home Secretar y A mber Rudd wrote to the Lords on Tuesday to provide reassurances that the

issue is a “priority”. She praised the “vital contribution” that EU nationals in the UK make to the economy and society. The Lords began debating the amendment at about 3:30 p.m. local time. One Conser vative former minister Douglas Hogg suggested he’ll rebel, evoking memories of Idi Amin expelling Asians from Uganda. “I don’t say we’re going to do this, I don’t think it’s likely that we will, but we haven’t put it outside our power for that to happen,” Hogg said. “I do ask our leadership to take the high moral ground and give reassurance to the millions who’ve made their home here with the expectation that they can remain here.”

Ping pong

Countering him, former Tory Leader Michael Howard said the best way to end the uncertainty for EU residents would be to “to pass this bill as quickly as possible” and begin Brexit talks. “This bill was passed unamended in the Commons—it’s a short

bill to enact the will of the people,” Greg Swift, May’s spokesman, told reporters in London on Wednesday. “After a healthy debate we would hope to see the bill progress unamended.” Newby said he expects three more amendments to be voted on next week, covering Northern Ireland, a second referendum and providing for a “substantive” vote in Parliament on May’s eventual Brexit deal. Defeat on any of the amendments will mean May has to persuade the Commons to vote again to overturn the amendment and send the bill back to the Lords, a process known as ping pong. Alternatively, she could accept the loss and agree to give the unilateral guarantee she wants to avoid. Newby suggested the Lords might not have the appetite to fight over the issue if the Commons rejects the amendments. “There are a lot of people in the Lords who think that you can only vote against a bill once,” he said. “That is a common view.” Bloomberg News

Trump’s foreign policy increasingly risk averse W ASHINGTON—Despite his promises of a noholds-barred administration, President Donald J. Trump is tiptoeing around US military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, and dialing back the threats of abandoning allies. It seems Trump is opting for an increasingly risk-averse approach to the world. Although he vowed an aggressive new Iran posture and at one point questioned even basic US policy to China, Trump has been slow to outline policies to back up the swagger. He’s curtailed his nerve-rattling rhetoric about North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and even his pledges of new cooperation with Russia. And in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, he didn’t even mention the nation’s two long wars or echo the ritual declarations of American

global leadership of Republican and Democratic presidents past. “My job is not to represent the world,” Trump said flatly on Tuesday evening. “My job is to represent the United States of America. But we know that America is better off when there is less conflict—not more.” Tr ump referenced his reluctance to embroi l t he United States in another war, insisting “we must lear n from the mista kes of the past”. But the overa l l impression he left was of a new leader stil l tr y ing to f ind his foot ing on some of the most vexing foreig n polic y and inter nationa l secur it y conundr ums. Tr ump’s opposition to new conf lict is hard ly a revolutionar y stance. President Barack Obama promised to pu l l A mer ican troops out

of the wars he inher ited from President George W. Bush, but proved unsuccessf u l on each. Bush h imsel f promu lgated a “ humble” foreig n polic y before being transfor med by the September 11, 2001, attacks. But Trump’s suggestion of an American retrenchment appears deeper. His administration has proposed a 37-percent cut to State Department and US Agency for International Development budgets. There are only vague indications of how he’ll redirect tens of billions of dollars into new military spending. On a night when Trump could have offered a glimpse of the future for thousands of US troops deployed overseas, he said only that he was working on a plan to “demolish and destroy” the Islamic State group.

He didn’t reference any goal in Afghanistan, where the US is helping government forces fight the Taliban. He didn’t spell out plans for the Iran nuclear deal, which he once vowed to dismantle, or present a vision for Mideast peace, which he has indicated could entail an independent Palestinian country—or not. “He’s still coloring within the Obama lines,” said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Wilson Center who has advised Republican and Democratic presidents. “He’s reverted to a riskaverse, America First, muscular American nationalism. And the ISIS strategy, yet to be revealed, will be Obama-plus.” In one particularly poignant moment, Trump hailed the service and sacrifice of America’s men and women in uniform, and

their families, praising the widow of US Navy Senior Chief William “Ryan” Owens. As she teared up in the crowd, lawmakers offered their biggest cheers of the night. Owens was killed in a raid in Yemen during Trump’s first days as president. Trump danced entirely around another foreign policy elephant: Russia. While he called for the nation to “find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align”, he provided no update on his oftrepeated ambition of closer cooperation with Moscow. It’s a goal Trump has stuck to despite US intelligence agencies’ allegations that the Kremlin meddled in the presidential election and the Obama administration’s allegations that it illegally annexed Ukrainian territory and abetted war crimes in Syria’s civil war. AP

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Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Friday, March 3, 2017

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DA needs ₧400B to hit rice-sufficiency goal Govt vows transparent bidding process for irrigation projects

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he Office of the Cabinet Secretary (OCS) on Thursday said it will roll out more measures to ensure the transparency of the bidding process for the projects of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). The OCS made the pronouncement after allegations of corruption within the agency surfaced. “The OCS already instructed the NIA management to implement schemes to further ensure wider public access and transparency in the conduct of biddings, especially for big-ticket projects in the Central Office. This includes online live-video streaming of all public biddings in NIA,” the agency said in a statement. “In addition, the NIA will use a bigger venue during the conduct of bidding to accommodate more observers, including the media. The public will be updated on the bidding process by posting, via the NIA web site, matters which may be lawfully disclosed,” it added. The NIA is an attached agency of the Office of the President. OCS Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. sits as the NIA board’s acting chairman. On Monday reports indicated that President Duterte sacked NIA Administrator Peter Tiu Laviña for supposedly receiving a kickback of “40 percent”. However, the OCS said Laviña was not sacked by the President and that he tendered his resigna-

tion a few days ago to spare him from intrigues. NIA Spokesman Pilipina Bermudez told the BusinessMirror that Laviña filed his “irrevocable” resignation last week and that it took effect on February 28. Bermudez said Laviña approved three NIA projects totaling P1.79 billion. “Only three projects were awarded during his tenure. The Small Reservoir Irrigation Project in Bohol [P367 million], South Main Canal Balog Balog Irrigation Project in Tarlac [P527 million] and the construction of the Balog Balog Diversion Tunnel costing P897 million also in Tarlac,” she said. The OCS said it has yet to receive a formal complaint against the President’s former campaign spokesman. “He [Laviña] was alleged to have been favoring contractors and receiving money from them, even if we have been told that, on record, no bidding for big-ticket projects was held during his stay as administrator,” the agency said. The OCS said it was “surprised” by allegations of corruption leveled against Laviña considering that he had just recently issued memorandum circulars requiring strict adherence to the revised implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Duterte to sign PHL coffee road map next week–official By Roderick L. Abad

@rodrik_28

Contributor

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FTER a series of consultations with industry stakeholders, the long-awaited Philippine Coffee Industry Roadmap 2017-2022 will finally be signed on March 7 at the Malacañan Palace, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Thursday. DTI-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Regional Director Myrna P. Pablo said no less than President Duterte will witness the signing by the secretaries of the DTI and the Department of Agriculture, together with industry stakeholders. “Thank God, after three years, it will be signed for immediate implementation. The road map is a product of tears, sweat and everything that we always disagree [with and] to agree in the end,” she told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the news briefing for the ongoing Philippine Restaurant, Cafe and Bar Expo (Philresca) at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. “For me, it should be the milestone of the private sector, not the government, since it is just an enabler to create an environment of good investment for the coffee sector,” Pablo added. The road map takes into account t he industr y’s cur rent condition. It seeks to bridge the various gaps in the supply chain to make the local coffee industry more competitive. “We are bringing in together everybody in the chain that should be able to get a fair share of profit of what they did relative to the coffee industry,” Pablo noted. While demand for coffee in the

Philippines has been growing, she said its annual production has been declining consistently. Based on data from the International Coffee Organization, coffee consumption in the country increased by 8.8 percent from 2014 to 2015. “If you notice, the so-called Second Wave Coffee, wherein various coffee chains like Starbucks, and other brands have mushroomed almost everywhere. So we see that there is really a strong demand for coffee. Even kids are into coffee drinking because there are now concoctions prepared especially for them by the baristas,” she said. However, domestic production has been declining by 3.5 percent annually over the past 10 years, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Currently, government data showed that an average of 37,000 metric tons (MT) of coffee are harvested annually from 117,454 hectares. Among the factors that have contributed to the decline in national coffee production are the lack of productive trees, and poor farming methods. Pablo noted that in Vietnam, a hectare of land is usually planted with around 2,000 to 3,000 coffee trees, unlike in the Philippines, where only 300 coffee seedlings are being planted per hectare. Under the road map, the government is targeting to increase coffee production to 214,626 MT by 2022. One of the strategies being eyed by the government to achieve this is the creation of the Philippine Coffee Council, a private sector-led body with government support up to the provincial level.

File photo

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would require a budget of P400 billion to fund the necessary interventions to increase palay production and ensure that the Philippines would have sufficient rice by 2019. “If the [national government] will just give me the money, a lot of things can happen. All I need is two years,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters in a recent interview. “You cannot expect the DA to produce enough food for the country if we do not have the budget for it. If you want the DA to produce food,

then give us the money. I will not steal it,” Piñol added. He said the DA is asking for a budget of P200 billion for next year and 2019. The bulk of the budget would be allocated for “improv ing the value chain of the rice sector”. To boost rice output, the DA is targeting to establish solar-powered

Lawmakers defer bill targeting changes in Hawaii fishing industry

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ONOLULU—A Hawaii bill that sought to change the way commercial fishing licenses are granted died after industry representatives told lawmakers it would wreck the business. The bill sought more oversight of the fishing industry, but that’s the role of the federal government, not the state, said state Sen. Brian Tanighuchi, chairman of the Senate Committee on International Affairs and the Arts. Two committees, including Taniguchi’s, deferred the bill indefinitely on Wednesday, killing it for the legislative session. The bill sought to restrict commercial fishing licenses to people who are legally allowed to enter the United States., a redundant move because that already is codified. But despite what’s currently in the law, the state issues fishing licenses to the men. The bill also would have required fishing license applicants to appear in person, creating a logistical barrier because most of Hawaii’s foreign fishermen are confined to their boats. Supporters said that interaction would give foreign fishermen a chance to tell state officials if they were victims of human trafficking or having problems, such as withheld wages.

“It’s hard to set up a whole government procedure to just maybe bump into that problem when you have a federal agency that’s actually supposed to enforce that,” Taniguchi said after the hearing. The bill was introduced after an Associated Press investigation found some foreign fishermen working without most basic labor protections while catching premium seafood. The 2016 investigation also found that foreign fishermen were confined to the boats while docked in Honolulu. The fishermen have to stay on or near their boats because they lack the proper visas or documents to legally enter the US. Currently, fishing boat operators apply for licenses on behalf of the crew that can’t leave the docks. The Pacific Gateway Center, an antihuman trafficking group, said it has had direct contact with dozens of fishermen from the boats and heard allegations of human trafficking, beatings and a lack of food, water, toilet facilities and payment of full salaries. “The people who are victims will have no voice and no way of getting help,” said Tin Myaing Thein, the group’s director, after learning the bill died. “These people will just go on the way they have been, and will continue to be exploited as before.” AP

irrigation systems, procure hybrid-rice seeds and provide postharvest facilities. Of the proposed budget, Piñol said P50 billion would be allocated for a program aimed at expanding farmers’ access to affordable loans. “What the DA is asking is just about one-third of the budget of the Department of Education and less than half of the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways,” he said. “Our current budget now is even smaller than the budget g iven to the Pantaw id Pamilyang Pilipino Program,” Piñol added. The DA has an approved budget of P45.29 billion for this year, 7.46 percent lower than the agency’s 2016 budget of P48.94 billion. The Aquino administration had set its sights on achieving rice self-sufficiency by 2013.

Despite the billions of pesos poured into the government’s National Rice Program, the DA failed to increase unmilled-rice output to at least 20 million metric tons (MMT). According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), unmilled-rice output even declined in the last two years. In 2015 palay output reached 18.14 MMT, 4.31 percent lower than the 18.96 MMT produced in 2014. Last year output also declined by 2.88 percent to 17.62 MMT. The government attributed this to the damages caused by strong typhoons and El Niño. El Niño also caused total farm output last year to contract by 1.41 percent. The production of the crops subsector, which account for more than half of agriculture output, declined by 2.62 percent.

A10 Friday, March 3, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Does PHL have a ‘loyal opposition’?

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prisings by the people against a standing government—when successful in deposing the leaders—are then called “revolutions” in the history books. Failed protests wind up as “rebellions”.

But history also teaches us that “people power” revolutions are not all that they are celebrated to be and never accomplish what was expected, at least in the medium term. Interestingly also, they always seem to coincide with a national economy that is in deep trouble. People are much less inclined to head to the streets when they have plenty of money in their pockets. Grievances against the government are not the turning point for the revolution. It is usually the result of failed expectations when the government appears to be giving in to address those grievances. Filipinos went to the streets en masse after they felt they were cheated by the 1986 snap election. The same is true for the most famous People Power—the 1789 storming of the Bastille Saint-Antoinein Paris, France. The French Revolution of 1789 turned into 10 years unfulfilled promises and included the “Reign of Terror”, marked by open warfare between two rival political factions, which both wanted an end to the French monarchy but which both wanted to be the new bosses. Eli Sagan was an American businessman who took over his rich father’s clothing business. He was an author of several books on his favorite topic—how leftist/progressive politics was needed for a better world. While his ideology fully clouded his writing, he did make some interesting points if you ignored his single-minded prejudices. In 2001 he wrote Citizens & Cannibals: The French Revolution, the Struggle for Modernity and the Origins of Ideological Terror, which cites some reasons for the “failure” of the French Revolution because of ideological terror. Both sides of that People Power movement attacked the other so ferociously in a quest for power that the nation could never move ahead. To put it in the current context, after every election, the losers are so mad they want to “kill” the winners—so, in order to avoid being killed, the winners go ahead, get proactive and “kill” the losers. Sounds familiar? For a representative and politically free system to work, there must also be a “loyal opposition” that may disagree with the government policies but remains loyal to the source of the government’s power—the election process. Further, that opposition cannot be constantly looking to regain power or to gridlock the government. Continuously calling for impeachment or resignation can only be described as an attempt to get back the power, not simply disagreement with policy. American author Mark Twain wrote, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it”. But the problem is the personal definition of “support”. Someone else also said: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. The heart of Sagan’s analysis is that with nations which fail with their successful revolutions, there are only six kinds of government that ever result. Five of them are bad. You may eventually see a stable democracy (like the United States, Canada, England and Australia). If not, the nation is doomed to anarchy (Syria), “Gangsterism” (Russia in the 1990s), which can also take the form of military despotism (Burma, Portugal in the 1980s), a terror dictatorship (North Korea), conservative dictatorship (Russia, Zimbabwe, Turkey), or religious fundamentalism (Iran). Since 2005

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id Edsa fail? I am so over this question. And I am equally fed up with the self-flagellating answers most people, from either side of the divide, give.

Look. Edsa removed a corrupt despot, alright? The operative word there isn’t “corrupt”. It’s despot. Edsa removed a man from power who, for 20 years, believed only he could run the country and systematically gutted the institutions of government to make it so that no one could realistically harbor the same ambitions without his consent. It was this dysfunctional arrangement that Edsa successfully sought to dismantle— and it succeeded. Be reminded that what followed after Edsa were four peaceful transitions of power via elections, and one peaceful presidential transition based on the Constitutional order of succession. In all instances, with the possible exception of the election of now member of the House of Representatives Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, all these presidential election results have been largely accepted as credible

and valid. In contrast, before Edsa, the last credible elections were in 1969, when Ferdinand E. Marcos won the presidency with what is, perhaps, the last majority win in Philippine presidential elections history: more than 60 percent of the vote. Think about that. Before Edsa, the Filipino people went 20 years without being able to choose their leaders. Where do people now get off saying Edsa failed? It didn’t, alright? But now the question is—and this is en vogue right now—did we fail Edsa? This question appears to be rooted in the misconception that Edsa somehow offered the promise of a perfect society. Since our society is currently imperfect, so the argument goes, then we must have “failed Edsa”. That’s just ridiculous. Edsa did not promise a perfect society, only a free one. And free we have remained—so far; free to work

Look. Edsa removed a corrupt despot, alright? The operative word there isn’t “corrupt”. It’s despot. Edsa removed a man from power who, for 20 years, believed only he could run the country and systematically gutted the institutions of government to make it so that no one could realistically harbor the same ambitions without his consent. It was this dysfunctional arrangement that Edsa successfully sought to dismantle—and it succeeded. together for the better social order we dreamt of, but then again also at liberty to foul up that dream. Edsa gave us a shot at better leaders; an opportunity to be more discerning in the way we elect government officials, but that’s all it was: a chance. Prior to Edsa, the opportunity to choose our own leaders practically did not exist. Thus, neither did the possibility of us being at fault for any failing of the government or of society as a whole. It was always going to be the despot’s fault, since he was the only one who had any real control. After Edsa, on the other hand, with no dictator to blame, the responsibility for a better tomorrow landed squarely on our collec-

Male chauvinists or male champions?

Max V. de Leon Jennifer A. Ng Dionisio L. Pelayo Vittorio V. Vitug

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Edsa

Chit U. Juan

Women Stepping UP

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find more and more men learning about the “women must have a voice” advocacy. But there are still many who would blurt out, “Oh no, we men are getting marginalized!”—and this remark, or similarly said comments, come from the brightest of men. Why is this? I guess it’s the case of, “The teacher will come when the student is ready”, or wait for men to come and ask for a lecture on gender diversity. First, recognize we are not the same. Men are good at reading maps while women love to listen. I keep mentioning this mundane, but true, example of how our brains are wired differently. I know that if my executive assistant (EA) is female, she can multitask. If it is a male EA, he can see the broad strokes, but may struggle with multitasking. That’s just the way it is. Engineers are into details, ergo, hire women. CEOs are visionaries and are usually male. Second, read about how recognizing gender makes a difference. In business, there are

opportunities in impact investment for women-owned enterprises (WOE). Once a male CEO gets to learn about this, he turns into a male champion. There are opportunities for gender-lens investing, as well as opportunities to sell internationally if it is a WOE. Don’t ask me. Read about the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Center and the program called SheTrades (#shetrades). Third, recognize that gender and development is a global concern. Our own Philippine government has a gender and development

(GAD) law, which prescribes that 5 percent of the budget must go to GAD activities. You can do some of the following: Learn about GAD and how it impacts your performance as an agency if you are a government entity. If you are in the private sector, learn how multilaterals will look for the following in your strategic plan: gender statement, gender advocacy plan and your diversity in recruitment, staffing and, most especially, in your board room. So I am not just the radical feminist some folks have labeled me as. I have just been fortunate to have been exposed to GAD and gender concerns in the following groups: Apec, Asean, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Asian Development Bank, United Nations, International Trade Center, WTO and more. The conferences held and I have attended since 2007 in the Apec Women Leaders Network up to my chairmanship of Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network today have exposed me to the global initiatives that have proven one fact: Diversity means profitability. That’s it. And what is business for, if not to make profit? So once men (and some women) understand what diversity brings to

tive shoulders. We have since found out that getting things right isn’t as easy as simply pointing out what’s being done wrong. Democracy is not a gift; it is an outcome. It is the product of a people’s commitment to the preservation of certain values, like personal liberty and accountability, and principles like the rule of law and respect for the will of the majority, as expressed in free and fair elections. When the determination to preserve these values and principles wanes, so, too, will democracy waver. Therefore, if Edsa’s legacy was the opportunity for us to develop a more perfect democracy, then it is only when we give up on the opportunity we have been provided that we can then be said to have truly failed Edsa. When. We. Give. Up. But the crowds last week told the story of a society that, while it may be divided, has certainly not given up. Far from being a futile exercise, the mass actions commemorating Edsa only proved that the true value of those commemorations, no matter how they are framed, is in how they remind us that there is much left to do and that it is only when we “move on”—as some have suggested—that we will have truly failed, not Edsa, but ourselves. James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s Education and Information Department.

the bottom line, they start to listen. It will then be not about “women again”, but it will be about “women, finally”. And this is how male champions start to understand, “Why women?” We are looking for these champions. If you are one, please stand up and be recognized. Male champions are now in fashion. They understand diversity and not just machismo and giving girls the “dirty work” while they play golf and do deals. It’s not about just standing up for women’s rights and making sure no one is trafficked or abused. It’s not just about stopping domestic violence by empowering women to earn their own money. It’s about thinking with your heart, too. Women make the world a more interesting place, if they find their place in the world. Be a male champion. Empower the women in your life. And give it some thought. Not just lip service. Chit U. Juan is president of ECHOstore Sustainable Lifestyle and the International Women’s Coffee Alliance-Philippines Chapter. She is also chairperson of the Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network. She is a social entrepreneur who has founded many startups, and may be reached through ECHOsi Foundation (echosi.foundation@gmail.com or www. echosi.org).

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Friday, March 3, 2017 A11

‘It is from ordinary people Graduating… that we can learn how to be a real servant’ Tito Genova Valiente —Cardinal Tagle annotations Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

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is Eminence Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, DD, led the launch of the book Servant Leadership in the Light of Faith on February 20 at the Barbara’s Heritage Restaurant in Plaza San Luis, General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila.

In his message, Cardinal Tagle stressed two points he wish the readers would get after reading the book. First, he said that when sincerity exists, unity follows. “Where there is sincerity, where there is forgetfulness of self and just thinking of how we could serve the common good, there will be a lot of consensus and convergence,” Cardinal Tagle said. He said he is hopeful that the book published by the Serviam Community may spread sincerity. The second point that he emphasized was being a “servant”, which, according to him, is the form of leadership that we find in the gospels. Cardinal Tagle said the real leaders are those who serve. He emphasized that we need not hold any position or title in order to truly serve others. “A real leader is not in position, even if you don’t hold any position but you serve wholeheartedly, you are a true leader,” the Cardinal stressed. He also reminded the faithful that no one can serve God and money at the same time. “If I serve God, I obey God. But if I serve money, money will dictate on me. If I serve prestige, then prestige will dictate on me. If I serve position, then position will dictate on me,” the Cardinal added. Concluding his message, the Cardinal said oftentimes it is from simple and ordinary people that we can learn how to be a real servant. The book, Servant Leadership in the Light of Faith, aims to spark in the readers’ awareness a special and distinct appreciation of servant leadership, since many believe that the essence of leadership, which is service to others, has been lost somehow or totally ignored in today’s materialistic world. Edited by Chit de la Torre, the book features ref lections and talks about servant leadership by

The book, Servant Leadership in the Light of Faith, aims to spark in the readers’ awareness a special and distinct appreciation of servant leadership, since many believe that the essence of leadership, which is service to others, has been lost somehow or totally ignored in today’s materialistic world. Filipino leaders in diverse fields of professions, advocacies and social concerns during Serviam’s first conference in 2013 on the theme, “Servant Leadership in the Year of Faith”. Cardinal Tagle keynoted the conference. Speakers included other dignitaries of the Catholic Church and other well-known personalities, including Retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Chevrolet Philippines Executive Director Selene Yu, Couples for Christ Founder Francisco Padilla and Ms. Barbara G. de los Reyes. The Serviam Catholic Charismatic Community Foundation Inc. was established in 2003 by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, then archbishop of Manila, and Antonio de los Reyes, a well-known lay Catholic leader and a papal awardee. Serviam aims to build communities of the Lord through worship, formation and ministry and embrace servant leadership as a way of life. The core strength of Serviam community comes in three distinct areas: Worship, Formation and Ministry (Pastoral Care). Tommy and Lulu Carrasco are currently at the helm as Community Servant Leaders. To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www. caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@ gmail.com.

NFA clarifies news report MAIL

Please e-mail your letters to the editor to oped@businessmirror. com.ph. Letters chosen for publication in this section are edited for brevity and clarity. Please allow us to clarify a quote attributed to the undersigned regarding the story “Govt extends arrival date for rice imported under MAV” on page A8 of the BusinessMirror’s March 1, 2017 issue. Specifically, I am referring to paragraphs 7 and 8: “Earlier, NFA Spokesman Marietta J. Ablaza told the BusinessMirror farmers’ cooperatives and private companies asked the NFA for a one-month extension of the deadline. “The import permits were distributed only last December and with the holidays, farmers’ cooperatives

and firms had very limited time to prepare the necessary paperwork,” Ablaza said.” Please be informed that the above information was given on February 15 when your reporter, Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas, inquired whether the deadline for rice import arrivals under MAV shall be extended. At that time, it was the reason given by the farmer cooperatives when they requested for an extension of the deadline. But in response, the NFA management decided not to extend the deadline of February 28, 2017, for the rice arrivals. Thus, using the quote for a story written two weeks after the info was given is no longer valid. In fact, it has created a misunderstanding and resulted to a misinformation among your readers. I hope you could provide a space for this clarification for your readers that the NFA did not extend the deadline for rice-import arrivals under the minimum access volume scheme of the World Trade Organization. Marietta J. Ablaza NFA Spokesman and Officer In Charge Public Affairs Department

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colleague treated me to an eat-all-you-can lunch on the last day of February. There were many reasons for his kindness and generosity but there was one that summed up what March, the month, is all about. The last day of the shortest month for this year marked the day they were to change the prices of their offering. Starting March, the owner with the tone of a priestess officiating a shift in season, informed us, she will increase the price for our gluttony. Those were not her words, but she seemed to despise the fact that people go there to eat until their stomachs are bursting. This was her reason: March is graduation season, more people eat outside and so I will up the price. I am not an economist, but I thank my fate I am not. I do not have to deal with the mystery of supply and demand and the countervailing values of sweet charity. Indeed, what is graduation season? What is this time that capacitates some individuals to slowly move up, to silently become bigger and important. Words trick us by their long usage. When graduation comes, people move up the ladder of learning and accomplishment or move out of an institution of learning. This is a ritual preceded by two main speeches: the valedictory address and the commencement speech of the guest speaker. If valedictory address is to say

good-bye, then the person who delivers it need not be at the top of the graduating class. That person must just be one who excels in bidding farewell. Does this make sense? In the many graduation exercises that I have attended (for they are called “exercises”), the valedictorian is usually an honor student. In many schools, the valedictorian may not have the highest grade but must be an honor student. The valedictorian is selected from among the rank of honor students, with outstanding achievement in the so-called extracurricular activities. In many universities, there is another person who delivers a speech, a “salutation”. In the old tradition, the salutatorian is expected to deliver his or her speech in the language of the Classics, usually Latin or Greek. In this age, though, the salutatorian is

the second to the valedictorian. In other schools, we do not hear even the salutatorian speak. The honor saying farewell is the honor given to the valedictorian. It is a simple act, but on the day of the Graduation, the act of good-bye comes with the gesture of gratitude. This, however, is not the rule. We have across in modern and contemporary times, valedictorians who are asked to stop speaking because theirs is not a fare-thee-well talk but an indictment of the school from whose life their medals and honors come from. Why damn the “Mother of your Soul,” the alma mater? It is because such label has merely retained the form and not the content. Schools do not necessarily nurture and, thus, for the enlightened honor students, the good-bye can come with confession, contrition and condemnation.

What is a graduation without a speaker, he who is called to commence everything? This being is expected to be full of himself. Usually a politician, for learning institutions who desire political connections for reason only they can fathom, the commencement speaker is, by practice, one who can talk forever. Their reputation is preceded only by curriculum vitae that, in length, can assume a vita of their own. The person given the task to introduce this guest speaker should be prepared to be embarrassed, because after he finishes the introduction, the guest speaker will inevitably scold him for mentioning everything. It follows, however, that the guest speaker himself has sent in the bio-data that can biologically usurp all notion of humility or self-effacement. E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

Automation and the prospects of economic development Joselito T. Sescon

EAGLE WATCH

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echnological anxiety has been with us since the first modern industries appeared. The angst toward new technologies is mainly about the fear of widespread substitution and displacement of human labor by machines. Historical experiences in early industrialization have shown that new technologies used in production initially had disruptive effects to labor and existing production assets. However, new technologies also ushered in the birth of new industries, created new jobs, becoming the source of productivity, economic growth and development. Automation, like most new laborsaving technologies, has an effect of raising the comparative advantage and value of jobs that only humans can do, thus, instead may add new jobs more than it displaces. The economics is simple, only humans can determine the extent of the usevalue of goods and services and the jobs associated with its production. If the demand of the use-value of a good or service increases as overall income increases, then automation that displaces labor and reduces cost and exchange-value (price) shall increase consumption and create room for investment to create new jobs and production of more goods and services. David H. Autor, a professor of economics at MIT, in a journalpublished study analyzed why automation does not necessarily reduce aggregate employment, even as it demonstrably reduces labor requirements per unit of output produced.

Central to Autor’s economic analysis is that automation positively affects the demand for labor by raising the value of complementary tasks that workers uniquely supply. Demonstrating as an example the introduction of automated teller machines (ATMs) in US bank branches, it was found that it did reduce the number of tellers per bank branch. But because of reduced cost in opening new bank branches, it indirectly increased demand for more tellers through more branches. Also, the complementary tasks of providing other bank financial services to customers became valuable and in demand. The expected result is increase in productivity and output sans reduction in labor inputs. However, in contrast to the positive results with ATM and banking, the overall effect of automation on labor occupation across US industries may not be that good. Autor said the quantity of jobs was

Scapegoater-in-Chief

‘I

have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims,” President Donald J. Trump said in his address to Congress on Tuesday night. He was referring to a very specific kind of victim—those harmed by undocumented immigrants. And his comments show that, current conventional wisdom notwithstanding, President Trump is not so different from candidate Trump. Trump argued that American

deaths at the hands of undocumented immigrants—who commit violent crime at a lower rate than US-born citizens—have been ignored by the news media and “silenced by special interests”. Yet, the murder of Kathryn Steinle by an immigrant in San Francisco in 2015, which Trump cited repeatedly in his campaign, generated national news coverage. Other deaths receive the regional news coverage that murders generally produce. What’s unusual is not the news

not adversely affected, but automation may have affected the quality of jobs. Automation of jobs mostly happened in middle-skill occupations, comprising sales; office and administrative support; production and repair; and operator, fabricator and laborer. Jobs that are intensive in either abstract (high skilled) or manual tasks (low skilled service jobs) are difficult to automate. Thus, computerization of routine job tasks led to the simultaneous growth of job tasks with high-education, high-wage jobs at one end, and low-education, lowwage jobs at the other end. This is at the expense of middle-wage, middle education job, a phenomenon called “job polarization”, which will have unsettling economic inequality as a result. Closer to home, an International Labour Organization study by Chang, Rynhart and Huynh (July 2016) on automation in the Asean, concluded that technology is already displacing certain jobs and is showing a strong likelihood of replacing low-skill jobs that are currently the backbone of Asean’s labor-intensive manufacturing and services. In the automotive sector, the study said that low-skill workers will find themselves displaced in favor of automation. On textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF), the region will encounter both a displacement of lower skilled workers and an increase in the demand for higher skilled technicians and engineers to serve niche apparel producers. Significant shares of TCF workers in Asean are at high risk of automation, from 64 percent in Indonesia, 86 percent in Vietnam and 88 percent

in Cambodia. In the business-process outsourcing sector primarily in the Philippines, software robots referred to as robotic process automation (RPA) pose a threat. While RPA software still needs to become more intelligent before it can fully replace humans on a large scale, the 600,000 workers in call centers face high risk of automation at 89 percent, the ILO study said. In conclusion, the path of transition to the more automated production economy of the future can be disruptively painful for some workers and industries in the short term. For the majority, cheaply produced goods and increasingly automated and freely available services should allow access to increasing levels of material well-being and health. At this period, as another similar study by Mokyr et al. (2015) recommended, it may be necessary to expand the set of publicly provided goods to include food, housing, education, and health care that are necessary for a modern life to go well. Because, if automation has rendered human labor superfluous, then we may have to tweak the economic system to benefit everyone. The free hand of the market may not be reliable this time to make the proper choice. It will be an opportunity for the world to create more valuable jobs that will uplift the well-being of humanity, like health and medicine, education, arts and culture, housing, sustaining healthy food production, nourishing the human spirit, among others. Putting higher value on these jobs will complement automation in industrial production of goods and services leading to human-centered development.

media’s level of interest in violent death, which is typically high. What’s unusual is the president of the United States using a nationally televised speech to engage in stereotyping in order to advance a divisive political agenda. There were more than 15,000 murders in 2015—a steep drop from the early 1990s, but still plenty. The purpose of establishing a special office within the Department of Homeland Security to highlight a tiny percentage of those crimes

has nothing to do with concern for the victims. What about the vast majority of victims killed by nonimmigrants? The only conceivable purpose for the new office is to generate propaganda and channel hate against immigrants. Scapegoating is hardly unknown in the history of the US. But presidents, especially in recent history, have generally refrained from stooping so low. Trump has proved incapable of resisting. Bloomberg View

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, March 3, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

CA won’t lift injunction on PCC review of ₧70-B San Miguel-Globe-PLDT deal

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By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the appeal of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to lift the writ of preliminary injunction it earlier issued enjoining the agency from reviewing the P70-billion buyout by PLDT and Globe of San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) telecommunications assets. Instead, the CA’s Special Twelfth Division, through a resolution penned by Associate Justice Ramon M. Bato Sr., issued a gag order directing the PCC to remove immediately from its web site its Preliminary Statement of Concern (PSOC), which contained an initial finding that the deal “is likely to substantially prevent, restrict and lessen competition” within the telco industry. Likewise, the appellate court directed the PCC, PLDT and Globe to cease and desist from issuing public comments and statements that would violate the sub judice rule and subject them to indirect contempt of the court. “Applying the sub judice rule, the PCC should immediately remove its PSOC posted on its web site and refrain from making comments on the subject acquisition while the case is pending in court,” the resolution read. “Likewise, to be fair, PLDT should also refrain from making comments on the subject acquisition and desist from communicating their opinion to the public during the pendency of this case,” it added. The gag order was issued upon

the motion filed by PLDT, where it claimed that the publication of the PSOC violates Republic Act 10667, which considers confidential the deliberations and investigation conducted by the PCC. Likewise, PLDT alleged that the PCC’s continuing communication with the media to drum up public sympathy violates the sub judice rule. On August 26, 2016, the CA issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the PCC and its agents from conducting any investigation that would impair the rights of PLDT, Globe and SMC. The injunction was issued in order not to affect the rights of the consumers and to protect the move to improve the Internet speed and

connection nationwide. In denying PCC’s motion for reconsideration of its August 26 resolution, the CA stood by its findings that the existence of all the requisites for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction has been established by PLDT and Globe. The petitioners, according to the CA, were able to establish the existence of a clear positive right that needs judicial protection during the pendency of the main case. They argued that the deal has been deemed approved by operation of law, since they have fully complied with the terms of the transitory circulars issued by the PCC. PLDT said its wireless subsidiary Smart has been implementing the transaction and using the frequencies as part of its nationwide rollout. They warned that a reversal of the transaction will result in “irreparable and incalculable injury to the public service”. “We agree with PLDT that there is an urgent and paramount necessity to enjoin the PCC from proceeding with the preacquisition review and/or investigation to prevent serious and irreparable damage to PLDT, whose credit standing is at risk and its ability to borrow funds to fully roll out the previously unused/idle 700-MHz spectrum may be jeopardized and

Applying the sub judice rule, the PCC should immediately remove its preliminary statement of concern posted on its web site and refrain from making comments on the subject acquisition while the case is pending in court.”—CA

Antimining rally Protesters, mostly indigenous peoples and environmentalists, picket a mining company in Makati City to demand its closure on Thursday. Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, whom the protesters have rally their support for her confirmation by the Senate, has ordered the closure of 23 mining operations, suspended five others following a months-long audit and also canceled 75 mining contracts. AP Bullit Marquez

unduly exposed it to violate the conditions imposed by NTC [National Telecommunications Commission] thereby impeding the three-year program of providing faster/reliable/affordable mobile data/Internet to the consuming public all over the country,” the CA pointed out. The CA noted that the utilization of the previously unused 700 MHz by PLDT and Globe under a co-use agreement approved by the NTC will greatly benefit the public. The CA also branded as

“misplaced” PCC’s contention that the issuance of the injunction effectively disposed of the case on the merits. “We have to stress that the court’s determination of the existence of all the requisites for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction is interlocutory and preliminary in nature. The granting of a writ of preliminary injunction is an interlocutory order because it does not dispose of the main case,” the CA said. It will be recalled that the PCC,

in its letters dated June 7 and June 17, 2016, ordered the preacquisition review and investigation of the acquisition made by PLDT and Globe of all the issuing and outstanding shares and assets of Vega Telecom Inc., a subsidiary of SMC. Both PLDT and Globe purchased on an equal sharing, or 50-50 basis, the entire issued and outstanding shares of stock of VTI. The PCC letters issued against both PLDT and Globe was hailed to the CA seeking to stop the former with its orders.

Price spikes put Asean central banks on watch Continued from A1

For now, core measures of inflation in Southeast Asia—which exclude volatile items, such as energy and food costs— remain contained, taking the pressure off central banks to take immediate action to tighten policy. In Malaysia, where inflation reached 3.2 percent in January, the core measure was at 2.3 percent. The government’s projection is for headline inflation to average 2 percent to 3 percent this year.

On hold

“We’ve had a big swing from really depressed numbers,” said Sean Callow, a senior strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney. “Until there’s evidence that core inflation is on the rise and wages up with it, I don’t think we’re going to have any inflation dynamic going on in the region.” Malaysia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3 percent on Thursday, in line with the forecasts of all but one of the 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Bank Negara Malaysia said headline inflation will remain “relatively high” in the first

half of the year and then moderate, while core inflation is expected to “increase modestly”. The outlook for inflation is dependent on global oil prices, which remain uncertain, it said. Inflation will probably accelerate to 4 percent in February, and average 3.5 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of 2.5 percent, according to Mohamed Faiz Nagutha, an economist with Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific Ltd. in Hong Kong. After surprising the market with an interestrate cut in July last year, Mohamed Faiz is predicting the central bank will be on hold for the rest of the year. “We do not expect BNM to react to these spikes in headline CPI and rather focus on measures of core inflation,” he said. Malaysia’s ringgit was little changed at 4.45 against the dollar as of 5 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur, taking its decline in the past month to 0.6 percent. The Philippines, which had the fastest economic expansion in Southeast Asia last year, may be the first country in the region to tighten monetary policy this year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Inflation is running at the fastest pace in two years and the currency is the worst performer in Asia this year,

down 1.1 percent against the dollar. “The Philippines has been seeing strong growth, so greater scope for inflation passthrough,” said Khoon Goh, the Singaporebased head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. In Singapore consumer prices rose for a second month in January after almost two years of declines, while a government report on Wednesday showed a surprise slowdown in Thailand’s inflation in February to 1.4 percent. Aside from the Philippines, most of the economies in Southeast Asia are growing below par, which supports calls for more policy easing. Growth in Malaysia slowed to 4.2 percent last year, from 5 percent in 2015, while Indonesia’s economy expanded 5 percent in 2016, below the government’s goal of 7 percent. “The inflation outlook across the region is one that things will start picking up,” said Rahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays Plc. in Singapore. “What we need to watch is second-round impacts of higher fuel inflation and the core inflation” measures, he said. “If that was to start picking up, then I think we’ll see central banks becoming a bit more cautious about the inflation outlook.” Bloomberg News

Booming Asian nations grapple with rise of shantytowns Continued from A1

Another strategy is to strengthen urban centers outside of the main capital cities by building schools, hospitals, highways and airports to encourage more investment, she said. From Beijing to Bangkok, governments are trying to counter the draw of the dominant capitals that soak up the lion’s share

of workers and investment. In the Philippines that means spreading some of the wealth that’s concentrated in Manila, an urban sprawl of about 22 million people that accounts for more than a third of the nation’s economy. “If you succeed in building regional economic hubs, you can disburse the population,” Watanabe said.

There is a need to change the perspective that slum-dwellers are a burden for the government and for the society, Watanabe said. “They offer a lot of jobs required in cities, they generate a lot of economic opportunities but they aren’t captured very well because they are in the informal sector,” she said. “But, in fact, they are the backbones of the economy.” Bloomberg News