Integrity Nation NOW Why does corruption survive? By Henry J. Schumacher | Special to the BusinessMirror
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e (European Chamber of Commerce and Makati Business Club) formed the Integrity Initiative in 2010. Looking back, we are happy that progress has been made in our mission against corruption, both in government and in the private sector. But have we created the “Integrity Nation” in the six years we have been in operation? I hate to say that we have a long way to go, both in our change advocacy with the national and local governments, and our target to get 10,000 companies to sign the Integrity Pledge and live up to the commitments contained in the pledge. »continued on A2
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Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 160
Govt to wipe out coffee bean imports by 2022 T By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
@jearcalas
he government is targeting to increase the output of green coffee berries to at least 214,626 metric tons (MT) by 2022 to end the country’s reliance on imports and allow farmers to export coffee.
Under the Philippine Coffee Industry Road Map (PCIR) 2017-2022, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, the target produc-
tion would translate into a self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) of 160.16 percent. This means, that in five years, the Philippines would have surplus coffee.
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214,626 MT
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The target coffee-bean output by 2022, according to the coffee road map
“At the end of the target term in 2022, it is expected that the coffee growers have increased their average yield of 1 ton per hectare; supplied the needed volume of 214,626 MT with self-sufficiency level from 41.6 percent to 160.16 percent; and have increased farmers’ income and farm productivity,” the PCIR read. See “Coffee bean,” A2
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Manny Villar
atching my grandchildren play with toy cars, I sometimes think about the day when they grow up, and ask me: “Lolo, did you really drive cars when you were young?” Even now, some of the world’s biggest automotive companies, as well as a few small players, are competing in the development of driverless cars. In an online report on January 12, Business Insider said there was no question that self-driving cars were coming. The report listed 19 companies that were racing to produce the driverless cars in the next five years. Continued on A10
WEALTHY FAMILIES NOT BM Reports PARTICIPATING IN STATE SURVEYS, P.I.D.S. GRIPES PHL confronts challenge of China on sovereign soil D P @cuo_bm
espite being against the law, wealthy households— especially those in gated communities—have been refusing to participate in state-sanctioned surveys, thus, distorting official data on income and economicgrowth estimates in the country. This was disclosed in a policy note authored by Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Jose Ramon G. Albert, Senior Research Specialist Ronina D. Asis and Research Assistant Jana Flor V. Vizmanos. The researchers said this explained why poverty remained almost constant, despite high economic growth since 2006. “The lack of cooperation of wealthy households in surveys pushed survey estimates downward, especially given the rising opportunity costs of answering FIES [Family Income and Expenditure Survey], which takes five hours to accomplish,” the researchers said. The researchers found that there were 204 barangays with sampled households who refused at least once during the two visits for the 2012 FIES. There are also barangays with sampled house-
holds in 2012 FIES that do not have recorded barangay characteristics during the 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). Albert said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has been having a hard time administering survey questions to wealthy households in gated communities and exclusive condominiums. This, despite provisions in the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, stating that respondents to all government surveys are mandated to provide information. This information must be truthful and complete. “Supposedly, you are prohibited from declining to be a respondent. [But] imagine going to Forbes Park and to condos where enumerators are not even allowed to enter by security guards. If they are allowed to enter, the boss is not around and only the house help is at home,” Albert told the BusinessMirror. Apart from this, Albert said another reason wealthy households are not surveyed is that it takes a long time to finish. Administering the FIES takes about five hours. One way wealthy households skirt the five-hour interview is when they leave instructions at home for the enumerators to just come back for the accomplished Continued on A2
PESO exchange rates n US 50.1540
By Recto Mercene @rectomercene
Part Two
arty-list Rep. Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo of Magdalo emphasized the importance of understanding the motive in China’s presence on areas the Philippines deems it owns. “It is important to us to understand why China wants to break out of the first island chain, and go out as far as the second island chain,” said Acedillo, a Philippine Military Academy alumnus. He added that, once the first island chain is firmly in their hands, the Chinese would move on to the second island chain. “They’re doing that by actually setting up island fortifications and actually, at the same time, developing what we call ‘anti-access-area denial’, or A2AD, weapons,” he said in an exclusive interview with the BusinessMirror Acedillo further explained the A2AD is a security strategy that allows China to launch a preemptive strike against a perceived threat. “The security strategy is called ‘defense in-depth’; the farther you can defend your borders, the
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better,” he said.
‘Island Chain Strategy’
ACCORDING to Acedillo, the “Island Chain Strategy” is divided into first, second and third island chains. The imaginary first island chain begins on the Kuril Islands in southern Japan, running all
the way down to Borneo and the northern portion of the Philippines. The key part of the first chain would be Taiwan. The second island chain is formed by the Ogasawara Islands and Volcano Islands, also in Japan, in addition to Mariana Islands, a United States territory. As it is within
the middle portion of the Pacific Ocean, it acts as a second strategic defense line for the US. The third island chain is the final part of the strategy. It begins on the Aleutian Islands and end in Oceania. The key part of the third chain would be the Hawaiian Islands of the US. Continued on A2
n japan 0.4451 n UK 62.1358 n HK 6.4628 n CHINA 7.2656 n singapore 35.7936 n australia 38.5785 n EU 53.8353 n SAUDI arabia 13.3744
Source: BSP (20 March 2017 )
BMReports BusinessMirror
A2 Tuesday, March 21, 2017
PHL confronts challenge of China on sovereign soil Continued from A1
“So we shou ld understand why China is doing this,” Acedillo said. “It’s not just a whim. W hy they’re developing their economy is precisely to strengthen their military.”
Roots of desire
ACEDILLO explained that the root of all of China’s desire to acquire control of the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean could be traced back to 1939, the start of the “Century of Humiliation”. The desire transcended into 1949, when Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China. “In this period, China collapsed as an empire, and was forced to give major concessions to the great powers in the subsequent treaties,” he said, noting that all of the powers that invaded China came by way of the sea. “They [China] have many natural
barriers on land, mountains, barren lands, desserts, snow, etc., etc. But there is no defense from the sea, so they want it now protected.” According to reports by American think tanks CSBA and RAND, by 2020 China will be well on its way to having the means to achieve its first island-chain policy. Once China has secured the area bounded by the three island chains, the People’s Liberation Army could prevent the US Navy from proceeding from it bases in Guam and Hawaii to assist Taiwan, the CSBA and RAND reports said.
Missile force
ANDREW Erickson, a professor with the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College, has written that the Chinese Navy operates the world’s largest conventional submarine missile force. “The vast majority of those missiles having the right range appear to be targeted at various US and
allied military bases in the region, almost all of which are somewhere along the first island chain,” Erickson said. “The chain traditionally has made use of existing geography, but you could argue that China is now making its own island chain— as a springboard for itself and to create a barrier to others.” Erickson said he has not yet seen Chinese sources referring “to this artificial island-construction development as an ‘island chaintype thing’.” “But if we look at it conceptually, we’re really talking about similar things,” he said. “That’s one reason, I think, there’s so much US, regional and allied concern about Chinese activities in the South China Sea.”
Military surveys
BATONGBACAL said military hydrographic and oceanographic surveys are needed by maritime powers in order to obtain accurate information about the ocean environment so that military vessels, especially
submarines, can best take advantage of that environment in battles. “The undersea terrain, underwater currents, thermal layering, saline differences, water temperatures, etc., are all environmental factors that can play pivotal roles in the movement and detection of undersea and surface vessels,” Batongbacal said. “[A] knowledge of sea conditions provides a skilled ship/submarine commander with enormous tactical and strategic advantages.” He added, “China is known to be expanding the reach of its naval power, both on the surface and under the sea.” “It can, therefore, be expected to undertake military hydrographic and oceanographic survey activities in all ocean areas that it expects to operate in,” Batongbacal said. “The Benham Rise region, being a possible area of approach for naval forces coming from the Pacific, is obviously one of those potential areas of operation.” To be concluded
Star Cruises eyeing to set up more home ports in PHL Continued from A12
she stressed. The first maiden voyage of Superstar Virgo from Manila departed on March 19 and is currently en route to Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Kaoshiung in Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The 13-story, 935cabin luxur y cruise ship will return to Manila on May 28. Filipinos were earlier offered a promo package of P24,500 for twinshare accommodations. Others who welcomed the cruise ship were Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea and officials from Manila City Hall and other government agencies. For his part, Star Cruises President Ang Moo Lim echoed Teo’s optimism that a wholesome and ultimate tour experience for both international and Filipino cruise passengers offer families precious time to bond. “We are very excited to unveil the first-ever ‘Jewels of the South China Sea’, a new itinerary pio-
neered by Star Cruises that connects four scenic cities in Asia —Hong Kong, Manila, Laoag and K aohsiung—across a six-day/ five- night cruise,” he added. “In 2013 and 2015, Star Cruises launched the Hong Kong-Kaohsiung itinerary, which was extremely well-received by travelers from Hong Kong; in 2017 we are taking this itinerary up a notch and extending the journey to Manila—the East-meets-West cultural melting pot—as well as Laoag, known for its natural landscape and whitesand beaches,” he said, in a separate statement. “This unique and brand-new itinerary allows travelers to enjoy a relaxing holiday filled with gastronomic delights, cultural heritage and sunny beaches without the hassle of transits. We look forward to collaborating with travel and tourism institutions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines on the promotion of this unique Jewels
of the South China Sea to international tourists as the hottest new cruising choice.” A ng a lso pointed out that Star Cruises was the first major cruise line to recruit Filipinos 23 years ago for our cruise ships, “and now we are pleased to be the first international cruise line to welcome Filipinos onboard Superstar Virgo as our guests from our home port in Manila. Worldwide, nearly 25 million people have enjoyed a cruise in 2016, and we are extending this opportunity for Filipinos to join their ranks from Manila—at an affordable price.” Hong Kong-based Star Cruises’ f lagship arrived to a rousing, fanfare-filled celebration at Manila’s South Harbor, where hundreds of welcomers waited as early as 5 a.m. On behalf of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, City Administrator Eric Alcovendaz presented a symbolic key to the city to Star
Cruises’ Ang. Revelers and guests were treated to a dazzling musicale at the 2,600-passenger capacity ship’s Lido theater and a tour of its restaurants, bars, game room, shopping mall, gym, massage spa and roof deck swimming pool. DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Benito Bengzon Jr. hailed the decision of Star Cruises and its parent company Genting Hong Kong to homeport its flagship vessel in Manila. He said, “More cruise calls support President Duterte’s thrust to increase visitor arrivals in the country, as we introduce our countless tourist destinations to the world.” Bengzon observed that Filipinos were also interested in taking cruise vacations in their own country, as well as in other Asian countries. The DOT is projecting 105 port calls in the Philippines this year, with ships carrying about 117,000 passengers.
Wealthy families not participating in state surveys, PIDS gripes Continued from A1
forms. However, heads of households just leave the survey forms unaccomplished. “Maybe [it’s] pos-
sible income surveys are underestimated and national accounts are overestimated,” Albert said. “Clearly, current instruments have to be reviewed.”
But Albert said there are ways to cut the survey time, as what other countries are doing, like having separate interviews per type of survey. He said that in Malaysia,
for instance, the household income survey is separate from the expenditure survey. These changes have allowed countries to cut their survey time to around 30 minutes to an hour, significantly lower than the five hours it takes to complete one FIES in the country. If the PSA does not make changes to its data-collection protocols and create special surveys to trace and monitor income, the researchers said this could lead to further data inaccuracies. T he absence of data from wealthy households leads to different consumption patterns in goods and services, as well as distorts the ability of surveys to paint actual economic conditions. This leads to an overestimation of poverty and underestimation of inequality in the country. “This has consequence, not only to poverty targeting, but also to revenue targeting [especially given the current government’s moves for taxation reform]. However, national accounts are not themselves necessarily more accurate, as they are limited by availability of basic data,” the researchers said. The FIES is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years. It is the main source of data on family income and expenditure, as well as the basis of the country’s population data
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Why does corruption survive? Continued from a1
Why does corruption survive?
The conditions for corruption to arise are ubiquitous. Its survival, however, depends upon four conditions: The first condition necessary for the emergence of corruption is that there be rents associated with a government’s regulatory powers. Let us consider the rents associated with the sale of rights to serve the wireless market (I don’t want to talk about the telco deal in the Philippines; let’s look at a corruption scandal in India, which puts the value of such rents at $38 billion in that country). Barring pathologically honest bureaucrats, an entrepreneur will collude with public officials to capture those rents. Potential losers from this exchange, which include competitors and consumers, will have incentives to prevent such sales. To prevent the private sale of public property, well-developed public institutions are needed to coordinate the responses of the losers and, hopefully, be able to prevent such deals in the first place. The second condition requires that corrupt bureaucracies be somewhat independent within the remaining (if honest) administrative structure of the government. External controls on the bureaucracy—whether imposed by the remainder of the administrative system or by society at large—must be weak. If some agents seem to get away with acts of corruption, the internal dynamics of a corrupt bureaucracy will motivate other bureaucrats to expend more effort on increasing the level of their illicit income. I am happy to report that the “Integrity for Jobs” project, co-funded by the European Commission and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, has effectively created “integrity circles”, composed of participants from the local government units, from business and from civil society, in 60 local government units in the Philippines, clearly addressing the scenario described by the second condition. We will provide more details in future columns. The third condition requires the
Coffee bean. . . Continued from A1
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol and Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez signed the PCIR in Malacañang, and endorsed it to President Duterte on March 7. The government intends to expand coffee plantations to 199,240 hectares, from the current 124,106 hectares. The government would increase coffee plantations by 16,446 ha this year; 16,597 ha next year; 13,845 hectares in 2019; 13,983 hectares in 2020; 14,263 hectares in 2021; and 14,548 hectares in 2022. In six years, the government eyes to increase coffee yield to 0.31 MT per hectares a this year, 0.33 MT per hectare next year, 0.40 MT per hectares in 2019, until it reaches an annual average yield of 1 MT per hectares by 2022. To hike local coffee production, the government is planning to roll out the following interventions: ■ Establish the Philippine Coffee Council (PCC), and strengthen the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries-Coffee Industry Development Sub-Committee and Agricultural and Fishery Councils Sectoral Coffee Committees at all levels; ■ Identify, organize, capacitate coffee farmers, indigenous peoples groups and other coffee enthusiasts, and implement appropriate interventions; ■ Make available accessible credit facilities, guarantee funds and crop insurance for coffee farmers and cooperatives; and ■ Provide incentives for coffee-seedling propagators/coffee farm establishment (farmers, corporate nurseries, service providers). To achieve the targets, education and training, as well as production/postharvest facilities, will be provided to coffee farmers and groups. The government will also expand the production of more expensive specialty coffee and the branding
public institutions controlling corruption be weak and ineffective. These institutions include civic groups that exert moral pressures, political parties and the media that could expose the wrongdoing, and the legal system that would have the authority to prosecute and punish the guilty. The fourth condition is a lack of whistle-blower protection. It is obvious that strange deals between government and the private sector and private sector to private sector (price fixing, collusion in biddings, bribing technical and purchasing staff, etc.) will only become known if people inside those companies become whistle blowers. This is the reason the Integrity Initiative advocates the approval of bills that protect whistle blowers in both Houses of Congress. Societies going through rapid modernization and economic expansion resulting in innovation are prime targets for corruption. In this context, business in the Philippines is happy that the Philippine Competition Act was signed into law in 2015 and the watchdog called Philippine Competition Commission established in 2016. Measures of economic and social development seem to correlate very strongly with a reduction in corruption, involving the type of legal system, colonial legacies and religion. While it is clear that the level of corruption in societies with well-developed political institutions is lower, it is difficult to establish the direction of causation. Does development (economic, political or social) cause corruption to decline or is development possible only when corruption declines? I am happy to report that National Economic Development Authority Secretary Ernesto M Pernia, when he presented the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 a few days ago, clearly outlined the success of the implementation of the development plan hinges on integrity within government and the private sector. It’s time that companies and individuals signed the Integrity Pledge. Do it now, and help creating the Integrity Nation.
of locally produced coffee. The envisioned PCC will guide and monitor the implementation of the road map. It will be led by the private sector, and will be supported by the government. “The council, to be created at the national level, shall have membership from the regional and provincial coffee councils. It aims to unify the various coffee stakeholders to attain the goal of inclusive growth, uplift the welfare and increase awareness on quality coffee among the country’s smallholder farmers, producers, processors, roasters and retailers, including their families,” the PCIR read. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the country’s coffee production in 2015 reached 36,171 MT, translating into an SSR of 33.04 percent. The coffee SSR in 2015 was significantly lower than the 71.91 percent registered in 2014 and is the lowest since the 2012 SSR, pegged at 45.21 percent. The PSA defines SSR as the extent to which a country’s local production of commodities is adequate enough to meet the demand of the whole population. “In 2015 the top three producing regions were concentrated in Mindanao namely, Davao region, Soccsksargen, and the ARMM. Collectively, they contribute 68 percent of the coffee produced in the whole Philippines,” the PCIR read. “Soccsksargen accounted for 37 percent of total output in 2015, or 13,479 tons, of green coffee beans, followed by the Davao region, with 16 percent, or 5,840 MT, of green coffee beans, and then the ARMM, with 15 percent, or 5,263 MT,” the PCIR added. Through the coffee road map, the government hopes to lift farmers out of poverty and increase employment in the coffee industry by 3 percent. “Exports remain as a vision in the future to increase the Philippine coffee footprint in the global market,” the PCIR read.
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Clinics serving migrant workers rap Ubial at CA By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent
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EDICAL clinics serving Filipino workers bound for Kuwait have asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to junk the indefinite suspension slapped on them by Health Secretary-designate Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial without the benefit of a formal complaint. In a 30-page petition for certiorari with prayer for the grant of a temporary restraining order (TRO), Ruben Bartolome MD Clinic Inc., Abakkus Medical Diagnostic Services, Orion Medical & Diagnostic Center and San Marcelino Medical Clinic Co. asked the CA to nullify the preventive suspension order issued by Ubial, Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde and Assistant Secretary Agnette Peralta. Ubial, Villaverde and Peralta earlier ordered the four clinics to stop operating. Through lawyer Edward Martinez, the clinics claimed the suspension order was made arbitrarily and “in blatant and deliberate disregard of existing laws, rules and even the Department of Health’s Rules of Procedure, and in violation of petitioners’ right to due process.” Martinez said the petitioners were preventively suspended without any formal
complaint as required by law but merely on the basis of two resolutions filed in the House of Representatives calling for an inquiry in aid of legislation against the medical clinics. The twin resolutions accused the clinics of conspiring with Mawared Services and Winston Q8 Certifications Solutions Inc. in creating a monopoly in providing medical services for all migrant workers bound for Kuwait. This, the DOH officials claimed, violated Republic Act 10022, or the Migrant Workers’ Act. Martinez said the clinics were suspended because they were listed as the accredited clinics of Winston Q8, which represents the Ministry of Health of Kuwait in the Philippines. Suspending the operations of these clinics on the basis of two resolutions is illegal and arbitrary, Martinez said. “The respondents issued the orders even without a formal complaint or charge filed before the Bureau of Health and Facilities Services or the DOH, as required under Administrative Order 2013-0006. No hearing or investigation was likewise conducted prior to the issuance of the said orders. More important, they were made effective upon issuance and for an indefinite period of time,” Martinez added.
Minority senators claim credit for Senate output By Butch Fernandez
@butchfBM
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ENATORS belonging to the minority bloc claimed credit for seven of 10 national bills passed by the Senate before members of Congress adjourned sessions last week for their traditional Lenten recess. Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said on Monday “the record will bear this out”, noting that five of seven bills that were approved on third reading, as well as two of three bills the senators passed on second reading, were “sponsored and authored” by members of the minority. “The minority bloc has been working hard all this time,” said Drilon. He reported that the approved bills initiated by the minority bloc include the Affordable Higher Education Act for All and the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act, filed by Sen. Paulo Benigno Aquino, expanded maternity leave law and the Mental Health Act, by Sen. Anna Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel, the Philippine Food Technology Act and the Speech Language Pathology Act by Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV, and the adjustment to the present peso value of the amounts of fines imposed in the 87-year-old Revised Penal Code, by Drilon. Once enacted into law, Drilon expects these bills “will have a direct positive impact” on people’s lives, adding that “we studied and prepared hard for these bills, so that they will withstand Senate scrutiny.” “I am proud of our performance. We are the most productive group in the Senate. We did the lion’s share of the work in passing landmark legislation and bills of national significance,” Drilon added, citing collective efforts by members of the minority bloc, which also include his fellow Liberal Party Sens. Francis N. Pangilinan and detained Leila M. de Lima. In taking credit for the Senate’s legislative output, Drilon explains “many members can become cosponsors or coauthors, but the legislators who conduct and ac-
tively participate in committee hearings and defend the measures on the floor are the ones who do the most work to get the bill passed.” For h is pa r t, Drilon sponsored a Senate resolution concurring in the drilon ratification of the Japan-Philippines Agreement on Social Security, which, he said, would give some 400,000 Filipinos in Japan access to various social-security benefits. He added that their legislative performance only “proves that the minority was never and will never become a stumbling block to a productive Senate.” Drilon asserted that minority senators, in being vocal against some policies of the Duterte administration, “should not be mistaken as obstructionists or as part of an imagined destabilization.” “While we may criticize or oppose, the minority bloc has shown that it has also been supportive of legislative proposals that would benefit our country and our people,” Drilon added, as he challenged “those who would insist otherwise...to just work as hard as we in the minority bloc do”, even as he committed the minority senators would “continue working hard to steer the passage of important measures when Congress resumes session in May”. Drilon disclosed that at the resumption of sessions, the Senate minority looks forward to pushing early passage of other pending bills, including the Coconut Farmers Industry Development Act, Sagip Saka Act, the Corporation Code, Pagkaing Pinoy Para sa Batang Pinoy, Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, increase in allowances of government employees through the Cost and Living Allowance and Personnel Economic Relief Allowance and Teachers Supply Allowance Act.
UE Knights sets general assembly, annual polls
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HE UE Knights Inc. (UEKI) will hold its general assembly and election on March 25 at the UE Manila Briefing Room, 2/F, Santiago F. de la Cruz Building, on its Claro M. Recto Avenue campus. Registration will open at 2 p.m. UEKI National Commander Ernesto Chua C. K. invites all members to participate and advises them to coordinate
with UEKI Treasurer Evangeline Albano to settle their unpaid annual membership dues to be able to vote. The election will be held immediately after the national commander and the treasurer have delivered their reports. Retired Brig. Gen. Miguel Sol, Maj. Gen. Dioscoro Yoro Jr. and Commo. Amado Sanglay are the members of the Committee on Election.
Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, March 21, 2017 A3
Carpio to Duterte: Do not ‘impliedly’ cede Philippine territory to China
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By Joel R. San Juan
@jrsanjuan1573
ENIOR Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on Monday advised President Duterte to avoid issuing statements that “impliedly waives Philippine sovereignty to any Philippine territory in the contested West Philippine Sea”.
In a statement, Car pio reminded Duterte that being the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he is mandated by the Constitution to defend the country’s territory. Carpio reiterated that under Republic Act 9522, or the Philippines’s baseline law, Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal is part of the Philippine territory. “This will preserve for future generations of Filipinos their natural patrimony in the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio said. Carpio issued the statement after Duterte said he cannot stop China from implementing its plan to build struc-
tures on the disputed Panatag Shoal for now. Even the United States, according to Duterte, was not able to stop China from building structures in the West Philippine Sea. In 2012 China seized Panatag Shoal after a standoff between Chinese and Filipino vessels. China denied Filipino fishermen access to its rich fishing stock. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Panatag Shoal is a “common fishing ground” of fishermen not only from the Philippines but also from China
and other countries. Duterte said, “If the US was not able to stop China, what can the Philippines do?” Although the Philippines is inferior compared to China’s military capabilities, this should not stop Duterte fulfilling his mandate under the Constitution, Carpio said. One of the steps that Duterte can do is to file a strong formal protest against the Chinese building activity. “This is the least that the President should do,” Carpio said. He said what the Vietnamese did recently when China sent cruise tours to the disputed Paracels. Carpio added Duterte can also send the Navy to patrol Panatag Shoal. If the Chinese attack the Philippine Navy ships, Carpio said the country can invoke the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty, which provides an attack on one will be considered an attack on the other. Duterte can also ask the US to declare that Scarborough Shoal is part of Philippine territory for purposes of the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty, since the shoal has been part of Philippine territory even during the American colonial period.
Economy
A4 Tuesday, March 21, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
BusinessMirror
WESM participation reaches all-time high since 2006 with lower power rates–PEMC
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By Lenie Lectura
@llectura
ower Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rates recorded in January prompted buyers to source 23 percent of their electricty requirements from the electricity bourse.
The Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), operator of WESM, noted a more competitive prices and increased customer sourcing. With mitigating measures in place that will address price spikes, such as the lowering of offer price cap from P62,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to P32,000 per MWh and the imposition of secondary pricecap mechanism, effective settlement spot prices (ESSPs) reached its lowest in January 2017 at P1.90 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) since January 2011. ESSP refers to the average prices paid by wholesale customers
280 Current wholesale market participation at WESM, from an initial count of six in 2006
for energy procured in the WESM. “The resulting prices resulted in customer confidence, thereby
augmenting their supply sourced from the WESM, wherein wholesale customers sourced 23 percent of their electricity requirements from the electricity bourse for the January 2017 billing period. Such exposure of the customers is the highest since December 2006,” PEMC said on Monday. WESM is a platform for electricity trading that provided the mechanism for the scheduling of generation and pricing of electricity. This reform ignited a transformation in the Philippine electricity industry, as transparency kicked in and changed the landscape that cultivated accountabilities to all industry players. “The WESM has been an aid to the economic growth of the countr y and developments in the electric power industry. More than the competition, supply augmentation, investment simulation and advancements that the WESM has contributed in nationbuilding, the WESM boasts years of integrity through transparency,” PEMC President Melinda Ocampo said.
At the forefront of PEMC’s initiatives is the streamlined processes in the approval of market membership. Processing time of market membership upon completion of requirements has been reduced from 15 days to five days, contributing to the ease of doing business in the power industry. From the initial WESM membership of six participants in June 2006, wholesale market participation now stands at 280, or a fiftyfold increase in market membership. To allow electric power-industry participants to manage the price movements in the WESM, PEMC commenced the feasibility study on electricity derivatives market. The study aims to assess the legal and technical aspects of implementing a derivatives market and strategize the phased-in market development appropriate to the Philippine context. Ocampo said over the course of 10 years, PEMC’s reliable performance as the administrator of the country’s sole electricity spot market has steered the power industry into greater efficiency and transparency.
NTC: Only 15K cell sites serve 140M phone users in Philippines
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here are only 15,000 cell sites catering to the needs of 140,000 million phone users in the Philippines, dubbed ironically as the world’s social-media capital, according to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). And so it is no wonder that fixedline Internet in the Philippines is among the slowest in the world, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said, with efforts to improve telecommunications infrastructure hampered by misplaced fears on the purported damaging effects of cell sites on health. The NTC chief also identified community resistance to the installation of cell sites as among major hurdles to efforts to improve connectivity and service in the country. Currently, the Philippines has among the slowest fixed-line Internet speeds in Asia Pacific at an average 4.2 megabytes per second (Mbps), just above India. The International Telecommunication Union, the telecommunications body of the United Nations, meanwhile, ranked the Philippines a lowly 105th in the world in terms of information and communications technology in 2015. “Right now, under the existing law, homeowners associations should give their consent before a cell site or a telecommunications infrastructure is put up inside their village or subdivision,” Cordoba said, addressing the just concluded Philippine Telecoms Summit 2017. “But these homeowner associations do not give permits, that’s why there are no cell sites or telecoms infra in their backyard,” he said. Curiously, Cordoba noted, those most vocal against cells sites are also the loudest to complain about poor
connectivity. “The problem, too, is that the people who live in these villages are the first ones to complain if they don’t have good connectivity,” he said. Telecommunications firms face such problem as homeowners associations disallow the construction of cell sites due to the commonplace fear that they emit harmful radiofrequency (RF). For instance, in the posh Ayala, Alabang, only a single cell site services the community of 700 hectares. In upscale Makati villages Forbes Park and Dasmariñas Village, there are no dedicated cell sites for the two neighborhoods about 300 hectares in size. “Clearly, there is a lack of connectivity and service inside these villages, and the people who live there are data-heavy users. You can also imagine the complaints that we receive from the people who reside in these villages, but the problem is their homeowners associations do not allow the installation of cell sites,” Cordoba said. Citing data from telecommunications firms, Cordoba said Globe Telecoms faced the “outright rejection” of 17 homeowners associations across Metro Manila, citing “acceptability issues.” It was “difficult to acquire” in 16 other villages, while a single approval still faced opposition from residents. Smart Communications, meanwhile, is facing difficulty in acquiring cell site construction permits in a staggering 109 villages across Metro Manila and 32 other localities in Luzon and other key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Condominium buildings, which have sprouted around Metro Manila over the last two decades, also present a problem, as the high-rise buildings rely on street-level cell sites for reception.
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et and another P21.6 billion for other expenses; sufficient funding for technical-vocational education and training in technical-vocational institutes run by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) with P6.7 billion, also from Salceda’s original version; tertiary-education subsidy, P15 billion limited to Decile 1 to 5 students, for tuition and other expenses in accredited private higher-educational institutions, local universities and colleges (LUCs), SUCs and Tesda accredited TVIs, original provisions from the measures filed by Reps. Dakila Carlo E. Cua of Quirino and Carlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City. The measure, likewise, aims to
Cauguiran seeks release of 2nd tranche of funds for Clark airport design By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
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he chief of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) will soon request for the disbursement of the second tranche of funds from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to begin the procurement for the design of its air hub in the North. CIAC President Alexander Cauguiran said his group is expediting the use of the first P6.6 million that his company received to immediately seek for the transfer of the second tranche of funding from the department. Last week the DOTr released P6.6 million to the company, representing the first tranche of funds from the P2.8-billion budget for the hiring of consultants to assist the airport management in approving the terms of reference (TOR) for detailed engineering and design (DED). “To expedite the process via rulesbased transparency, the initial step is to have the TOR approved by the CIAC Board of Directors,” he said. Cauguiran noted that Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade’s initiatives in the transfer of funds are “both timely and vital” to the company’s plans to accommodate the increasing number of passenger traffic at the Clark airport. The expected amount from the second tranche of funds is P161.7 million, or half of the P323 million allocated for the bidding of the consultancy services for the DED and project-management services. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the process of bid and award of contract may be completed by the third quarter of this year, Cauguiran said. The winning bidder will be responsible for the design study and
₧161.7M
The expected amount of the second tranche of fund, which the CIAC seeks to secure, or half of the P323 million allocated for the bidding of the consultancy services for the DED and projectmanagement services the draft TOR as basis in acquiring the services to build three major civil works, namely, the taxiway, a new aircraft-parking apron or ramp, and apron shoulders, all amounting to P2.163 billion. The design study and the corresponding TOR will also be reviewed and approved by the CIAC Board of Directors, Cauguiran said, before the third tranche of funds, amounting to another P161.7 million, is released. In implementing these civil works, CIAC will submit an approved program of work, and will seek the transfer of the remaining budget, also in tranches, from the period of preconstruction supervision to actual implementation. The DOTr was appropriated with P800-million and P2.09-billion in the General Appropriations Act of 2015 and 2016, respectively, for the airport-development program’s first phase this year. “The construction of a new Clark airport terminal “the first of four design phases ’” for domestic and international travelers with an 8-million-passenger capacity—is included in CIAC Master Development Plan, and will be finished before the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends,” Cauguiran said.
Malaysia keen to be part of CGC By Cai U. Ordinario
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“The problem with them is that they don’t have indoor building solutions while being constructed. And, after being put up, the condominium corporation eventually does disallow such provisions [for better mobile connectivity],” Cordoba said. At the summit, Dr. Rodney Croft, chairman of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) High Frequency Guidelines Project Group, addressed fears over radiation from cell sites, saying research has found no evidence that emissionsfromeverydaytechnologyand
infrastructure cause harm. Radiation is electromagnetic energy that comes from the sun, home appliances, mobile phones and Wi-fi connection, among others. It is commonly perceived to have detrimental effects on health, among them grave diseases such as cancer. In his presentation, he cited ICNIRP’s long-established guidelines limiting RF emissions to safe levels, saying the standards ensure that public exposure to radiation “will be far lower than the lowest levels demonstrated to cause harm”. PNA
House panel approves measure on universal access to education he House Committee on Higher and Technical Education has approved last week a universal access to tertiary-education bill that will afford Filipinos “equal opportunity to quality education in both private and public educational institutions”. The measure, Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of 2017, consolidates House Bill 2771 filed by Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda, and similar bills filed by Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio of ACT and Sarah Jane Elago of Kabataan, but adopted the title and major provisions of Salceda’s original bill. The consolidated bill ’s highlights include full funding of state universities and colleges (SUCs) with its proposed P38-billion budg-
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provide such other mechanisms to increase the participation rate in tertiary education from all socioeconomic classes; provide all Filipinos with equal opportunities to quality education in both private and public educational institutions; give priority to academically able students from poor families; ensure optimized utilization of government resources in education; and recognize the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the tertiary educational system. Its other salient features include the National Student Loan Program (NSLP), with a P15 billion allocation, limited to Decile 1 to 8, for tuition and other expenses in accredited HEIs and SUCs. The loan is payable
upon gainful employment when the beneficiary’s gross income reaches the minimum critical threshold, and will be collected as additional percentage on top of his/her Social Security System or Government Service Insurance System premiums. The preceding provision was wholly taken from Salceda’s Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) proposal, patterned after the Australian model of free higher education, and renamed NSLP. Aside from promoting universal access to tertiary education in SUCs and state-run TVIs, HB 2771 strengthens the unified financial assistance system for tertiary education, and amends an older legislation, RA 10687, more known as the UniFAST law. PNA
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he government of Malaysia is also keen on taking part in the country’s infrastructure efforts in the medium term, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the Malaysian government has expressed willingness to become part of the Clark Green City (CGC) project. “[They are interested in putting] the institutions there, to organize it,” Pernia said. “They have this experience in Putrajaya.” Pernia said, currently, the government has not received any proposals for CGC, and if the Malaysian government is keen on participating, they will be asked to send a proposal. In 1993 the Malaysian government decided to transfer its administration center to Putrajaya from Kuala Lumpur. The government center was designed to have a garden city concept that uses green city planning, sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy. In the same way, the CGC, is envisioned to be a destination where nature, lifestyle, business, education and industry converge into a global city, based on principles of sustainability. The government also aims to develop the new metropolis into a city that protects and enhances the delicate balance between nature and built environment. Pernia said this among the opportunities for development that the Philippines faces in the medium term. He also said bilateral and multilateral partners, such as Japan, China, South Korea, World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure In-
vestment Bank (AIIB). The Neda earlier said China will be extending loans to finance P172.42 billion worth of infrastructure projects in the country this year. Pernia said the amount will cover three projects, which will include a railway, a bulk-water facility and irrigation project. The government is also going to Japan to discuss not only infrastructure projects, but also trade issues, given that the country has a bilateral with Japan. Pernia said the discussions will include finalizing the projects to be funded by the Japanese government, such as the hotly contested Subic-Clark Railway Project, which is being eyed for funding by both Chinese and Japanese governments. T he P35.04 4 -billion-worth project involves the construction of a 65-kilometer cargo and passenger standard gauge railway. Envisioned to be a “speed train”, the project will traverse the SubicClark-Tarlac Expressway and the Subic Freeport Expressway. Meanwhile, the Philippines currently has nine proposed projects for Asian Development Bank financing, including the Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility, which is a technical assistance loan. The loan will support the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) in crafting innovative infrastructure projects and priorities in Metro Manila and other urban areas. The proposal involves a $10- million-worth loan from the ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources. The proposal’s concept was cleared in January. The Philippine government also proposed the $500-millionworth Metro Manila Flood Management Project to the AIIB and the World Bank.
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Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Tuesday, March 21, 2017
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Coconut output seen hitting 2.24 MMT SRA defends order regulating entry of imported fructose T
Photo shows coconut trees towering over a house in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. The Zamboanga Peninsula, which includes Zamboanga del Sur, is one of the top coconut-producing regions in the country today, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. NONIE REYES
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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
@jearcalas
avorable weather would allow the country’s coconut production to increase to 2.244 million metric tons (MMT) in copra terms this year, according to the United Coconut Association of the Philippines Inc. (Ucap).
Ucap’s forecast is 9.46 percent higher than the 2.05 MMT produced by the Philippines last year, when the production of most crops declined due to El Niño. “We have a positive outlook [for the coconut industry] this year,” Ucap Executive Director Yvonne T.V. Agustin told the BusinessMirror. Agustin said the projected hike in coconut production would also result in more shipments of coconut oil this year. She estimated that coconut-oil exports this year could reach 765,000 MT, 5.37 percent higher than the 726,000 MT shipped in 2016. She also said copra meal exports this year could rise by 18.61
percent to 325,000 MT, from the 2016 record of 274,000 MT. As for desiccated coconut, Agustin said Ucap said it expects shipments to hit 90,000 MT this year. “Shipments of desiccated coconut reached 91,220 MT last year. We’re not yet sure if we’re going to maintain this projection but most likely, the 2017 output will not be far from that figure,” she said. “[Ucap] will revisit and review the projection for desiccated coconut based depending on the performance [of the sector] in the first quarter,” Agustin added. As El Niño could again affect the Philippines this year, Agustin said its impact on the coconut industry
would be evident next year. “Now that there’s a threat of El Niño again, mitigation measures should already be implemented [by the government].” Agustin said the Philippines earned $1.7 billion from coconut exports last year. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that export receipts from major coconut products last year slightly increased to $1.41 billion from $1.4 billion registered in 2015. The bulk of export receipts came from coconut oil, which accounted for 80.52 percent. Revenues from coconut oil last year reached $1.13 billion, slightly higher than the 2015 record of $1.12 billion. PSA data also showed that revenues from desiccated coconut grew 21.6 percent to $194.68 million in 2016, from the $160.05 million registered in 2015. However, export receipts from copra and copra meal declined by 87.7 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively. Data from the PSA revealed that earnings from copra meal reached $51.2 million, lower than the $70.42 million recorded in 2015, while revenues from copra shipments amounted to only $70,000 last year.
Brazil reassures foreign countries after rotten meat scandal
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IO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s president met last Sunday with dozens of ambassadors from countries that import Brazilian meat, seeking to minimize damage from a corruption probe that alleges meat packers bribed inspectors to keep rotten meat on the market. Speaking at the presidential palace, President Michel Temer told the diplomats that Brazil’s “government wants to reiterate its confidence in the quality of our national product”. Temer set up the meeting following inquiries from the European Union and China over the scandal. Federal police issued 38 arrest warrants involving the giant meat packers JBS and BRF in a blow to Brazil’s reputation as one of the world’s leading meat producers. The president minimized the investigation, saying only 33 of the 11,000 inspectors at the Agriculture Ministry are being investigated for allegedly taking bribes to overlook meat packers using chemicals to improve the appearance and smell of expired meat. Some of the bad meat was exported to Europe, investigators have said. Temer told the ambassadors the Agriculture Ministry would soon release a list
of countries that could have received rotten meat, as well as the name of the meat packers responsible. Temer said a task force would be created to speed up the investigation of the plants that were targeted. In a statement, his office also said it wanted to reiterate that packing plants are open to inspection by nations that buy Brazilian meats. Officials said Brazil exports meat to about 150 countries. Wrapping up the meeting, the president invited the ambassadors for dinner at a traditional Brazilian barbecue restaurant in Brasilia. Earlier, Temer met with his agriculture and foreign commerce ministers, as well as meat packing industry leaders to talk about impact of the case. Authorities say out of the 4,800 meatpacking facilities subject to federal inspection in Brazil, 21 are under investigation, including units of the two big companies JBS and BRF. Federal police also said last Friday the two-year investigation had determined that part of the money allegedly paid by JBS and BRF was channeled to two of Brazil’s major political parties, including Temer’s. AP
he Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on Monday said it was not required to consult soft-drink makers before issuing an order that effectively limited the entry of imported highfructose corn syrup (HFCS) into the country. SRA Administrator Anna Rosario V. Paner made the pronouncement after stakeholders in the sugar industry staged a protest in front of a Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Inc. (CFPI) plant in Bacolod to denounce Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol. Piñol had wanted to suspend the implementation of Sugar Order (SO) 3, which imposed additional requirements on importers of HFCS, saying soft-drink makers were not consulted prior to its issuance. “The SRA’s point was in the exercise of our quasilegislative powers, the agency is not required to have prior consultations before coming up with our rules and regulations,” Paner told the BusinessMirror. “Even assuming that we are required to do so, we consulted the
concerned stakeholders of the SRA, specifically those who have sectoral representatives in the SRA board. Our sectoral representatives include the planters and the millers,” she added. Paner said they also held consultations with labor groups and food companies. “There were consultations conducted. Maybe the difference is the extent of the consultations in terms of the appreciation of the secretary.” The SRA is a government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA). Its administrator is appointed by the President, while the DA chief serves as ex officio chairman of the SRA Board In February the SRA issued SO 3, after farmers and millers complained they were losing some P10 billion a year due to the unregulated entry of HFCS imports being used by local beverage and food producers. SO 3 specified the guidelines for the issuance of clearance for the release of imported HFCS and
chemically pure fructose. Earlier CFPI had tried to ask the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City to issue a temporary restraining order against SO 3. In a ruling issued on March 10, the court denied CFPI’s petition. The company argued that some of the provisions of SO 3 undermine their right to import HFCS, while giving the SRA arbitral power “to interfere and place unnecessary restrictions in importing HFCS.” Currently, Branch 98 of the Quezon City Trial Court is conducting hearings on CFPI’s petition for preliminary injunction. Piñol said he would convene the SRA Board on March 23 to discuss HFCS importation and the possible suspension of SO 3. Earlier, Paner said the volume of HFCS imported last year, pegged at 285,000 metric tons, which is equivalent to some 5.7 million 50-kilogram bag, was the highest since 2013. Paner said this displaced nearly 30 percent of the market share for locally produced refined sugar. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
DA, local govt open livestock ‘auction market’ in Aleosan, North Cotabato
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LEOSAN, North Cotabato —The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local government unit have launched the “Livestock Oksyon” Market (LOM) here in a bid for livestock farmers selling their animals to get a fair price. Arnol Esteban, a goat and hog raiser from Barangay Pagangan, said on Monday the DA project would mean a “fair market for all animal raisers in the province”. “For so long, middle men or businesspeople come to our place, look at our animals and set the price,“ said Esteban, 45. “Normally, they dictate the price and we could not do anything but agree for we need the money for our families,” he added. Another hog raiser, Emilio Sta. Cruz, said the buying price of live hogs was too cheap, while the market price of fresh meat in the local market was almost doubled.
“We [earn little if you compare] the buying price of live hogs against the prices of fresh meat,” Sta. Cruz said. “With the Livestock Oksyon Market in place, our hard labor will bear good fruit,” he added. Oksyon is Filipino slang for “auction”. A joint venture involving DA Region 12 and its attached agencies led to the establishment of LOM in Barangay New Panay, Aleosan, which was launched last Friday. This is one of the many LOMs the DA is putting up across the Soccsksargen region. “This will improve the process in the auction of livestock,” Esteban said. The LOM, through the local government unit, houses a digital weighing scale using the Philippine National Standard. Aleosan Mayor Vicente Suropia lauded the DA and its partner agencies for the endeavor, describing it as a form of empowering livestock workers.
“LOM empowers both sellers and buyers to get the accurate and exact price and weight of the livestock,” Sorupia said.The LOM facility is worth P3.9 million. Suropia said the old practice of mata mata system (buyer’s price estimates) would be a thing of the past. Supporting this project is North Cotabato Board Member Socrates Piñol, younger brother of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol. The provincial official has recently organized livestock raisers in the province to help them find market in Metro Manila. Socrates also proposed the establishment of data base for all available livestock products in the province and make use of social media in promoting livestock from North Cotabato. “Once the data is available on the Internet, buyers from Manila or elsewhere may get in touch with the local livestock raisers,” he said. PNA
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Who’s happy, who’s not: Norway tops list, US falls
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ASHINGTON—If you want to go to your happy place, you need more than cash. A winter coat helps—and a sense of community. A new report shows Norway is the happiest country on Earth, Americans are getting sadder, and it takes more than just money to be happy.
Norway vaulted to the top slot in the World Happiness Report despite the plummeting price of oil, a key part of its economy. Income in the United States has gone up over the past decade, but happiness is declining. The United States was 14th in the latest ranking, down from No. 13 last year, and over the years
Americans steadily have been rating themselves less happy. “It’s the human things that matter. If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationship between people, is it worth it?” asked John Helliwell, the lead author of the report and an economist at the University of British Columbia in Canada
(ranked No. 7). “The material can stand in the way of the human.” Studying happiness may seem frivolous, but serious academics have long been calling for more testing about people’s emotional well-being, especially in the United States. In 2013 the National Academy of Sciences issued a report recommending that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, include a few extra questions on happiness because it would lead to better policy that affects people’s lives.
Common good
NORWAY moved from No. 4 to the top spot in the report’s rankings, which combine economic, health and polling data compiled by economists that are averaged over three years from 2014 to 2016. Norway edged past previous champ Denmark, which fell to second. Iceland, Switzerland and Finland round out the top 5.
“Good for them. I don’t think Denmark has a monopoly on happiness,” said Meik Wiking, chief executive officer of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, who wasn’t part of the global scientific study that came out with the rankings. “What works in the Nordic countries is a sense of community and understanding in the common good,” Wiking said. Still, you have to have some money to be happy, which is why most of the bottom countries are in desperate poverty. But at a certain point, extra money doesn’t buy extra happiness, Helliwell and others said. The Central African Republic fell to last on the happiness list, and is joined at the bottom by Burundi, Tanzania, Syria and Rwanda. The report ranks 155 countries. The economists have been ranking countries since 2012, but the data used goes back farther, so the economists can judge trends. The rankings are based on
gross domestic product per person, healthy-life expectancy with four factors from global surveys. In those surveys, people give scores from 1 to 10 on how much social support they feel they have if something goes wrong, their freedom to make their own life choices, their sense of how corrupt their society is and how generous they are.
Rising inequality
WHILE most countries were either getting happier, or at least treading water, America’s happiness score dropped 5 percent over the past decade. Venezuela and the Central African Republic slipped the most over the past decade. Nicaragua and Latvia increased the most. Study coauthor and economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University said, in a phone interview from Oslo, the sense of community, so strong in Norway, is deteriorating in the United States. “We’re becoming more and more
mean spirited. And our government is becoming more and more corrupt. And inequality is rising,” Sachs said, citing research and analysis he conducted on America’s declining happiness for the report. “It’s a long-term trend and conditions are getting worse.” University of Maryland’s Carol Graham, who wasn’t a study author, but did review some chapters, said the report mimics what she sees in the American rural areas, where her research shows poor whites have a deeper lack of hope, which she connects to rises in addictions to painkillers and suicide among that group. “There is deep misery in the heartland,” Graham, author of the book “The Pursuit of Happiness”, wrote in an email. Happiness—and doing what you love—is more important than politicians think, study author Helliwell said. He rated his personal happiness a 9 on a 1-to- 10 scale. AP
West Mosul battle looks to be deadliest yet for Iraqis
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OSUL, Iraq—As Iraqi f o r c e s p u s h e d i nt o southwestern Mosul, four Islamic State (IS) fighters moved into Omar Khudair’s home and took up positions on the roof. The 17-year-old, his parents and siblings took cover in his aunt’s house next door, and for the next half hour they huddled in a back room as the battle raged overhead. Then the airstrikes came, blowing up a cluster of houses, killing not only the fighters, but 18 members of Khudair’s extended family. The teen was one of the few to survive, left covered in burns and shrapnel wounds. The fight for the western half of Mosul could the deadliest yet for civilians. Iraqi forces have increasingly turned to airstrikes and artillery to clear heavily populated, dense urban terrain, and residents running out of food and supplies are fleeing their homes at higher rates than previously seen in the Mosul operation. More than 750 civilians have been killed or wounded since the fight for western Mosul began a month ago, front-line medics say, a number they expect to spike as Iraqi forces push into the old city. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. By comparison, some 1,600 civilians were killed or wounded during the 100 days of fighting to recapture Mosul’s less densely populated east, according to reports from nearby hospitals. Mosul’s east was declared fully liberated in January.
Much higher casualties
A I R WA R S , a L o n d o n - b a s e d group that tracks civilian deaths from airstrikes targeting IS in Iraq and Syria, estimates the number of casualties to be much h i g he r, c l a i m i ng more t h a n 300 civilians have been killed
in western Mosul over the last month. The Pentagon, which has yet to release casualty figures from the last month, has acknowledged 220 civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since the US campaign against IS began in 2014. Of the nearly 300,000 people who have fled Mosul since the operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city began in October, more than 100,000 have left in the past month alone, according to the United Nations. Many are fleeing because they have no more food, said Azher Adnan, a local pharmacist volunteering as a medic at a clinic just south of the city. “Every one of my patients, the first thing they say when they approach my clinic is ‘I’m hungry,’“ he said. Civilians who have escaped said food began to run low in October as the wealthy hoarded what they could. By January, grocery store shelves were completely bare. “The population of Mosul ’s west is different from the east,” Adnan said. “Here you have more people in poverty, they couldn’t afford to prepare for the siege.”
Small contingents left
IN eastern Mosul, most militants withdrew in the face of the assault, leaving small contingents of four of five fighters to pin down troops in urban combat. But Lt. Gen. Sami al-Arathi, of Iraq’s special forces, said the fighters cornered in west Mosul have nowhere to run. “Now, they are forced to fight to the death,” he said. Faced with heavier resistance in more dense urban terrain, Iraqi forces are relying even more on airstrikes and artillery, heightening the risk to civilians and leaving scenes of devastation in their wake.
Iraqi security forces advance during fighting against Islamic State (IS) militants in western Mosul, Iraq, on March 7. US-backed Iraqi forces are fighting their way through a government complex in the heart of western Mosul after storming the buildings in an overnight raid, and are facing fierce counterattacks on Tuesday from the IS group. AP
750 The total number of civilians killed or wounded in western Mosul, Iraq, since a firefight erupted between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants began in February
“This area used to be so beautiful,” said Mohammed Ali of the Federal Police, which have been battling their way up the Tigris along what used to be a scenic riverside boulevard, leaving behind mangled park benches and shattered flower boxes. A li, who hails from a tow n
just outside Mosul, remembers spending time on the cor niche as a teenager. “Fa m i l ies a nd girls would come here,” he said, l augh ing. “ We used to fol low t he g irls, but t hey never gave us a ny at tent ion.”
At extreme risk
US Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq, said the coalition is “probably” launching more airstrikes in western Mosul than in the east because more coalition troops have been authorized to approve air support for Iraqi forces. “We’re going to strike ISIS wherever we can, so that the Iraqis can be successful,” Martin said, referring to the extremist group by another acronym. He said changes to the US rules of engagement are allowing the coalition to strike faster and more accurately. Mar tin said Iraqi commanders are still
tr ying to preser ve infrastruct u re a nd m i n i m i z e c i v i l i a n casualties—but that the militants have other ideas. IS has fired at least 4,284 mortars, roc kets and ar ti l ler y rounds “ indiscriminately” in western Mosul since Januar y, showing “complete disregard of human life”, he said. Humanitarian organizations warn the destruction, displacement and civilian casualties are likely to spike as Iraqi forces push into Mosul’s old city, where streets are the width of alleyways. A senior Western diplomat who attends militar y planning meetings said Iraq’s militar y showed they were capable of protecting civilians in eastern Mosu l, but w i l l face a much greater challenge in the old city. “In the old cit y (Iraqi forces) are going to have to get out of their vehicles and they’ve got to go house to house,” the of f icia l said on cond ition of
anony mit y to discuss militar y planning. “Families are going to be at extreme r isk.”
Under the rubble
IN Mamun, one of the first western Mosul neighborhoods to be retaken from IS, nearly every customer at a corner vegetable market knew at least one person who had been killed during the past month’s fighting. A h me d K h a l i l p oi nte d to where he said a rocket had killed a mother and her children. He gestured further down the street, where he said IS snipers had picked off civilians trying to flee. “We couldn’t even take the bodies to the cemetery because the clashes were so heavy,” he said. “We had to just bury them where they fell.” Another customer, Mashad Fathi, pointed to a street where a whole row of buildings had collapsed. “The bodies of one of the families are still under the rubble.” AP
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Air Force arsenal of land-based nukes shrinking as planned
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ASHINGTON— The Air Force is quietly shrinking its deployed force of landbased nuclear missiles as part of a holdover Obama administration plan to comply with an arms-control treaty with Russia. The reductions are nearing completion despite President Donald J. Trump’s argument that the treat y gives Moscow an unfair advantage in nuclear firepower. The reduction to 400 missiles from 450 is the first for the intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, force in a decade—when the arsenal came down from 500 such weapons. The Air Force says the latest cut in Minuteman 3 missiles will be completed in April, leaving the deployed ICBM arsenal at its smallest size since the early 1960s. In 2014 President Barack Obama’s administration announced the planned ICBM reduction to tailor the overall nuclear force, including bombers and nuclear-armed submarines, to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that the US and Russia sealed in 2010. Both nations must comply with the treaty’s limits by February 2018. The shrinking of the ICBM force runs counter, at least rhetorically, to Trump’s belief that the US has fallen behind Russia in nuclear muscle. L a st December Tr u mp tweeted that the US must “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” He has criticized New START as a bad deal.
New START
IT’S unclear how Trump intends to conduct a nuclear expansion, which critics call unnecessary and a potential drain on funds needed for nonnuclear forces. A long-term plan to replace and modernize the current nuclear force is already under way and will end up costing hundreds of billions of dollars. As of March 14, the A ir Force had 406 Minuteman missiles in launch-ready silos, Maj. Daniel Dubois, an A ir Force spokesman, said last Friday. Last September the number was 417. Dubois said the number will be down to 400 by April. A lso as part of the treaty’s compliance process, the Air Force in Januar y finished converting 41 B-52H bombers to nonnuclear status. Michaela Dodge, a defense policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, says the US should get out of New Start. “There should be a way to reverse those decreases,” she said, referring to the 50 Minuteman missiles pulled out of their silos. “As long as
Russia continues to increase the number of its nuclear warheads under New START, we should not be decreasing.” Russia’s warheads have surpassed the treaty limit of 1,550, and the US is below the limit. But by next February, neither is expected to be above.
Military calculations
DARYL Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control A ssociation, said Moscow would honor its New START commitment. “It’s important for the United States to stay on schedule,” he said, arguing that such efforts “will help ensure that Russia does the same”. Based on military calculations, Obama declared in 2013 that the US could safely reduce its nuclear force by one-third from New START levels. But negotiations to do so never took place. They seem even unlikelier after Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and Kremlin rhetoric that US officials have considered reckless and dangerous. However, Trump’s suggestions of interest in a grand bargain with Russia, i nc lud i ng nuc lea r reductions, could provide an avenue for fresh talks. After taking office, Trump ordered a review of nuclear forces, a Pentagon-led process likely to take a year or more. Among the key questions: whether to continue Obama’s weapons modernization plan and a possible withdrawal from New START. One element of the modernization plan calls for a new-generation ICBM force that could cost more than $100 billion. Sticking with New START would not necessarily constrain the US for long. It expires in Februar y 2021 unless both sides agree on an extension. Besides the overall warhead limit, the treat y a l lows each side a maximum of 700 deployed launchers, including missile silos. Russia and the US can decide for themselves how their totals are apportioned among the three weapons categories: ICBMs, submarines and bombers. The 50 underground silos from which the Minuteman missiles are being removed will be kept “warm”, meaning capable of returning to active use. The missiles are being put in storage. Those decisions came after members of Congress from the ICBM base states—North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana—pushed for no elimination of silos. The 400 remaining deployed ICBMs would be the fewest since 1962, according to a history of the force written by Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists. AP
Lebanese antigovernment protesters shout slogans during a protest against newly approved taxes as they wave Lebanese flags in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19. Thousands of demonstrators have descended on central Beirut to protest a broad tax hike they say is unfairly targeting the country’s working classes. AP
Tax hike, stagnant wages spark protests in Beirut
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EIRUT—Demonstrators in downtown Beirut pelted Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s car with water bottles last Sunday, as protests against new taxes and a stagnant public wage scale jolted the city. Hariri got out of his armored convoy beh ind t he pol ice l ine at t he demonst rat ion fac ing t he gover n ment ’s headqu a r ters, but cou ld get no c loser as protesters bega n t hrow ing bott les a nd ha r r y ing him w it h cr ies of “ T h ieves! ” With water bott les fa l ling around him and his bodyguards shielding him with their arms, Hariri told TV cameras: “It’s true
there is waste and corruption in the country, but we will fight it.” He then left the area on foot. Thousands of people came to the city center to protest a broad tax hike they say is unfairly targeting the working class. Demonstrators said the government has squandered public f unds t hrough shady publicpr ivate contracts and shou ld plug the budget deficit by ad-
1 dozen The total tax rates seen to increase if Beirut approves a new budget
d ressing cor r upt ion instead. Parliament approved some ta x hikes last Wednesday. The government is paralyzed over a budget proposal that would hike over a dozen tax rates to fund a salary increase for teachers and civil servants. Parliament has not authorized a new budget since 2005. The demonstrations are the latest display of mounting discontent with Lebanon’s political elite. The politicians, many of whom led the militias that tore the country apart in the 1975-1990 civil war,
are widely seen as corrupt and out of touch. Demonstrators poured into the streets in 2015 to protest a collapse in the country’s wastemanagement sector that left trash piling up across the capital district. Sunday’s demonstration was called by the Communist and Phalangist parties, and joined by civil activists campaigning against corruption. “We are going to topple any unjust government,” vowed Naamat Badreddine, an activist with the group We Want Accountability. T he pa rl i a ment h a s t w ice e x tended its ow n ter m over disagreements on how to hold elections. Polls are scheduled to take place in May, but top politicians have yet to give the green light. Parliament’s original term expired in 2013. The country suffers from daily power and water outages. AP
Another journalist slain in Mexico’s violent state
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ALAPA, Mexico—An attacker shot a journalist to death last Sunday in the Mexican state of Veracruz, adding to the toll in a region plagued by drug gang violence and allegations of government corruption. Journalist Ricardo Monlui was leaving a restaurant with his wife and a son in the town of Yanga, outside the larger city of Cordoba, when a man who appeared to have been waiting shot Monlui twice and fled, local police chief Carlos
Samuel Hernandez said. The wife and son apparently were unhurt. Monlui is at least the 11th journalist to be slain in just over six years in Veracruz state, but the first since former Gov. Javier Duarte quit last year and vanished in the face of corruption charges. New Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes, who took office last December, expressed indignation at the killing. As a battleground for rival drug cartels, Veracruz is one of Mexico’s most violent states. The governor
reported that eight people, including five police officers, also were killed last Sunday during a gun battle in the Coxquihi municipality in a mountainous area of northern Veracruz. Yunes said it wasn’t yet clear what happened. Monlui was head of the Cordoba region’s press association and was a columnist for the new newspapers El Sol de Cordoba and Diario de Xalapa, as well as the magazine Analysis Politico. Hernandez said officials were
trying to identify the killer and were not yet sure of a motive. The Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists has said Mexico is the most dangerous part of the hemisphere for journalists and that Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, has been the most deadly part of the country. The committee says 86 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992, 37 of them for motives directly related to their work and 49 for reasons not yet clear. AP
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Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Canadian wins $1-million global teacher prize for work with Inuit
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UBAI, United Arab Emirates—A Canadian school teacher who encourages hope and acts of kindness in an isolated corner of Quebec won a $1-million prize last Sunday in what has become one of the most high-profile awards for teaching excellence.
Mag g ie MacDonnel l was awarded the annual Global Teacher Prize during a ceremony in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, beating out thousands of applicants from around the world. She has worked for the past six years in a remote Arctic village called Salluit teaching middle and high schoolers. According to her biography, Salluit is home to t he second-nor t her n most Inuit indigenous community in Quebec, with a population of just over 1,300, and can only be reached by air. Speaking to the Associated Press after her win, MacDonnell said she plans to use the prize money to continue helping the community in Salluit by
establishing an environmental stewardship program to reconnect youth with many of their cultural traditions. She said she hopes the aw a rd br i ngs at tent ion to t he i n d i g e n o u s c o m mu n it i e s o f C a n ad a a nd “ idea l ly t h at t he y be t reated w it h t he d ig n it y t h at t he y deser ve.”
Acts of kindness
MACDONNELL’S perseverance to continue teaching in the remote area, where many teachers leave their post midway through the year, made her a standout for the award. MacDonnell created a number of programs for boys and girls, including job mentorship
and funds to assist with healthy meals. Her approach focuses on encouraging “acts of kindness”, such as running a community kitchen and attending suicide prevention training. Dubai r u ler Sheik h Mohammed bin R ashid A l Ma ktoum wa s on ha nd to present t he prize to MacDonnell. Her name was announced by French astronaut T homas Pesquet in a v ideo message from the International Space Station. T he pr ize was establ ished three years ago to recognize one exceptional teacher a year who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession, employs innovative classroom practices and encourages others to join the teaching profession. MacDonnell was among many finalists f lown to Dubai to attend t he ceremony. T he top 10 finalists included teachers from Pakistan, the UK, Jamaica, Spain, Germany, China, Kenya, Australia and Brazil. A mong her m a ny ef for t s, MacDonnel l a lso establ ished a fitness center for youth and adults in the local community, where drug use and alcoholism rates are high due to the region’s harsh winters and isolation.
Canadian reality
M AC DONNELL t a l ked about
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Expanding lobster market in China fuels increasing US imports
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the 10 suicides that took place during her time in the small village, including six young men between the ages of 18 and 25 in 2015 alone. “The memory that continues to haunt me is when I see these Canadian teenagers, their very own classmates of the deceased, literally digging the grave,” she said. “I didn’t know until I came to Salluit that that was a Canadian reality.” Last year Palestinian teacher Hanan al-Hroub won for her efforts in encouraging students to renounce violence and embrace dialogue. The inaugural prize went to Nancie Atwell, an English teacher from Maine. The award is presented by the Varkey Foundation. Its founder, Sunny Varkey, established the for-profit GEMS Education company, which has more than 250 schools around the world. T he foundation’s CEO, Vikas Pot a, sa id in a st atement t he award aims to shine a spotlight on g reat teac hers a nd sha re t heir stor ies w it h t he world. A l so l a st Su nd ay, 15 cou nt r ies, i nc lud i ng C h i le, I r aq, J a p a n , P a k i s t a n , Po r t u g a l , Som a l i a , U k ra i ne a nd Yemen , a n nou nced t he y wou ld l au nc h n at ion a l teac h i ng pr i z es w it h t h e s u p p o r t o f t h e Va r k e y Fou nd at ion. AP
OCKPORT, Maine—The expanding market for lobsters in China is continuing to grow, with the country setting a new record for the value of its imports of the crustaceans from the United States. American lobster was almost unheard of in most of China until 2010, when the value of imports grew 250 percent to about $7.4 million. Last year China imported more than $108 million in lobsters from America, surpassing the previous high of about $90.2 million in 2014. “We’ve opened new markets in Asia, which is booming,” said Dave Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “Ever ything is clicking now.” Chinese importers took in more than 14 million pounds of US lobsters last year, which was also a record. The previous high was about 13.1 million pounds the previous year. Interest in American lobster has grown in other countries in Asia, as well, such as South Korea, which grew from less than $5 million in 2010 to nearly $28 million last year. Vietnam’s imports grew from $142,940 to more than $31 million in that time. One of the factors spurring the growth of lobsters in China appears to be
the growth of the country’s middle class, said Stephanie Nadeau, owner of The Lobster Co., in Arundel, Maine, which is a key player in the export business. American lobsters tend to be less expensive in China than other live seafood, such as spiny lobsters and geoduck clams, she said. “It’s kind of an affordable luxury,” Nadeau said. “One of my customers said our lobsters are one of the cheapest things in the live tanks.” The uptick came in a record year for lobster catch in Maine, where most of America’s lobster catch comes ashore. Fishermen caught more than 130 million pounds of lobster in Maine last year, an all-time record and more than double the 2007 total. Atlantic Canada also has a large lobster fishery and sends the same species of lobster to China. “ T he A si a n m a rket is a key component,” said Patrick Kel i her, t he commissioner of the Maine Department of Mar ine Resources. Lobster sales to China do not appear to be slowing down in the new year. America exported more than 1.7 million pounds and $14 million in lobsters to the country in the first month of the year. AP
In this October 31, 2016, file photo, an Iranian farmworker harvests saffron flowers just outside the city of Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran. University of Vermont researchers have been raising the exotic spice now grown primarily in Iran and are encouraging growers to tap into what they hope will be a cash crop. AP
Saffron growers look to get a US foothold
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URLINGTON, Vermont— As spring crocus blooms approach, some growers have visions of a fall-flowering crocus that produces saffron, the world’s most valuable spice. Universit y of Ver mont researchers have been raising the exotic spice now grown primarily in Iran and are encouraging growers to tap into what they hope will be a cash crop. It’s not a hard sell, particularly in the short growing season of the Northeast. A crop harvested in the late fall, when other crops have died off, that tolerates extreme climates and yields an average of $19 per gram. “Is this the red gold we’ve been looking for?” said Patricia Fontaine, of Palmer Farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island. She, her mother and brother attended a sold-out workshop this month on growing saffron hosted by the University of Vermont that drew growers from New England and as far away as Indiana and California. The family had been searching for a crop to grow in their high tunnel, a greenhouse-like structure without heat like one UVM also used to raise the spice. “We were like looking into everything and then all of a sudden this came up, and we were like, ‘This can’t be real,’” Fontaine’s brother Ryan Golembeske said.
U V M researc hers sa id t he y ie ld s a mou nted to $ 4 .03 a square foot, compared to $3.51 a square foot for tomatoes and $1.81 a square foot for winter leafy greens. They estimate an acre of saffron grown in high tunnels could bring in $100,000 a season. The seasoning comes from the dried red threads, or stigmas, of the plant’s purple flower, enhancing dishes like paella, bouillabaisse and risotto. It’s also prized as a natural dye, for medicinal purposes and was used by Cleopatra in warm baths. UVM is not the first in the US to raise saffron. There are other small growers around the country, including Mennonite and Amish farmers, who have been raising it outside in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maine. The Mennonite church had been looking for a way to preserve its small farms, said Peter Johnson, of the Amish-Mennonite Center of Sustainable Agriculture in Wenham, Massachusetts. “We are convinced that this is the crop that will keep our young kids on the farms,” he said at the workshop. A ra Ly nn, of A ma zing Flower Fa r m in New Ipsw ic h, New Hampshire, has a lready planted some saffron to supplement her business of raising annuals
a nd perenni a ls. “It g ives a po tential income stream at a time when we’re doing nothing, or if we are, we’re just pay ing workers a nd a l l t he money ’s going out a nd not h ing’s com ing in, so it ma kes a lot of sense,” she sa id at t he work shop. But she worries about marketing. “If we can’t find a way to market it and get that kind of money that they’re talking about then it’s just another endeavor that doesn’t work,” she said. U VM researchers believe the more growers, the better. “How can you star t encourag ing a market for saffron if you only have a few growers growing it?” said Margaret Skinner. One of the biggest questions for the American Spice Trade Association is whether labor costs would have a significant effect on the cost of the product, said Cheryl Deem, executive director. The process of picking the f lowers, gathering the delicate stigmas and drying them is labor intensive, but only for about a month—a very short period of time—and in the off season, not dissimilar from maple syrup, UVM researcher Margaret Skinner said. “It’s the simplest crop you’ll ever grow,” Johnson said. “It works. It really does work. It’s unbelievable.” AP
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DA: Hybrid seeds, only way to be rice sufficient by 2019 By Catherine Joy L. Maglalang Correspondent
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UIMBA, Nueva Ecija—Filipino farmers, especially those growing hybrid rice, will be supported by the government, Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Operations Ariel T. Cayanan said on Friday during the annual grand harvest festival in Barangay Triala in this municipality. He was joined by Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, SL Agritech Corp. chairman and CEO; Roy Abaya, Department of Agriculture director in Central Luzon; Mayor Jose Dizon; Serafin Santos, provincial agriculturist of Nueva Ecija; and Joselito Abesamin, the municipal agriculturist. Cayanan said the DA has asked President Duterte and Congress for a substantial budget in order to support its hybrid-rice program. He assured farmers of government support. “The only way for us to race to the finish is for us to use hybrid-rice seeds,” Cayanan said. He said the DA sees within the next three years, specifically by 2018—“we will be approaching sufficiency and by 2019, we will be sufficient, and with the same length of time, we see a yield at least six metric tons per hectare of rice.” Cayanan said the department devises programs, such as free irrigation, to help farmers increase their rice yield. He added all farmers will have access to credit, including through the agricultural credit and policy council. He said all farmers included in the farmers' listing will be qualified to access this loan system, with P25,000 being the minimum amount and a reasonable pay period . Cayanan cited SL Agritech Corp. for collaborating with the local government unit here and supporting the government program by sharing with farmers the benefits of hybridrice technology to help attain the country’s rice self-sufficiency status.
Defend Ilocos wants Lopez to cancel mining permits, applications within Ilocos watersheds
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By Jonathan L. Mayuga
@jonlmayuga
N environmental group on Monday reiterated its appeal for the cancellation of mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs), which straddle watersheds in the Ilocos region. Sherwin de Vera, regional coordinator of the Ilocos Network for the Environment (Defend Ilocos), said the Ilocos region suffers from
dry spells and drought every year. Mining operations, he said, will increase and cause the suffering of the people in the region, particu-
larly farmers, who depend on water coming from creeks, streams and rivers for irrigation. On February 14 Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez issued an order canceling 75 MPSAs to protect watersheds. An environmental advocate, Lopez stood pat on her decision to declare watersheds “off-limits” to destructive development activities, particularly mining. She also supported calls to amend the mining law to cover all watersheds in mining “no go” zones, and vowed to work with lawmakers, or push for an executive order to put a measure to that effect. While Lopez said she doesn’t know
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FIREFIGHTING WOMEN
Lady firefighters in Santiago City, Isabela, display their skills on a simulated fire in front of the Santiago Fire Station. Simultaneous with Fire Prevention Month and the International Women’s Month, the firefighting demonstration shows the womenfirefighters’ courage, strength and determination. LEONARDO PERANTE II
should be genuinely treated as a social service and basic right and not just on paper,” Kadamay Chairman Gloria Arellano said. The group said adequate housing is universally recognized and enshrined in the 1948 United Nation Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Convention of Social Cultural and Economic Rights. This was also brought up by the National Union of People’s Lawyers. In March 2016 some lawmakers filed House Resolution 2466, urging Congress to look into the extremely low occupancy rate into the Philippine National Police housing, as well as the “squatter like” conditions. It also sought an inquiry into the P18.6-billion hous-
ing program of former President Benigno Aquino. Last year, Kadamay went through various dialogues with shelter agencies on the lack of housing, the skyhigh amortization and the lack of beneficiaries of actual social services. People in off-city relocation sites regularly lament the water costs, among others, on top of the housing costs, while employment/livelihood opportunities and public facilities are scarce. Among these was a talk with NHA and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council officials in September 2016 on the state of social services, including housing in relocation sites. “We crafted a covenant for free, safe and adequate social services
BALANCING ACT Baggage boys coordinate pulling and holding on to their precious cargo on their way to a bus terminal along Abanao Street in Baguio City.
MAU VICTA
how it can be done, she stated the country’s 142 critical watersheds are off-limits to mining. “The 142 critical watersheds are already ‘no-go’ zones, but it shouldn’t be limited to that,” she said. In its appeal, Defend Ilocos said, based on data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), seven mining companies have applied for permit in watershed areas in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. These are the Cordillera Exploration Co. Inc., Newmont Philippines, Olpaten Resources Corp., Diamond Drilling Corp., Rehnzel Resources Corp., Benguet Corp. and Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. “We urge Secretary Lopez to in-
clude in the cancellation order all applications that cover watershed areas in the region and in other parts of the Cordillera,” the group said. The cancellation of MPSAs in BaayLicuan, Abra and Mankayan, Benguet, are commendable since streams and rivers in these locations drain to the Abra River, but the surface water system in the region remains under threat because applications and permits of other companies remain active, de Vera said. He said Lopez should support the clamor of environmental groups to repeal the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the passage of the People’s Mining Bill to realize “watershed protection against corporate plunder.”
DENR distributes 4,146 land titles to farmers in C. Luzon
Kadamay: Eviction is another violation of urban-poor rights EMBERS of Kadamay picketed on Monday the front gates of the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Quezon City to protest an eviction notice against the occupation of idle housing in Bulacan. Kadamay said they reject this notice as “another crime” the NHA has committed against the urban poor. “The only thing the NHA seems to be good at is forcefully and even violently sparking evictions of urbanpoor Filipinos wherever they reside. Thousands of our countrymen have gone through the process only to find greater burdens in the government’s socialized-housing system. The occupation is not just about acquiring shelter, but asserting that housing
Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Tuesday, March 21, 2017 A9
not less than a year ago. However, the agency has not only turned a blind eye to the plight of the poor, but has maintained the same set of problems that worsened the situation over the years. No steps whatsoever were taken to address our concerns. In order for the poor and homeless to survive and hope for a just future, the occupation of idle homes is necessary. Housing is meant for people, idle housing is for ants and dust,” Arellano said. Arellano also lambasted what it called “the fearmongering” of the PNP in response to the occupation. On March 19, more than 20 police and SWAT personnel to entered Camarin Residences, a relocation site in Caloocan to supposedly keep tabs on Kadamay and any possible occupation. “Our members had just finished holding a consultation with the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor on the state of water supply when police and SWAT camped inside the premises. Are housing, water and electricity not vital concerns? The government would rather spread panic and fear among citizensinstead of facing their own inadequacies,neo-liberal and anti-poor agenda,” Arellano said. Catherine Joy L. Maglalang
ITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here distributed about 4,146 land titles covering 317 hectares of public lands to landless farmers in Central Luzon in support of Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez’s social justice and equitable access to land resources, environment authorities announced on Monday. Francisco Milla Jr., the DENR director in Central Luzon, said a total of 3,700 residential land titles, called patents, covering 83 hectares and another 446 agricultural land titles, covering 234 hectares, were distributed last year to at least 20,730 marginalized farmers and their families. “ T he land d istr ibution efforts are aligned with President Duterte’s antipoverty program in the countryside and are in support of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP,” Milla said. “Providing poor farmers ownership of the land they till in the form of land titles is the government’s modest contribution in promoting social justice and alleviating poverty in the rural sector,” he said. “This is the best economic incentive government can give to landless farmers, so they are motivated to fully develop their farms.” He said the land titles may be used as collateral when farmers apply for loans. Since 2011 the DENR has already distributed a total of 27,242 patents covering about 15,715 hectares of public lands through-
out Central Luzon, benefiting well over 78,000 landless farmers and their families. The DENR also recognized the local government unit of Botolan, Zambales for being supportive of the government’s land-titling program and for being instrumental in the distribution of 300 residential free patents. Meanwhile, the DENR has commended its 10 employees for helping achieve its target of accomplishing 100 percent of its land-patent targets last year. He said the awardees played a crucial role in the issuance of 4,146 residential and agricultural free patents, which represented 106 percent and 112 percent of the agency’s 2016 regional target, respectively, and will receive a plaque of recognition and a certificate of appreciation. Recognized were Norven Dilla of Aurora; Jude Villa of Tarlac; and Rowena Magat of Zambales. Other awardees for the most outstanding public land inspectors included Andres Viaje of Aurora; Aprilita Mendigoria of Bataan; Melchora Panganiban of Bulacan; Rovilla Casabar of Nueva Ecija; Ma. Jaina Lazatin of Pampanga; Edison Morales of Tarlac and Nelson Flores of Zambales. The DENR vowed to speed up the identification and survey of public lands for distribution among landless farmers, and is set to distribute another 3,100 residential free patents and 3,439 agricultural free patents this year as part of an ongoing effort to squarely address landlessness and promote social justice through agrarian reform. Catherine Maglalang
A10 Tuesday, March 21, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
Opinion BusinessMirror
editorial
Policing the power sector
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he Philippines has one of the most expensive electricity rates in the world. The government owes taxpayers safe, reliable and affordable electricity, but its attempt to lower prices by restructuring the power sector through the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 has not been without obstacles. Deregulation, competition and open access—the promises of Epira—should have resulted in competitive, efficient and lower-priced energy delivery. Epira started the deregulation of the power industry and the privatization of state-owned generation and transmission assets. The power plants and independent power-producer contracts under the National Power Corp. and the transmission assets under the National Transmission Corp. were transferred to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) was also established to achieve greater transparency in the production and retail selling of electricity. But 16 years after Epira was enacted, and today 90 percent of the country’s power supply is still sourced from bilateral contracts between generating companies (gencos) and distribution utilities (DUs), with only 10 percent of the supply coming from the WESM. We still have a power sector where regulatory oversight is weak, and where generation charges and transmission costs are collected from us with minimum scrutiny or intervention. We are automatically slapped various charges and taxes in our electric bills, without us having any say about it. We practically guarantee the windfall profits of power generators and distributors, because we pay for all their expenses and losses. The House of Representatives is currently investigating the alleged “midnight deals” between the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and gencos affiliated with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), based on House Resolution 566, filed by Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna. Zarate said the resulting damage to consumers from these alleged midnight deals would easily translate to P12.44 billion a year. In a joint hearing conducted by the House committees on Good Government, Public Accountability and Energy on March 13, congressmen assailed the ERC’s decision to postpone the competitive selection process (CSP) mandated by Department of Energy Circular DC 2015-06-008, from December 2015 to April 2016, which allegedly allowed Meralco to lock consumers into self-dealing contracts with its affiliated gencos for up to 25 years. Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of Bagong Henerasyon said the CSP requirement was designed to lower power rates by subjecting power-supply agreements (PSAs) to competitive bidding. But during the ERC’s five-month postponement of the CSP, Meralco was able to corner 3,551 megawatts (MW) out of the 4,500 MW in aggregate power supply through just seven agreements it negotiated with its own companies and affiliates. Third District of Cebu Rep. Gwendolyn F. Garcia, the Deputy House Speaker for the Visayas and a member of President Duterte’s PDP-Laban party, also alleged the Meralco contracts were “sweetheart” deals. This is why the Epira should not have allowed cross-ownership between DUs and gencos, and also why the ERC’s honesty and integrity should be beyond reproach. Precisely, because it is so easy to make deals that result in disadvantageous power rates to the detriment of poor consumers. While the country needs more power plants, contracts must be more transparent. In this country, as it so often happens, a big DU with a market monopoly can easily negotiate with a genco not only for the price of electricity, but also to demand equity or even controlling interest from it in exchange for a PSA. And unsuspecting consumers have no choice but to pay their prenegotiated prices. What good is Epira if it cannot be properly implemented? What good is the ERC if it cannot stop the monopolistic schemes of power players and big business groups that lead to self-dealing contracts? Duterte and Congress should make sure the ERC is capable of fully exercising its mandate as a regulatory body. In Sen. Ralph G. Recto’s words, the ERC needs to be the ombudsman and anticartel police of the power industry. That’s why we must ensure that ERC officials are independent, nonpoliticized, honest and competent.
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THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1
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hese include German automaker BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Toyota, Volvo, Nissan, Ford and General Motors. BMW, according to the Business Insider report, would test self-driving cars on public roads in the second half of this year, and plans to launch self-driving cars in China in 2021. Toyota hopes to introduce Level 4 (fully self-driving in specific geographic locations) in 10 years. Several cities, including Boston, Atlanta in the United States and London in Europe, are planning to test self-driving cars in designated areas. Paul Brubaker, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Transportation Innovation, was quoted by phys.org/news as saying self-driving cars “should be a national priority”. Transportation, as we know it, will be different in 10 years or earlier. The driving force is technology, probably the biggest game changer in human history. In the energy area, the world is becoming less and less dependent on oil, as technology paves the way for the development of new energy sources, such as the sun, wind, geothermal springs and even waves. Advances in communications
technology have struck down the borders between countries and continents, allowing people separated by great distances to talk to and see each other in real time. Even agriculture, as we know it, will be different, as technology brings new ways to produce crops with more efficiency and productivity without expanding farm areas, or sometimes even without land. I believe we should harness technology to increase productivity and achieve the goal of self-sufficiency, particularly in rice, our country’s staple grain. This means maximizing production from the same farm areas while allowing other uses for our land resources. There’s no need to hurt other industries that provide shelter to our people, generate millions of jobs, promote manufacturing
industries and contribute significantly to economic growth. With technology, we can significantly increase productivity several times over without increasing farm areas. In reality, many countries are already promoting hydroponics to produce crops without land. I have seen this in Israel, the Netherlands and Japan. In fact, even the Philippines has a number of hydroponic farms. Under the hydroponic system, plants are grown in nutrient-laden water, instead of in soil. The Economist magazine said in an online article, titled “The Future of Agriculture”, that agriculture should become more like manufacturing if it is “to continue feeding the world”. With technology, farmers in developed countries are now practicing precision agriculture or smart farming. According to The Economist, maize and soya beans, some of the major crops in America’s Midwest, “are being teched up, too,” in addition to high-value fruits and nuts. “Sowing, watering, fertilizing and harvesting are all computer-controlled.” “Even the soil they grow in is monitored to within an inch of its life,” the magazine said. “Farms, then, are becoming more like factories: tightly controlled operations for turning out reliable products, immune as far as possible from the vagaries of nature,” according to The Economist. The article cited a 2009 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization, which estimated that global agricultural production must
Life hacks for the stock market John Mangun
Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos
Online Editor Social Media Editor
Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager
Life as we know it
OUTSIDE THE BOX
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ife hack: refers to any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life.”
Being a parent is the most difficult intellectual and emotional experience possible if you really put yourself into the process of trying to do a good job. As your children grow older, you need to teach them things like using a spoon and fork, brushing teeth, and then, for me, with four sons, how to shave and how to make a proper knot for a necktie. You also want your children to learn from your experiences, hoping that they will not have to make the same mistakes—go through the trial and error—which you did. But we think that maybe there
are some universal “rules” we can teach that will lead to a successful life, or at least put the odds in your favor. That is particularly true for handling money and investing. “Never buy when the market is going down.” This goes along with “You can never pick the bottom”. Except, bottom fishing is from where the greatest profits come, and it is not that hard to find. When prices stop going down, they will start going up —maybe. The only caution is the first wave up will usually see prices come back to support. Of course, you should try to pick the bottom. The way
to protect your investment is, if that bottom is broken, cut the position. “Trust no one; assume nothing.” Your parish priest has a hidden agenda. So does your mother, for that matter, and your favorite stock-market guru. There is nothing wrong with that fact. Except, any time you receive advice, ask yourself, “What’s in it for the advice giver?” If I ever talk favorably about buying a particular issue, I own it, unless I specifically say otherwise. Caveat emptor. However, stock prices go up on “mass hysteria” and “crowd mentality”. That is what this game is all about. The secret is to be at the front of the crowd. If you think that is where you are, by all means go for it. And then tell the guy next to you about your buying. I said at the end of February—contrary to the gloom and doom because the market ended the month down—that it was a great month. The next 200 points on the Philippine composite index are going to be difficult. But then the move from 7,500 to 8,000 will be much easier. That is because above 7,500, the mass hysteria is going to rule. So, buy shares
increase by 70 percent by 2050 to meet projected demand. The increase must come from higher productivity, because most of the world’s lands suitable for farming were already being cultivated. Mechanization was introduced before World War II, followed by the introduction of new plant varieties and chemicals. Farmers in developed countries have gone beyond these innovations, and are now relying on technology to continue improving crop yield and quality. In the Philippines measures to increase rice production include further mechanization and promoting new varieties with high yields that are resistant to drought or floods. The government also continues to expand irrigation facilities. According to the International Rice Research Institute, rain-fed areas account for only 26 percent of total rice production. I have been toying with the idea of developing a 100-hectare farm, which will demonstrate how to increase production by harnessing technological advances in agriculture. We should continue introducing innovations, including new technologies, in the agriculture sector, because it enables us to achieve sufficiency while allowing other activities, like manufacturing and housing, to grow the economy and provide other basic needs of the people.
For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.
of “&%#” to double your money. “Eat at restaurants that are always crowded.” The food is fresher and people don’t patronize bad places. Also, one rule I learned traveling the world is that Chinese restaurants are always the best bet for freshly cooked, good-tasting meals. You can figure out on your own what that means for the stock market. While you may be the first customer at an undiscovered gem, better to follow the crowd. In other words, a jump in trading volume that is sustained after a few days is the “restaurant” where you should be eating. But the best “life hack” for the stock market—and life—is “have fun”. If your investing is not enjoyable, you will fail miserably. That is guaranteed. If you do not approach the market daily, weekly, or whatever with a smile on your face and a song in your heart, run away.
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.
Opinion BusinessMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph
The legacy of Letty Ramos-Shahani
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Philippines is paying a high price for China’s friendship
Asked about her remembrances of her father Nachong, Senator Shahani shared the following: “My father was a man of many parts. I remember him typing his articles furiously with two fingers on the typewriter, or looking smart and elegant in his morning coat on his way to an important diplomatic function, or enjoying a round of golf with friends, or patiently writing letters of recommendation for his constituents, long after he had retired from political life. I believe he never lost his sense of values nor his sense of priorities.” Like her brother Eddie, Letty studied in the same public elementary school in Lingayen, Pangasinan, and began her secondary education at the University of the Philippines High School in 1941. She later finished her high school in Washington, D.C., in 1947. Inspired by her Mamang Ilang (Angela Valdez Ramos) who was an English major, Letty pursued her college studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1951. In 1953 she obtained her Master of Arts in Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York. In 1962, as a scholar of the French government, she obtained her doctorate in Comparative Literature with highest honors at the famous Sorbonne (University of Paris). Following the footsteps of her father, who pioneered in opening links to the Socialist countries in the late-1960s, Ambassador Letty R. Shahani started her career in the Foreign Service in 1975, serving as Philippine ambassador for three years to the Socialist Republic of Romania. As the first ambassador to open a Philippine Embassy in any socialist/communist country, she was also concurrently accredited as Philippine ambassador to East Germany and Hungary from 1975 to 1978. She later became Philippine Ambassador to the Commonwealth of Australia from 1978 to 1980. Shahani also served in the United Nations for many years in various roles, and she was tapped as a consultant for the Mid-term Evaluation of the Global Program of the UNDP Gender-in-Development Program, from November 1999 to February 2000. Shahani of the Philippine delegation to the UN General Assembly sessions in 1979 and 1980. She chaired the Social Cultural and Humanitarian Committee of the General Assembly in 1978 and the Commission of the Status of Women in 1984. She also chaired the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women in 1986 to 1987. In 1987 upon the call of President Cory Aquino, she left her UN post and returned to the Philippines to become the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs. Incidentally, Cory’s father, Don Jose
construction of a monitoring station on Panatag Shoal would give the Chinese full radar coverage over the entire South China Sea, allow them to setup and enforce an air defense identification zone, and effectively control who and what goes through the highly strategic area, according to Justice Antonio T. Carpio. This is nothing short of the encirclement of the Philippine Archipelago. And, if allowed unopposed, China would occupy the commanding heights in both the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean—spanning one of the longest North to South longitudinal distances of strategic importance. The resulting militarization, as Carpio has timely pointed out, virtually places our country under Beijing boots and surrounds the country from East to West, and North to South. The Filipinos’ future source of food and energy would be gravely imperiled, not to mention our sovereign rights to the regions. And for what? Our country’s top leadership seems content with expressions of friendship and lengthy volumes of promises of aid in return for the unacceptably high price we are paying.
“Pepe” Cojuangco, was Nachong’s contemporary in the National Assembly in the late-1930s. As part of Cory Aquino’s Senate team, Shahani handily won a seat in the Philippine Senate and was reelected in 1992. In her two Senate terms spanning 12 years, she became in the process the Senate President Pro-Tempore on July 26, 1993, the first woman to be elected in the history of the Philippine Senate to the second highest post of that chamber. Like her father who sponsored a bill called the Foreign Service Act in the mid-1940s, Shahani counts as one of her major accomplishments the passage of Republic Act 708, otherwise known as the Foreign Service Act of 1991. In the Senate, she also chaired the Committees on Education, Culture and Arts; Foreign Relations; Agriculture and Food; and Women and Family Relations. She was a member of the powerful Commission on Appointments from 1987 to 1992, and 1995 to 1996. Shahani was the main proponent and author of the Moral Recovery Program of the Philippines (MRP), a successful nationwide program aimed at integrating ethical values into nation-building and government service. Following the footsteps of her father as a journalist, Shahani continues to write opinion columns and as feature writer for several national dailies on culture, foreign policy, social development, women’s rights and the Moral Recovery Program. She has written several books, among them: The Philippines: The Land and People, Philippine Foreign Policy for our Future, The Moral Imperatives of National Renewal (Readings on The Moral Recovery Program) and Towards the Pacific Century. As a university instructor, she taught English literature, French, Spanish, Comparative Literature, Humanities, Social Psychology, the Religions and Culture of Asia in well-known institutions: University of the Philippines (1954-1957); Queensborough Community College, New York (1961); Brooklyn College, New York (1962); New School for Social Research, New York (1962-1967). She once hosted a television magazine talk show called The Shahani Perspective. In 1968 she became a widow with the death of her husband, Ranjee Shahani, a distinguished writer and professor. Letty went on to raise her three children— Ranjit, Chanda and Lila—with the help of her parents, Narciso and Angela, who were, at that time, about ready to retire from public service. She pursued her career as a professor, diplomat, woman’s advocate, moral recovery program proponent and Philippine senator, earning her in the process various awards of distinction. Good-bye, Manang Letty. Thank you for your love and service to our country, Senator Leticia RamosShahani!
in January, Puno directed pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur Inc. to stop its expensive advertising campaign for its antidengue medicine, Dengvaxia. According to Puno, the airing of the ads in radio and television is a blatant violation of an FDA regulation prohibiting any form of advertising for prescription or ethical drugs. The Sanofi commercial was viewed by many with some degree of suspicion because of the timing. The public is aware that the firm is currently embroiled in a controversy triggered by the ongoing congressional inquiry into the alleged anomalous purchase of the said antidengue product under the past administration. The probe involves precisely the very same drug being advertised. Why Sanofi would peddle that product to the public at this time is baffling. The controversy has been made even more interesting by the fact that
France-based Sanofi is considered a global leader in vaccine research and development. Puno’s action against the Sanofi commercial appears to have shown the pharmaceutical industry that the new FDA director general is serious in doing her job and is not inclined to kowtow to the giants in the industries her agency supervises. The partnership with the PNP and the action against the giant Sanofi should send two important and chilling signals. First, that the FDA now has the capability to enforce laws and regulations. Second, the FDA has the will to do just that. FDA warnings against fake and unregistered products in the market is nothing new. In the past, this appeared to be a regular ritual. FDA heads would time and again warn the public against patronizing these potentially hazardous products. The warning may have fallen on deaf ears in the past. It appeared few took FDA warnings seriously. This time the impending crackdown may be for real, given the present FDA capability and will to do it. Whether or not this is just for show, Puno’s campaign against unregistered cosmetic products is relevant. Filipinos value good looks. They are considered assets, both in business and in one’s social life. Filipinos in the work force spend money from their hard-earned wages to buy products that promise to make their faces smoother and whiter. It appears the
unscrupulous and enterprising businessmen behind the proliferation of fake and unregistered cosmetic products know that our countrymen put a premium on faces that are smoother and whiter than the average Asian complexion. There may be two reasons these products are cheaper. One is that the producers save on the cost of having these products registered and tested for quality. The second is that these products may actually be fake or lacking in the ingredients which, when combined together, would deliver the desired beautifying results. In a way, these merchants are exposing our countrymen to serious risks—risks which they are willing to take for the sake of a more beautiful face or body. The desire for good looks often outweighs the knowledge that these cheap products may not give them the results they want or, worse, do them harm. We are glad the FDA under its new leadership is not taking the agency’s law-enforcement role for granted. We are also glad Puno has chosen to sidestep that age-old excuse from past FDA leaderships that this agency is grossly undermanned and, therefore, is helpless against syndicates that flood the market with fake and unregistered cosmetic products. The pact with de la Rosa should significantly boost the FDA’s ability to make good its warning against these elements.
Dow 36,000—will be nominated as chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers. Another, David Malpass—the former chief economist at Bear Stearns, who declared on the eve of the financial crisis that “the economy is sturdy”—has been nominated as undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs. They should fit right in. Just to be clear: Everyone makes mistakes. Some of these mistakes are in the “nobody could have known” category. But there’s also the temptation to engage in motivated reasoning, to let our emotions get the better of our critical faculties—and almost everyone succumbs to that temptation now and then (as I myself did on election night.) So, nobody is perfect. The point, however, is to try to do better— which means owning up to your mistakes and learning from them. Yet, that is something the people
now ruling America never, ever do. What happened to us? Some of it surely has to do with ideology: When you’re committed to a fundamentally false narrative about the government and the economy, as almost the whole Republican Party now is, facing up to facts becomes an act of political disloyalty. By contrast, members of the Obama administration, from the president on down, were, in general, far more willing to accept responsibility than their Bush-era predecessors. But what’s going on with Trump and his inner circle seems to have less to do with ideology than with fragile egos. To admit having been wrong about anything, they seem to imagine, would brand them as losers and make them look small. In reality, of course, inability to engage in reflection and self-criticism is the mark of a tiny, shriveled soul—but they’re not big enough to see that.
But why did so many Americans vote for Trump, whose character flaws should have been obvious long before the election? Catastrophic media failure and FBI malfeasance played crucial roles. But my sense is that there’s also something going on in our society: Many Americans no longer seem to understand what a leader is supposed to sound like, mistaking bombast and belligerence for real toughness. Why? Is it celebrity culture? Is it working-class despair, channeled into a desire for people who spout easy slogans? The truth is that I don’t know. But we can, at least, hope that watching Trump in action will be a learning experience—not for him, because he never learns anything, but for the body politic. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll eventually put a responsible adult back in the White House.
Edgardo J. Angara
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ver the weekend, China’s Vice Premier Wang Yang came to the Philippines as the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the country during the Duterte administration. He came with a package of grants, loans and deals reportedly worth up to $6 billion, covering Philippine agricultural exports to China, and 15 infrastructure development plans, including those for bridges, railway systems, irrigation and a hydroelectric dam.
During the Vice Premier’s visit, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia and Chinese Commerce Vice Minister Fu Ziying signed in Davao City a Six-Year Development Program (SYDP) covering all trade and economic cooperation agreements between the Philippines and China. Letters were also exchanged between the two, formalizing agreements on the conduct of feasibility studies for a Davao City expressway and a Pany-Guimaras-Negros Island bridges project. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said, that with the new deals,
By Paul Krugman | Bloomberg View
wo weeks after President Donald J. Trump claimed, bizarrely, that the Obama administration had wiretapped his campaign, his press secretary suggested that GCHQ—Britain’s counterpart to the National Security Agency—had done the imaginary bugging. British officials were outraged. And soon the British press was reporting that the Trump administration had apologized. But no: Meeting with the chancellor of Germany, another ally he’s alienating, Trump insisted there was nothing to apologize for. He said, “All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind,” a commentator on (of course) Fox News. Was anyone surprised? This administration operates under the doctrine of Trumpal infallibility: Nothing the president says is wrong, whether it’s his false claim that he won the popular vote, or his assertion that the historically low murder rate is at a record high. No error is ever admitted. And there is never
anything to apologize for. OK, at this point it’s not news that the commander in chief of the world’s most powerful military is a man you wouldn’t trust to park your car or feed your cat. Thanks, Comey. But Trump’s pathological inability to accept responsibility is just the culmination of a trend. American politics—at least on one side of the aisle—is suffering from an epidemic of infallibility, of powerful people who never, ever admit to making a mistake. More than a decade ago I wrote that the Bush administration was
China is looking to become the Philippines’s biggest trading partner in the coming years, with twoway trade between the Philippines and China rising to $2.05 billion in January 2017. These deals on the surface look positively promising, marking the warming of ties between the Philippines and China. Overshadowing these pronouncements are powerful headline news that Chinese ships reconnoitered and surveyed the Benham Rise – the 13-million-hectare undersea region off the coasts of Aurora and Isabela that is home to rich marine resources
A serious FDA campaign Ernesto M. Hilario
ABOUT TOWN
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he Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning to the public regarding the proliferation of unregistered, and possibly fake, cosmetic and dermatological products in the market.
It looks like the unscrupulous business interests behind this racket are paying attention to the FDA warning this time. Unlike in the past, these interests know that the FDA means business and is capable of carrying out the warning. The new FDA director general, Nela Charade Puno, issued the warning at the right time. The timing is perfect because Puno aired the warning after two recent important FDA moves. First, just late last year, Puno signed a pact with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald de la Rosa. The pact sealed the partnership between the FDA and the PNP for joint law enforcement against fake, substandard and unregistered food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Second, Puno aired the warning just after she proved she is serious in enforcing laws and regulations, following the FDA’s action on the Sanofi case. It will be recalled that
America’s epidemic of infallibility
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(and possibly abundant mineral and gas deposits). The area was declared by the United Nation in 2012 to be part of the country’s extended continental shelf (ECS) and under its full jurisdiction. About the same time, the mayor of Sansha Prefecture (newly created political unit with jurisdiction over the Spratlys, Paracels and other islands China claims to be its own) announced plans to build an “environmental monitoring station” on Scarborough or Panatag Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc), some 230 kilometers off the coast of Zambales, well within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines and Filipinos’ traditional fishing grounds. In fact, National Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana disclosed to the media over the weekend that he had received reports Chinese barges were already prepared to start reclamation efforts in the area last June, but for some reason did not push through. Panatag Shoal was forcibly taken over by Chinese ships in 2012, and blockaded Filipino fishermen from Zambales and Pangasinan. Beijing has grabbed and now weaponized all the islets in the Spratlys, building hangars, runways, radar stations and missile batteries. The
By Melandrew T. Velasco
mong the children of former Foreign Affairs Secretary Narciso R. Ramos, his daughter Leticia Ramos-Shahani comes closest to his achievements in the field of Foreign Service and national politics.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 A11
suffering from a “mensch gap.” (A mensch is an upstanding person who takes responsibility for his actions.) Nobody in that administration ever seemed willing to accept responsibility for policy failures, whether it was the bungled occupation of Iraq or the botched response to Hurricane Katrina. Later, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, a similar inability to admit error was on display among many economic commentators. Take, for example, the open letter a who’s who of conservatives sent to Ben Bernanke in 2010, warning that his policies could lead to “currency debasement and inflation”. They didn’t. But four years later, when Bloomberg News contacted many of the letter’s signatories, not one was willing to admit having been wrong. By the way, press reports say one of those signatories, Kevin Hassett—coauthor of the 1999 book
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
A12 Tuesday, March 21, 2017
‘Occupation of Bulacan housing units justified’
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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales
@alyasjah
resident Duterte may not totally agree with urban-poor group Kadamay’s action to occupy idle housing units in Pandi, Bulacan, but the group’s militant assertion has found support—as well as research backing—in a think tank and a lawyers’ union. In an e-mail sent to the BusinessMirror, nonprofit research institution Ibon Foundation said there was a huge housing gap of 800,000 units per year from 2010 to 2016, or 5.8 million units over the six-year span. “This provides enormous profit potential for private developers,” Ibon declared. According to the group, the socialized-housing program of the government, implemented through public-private partnerships, is still unaffordable for most of the informal settlers. “For instance, though no down payment is required, Bistekville units [in Quezon City] still cost a minimum of P2,273.84 a month for a 30-year payment schedule.” The think tank argued most in-
formal settlers, like those involved in the Bulacan occupation, do not have access even to the Home Development Mutual Fund for housing loans. This makes it difficult for them to afford the so-called low-cost housing units provided by the government. Ibon believes the mass-housing projects, aside from offering profit-making opportunities for private developers, are actually being used to evict the urban poor from their communities. “Informal settlements are being cleared to give way to these projects without the assurance that the original occupants will have access to the supposed onsite relocation given the prohibitive amortization costs.”
Among the major players in the provision of mass-housing units is Ayala Land Inc., which already built 7,276 low-cost housing units in 2012. Another is Phinma Property Holdings Corp., which is behind the Bistekville project, an onsite relocation for informal settlers, of Quezon City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista.
‘Occupation is legal and justifiable’ On the other hand, lawyers’ group National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) insisted there’s enough constitutional basis for Kadamay to occupy housing units in Pandi, Bulacan, and urged the National Housing Authority to recognize that. In a statement released last Saturday, the NUPL said the right to livelihood and shelter is an important component of the right to life. “The right to adequate housing is universally recognized as part of the right to adequate standard of living under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” the group argued. NUPL cited the case Government of the Republic of South Africa and Other v. Grootboom and Other, in which the Constitutional Court of South Africa declared that a state should not deprive anyone of his
or her right of access to adequate housing. It added this right is only achieved if all the following conditions are met: there must be land, there must be services, and there must be a dwelling. There’s no need to look outside, NUPL said, as the Constitution provides for this right already. Citing Article XIII, Sections 9 and 10 of the basic law of the land, the group asserted the state is dutybound to make available affordable and decent housing units to the underprivileged and homeless citizens of the country. The occupation of Kadamay stems from this constitutional provision, which the government has not only failed to implement, but also violated for years, NUPL concluded. “Within this context, the people, especially those who need them most, are entitled to demand and assert such rights,” the group maintained. “While the government allows the demolition of urban-poor communities, it has failed to provide decent housing for the dislocated families, [in spite of] billions of taxpayers’ money spent on housing,” NUPL complained. It labeled the Bulacan housing project “misdirected and poured for policemen [and military personnel]” who do not urgently need it, as evidenced by the units being unoccupied for some time now.
Star Cruises eyeing to set up more home ports in PHL By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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ONGKONG-based Star Cruises is looking to set up more home ports in the Philippines, on the heels of its successful cruise launch from its new
homeport in Manila. This was disclosed by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo after the ceremony last Sunday welcoming the first Philippines homeporting of luxury cruise ship Superstar Virgo, one of the six vessels deployed by Star Cruises in Asia Pacific. She said the cruise-tourism
pioneer in the region is also considering to homeport in Boracay, Aklan and Cebu. In a statement, Teo said the increasing number of cruise ships visiting Manila, as well as Boracay, is a “sure sign” that the Philippines will become a major international cruise hub in the near future.
“As the first-ever cruise ship to homeport in Manila, Superstar Virgo etches a milestone in our tourism journey, as both the ship and our shores will provide vacationers, including the locals, the convenience of not having to fly to either Hong Kong or Singapore
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Shahani, former senator and sister of Pres. Ramos, succumbs to cancer at 87
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ORMER Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani passed away on Monday at the age of 87. Shahani, the younger sister of former President Fidel V. Ramos, succumbed to cancer at the intensive care unit of Saint Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, where she was being treated, her daughter Lila said. Her other children are Ranjit, former Pangasinan vice governor, congressman and board member, and another son, Chanda, a journalist. Shahani was the widow of the late Indian statesman, professor and writer Rajee Shahani. She served as senator for two terms, after a long stint in the Department of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. She also served as foreign undersecretary. Shahani was an ASNA awardee in Pangasinan for her contributions to the nation that made her provincemates proud. ASNA is the highest award given by the province to outstanding Pangasinenses who made good in their professions and vocations. The former senator was also an educator and a writer. After retiring from the Senate, she went back to her home province and set up a modern farm in Barangay Tulong, Urdaneta City, where she pioneered dairy farming using local carabaos. PNA
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Sandiganbayan clears former Petron officials By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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@joveemarie
he Sandiganbayan has recently dismissed the multiple counts of graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against former top executives of Petron Corp. in connection with the tax-credit scam in the 1990s. In two separate resolutions released on March 2, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division granted the motion to dismiss filed by former Petron President Monico Jacob, Vice President and General Manager Celso Legarda, Vice President for Refinery Apolinario Reyes and Senior Marketing Executive Rafael Diaz Jr. They were charged over the “questionable” transfer of P700.742 million worth of tax-credit certificates (TCCs) to the oil company. Also, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the cases filed against another Petron executive, Reynaldo V. Campos, due to his death on January 20, 2013. According to the court, the charges against the Petron officials were dismissed on the ground of re judicata, which bars relitigating issues that have been resolved. However, the antigraft court said the cases filed against their other coaccused—Finance Undersecretary Antonio P. Belicena and
One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center Deputy Director Uldarico Andutan Jr.—are still pending before the court. In their motion to dismiss, the Petron executives cited the 2010 Supreme Court (SC) ruling on Pacifico Cruz of Pilipinas Shell v. Sandiganbayan involving P131.2 million worth of TCCs. The TCCs were allegedly issued illegally by the Department of Finance’s One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. The SC, in the ruling, ordered the antigraft court to dismiss the charges against Shell executives, on the grounds of “transferee in good faith and for value of the TCCs”. A TCC is issued to an eligible business entity, which makes use of imported or local raw materials to manufacture new products for export abroad. The court said since the business of Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corp. is similar in nature, the Pilipinas Shell ruling should also apply to Petron. “Petron, represented by accusedmovant, was found not to be a party to the fraudulent issuance and assignment of the TCCs, and was, therefore, considered as a transferee in good faith and for value,” the Sandiganbayan said.
BALANCING ACT While tied to ropes to prevent them from falling , workers do not appear to mind the risks they face in cleaning the façade of the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City. ROY DOMINGO