A10 Thursday, March 15, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
Opinion
BusinessMirror
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editorial
Protecting our OFWs
T
he death of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in Kuwait has ignited nationwide outrage that prompted President Duterte to ban the deployment of Filipino workers to the Gulf state. Saying he is ready to take drastic steps to protect Filipinos working abroad, the President offered free flights home to about 10,000 Filipinos who had overstayed their visa in Kuwait.
Reports said the body of Joanna Demafelis was found on February 6 in a Kuwait City apartment that had reportedly been abandoned for more than a year. Her body reportedly bore torture marks, and there were indications she was strangled. Duterte justified his bold decision to stop deployment to Kuwait, saying: “The Filipino is no slave to anyone, anywhere and everywhere. Every unlawful physical injury that is inflicted on an overseas Filipino worker is an injury I personally bear as the head of this republic.” Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said Kuwait had expressed outrage over Demafelis’s death and promised do everything it could to render justice. This developed after the Philippines lodged a protest over Demafelis’s case and at least six other recent deaths, mostly of Filipino housemaids in Kuwait. Cayetano said the Philippine embassy should be given access to investigations by Kuwaiti authorities. A few days after the deployment ban was announced, Cayetano broke the news about the arrest in Lebanon of Demafelis’s employer. Nader Essam Assaf is now reportedly in the custody of Kuwait authorities, but his Syrian wife, who is also a suspect in Demafelis’s death, remains at large. The President earlier said he did not want a quarrel with Kuwait, but warned he may resort to drastic steps, such as a complete ban on the deployment of Filipino workers, if Kuwait fails to safeguard and protect Filipinos working there. Kuwait responded and agreed to open labor negotiations with the government. Cayetano said the government is pushing for a labor pact with Kuwait that would provide strong guarantees on the safety and welfare of Filipino household service workers. He said: “President Duterte wants this agreement to be different from the other agreements we signed with other countries by making sure that whatever is written there will translate into real, actionable measures that will protect our maids from exploitation and abuse.” Prior to this, the Philippines has already secured the commitment of Kuwait on several matters for Filipina maids, including the minimum monthly salary of 120 Kuwaiti dinar (around P20,000); rest hours of at least eight hours per day; possession of their passports and mobile phones; and limiting their work to only one household. As we go to press, an eight-member Kuwaiti delegation has confirmed arrival in Manila on March 15 and 16 for the proposed “Agreement on Domestic Workers’ Recruitment, Employment, and Protection Between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the State of Kuwait.” Reports said Ambassador Ghanim Saqer Al-Ghanim, assistant minister for legal affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would lead the Kuwaiti delegation that would participate in the negotiations. Other members of the Kuwaiti panel are from the Residence Affairs Department of the Ministry of Interior and the Public Authority for Manpower of the Ministry of Labor. We hope that the two sides will be able to craft a labor pact that will ensure the safety and well-being of our household service workers in Kuwait. The Philippine government must ensure that Filipina maids abroad are not exposed to violence, exploitation and sexual harassment of their employers. Since 2005
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John Mangun
OUTSIDE THE BOX
T
his past Monday I attended an event hosted by the Shareholders Association of the Philippines (SharePHIL), titled “Cryptocurrency: The Truth & the Myth”.
The speakers included Nico Jose “Nix” Nolledo, chairman and CEO, Xurpas; Nichel Gaba, CEO, Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX); and Ephyro Luis Amatong, commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission. The keynote address was delivered by the Honorable Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor. While following SharePHIL since its inception several years ago, I am skeptical of people with a “car and driver” looking out for the interests of other people that have to park their own cars. Of course, that is an unfair exaggeration, but experience teaches us that it is prudent to ask, “What’s in it for you?” or me for that matter. The officers of SharePHIL include
individuals that I have known for 20 years and more. This could be an “Old Boys’ Club” inside the “Old Boys’ Club” of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). But I also know that these men and women have dedicated their professional careers to making a positive difference. My suggestion would be that SharePHIL focuses more on the specific issues that the PSE has not effectively addressed to protect shareholder interests. However, that may be an incorrect perception of someone on the outside looking in. Therefore, I am becoming a member of SharePHIL and I strongly encourage you to do the same if you are a local stock-market investor. Let me rephrase that. I insist you join SharePHIL because I hear too
many complaints about the PSE. It is time to put your “money where your mouth is” on the investor issues that affect all of us. Together, through SharePHIL, positive changes can be realized. So, no more complaining without action. Start here: http:// www.sharephil.org. What are cryptocurrencies? Who knows and who cares. Just buy, buy and buy some more, and become a millionaire. Right? Even after studying the topic for several months, it took Nix Nolledo about 30 minutes to bring me up to speed and that surprised me since I am a dinosaur. In full disclosure, I have been initiating negotiations to do some business with his company Xurpas. One takeaway is that the “hype” about cryptos may be greater than the reality of ownership and trading. You may be surprised to learn that the total current value of all cryptos is less than twice the total value of all issues on the PSE. However, crypto “tokens” are at about the same stage of development as the electric light was 100 years ago. Governor Espenilla’s presentation was thorough and knowledgeable. He is carrying on the legacy of the Philippines having the best central bank governors on earth. In
summary, the BSP is open to new ideas and financial products. But, in the words of John Wayne, “Young fella, if you’re looking for trouble, I’ll accommodate you.” While other nations’ regulators are sticking their heads in the sand by allowing an anything goes environment or sticking their heads in the sand by stopping everything connected with cryptos—China has done both—ours are trying to be proactive. SEC Commissioner Amatong echoed the BSP, basically saying, “We already have a rule book. It’s called the Securities Regulation Code. Follow it.” Crypto tokens have been classified as a security until Congress changes the law. However, the US is regulating cryptocurrencies as a commodity, so the story is not over. Congratulations are in order to SharePHIL Chairman Evelyn R. Singson and President Atty. Francisco Ed. Lim (yes, the former president of the PSE) for their successful efforts. I eagerly await the next SharePHIL event. Be there.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
Matching the educational system with an uneven and segmented economy Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo
LABOREM EXERCENS
Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Dennis D. Estopace
Online Editor Social Media Editor
Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager VP HR and Admin
The Shareholders Association of the Philippines
Continued from A1
A
nd yet, the bulk of the work force and the employed are those with limited educational attainment (elementary dropouts, elementary graduates, high-school dropouts, high-school graduates and college dropouts). The above pattern is not likely to change with the graduation of the first batch of senior high students. It is only natural for those with higher educational attainment to look for better-quality jobs. They are not easy to find in an uneven and segmented Philippine economy. On the other hand, elementary graduates and dropouts generally come from poor families. Many cannot afford not to work for a month or even a week or a day. They tend to occupy the low end of the labor market. A big number work as “unpaid family workers” (6 percent of the 40 million employed), in family farms or microbusinesses. These unpaid fam-
ily workers are in the country’s largest labor catch basin—the informal economy, where there is “free entry” because most of the economic activities are rarely registered, recorded and regulated. The informals include the impoverished fisherfolk found all over the archipelago, the sacadas and landless farmers, forest settlers, displaced indigenous peoples, gold panners and small-scale camote miners, home-based workers and producers, street-based peddlers and vendors, and so on and so forth. There is so much segmentation in the informal economy or “informal sector.” What is clear is that this sector is huge. Estimates on
the size of the informal economy vary, from 45 percent given by the labor department statisticians to 75 percent computation made by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. The formal sector, however, is also segmented. Registered enterprises vary in sizes, technology and market. There are more than a million registered enterprises. Government estimates indicate that 99 percent of these enterprises are micro, small and medium, collectively called the MSME sector. The micros, employing less than five workers per enterprise, account for 90 percent of the total number of establishments. A majority of these MSME enterprises, being small, are not likely to welcome K to 12 teachers and administrators trying to arrange the “work immersion” or “work exposure” for senior high students. The students are likely to disrupt the rhythm of work and productivity in a small enterprise setting. On the other hand, many in the medium and large enterprises are also not prepared to roll the red carpet for the “work immersion” for the senior high students. Again, aside from their disruptive impact on the work rhythm, the program has a cost in terms of organizational and work
adjustment for the enterprise. As it is, most of the work immersion appears to be in the hotel, restaurant, fastfood and service-related businesses. Some employers even benefit from the work immersion because they get extra hands in delivering services at a cheaper rate. In manufacturing, the likely enterprise cooperators for the senior high students are those doing lowtechnology assembly work, such as putting together parts of an electronic transistor. In high-quality production work and ISO-certified processes, employers will not allow secondary students to join the assembly lines, unless these students are already being primed for longer-term skilled work. If these students are accommodated, they are likely to be placed in low-tech areas, such as the packaging section for finished products or in the delivery of nonsensitive and unbreakable materials. Another problem for K to 12 education planners is the uneven economic development across the archipelago. Some regions, such as the National Capital Region, Region 4, Region 3, Region 6 and Region 11 have a well-developed formal sector and a fairly good number of possible See “Ofreneo,” A11