Businessmirror march 26, 2018

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Monday, March 26, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 166

Reform bills face delay as senators turn judges I

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

n October 2017 the Philippine Senate— then still saddled with deliberations on the 2018 budget bill and the first package of tax reforms in two decades‚ suddenly found itself struggling to adjust its legislative calendar for a non-lawmaking task: the looming impeachment of the chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Andres Bautista.

ANGARA: “Inevitably, an impeachment will eat into the Senate’s time and affect the pace of legislation.”

Bautista’s case had jolted an entire nation after his estranged wife accused him of amassing unexplained wealth and possibly engaging in money laundering.

@BNicolasBM

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ith the consultative committee (Con-com) on pace to meet its target of submitting to President Duterte the draft federal constitution before his State of the Nation Address (Sona), coupled with the enthusiasm of legislators to push through with the Charter-change initiative, the Chief Executive is now getting closer to fulfilling one of his campaign promise—the Philippines’s shift to federalism.

But just how much will this change cost the taxpayers? Con-com Chairman and former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno told the BusinessMirror this change would be generally cost-effective because of the devolution of the functions of the national government to the regional governments.

“For example, education, you devolved it to regions. Then you will have less people in the head office of your Department of Education,” Puno said.

He noted that if the regions eventually progressed, Metro Manila would be decongested and people

will no longer need to go to Manila to seek livelihood and transact with government institutions.

Puno explained that under the present unitary form of government, the national budget is just being distributed to respective regions. “Now, [with federalism], the power to raise revenues would be transferred to constituent regions.”

The Con-com, he said, already requested various agencies to provide them with the vital economic and fiscal data that they can use to determine the structure of constituent units and the functions to be assigned to the federal and the regional governments.

Continued on A16

PESO exchange rates n US 52.1580

A little of administrative law in PPP law Alberto C. Agra

ead

PPPC.LAgra Alberto

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he build-operate-transfer (BOT) law is not the only law on public-private partnerships (PPP). Statutes like the Corporation Code and the Government Procurement Reform Act, and regulations like the implementing rules and regulations of the BOT law (BOT law IRR), 2013 Joint Venture Guidelines issued by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda JV Guidelines), Memorandum Circular 120-2016 of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Circular 89-296 of the Commission on Audit are the other policies touching on the various PPP modalities.

Continued on A15

‘BusinessMirror’ sweeps PAJ-SMC Binhi Awards

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₧72B The estimated additional budget needed to run a federal government, according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies

business news source of the year

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

Continued on A2

AS THE SHIFT TO FEDERALISM GOES INTO HIGHER GEAR, EXPERTS DEBATE ON ITS COST TO TAXPAYERS

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

2016 ejap journalism awards

THE BusinessMirror sweeps the major prizes at the 2017 Philippine Agricultural Journalists-San Miguel Corp.

(PAJ-SMC) Binhi Awards held on March 22. Agriculture beat reporter Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas won the top mostcoveted prizes of Agricultural Journalist of the Year and Agribeat Reporter of the Year, while environment reporter Jonathan L. Mayuga bagged the Environment Journalist of the Year, Best Environment Story of the Year and Best Water Sustainability Story of the Year awards. The Best Agricultural/Environment Section of a National Newspaper of the Year award went to the BusinessMirror Green page. The photo shows their trophies. Roy Domingo

he BusinessMirror dominated the 2017 Philippine Agricultural Journalists-San Miguel Corp. (PAJ-SMC) Binhi Awards by bagging a total of six awards, including the top prize for all three major categories, in a ceremony held in Makati City on March 22.

Agriculture/Commodities reporter Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas won first prize in the Agricultural Journalist of the Year and Agribeat Reporter of the Year categories, while environmental journalist Jonathan L. Mayuga was adjudged as the top Environmental Journalist of the Year.

Mayuga’s entries—”Ghosts of mining’s past continue to haunt industry” and “Investing in rivers can help PHL bag ‘First World’ status” were recognized as the Best Environment Story of the Year and the Best Water Sustainability Story of the Year, respectively. The BusinessMirror ’s Green page, edited by Lynn Resurreccion, was adjudged as the Best Agriculture Section/Environment of a National Newspaper of the Year.

The other winners in the major categories are: Fermin Diaz of LAMB Magazine (second place) and Ian Ocampo Flora of Sun Star Pampanga (third place) for Agricultural Journalist of the Year; James Konstantin Galvez of The Manila Times and Madelaine B. Miraflor of Manila Bulletin (second place) and Louise Maureen Simeon of the Philippine Star and Janina Lim of BusinessWorld (third place) for the Agribeat Reporter of the Year.

See “BusinessMirror,” A2

PHL’s withdrawal from ICC just made it weaker–Locsin

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By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

he Philippines, it appears, is in good company not being a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

President Duterte w ithdrew from the world ’s first permanent international criminal court on March 16, peeved that he was

apparently being crucified by the ICC over a l leged human-r ights v iolations against drug offenders.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. submitted the country’s letter of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to UN Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza

Ribeiro Viotti, a representative to SecretaryGeneral António Guterres.

In a Twitter post, Locsin said: “The International Criminal Court has grown weaker and no longer has the authority to look into alleged rights abuses in the Philippines following the country’s pullout from the Rome Statute.”

See “ICC,” A16

n japan 0.4955 n UK 73.5323 n HK 6.6461 n CHINA 8.2414 n singapore 39.6126 n australia 40.1147 n EU 64.1700 n SAUDI arabia 13.9088

Source: BSP (23 March 2018 )

A2 Monday, March 26, 2018

BMReports BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Reform bills face delay as senators turn judges Continued from A1

Senators were anxious over what that meant, not because they liked or hated Bautista, but simply because an impeachment trial at that point would impose a heavy burden on them.

Still, Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III then gave this assurance in an interview with the BusinessMirror: “We will find time [for the impeachment trial],” adding, “it is part of our job” under the Constitution. Fortunately for the Senate, that burden soon passed after Bautista resigned.

These days, the Senate finds itself yet again in a similar situation, as the House of Representatives voted, just before Congress went on a six-week break on March 22, to approve the Justice Committee’s report impeaching Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno. That means the Articles of Impeachment against Sereno—appointed in 2012 by then-President Benigno S. Aquino III as the first woman chief justice ever and the youngest at 52—will be transmitted to the Senate when sessions resume on May 14.

However, despite their willingness to bear the constitutional duty to try Sereno, the senators have to reckon with a crowded calendar and, per the timeline estimated by Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III, the earliest the Senate can convene as an impeachment court is early August, right after the President delivers his second State of the Nation Address (Sona). That’s because when Congress resumes session in May, it will soon go into recess again on June 2, following the scheduled sine die adjournment, returning only in the last week of July for the third regular session.

‘Tasks competing for same hours available’

This time around, Pimentel is certain Sereno’s impeachment trial “will affect legislative work because these two tasks will be competing for the same hours available in a day.”

According to Sotto, “all economic bills [will be affected].”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto agreed, telling the BusinessMirror that the upcoming impeachment court

ICC. . .

Continued from A16

“China is a particular concern for several reasons: its historical reservations about international interference in states’ internal affairs; its close economic and political ties with some states targeted by the Council for possible ICC involvement, such as Sudan, Libya under Gaddafi and Syria; the power to veto ICC referrals it holds as a permanent member of the Security Council; and the general tone of assertiveness that has colored China’s foreign policy in the last few years,” said Dr. Joel Wuthnow, a research fellow in the Center for the

hearings, where all 23 senators sit as judges, “will take away time for legislation.”

To be sure, the period from August to December 2018 spells a crowded calendar for senators. Right after President Duterte delivers his Sona in July, the Executive will transmit to Congress the proposed budget for 2019, and usually, lawmakers deliberate on the money measure until just before the Christmas break.

When the Senate convened as an impeachment court to try then-Chief Justice Renato C. Corona on January 16, 2012, the budget bill had been passed already, so that burden wasn’t theirs then—it is now.

It is not just the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act that senators have to tackle this year: Their calendar is also crammed with work on the so-called TRAIN 2, or the second part of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion program. And then, there is the continuing work on constitutional change to accommodate the Duterte administration’s push toward federalism.

Further complicating the senators’ schedules, the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2019 midterm elections is in October, which means the reelectionists among them will need to split their attention between legislative work and political networking.

While the Corona trial was also conducted in the context of a looming midterm election (2013), that trial took place early in the year (January-May). A Sereno trial in the last five months of 2018, on the eve of the 2019 midterm polls, could pose more difficulties to senators.

Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, who, as Ways and Means Committee chairman, spearheaded deliberations on the first package of tax reforms, is expected to be among the busiest at about the same time that a Sereno trial will be held, as he takes on TRAIN 2. “Inevitably, an impeachment will eat into the Senate’s time and affect the pace of legislation,” Angara told the BusinessMirror.

Nonetheless, Angara said he expected the Senate “to prioritize the BBL, or Bangsamoro basic law, the universal

health-care amendments and the tax amnesty, among others.”

The tax-amnesty program is part of the package of tax reforms. A General Amnesty is embodied in the Senate version, with Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon submitting two other proposals: amendments to the law requiring Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of the bank-secrecy law.

Besides the tax package, Angara’s wish to include in the Senate’s priorities the amendments to universal health care resonate with his colleague in the same bloc of “third force” senators, Joseph Victor G. Ejercito.

Ejercito is quite anxious about the impact of having the Senate working on two fronts—conducting the trial and passing key legislation.

Ejercito admitted to the BusinessMirror he is “worried that vital pieces of legislation that I am working on, such as the bill on universal health-care program and the creation of a Department of Housing and Urban Development will be delayed.”

The senator added: “These measures are landmark pieces of legislation that will surely improve the lives of people, than the impending impeachment.”

The universal health-care amendments counterpart bill had hurdled third-reading approval in the House, and the Senate is targeting its passage by the fourth quarter of 2018. Ejercito’s Health Committee had recently conducted a hearing on March 1.

As for the bill creating a Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Senate is eyeing third-quarter approval.

Its counterpart bill in the House of Representatives was approved on third reading in February 2018.

The Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, had likewise lined up economic-reform measures for committee hearing and plenary consideration, including the proposed Public Services Act (PSA).

Gatchalian’s committee reported both the PSA and Open Access bills. They were already sponsored for plenary deliberations and will be up for interpellation when regular sessions resume, during which Gatchalian is also scheduled to sponsor for plenary approval the proposed

Study of Chinese Military Affairs within the Institute for National for Strategic Studies at NDU. Based on these factors, the default expectation is that China is more likely to be a hindrance than a help in bringing war criminals before the ICC. This is especially relevant to Syria, in which France and others are contemplating whether to attempt to bring an indictment against Bashar al-Assad. China has already vetoed three draft resolutions on Syria in the council this year, and championed dialogue with the Assad regime rather than coercion and punishment.

“It is unlikely that either China or Russia will consent to an ICC referral of Assad.”

Moreover, although it is not a party to the Rome Statute, China nevertheless has a relatively nuanced official position regarding the institution, the diplomat added.

“Despite concerns about excessive prosecutorial discretion, the definition of ‘crimes against humanity’ and other legal issues, [China] claims to hold an ‘open attitude’ about the court, and does not ‘exclude the possibility’ of one day acceding to it.”

In the meantime, China has been an active observerstate in the body’s day-to-day affairs at The Hague.

The Guardian said Russia has formally withdrawn its signature from the founding statute of the ICC in 2016, a day after the court published a report classifying the

TRAIN 2, BBL, universal health care

Philippine Rise Development Authority.

Sen. Juan Miguel F. Zubiri is, likewise, quite worried, not just about the impact of an impeachment trial on the Senate’s work on purely economic bills. To him, the bigger concern is ensuring passage of BBL, which he sees as key to ensuring peace and sustainable development in Mindanao.

Zubiri voiced concern that the fivemonth siege of Marawi has dealt much damage and traumatized people, and underscored the need to build people’s confidence that the government will never abandon them, even as terror groups continue to exploit fresh resentments to enlist recruits for future operations.

“I believe that the Senate should prioritize the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law, as the cost of war outweighs any other legislation in the agenda. We can’t afford another Marawi in Mindanao or in any other area of the country for that matter,” Zubiri said in an interview.

He asserts that “the passage of the BBL is part of the last steps of the final peace agreement with the largest rebel group in the country. That should be the priority,” added Zubiri, who hails from Bukidnon down south.

For his part, Sen. Gregorio B. Honasan II acknowledges the Sereno trial might pose a problem time-wise, but added, “not if we develop a better sense of time management and priorities.”

‘We just have to work more’

Sen. Francis G. Escudero is of a similar view. “It [Sereno impeachment trial] may [delay legislation], but it’s workable; [it] just means we have to work more.”

Among the current crop of senators, Pimentel, Sotto, Recto, Escudero and Honasan had also been senator-judges in the 2012 trial of Corona, and would expectedly have more experience in juggling time and attention between the impeachment court and their regular sessions in the afternoons.

Besides these five, the other incumbents who were also senator-judges during the Corona trial are: Loren B. Legarda, Panfilo N. Lacson Sr., Drilon, Antonio F. Trillanes IV and Francis N. Pangilinan.

They could conceivably be expected as Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation.

The repudiation of the tribunal, though symbolic, is a fresh blow to efforts to establish a global legal order for pursuing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, The Guardian added.

The Russian foreign ministry announced Russia’s withdrawal on the orders of the president, Vladimir Putin, saying; “The tribunal had failed to live up to hopes of the international community,” and denouncing its work as “one-sided and inefficient.”

Russia signed the Rome statute in 2000 and cooperated with the court, but had not ratified the treaty. It remains outside the ICC’s jurisdiction.

In recent months, three African countries who were all full members of the ICC—South Africa, Burundi and Gambia—have signaled their intention to pull out, following complaints that ICC prosecutions focused excessively on the African continent.

India has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute.

Before the ICC gets out of the picture completely, Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III said he expects it to dismiss the complaint filed against Duterte.

“My fearless forecast here is that it will be dismissed.

These [allegations against Duterte] are not in the same level as crimes against humanity and genocide,”he added.

Pimentel reiterated his support for the decision of Duterte to withdraw the Philippines’s ratification of the Rome Statute, saying administration foes are using it as a weapon.

Speaking over radio dwIZ, Pimentel said he now understands why African nations felt singled out by the ICC. “This is clearly a domestic issue, a law-enforcement issue related to our antidrug laws. So what is actually happening here? We are not yet hopeless. We have the Senate, the ombudsman, the Sandiganbayan, Civil Service, the Napolcom and yet the ICC entertained the complaint,” Pimentel said.

He noted that politician-allies of a defeated presidential candidate were behind the filing of the complaint against Duterte.

Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III, in a Twitter post, said the ICC “refuses” to let the Philippines get out of the treaty because of its contribution to the high court’s operating funds.

“Our last payment to the ICC was €397,896, or P25,404,938. That’s why the ICC won’t like us to leave,” he said in his tweet.

An ICC committee report dated November 3, 2017, showed the Philippines had contributed €397,896 to the high court’s fund in 2017. The amount makes up about 0.28 percent of the €144,587,306 the ICC has collected from the contributions of its 124 state-signatories in 2017.

well to be adept at dividing the time between the work of legislating and of serving as judge.

15 economic bills pending

To say the Senate’s legislative plate is full is an understatement. At their last meeting on March 13 to tackle their common legislative agenda with the House, the senators looked at a mind-boggling list of 39 measures, of which 15 are economic bills. Besides these, the BBL, the Fair Election Act, federalism and Charter change are also major pieces of legislation that could require much time and deliberations.

Besides the second tranche of tax reforms that include the amnesty, and the bill for a Department of Housing and Urban Development, among the major economic bills that the Senate has included on its agenda this year are: ■ Corporation Code of the Philippines; ■ Agricultural Land Conversion Ban Act; ■ Agrarian and Agricultural Credit Condonation Act; ■ Rightsizing the National Government Act; ■ National Transport Act; ■ Security of Tenure Act (End to endo); ■ Amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Act; ■ Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act; ■ National Land Use Act; ■ Allowable Recoverable System Loss Act; and ■ Amendments to the Social Security Act; Congress has committed to the Executive, through the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac), to also give priority to the Budget Reform Act and the Amendments to the build-operatetransfer law and strengthening the publicprivate partnership.

Will the Senate be spared the burden of convening an impeachment court by resignation—as in the case of the Comelec’s Bautista and then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who also quit before she could be tried? From Sereno’s consistent hardline rejection of calls for her to step down, apparently not. Senators will just have to bite the bullet and buckle down to work, however long and hard that might be.

BusinessMirror. . .

Continued from A1

Sun Star Pampanga’s Flora also won second prize, while Henrylito D. Tacio of EDGE Davao bagged the third prize in the Environmental Journalist of the Year category.

The other winners in Binhi’s minor categories are: Best Agri News Story of the Year: “Water crisis by 2025: Pampanga’s groundwater source in danger,” written by Flora of Sun Star Pampanga; Best Agri Feature Story of the Year: “From pastry chef to would-be pasture chief,” by Diaz, LAMB Magazine; Best Climate Change Story of the Year:“The cost of climate change,” by Tacio of the Philippines Graphic, sister company of the BusinessMirror; Agri Photo Journalist of the Year: Jayson C. Berto, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice); Agricultral Magazine of the Year: PhilRice Magasin, Philippine Rice Research Institute; Agricultural Newsletter of the Year: Uhay, Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 11; Agri Regional Television Program of the Year: MANA TV, DA-Region 3; Agri Regional Radio Program of the Year: Agri Tayo Dito, DA-Region 2; and Agri Information & Media Campaign of the Year: National Rice Awareness Month, PhilRice.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, who was the guest of honor and keynote speaker, stressed the importance of pursuing food self-sufficiency in view of the challenges posed by climate change to global farm production, in his speech.

The DA chief, along with PAJ President and retired business editor of the Philippine Star Roman Floresca, and Dr. Crispin Maslog, chairman of the five-man board of judges handed over the cash prizes and trophies to winners of the three major and 12 minor Binhi contest categories.

More than 150 journalists and institutions joined the contest, said Noel Reyes, PAJ vice president for internal affairs and 2017 PAJ-SMC Binhi Awards committee chairman.

Aside from Maslog, the other four judges are: SMC AVP for Corporate and Media Affairs Head Mary Jane Oconer Llanes; Leo Deocadiz, publisher-editor of The SUN Hong Kong and former Philippine Daily Inquirer business editor; Ruben Pascual, managing director of RJP Consulting and former agricultural attache to the United States and Europe, and PhilExport COO; and Jimmy Cantor, deputy managing editor and concurrent sports editor of Malaya Business Insight.

The PAJ has been conducting the Binhi Awards since 1978 to recognize the efforts of media persons covering the agriculture, environment and agrarian-reform beats, including writers, editors and broadcast journalists for their reportage, agricultural publications, radio and television programs, and information campaign, Floresca said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Neda: PHL at risk of missing 2018 poverty-reduction goals

By Cai U. Ordinario

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@cuo_bm

he Philippines could miss its poverty-reduction targets this year if commodity prices continue to rise, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In the draft Socioeconomic Report (SER) 2017, the Neda said that, while inflation only averaged 3.8 percent in 2017 and could indicate that the poverty rate was lower, the target remains at risk.

The national government aims to cut poverty incidence to 17.3 to 19.3 percent this year, from 21.6 percent in 2015. The latest poverty data will be collected this year through the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).

“Poverty incidence is yet to be determined; results are expected in early2019,” the Neda said. “However, this target may be at risk in 2018, if inflationary pressures are not addressed effectively and immediately.”

Food inflation in 2017 averaged 3.8 percent, which is on the high end of the 2 percent to 4 percent target in 2017 to 2019. In 2016 food inflation was at 2.6 percent.

The other poverty targets for this year also include reducing rural poverty to 25.6 percent, from 29.8 percent in 2015, and cutting the subsistence incidence to 6.8 percent, from 8.1 percent, three years ago.

Meanwhile, in terms of creating jobs, the Neda said the country failed to meet its employment targets last year.

The Neda said the country missed its goal of creating 900,000 to 1.1 mil-

lion jobs in 2017 by registering a net employment loss of 663,243 jobs.

This also caused the country to miss its unemployment target of 5.1 to 5.4 percent in 2017 by registering an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent.

“The national unemployment rate registered 5.7 percent in 2017 versus 5.5 percent in 2016. While the current unemployment rate has improved compared to previous decades, this is behind the 5.1 to 5.4 percent target set in 2017,” the Neda said.

“Employment creation remains a challenge as there were around 663,243 net employment losses in 2017, far from the target of increasing employment by 900,000 to 1.1 million per year,” it added.

The report also stated that the country missed its youth unemployment rate target of 11 percent in 2017 by registering a 14.4-percent increase in youth joblessness.

The Neda said the youth unemployment rate for October 2017 alone increased to 11.9 percent, from 11.6 percent in October 2016.

These targets are part of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2016 to 2022, the country’s medium-term socioeconomic blueprint.

The government monitors the country’s progress in meeting the goals and aspirations laid down in the PDP through the SER. The SER features the major groundwork laid down in 2017, along with the recommended priority strategies for 2018 and 2019.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, March 26, 2018 A3

DENR task force eyes eviction of El Nido environment law violators, beach squatters

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

he Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has started to conduct a resort-to-resort inspection in El Nido, Palawan, to identify violators of environmental laws.

In particular, the DENR is in search of establishments that directly discharge untreated wastewater into the beach, those that are not connected to sewer lines or those without watertreatment facilities.

Some 200 establishments are being targeted by the Task Force El Nido spearheaded by the DENR. The campaign in El Nido is part of the crackdown launched by the Duterte administration in tourism areas.

El Nido is part of the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, a 90,321-hectare key biodiversity area protected under Presidential Proclamation 32 signed by then-President Joseph E. Estrada in 1998.

It is famous for its pristine blue waters and white-sand beaches, lush forests, towering limestone rock formations and caves, as well as the numerous islands surrounding the seas of El Nido.

Aside from conducting inspections in tourism establishments, the DENR is now seeking the relocation of squatters in El Nido.

In particular, the DENR targets those who built houses along the coasts of El Nido.

I n a ne w s st atement , Env i ron ment Secretar y Roy A. Cimatu said that the local government has now issued a final notice to vacate to 24 families who have built houses along Corong Corong Beach in El Nido.

“We are working closely with the local government to ensure that the relocation site for these informal-settler families is prepared as soon as possible,” Cimatu said.

The squatter dwellers have built their houses on stilts and sit directly above the waters of Corong Corong Bay. Local DENR officials said the houses do not have toilets, and they dispose of their wastes directly into the sea.

“You can smell the stench in that area.

These activities have a significant effect to the water quality in the immediate area around the houses. Aside from the fact that they do not have toilets, they are also encroaching on the easement zone, so we

hope to move them to a new location soon,” Cimatu said.

“We have learned that some of the families have other homes around El Nido where they can go to. However, for some reason, they chose to live in these informal settlements near the sea.

For these families, moving should not be much of a problem,” he added.

In the meantime, Cimatu urged the families to be more responsible for the garbage they produce.

“Holy week is almost upon us. They should reflect on the environmental consequences of their actions. They should be more conscientious about the waste they produce,” the secretary said.

“First, they should not throw waste directly into the sea. They should segregate and dispose of their waste responsibly. Do the right thing,” he added.

It is not only squatters that are encroaching on the 3-meter easement or salvage zone in the coasts of El Nido.

Earlier this month, the DENR regional office in Mimaropa issued notices to vacate to 32 businesses, including resorts and restaurants, which were found to built str uctures falling inside the easement zone. The establishments have been given one month to remove structures inside the salvage zone.

The DENR is taking the lead in the campaign in El Nido mounted by the Task Force El Nido Aside from the DENR, other members of the task force are the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and the El Nido local government.

Economy

A4 Monday, March 26, 2018 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Clip PPA and CPA’s port regulatory power–PIDS

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he creation of a separate entity to function as a port regulator could bring down the cost of logistics in the country, according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

In a policy note, titled “Regulatory Challenges in the Philippine logistics industry,” PIDS Research Consultant Jose L. Tongzon said the country currently has the highest logistics cost among Asean members.

This was among the reasons the Philippines lagged behind its Asean-5 neighbors in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), where it ranked 71st out of 160 countries.

“Currently, the PPA [Philippine Port Authority] functions as both regulator and operator of the relevant logistics nodes in the supply chain. This not only stifles inter-port competition within the country, but could also lead to higher costs and inefficiency,” Tongzon said.

“To improve the situation, this study recommends the establishment of one separate entity in charge solely of port regulation,” he added.

Apart from this, Tongzon urged the government to encourage more competition among ports by allowing more private-sector participation in port operations.

He said this can be done by granting concession agreements through build-operate-transfer or lease agreements.

Tongzon said once the lease expires, the port operations are turned over—free of charge—to the government.

“Under this setup, the PPA and CPA [Cebu Ports Authority] may grant to the private concessionaires the right to finance, build and operate a terminal or parts of a port operation for a limited period of time,” he added.

Tongzon said that international

studies found links between poor regulation and high costs. Poor regulation leads to post inefficiency that then leads to high costs.

He added that all ports in the Philippines are under the PPA, except for the Port of Cebu, which is under the CPA. Both agencies are regulators and port operators.

As such, the PPA and CPA get a share of port revenues, which poses conflicts of interest. In the case of the PPA, it has a share of cargo handling revenues as stated in the Letter of Instruction 1005-A. “The PPA and the CPA may tend to approve any rate or charge increases applied by the terminal operators and formulate policies and regulations that may be beneficial to the terminal operators, but could be detrimental to the interest of the logistics services providers and shippers,” Tongzon said.

Further, he added “excessive fees” worsen the situation for logistics firms and, ultimately, overall logistics performance, according to the Maritime Industry Authority (MIA).

He said the high costs are linked

to the lack of economies of scale, inadequate port infrastructure, and lack of competition in the coastal shipping market due to cabotage.

Tongzon also said there is a inadequate road transport networks, which leads to congestion; high cost of port operations; and inadequate investments from the private sector.

“In terms of the lack of competition, for instance, the local market for shipping has yet to fully open to foreign shipping operators. In fact, only domestic ships are currently allowed to make port-toport calls within the country, thus, constraining the flow of cargoes throughout the logistics chain,” Tongzon said.

In the third quarter of 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the total value of domestic trade reached P153.99 billion. It increased by 3.3 percent, from P149.14 billion posted in the same quarter of 2016.

About 99.85 percent of the total value commodities that flow in the country was traded by means of water and the remaining 0.15 percent, through air.

In terms of international trade, PSA data showed the country’s total external trade in goods in January 2018 reached $13.75 billion, posting a positive growth of 7 percent, from $12.85 billion registered during the same month in 2017.

Total exports grew by 0.5 percent to $5.22 billion in January 2018, from $5.19 billion in January 2017, while imports increased by 11.4 percent to $8.54 billion in January 2018, from $7.67 billion in January 2017.

Currently, the PPA [Philippine Port Authority] functions as both regulator and operator of the relevant logistics nodes in the supply chain. This not only stifles inter-port competition within the country, but could also lead to higher costs and inefficiency.”—Tongzon

Ceza taps Converge for Internet link; Meralco to stabilize power supply

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he Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a leading communications technology firm that would build the Freeport’s “digitally enabled” backbone to spur its fullscale development, Ceza Administrator and CEO Secretary Raul L. Lambino said.

“We need to build a digitally smart and ready special economic zone in order to attract major investments, and this MOU is a major step in addressing that need,” Lambino in a news statement issued last Sunday.

The Ceza chief signed the MOU over the weekend with Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions Inc., a Philippine corporation considered as the third-largest telecom firm, represented by Dennis Uy, its president and CEO. Converge Information has access, Uy said, to an underground fiberoptic cable and aerial distribution network, and has extensive experience in installing, operating and maintaining a nationwide broadband service.

Under the MOU, Ceza gave Converge Information permit to exercise its congressional franchise and provisional authority to “install, lay fiber, operate and maintain” optic cable within Ceza’s territorial jurisdiction, which includes the whole of Santa Ana, home of Port Irene, and several islands of Aparri farther west

in Cagayan province.

Converge Information has proposed to install an “underground micro-duct backbone conduit,” as well as “underground and aerial distribution and last-mile aerial fiber-optic cable" within the economic zone.

The installation will eventually be extended to the Cagayan North International Airport (CNIA) in Lal-lo town.

Lambino said all existing overhead or aerial cables, as well as new installation, would be relocated underground for safety reasons, adding that Ceza’s overall strategy is to have a digitally enabled and safe economic zone within its jurisdiction, To stabilize its power needs, Lambino said the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the Philippines’s largest distributor of electricity, is ready to step in, amid a projected surge in demand in the country’s newest investment jewel.

In a proposal, Meralco cited its “accomplishments beyond the franchise area of Metro Manila and its suburbs” to support its bid to supply the zone and free port an estimated 10 megawatts to 15 MW of power just for 2018 alone.

The Cagayan Special Ecopnomic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) based in Santa Ana, in the northeastern tip of Cagayan province, is almost 100-kilometers off-grid from the nearest distribution line of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in Cagayan province.

Unstable power supply in the CSEZFP has made it a necessity among hundreds of business locators to keep their own power generation sets on standby whenever a shortage occurs.

“We have received firm assurances that Meralco has the capacity to generate and distribute power necessary to forestall supply shortage at a time when Ceza is anticipating an incoming wave of new locators,” Lambino said.

“This gives us a very positive outlook in the near term,” he added.

Meralco’s proposal came amid a frenzy of scheduled chartered flights at the CNIA that opened its first overseas flight from Macau last Friday, to be followed soon by the domestic operation of budget airlines.

When Lambino took over the reins of leadership in July last year, he identified Internet connectivity, power generation and infrastructure buildup as his main priorities, as he pushed his vision of turning Ceza into a growth and an investment Mecca for North Luzon, strong in industrial and agricultural output, a development hub of financial-technology solutions, and a vital transhipment point in the dynamic East Asia and Northern Pacific regions.

In the energy sector, Meralco leads the companies that have so far made proposals to generate and supply electric power within the zone and free port.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Congress-approved emergency fund for ECs awaits Duterte’s approval

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he Senate and House of Representatives have ratified the final version of a bill providing a P750-million initial funding for emergency and resiliency initiatives of 122 electric cooperatives (ECs) that supply power to tens of millions of Filipinos nationwide.

“With this reconciled version of the bill, we will create a culture of resiliency in our electric cooperatives [that] will be responsive to their needs in the aftermath of natural disasters,” Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, principal sponsor of the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund Act, confirmed over the weekend.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate energy panel, reported that both chambers of Congress had already ironed out disagreeing provisions in Senate Bill (SB) 1461, and House Bill 7054, adding that the reconciled final version allocated an initial amount of P750-million to be drawn

from the P7- billion budget of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) fund for ECs. The senator assured the amount shall be “immediately released to the National Electrification Administration [’s] [NEA] Quick Response Fund for proper release to qualified electric cooperatives,” noting that ECs would “no longer have to pass on the reconstruction costs of its damaged infrastructure due to natural calamities directly to their more than 11 million members-consumers.”

Gatchalian added that subsequent budget allocation would be included in the General Appropriations Act under the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund (ECERF).

He clarified that the allocation of the fund shall be “exclusively for the restoration or rehabilitation of the electric cooperatives’ damaged infrastructures after a fortuitous

event,” adding the amount “should not be used for the conversion of a calamity loan into a grant.”

Moreover, the lawmaker said a provision in the bill that requires all ECs to submit to the NEA their respective Vulnerability and Risk Assessments, Resiliency Compliance Plans and Emergency Response Plans every year as part of the requirements to access ECERF. Gatchalian added that with regard to donations given by both local and foreign sources, the bill provides that the NEA shall be mandated to receive funds, materials, or equipment intended for the purpose of restoring, or rehabilitating damaged infrastructures of ECs caused by natural calamities, even as he voiced confidence President Duterte would sign the Congress-approved measure into law “before his third State of the Nation Address.”

Butch Fernandez

Design–the competitive edge

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hy design? With growing access to better technology, the new competitive advantage lies in the ability to carve out and create new markets through the fusion ofbusiness,technologyandarts.Design, which functions to bring about such convergence, has emerged as the key differentiation strategy for businesses.

What is design? Design can be understood as material and conceptual innovation, realized through the integration of arts, culture, business and technology, and experienced as beauty, value and meaning. It is therefore a misconception that design is just about look and feel and image makeover. Design embraces not only aesthetics but also market research, usability, safety, ergonomics, environmental sustainability, new technologies, logistics and consumer experience. In today’s more and more “digital economy,” design as manufactured product has evolved into design as intellectual property and cultural property, embedded in a wide economic value chain, including game development, graphic design, animation, engineering design, architecture, to name a few only.

What is the national significance of design? Governments around the world have recognized the importance of design to national competitiveness, as design drives innovation, contributes to creativity and strengthens the unique ‘branding’ of a country. Countries such as Finland, Ireland, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Thailand and South Korea have developednationaldesignpolicies and championed design excellence as a key driver of national competitiveness.

Design in the Philippines— While design has been promoted as

creative philippines

By Henry Schumacher part of the Philippines’s industrial and trade landscape, there is a need to inspire a more fundamental change in the promotion and development of a pervasive design culture. It has to be accepted by the government and the private sector that the Philippines could be a leading center for contemporary design in Asean/Asia.

The Philippines should attract regional and international design talents to work from the Philippines with Filipinos, nurture innovative design firms, as well as leading providers of design education, and become the launchpad for creative and innovative design into Asean and the rest of the world. As a consequence, a distinctive Philippine design and brand identity should evolve. Like Thailand, the Philippine government has to financially support design sector around the world. It’s good to be at Ambiente, Gamescom, Maison & Objet, Bijorhca, Furniture China, and a few other shows regularly, but the field is much larger and the Philippine presence has to be more dominant—through financial government support.

A key player in the design ecosystem is the media, where journalists and various media platforms, including social media, of course, play a

central role in promoting design both locally and globally.

Often the question comes up whether the Philippines has a large number of creative professionals. I promise you, the country has. Philippine creative freelancers are counted in “hundred thousands” (if not more than in a million). They are found in the following categories: Web Development; Software Development; Networking and Information Systems; Design and Multimedia Data analytics; Logo design; Web design and App development; Graphic desig n and animation; Game development; Book and magazine design; Art and illustration; and Comic design.

What needs to happen?

Establishing creative/design clusters (we have some, in my view, Cebu is in the lead) Encouraging international partnerships and cooperation in design; and Building support structures for design/creative industries (financing, local hubs with infrastructure, etc).

Design forms part of the Business of Creativity. And that’s a big business which is still not fully recognized in this country.

Comments are welcome—contact me under Schumacher@eitsc.com.

House OKs Road Board abolition on second reading

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he Road Board is a congressional recess away from extinction after the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill (HB) 7436, which seeks to abolish the Road Board due to grave allegations of misuse of public funds, misappropriation, and graft and corruption, before it adjourned for its Lenten and summer break.

The Road Board oversees the funds from the Motor Vehicle User's Charge (MVUC) collections, which are supposed to be used exclusively for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, installation of traffic lights and road-safety devices, and air-pollution control. However, Commission on Audit reports flagged irregularities in the use of the MVUC funds, such as unauthorized, unnecessary and irregular expenses, excessive contract costs for projects, delayed and uncompleted projects, and technical deficiencies and defects in projects that could jeopardize motorists and pedestrians.

“The abolition of the Road Board and the amendments to the MVUC law would ensure the prudent man-

agement and efficient utilization of the MVUC,” said Rep. Xavier Jesus D. Romualdo of the Lone District of Camiguin, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reorganization, who sponsored the measure.

The bill also seeks to amend Republic Act 8794 on how the MVUC funds are distributed and managed. Under the bill, the MVUC collections shall be used only for construction, upgrading, repair and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and road drainage, pollution control, including the establishment and improvement of solid waste-management programs and facilities, and vehicle-pollution control.

The collections shall be apportioned and deposited in four special trust accounts in the National Treasury, as follows: 40 percent in the Special National Road Support Fund, 40 percent in the Special Local Road Support Fund, which shall both be managed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); 10 percent in the Special Pollution Control Fund, which shall be managed by

the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and 10 percent in the Special Vehicle Pollution Control Fund, which shall be managed by the Department of Transportation.

“We remove an opaque and intricate layer of the bureaucracy and put the funds directly in the hands of the implementing agencies. We clear up who is responsible and accountable for the use of the funds, which would lead to proper and better use of the funds. We also ensure that projects funded out of the MVUC collections, particularly for construction and improvement of local roads, which is badly needed in the countryside, will be distributed equitably throughout the country,” Romualdo said.

The measure, as approved on second reading, provides that 80 percent of the Special Local Road Support Fund will be distributed among the DPWH District Engineering Offices, to be apportioned based on equal sharing, population and land area. The House of Representatives is expected to approve HB 7436 on third and final reading when it resumes session on May 15.

Banking&Finance

A6 Monday, March 26, 2018 • Editor: Jun B. Vallecera

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOF eyes paying Jica loan for Metro Manila subway from retail-space lease income

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By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE government will initiate the country’s first-ever underground commercial development by leasing retail spaces around the stations of the would-be Metro Manila Subway, to generate revenues that will help pay off the loan extended by Japan for the project, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the retail concept will be similar to Japan’s underground shopping experience

in which shops and restaurants thrive around subway stations.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) extend-

ed a ¥104.53-billion loan to the Philippines which is equivalent to around P51 billion, or $934.75 million. This represents the first tranche of the loan’s total financing requirement for the construction of the first phase of the Metro Manila Subway Project.

The finance chief and Jica c h ie f re pre s e nt at i v e Yo s h io Wada, on behalf of their respective governments, signed the loan agreement on March 16.

“Yes, absolutely. In fact, we’re planning to have retail spaces just like in Japan. And definitely, we will be utilizing that so we are going to be putting value to the underground area in Manila. And the revenues will definitely contribute to paying off this loan,” Dominguez said.

The loan agreement for the first tranche carries an interest rate of 0.10 percent per annum for nonconsulting services, which involves civil works, depot, rail-

road, electromechanical works, power supply and 0.01 percent per annum for consulting services, payable in 40 years, inclusive of a 12-year grace period under the Special Terms for Economic Partnership of Jica.

As the project’s chief implementer, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) made a deliberate effort to position subway stations beside or near state property to maximize the investment returns for the government.

Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan cited, for instance, the proposed North Avenue station that will be contiguous with the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, the Katipunan station that will be built on Camp Aguinaldo property, a station at the Bonfacio Global City that will be beside a property of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, and a station near the Air Force field at the Villamor Air Base.

“As much as possible, we’ve selected station locations that would maximize the return of that value to the government coffers,” Batan said.

On concerns regarding rightof-way, which often delays the implementation of big-ticket infrastructure projects, Batan said this would not be a major issue because subway technology involves mostly subterranean construction.

Utilizing cutting-edge Japanese

BTr: NG disbursed subsidies reached P922M in January

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HE national government (NG) reported disbursed subsidies amounting to P922 million for January this year, with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) receiving bulk of the disbursement totalling P426 million.

Based on the latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), the government allotted subsidies amounting to P922 million during the first month of this year, which contracted by 27.17 percent from the P1.266 billion in subsidies disbursed for January 2017.

Broken down, the biggest recipient for the month was the NIA,

which was given P426 million, a contraction of 42.81 percent from the P745 million provided in the same month for 2017.

The other major nonfinancial government corporation that received a subsidy from the government for the month was the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) with P6 million.

Among the government-owned and -controlled cor porations, the Philippine Hea lth Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) received t he big gest a mou nt of P119 million. It did not receive subsidies from the government in January 2017.

T he Ph i l ippi ne C h i ld ren’s

Medical Center also received subsidies amounting to P78 million, the Philippine Heart Center was allocated P72 million, the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) received P60 million, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute was given P49 million, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions got P32 million, the Cultural Center of the Philippines was provided P21 million, the Lung Center of the Philippines received P20 million, and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies was allocated P11 million for the month.

Other agencies that received

subsidies included the Philippine Television Network Inc. with P6 million; the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) with P5 million; the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care with P5 million; and the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, Southern Philippines Development Authority, and the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority each received P4 million.

One of the campaign promises under the Duterte administration was the provision of free irrigation in rural areas and improved healthcare or universal health care to all Filipinos, among others. Rea Cu

SSS to go after 7,000 delinquent employers under WDLG program

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HE Social Security System (SSS) said it would go after 7,000 delinquent employers under its Warrants of Distraint, Levy and Garnishment (WDLG) program, set to be implemented next month.

The program seeks to implement additional modes of collection for the SSS. The state-run pension fund said it has identified 60,000 delinquent employers nationwide.

It sa id t he 7,000 delinquent employers comprise the first batch of delinquent employers under its WDLG program. It is expecting to collect around P5 billion from these delinquent employers.

SSS President and CEO Emmanuel F. Dooc said the new policy

is to ensure employers are unable to dispose of their properties to evade their obligations in paying employees’ monthly contributions to the SSS. “We have already identified the first batch of delinquent companies, both big and small, all over the country. They will be the first ones to be visited by the SSS,” Dooc told financial reporters.

The WDLG is provided for under Section 22 of Republic Act 8282, otherwise known as the Social Security Act of 1997. The modes of collection are similar to the collection system of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against delinquent taxpayers.

Based on the WDLG guidelines, the SSS will issue a letter of authority and Preliminar y Assessment Notice containing the amount of total delinquency to the employer. After 15 days, a Final Assessment Notice Before Seizure will be sent to the employer with an instruction to pay the amount stated.

Dooc said that, after seizure of the personal and real property and garnishment of bank accounts of the delinquent employer, the SSS

will schedule a public sale in no less than 20 days.

However, if the employer pays its contributions, the warrants for its delinquency, including penalties, damages and expenses prior the public sale will be lifted and the properties levied, distrained or garnished and restored to the owner.

“This will give us significant income because this w i l l instill responsibility on the part of members a nd employers,” Dooc said.

If the WDLG will be unsuccessful because the employer has no more property or they cannot be located, the case will be referred to the Legal Enforcement Group of the SSS for filing of criminal charges, he said. Rea Cu

tunneling technology, the construction of the first phase of the Metro Manila Subway will stretch from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) area in Taguig City, and will continue all the way to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

It will involve the construction of an underground railway spanning about 30 kilometers with 14 stations. It is expected to be completed by 2025.

The DOF reported cost for the first phase of the subway project is estimated at ¥788.89 billion, about P356.96 billion or approximately $7.055 billion.

Of this total project cost, 73 percent, or ¥573.73 billion, will be funded by Jica through a timesliced loan arrangement comprising three to four tranches, while the remaining 27 percent, which is about ¥215.16 billion or around P97.35 billion, will be shouldered by the Philippine government.

Perspectives Steps companies can consider to narrow the gender gap

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VER the past few years, more women have been promoted to top management roles and company board positions. Successful women have been complimented and rewarded for their achievements.

However, continued progress can be supported by considering the following steps: n Recognize the business case for gender diversity. For businesses, support for gender diversity is a matter of both doing good and doing well. Put simply, companies that hire more women make more money so gender diversity should be a part of both immediate initiatives and long-term business strategies. n Hire women who can hire women. Research has repeatedly shown that when women are better represented in leadership roles, more women are hired across the organization. This holds true even when considering disparities in the size of female talent pools across industries.

Female candidates may also be more attracted to companies with higher proportions of leaders who are women, since these companies might have more opportunities for women to advance their careers. n Support transparency. A Gender gap still exists for the most part when it comes to pay. There are fair questions about whether the gap is solely due to gender. Often, this starts with full transparency about differences in pay levels for similar roles and positions. n Continue to evolve. Companies need to continually rethink their business and operational models, and that includes how their employees work and live. For example, companies can count parental leaves as years of service and grant generous sabbaticals for women as well as men. Flexible working hours for employees can help them balance work with obligations at home.

The article “Steps that companies can consider to narrow the gender gap”

by Paul Harnick, KPMG in the UK, was taken from KPMG’s publication, entitled Reaction: Chemicals Magazine. © 2018 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a memberfirm of the KPMG network of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity.

All rights reserved. Printed in the Philippines For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may visit www. kpmg.com.ph.

Bond traders face gut-check in record $300-B US auctions

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OND bulls who enjoyed a rare rally in short-term Treasuries last week might not want to get too comfortable: The world’s biggest debt market is about to be inundated with an unprecedented wave of issuance.

The US Treasury will probably auction about $294 billion of bills and notes this week, its largest slate of supply ever. The $30-billion twoyear note sale is the biggest since 2014, and comes as the maturity posted just its fourth weekly gain in the last six months. The threeand six-month bill offerings remain at record sizes.

“It’s a pivotal moment for traders gauging a Treasury market that appears to be range-bound after yields set multiyear highs in recent

weeks. Jerome Powell’s first meeting as Federal Reserve chairman largely signaled continuity with Janet Yellen’s gradual path. That makes the market’s reception of swelling US issuance a key to determining whether the bond selloff will resume.

“These larger auctions are more difficult to digest,” said Thomas Simons, a money-market economist at Jefferies. “But the auctions do okay when they have a concession.

It’s even more necessary than it was in the past.”

While there’s evidence of weakening demand for US auctions, an analysis of trading data is mixed at best about whether that portends further losses in Treasuries. But the threat of diminished interest and

higher yields comes at a precarious time, with budget deficits climbing and the Fed paring its balance sheet.

US financing needs are growing partly as a result of the tax overhaul. The Treasury is ramping up sales of shorter-term debt, like the maturities to be issued this week, while longer-dated obligations are growing at a slower pace.

The $35 billion of five-year notes and $29 billion of seven-year debt each match the largest offerings of the maturities since January 2016.

In contrast to auctions in recent months, however, this week’s batch comes as the sell-off has stalled.

The five-year sale last month yielded 2.658 percent and the seven-year 2.839 percent. The yields ended Friday at 2.6 percent and

2.74 percent, respectively. If the five-year sale yields less than in February’s auction, it would mark the first drop since August.

Of course, traders may build in a concession to take down the issuance, pushing yields at auction above their multiyear highs.

The results may help investors figure out whether last week’s rally was an aberration in a market otherwise dominated by rising shortterm yields and a flattening curve.

US markets are closed on March 30 for the Good Friday holiday, and an early close is recommended for Thursday. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, is the highlight among US economic indicators March 26: Chicago Fed

national activity index; Dallas Fed manufacturing activity on March 27: S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price indexes; Richmond Fed manufacturing index; Conference Board consumer confidence surveys March 28: MBA mortgage applications; advance goods trade balance; wholesale inventories; GDP annualized QoQ and price index; personal consumption; retail inventories; core PCE QoQ; pending home sales March 29: Personal income and spending; PCE deflator and core PCE; jobless claims; MNI Chicago business barometer; Bloomberg consumer comfort; University of Michigan survey data A handful of Fed speakers are on tap March 26: New York Fed’s William Dudley speaks on the future of financial

regulation; Cleveland Fed’s Loretta Mester speaks on monetary policy; Fed Governor Randal Quarles speaks in Atlanta March 27: Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic speaks at economic conference March 28: Bostic speaks to finance professionals in Atlanta March 29: Philadelphia Fed’s Patrick Harker speaks on the economic outlook Huge slate of Treasury auctions, concentrated in shorter maturities March 26: $51 billion of three-month bills; $45 billion of six-month bills; $30 billion of twoyear notes March 27: $24 billion of 52-week bills; $35 billion of five-year notes; four-week bill auction which will likely remain steady at $65 billion March 28: $15 billion of twoyear floating-rate notes; $29 billion of seven-year notes. Bloomberg News

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL seen importing more US agri goods

File photo shows US beef for export. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

he country’s purchases of agricultural products from the United States will rise to a fouryear high of $2.7 billion due to the continuous expansion of the domestic food and beverage (F&B) sector, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report.

The Gain report, which was prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Services in Manila, noted that its forecast is 4.24 percent higher than the $2.59 billion worth of agricultural products exported by the US to the Philippines last year.

“The Philippines’s rapidly expanding processed food and beverage industry presents robust opportunities for US exporters

of agricultural raw materials and high-value ingredients,” the report read. “The US continues to be the Philippines’s largest supplier of agricultural products, and the Philippines is its 10th-largest global market.”

The Gain report said about 65 percent of United State agricultural exports to the Philippines flow through the F&B processing industry, with wheat, dairy, meat and

poultry comprising the bulk of sales.

Other agricultural items, such as tree nuts and processed fruit and vegetables, “play a vital and increasingly important role,” according to the report. “Overall, there is widespread acceptance of US products, which Philippine F&B processors exploit by highlighting US ingredients on product labels.”

The Gain report noted the top United States agricultural product prospects to Philippines are poultry cuts, including chicken feet; mechanically deboned meat; trimmings and beef offal; milk and whey powder; and cheeses and other dairy products.

Other US agricultural items that have the potential to grow in the Philippine F&B sector include frozen and concentrated fruit and vegetable juices, grape must, specialty flours, condiments and seafood products, according to the Gain report.

“Imported agricultural raw materials can be combined with locally available products, such

as tropical fruits and vegetables, cacao, sugarcane and seafood to come up with innovative product offerings,” it read.

“The wide acceptance food processors and consumers have of US raw materials and ingredients are a tremendous advantage for US exporters seeking to develop a market in the Philippines,” it added.

Citing the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Gain report said the local F&B industry’s gross value-added output in 2016 grew by 10 percent to $28.9 billion, from $26.2 billion in 2015.

The report also noted the Philippines’s purchases of processed F&B products from the US are expected to increase as the local F&B sector’s quality and competitiveness continue to improve.

“While exports to major trading partners such as the US should continue to grow, prospects for the lucrative East and Southeast Asian markets are especially strong because of the country’s strategic location,” the report read.

“The nation’s capital, Manila, is situated within a four-hour trip by air to any major port in the region [six days for cargo vessels]. The short transit time makes it an ideal staging area, especially for frozen and chilled products,” it added.

Aside from trade liberalization, future trade of processed F&B products in the region w ill be d r iven by strong economic growth and rising incomes, increasing urbanization and demand for greater product variety, quality, convenience and safety, according to the report.

Traders should not be allowed to import rice–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

A

vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Sunday backed the recent directive of Malacañang for the National Food Authority (NFA) to speed up the importation of 250,000 metric tons of rice.

Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur said the Palace has recently directed the NFA Council (NFAC) to fast-track rice imports, along with a crackdown on erring employees possibly in cahoots with unscrupulous grains businessmen.

“The President’s order to speed up rice imports should give all the more reason to the NFAC to reverse its longstanding policy of allowing private traders to import rice in favor of giving back to the NFA 100-percent control over all overseas purchases of the staple,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

“While the NFA can do the job of importing rice better and faster, it must also watch out for some scalawags in its ranks who sell NFA rice to traders, as this will defeat the purpose of stabilizing prices in the market,” he added.

Villafuerte, citing Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, said President Duterte issued the order to the NFA to expedite rice imports during a recent NFAC meeting and told the Cabinet he did not want a repeat of the 2008 rice crisis.

Full control

Villafuerte also said the NFA should regain full control over rice imports, considering that certain unscrupulous grains traders have cashed in on the current system to corner the bulk of domestic supply and unduly jack up

prices of this staple at the expense of ordinary Filipinos.

The lawmaker called on the NFAC to reverse its policy of letting private grains businessmen import rice through the NFA, following an earlier appeal by NFA Administrator Jason Aquino to farmers to sell part of their harvests to the food agency so it could replenish its stocks.

Amid the current “artificial” supply problem, Villafuerte said the council should also consider setting up a separate body to monitor the supply and prices of rice, with the end goal of imposing a price ceiling once retail prices spiral out of control—in the same way that the government exercise regulatory control over vital services like electricity for the protection of consumers.

“We need to fix the existing system to shield both farmers and consumers from the shady practices of private traders that have left the NFA helpless in carrying out its primary task of ensuring the stability of the price and supply of rice in the market,” Villafuerte added.

Under the current system, the NFA has the sole authority to import rice, but the NFAC allows private traders to similarly purchase stocks from abroad through the NFA. He also said the rule of thumb is that palay bought from farmers should only have a 100-percent markup once milled and sold as rice in retail outlets.

“At the current average farm-gate buying price of P20 per kilogram of palay, regular-milled rice should be sold at around P40 per kg only,” he said. “But right now you can see that regular-milled and commercial rice sells for around P43 per kg to P50 per kg in retail outlets.”

Under its food-security and price-

stabilization mandate, the NFA needs to have a strategic rice reserve equivalent to 15 days’ national consumption and a higher 30-day buffet stock during the traditional lean months of July to September.

P50-million fine

Meanwhile, Rep. Manuel Luis T. Lopez of the First District of Manila filed House Bill 7417, or the Rice Security and Stability Act of 2018, which seeks to impose a P50-million fine and an imprisonment of 12 years against those who will be found guilty of hoarding, profiteering and engaging in cartel operations and price manipulation of rice in the country.

Lopez said the passage of this measure seeks to identify the responsibility and accountability of businessmen who are found guilty of committing any of the “prohibited acts inimical to the interests of Filipinos, most especially the poor.”

The bill qualifies hoarding as the undue accumulation by a person or combination of persons or corporate entities of rice beyond his of their normal inventory levels and profiteering refers to the sale or offering for sale of rice at a price grossly in excess of its market value.

The measure also defined cartel as a combination of or agreement between two or more persons or corporate entities engaged in the production, manufacture, processing, storage and unreasonably increase or manipulate its price.

Price manipulation, finally, is any act committed by any person, persons, entity mor entities engaged in the production, manufacture, importation and other similar activities that seek to control and influence the price of rice at any given time.

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, March 26, 2018

A7

DTI identifies 3 trending global consumer products for 2018

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he Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) has identified at least three product categories that are now “trending” among global consumers, providing new avenues for growth and expansion for Filipino exporters.

Agnes R. Legaspi, EMB assistant director, said organic, halal and kosher products are the trio of consumer goods opening up new opportunities for exporters whose goods have been certified by recognized certifying bodies.

Speaking at the recent 2018 BSP Exporters’ Forum, Legaspi said the world consumer market for organic products reached $565 billion in 2013 and continues to grow rapidly.

High-income markets like Europe and North America, particularly the United Kingom and United States, represent more than 90 percent of global consumption of organic products.

Legaspi said exporters that can label their products as organic can sell them at premium prices.

“But you have to make sure your certification is accepted by the market that you want to export to,” she added.

Best-selling organic products around the world are dairy products and eggs.

The halal market is another potentially huge market for Filipino producers that make an effort to become halal certified, Legaspi said.

The market for halal products and services is one of the fastestgrowing consumer segments in

the world, a $2.6-trillion industry that is expected to grow to $10 trillion by 2030.

Total trade in halal food alone, representing 62 percent of the global halal market, is estimated at $632 billion. Other important halal products include cosmetics and personal-care products, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

Legaspi pointed out that halal consumers are not just those from the Muslim community, but also count non-Muslims who are on the lookout for healthy food that underwent food preparations prescribed under strict Islamic dietary laws.

Filipino exporters looking to enter this market “should make sure you have the certification to call your products and services halal-certified,” she advised.

Meanwhile, the biggest market for kosher products is still the US with its sizable Jewish population, but there is also strong demand in the European Union and Israel, Legaspi said.

The United States kosher market alone has more than 12 million consumers and has seen doubledigit growth of 10 percent to 15 percent annually since 2004, according to the DTI. Legaspi again underlined the importance of making sure products exported as kosher are duly certified.

“Kosher certification is a guarantee that the raw materials, processing and traceability have been controlled according to the Jewish ritual laws,” she explained. Philexport News & Features

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A8 Monday, March 26, 2018 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Outraged youth take to streets to protest guns

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ASHINGTON—Standing before vast crowds from Washington to Los Angeles to Parkland, Florida, the speakers— nearly all of them students, some still in elementary school—delivered an anguished and defiant message: They are “done hiding” from gun violence, and will “stop at nothing” to get politicians to finally prevent it.

The students, as they seized the nation’s attention last Saturday with raised fists and tear-streaked faces, vowed that their grief about school shootings and their frustration with adults’ inaction would power a new generation of political activism.

“If they continue to ignore us, to only pretend to listen, then we will take action where it counts,” Delaney Tarr, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where a gunman killed 17 people last month, told tens of thousands rallying in Washington. “We will take action every day in every way until they simply cannot ignore us anymore.”

For many of the young people, the Washington rally, called March for Our Lives, was their first act of protest and the beginning of a political awakening. But that awakening may be a rude one—lawmakers in Congress have largely disregarded their pleas for action on television and social media in the five weeks since the Parkland shooting.

That reality helped drive the Parkland survivors in Washington, as they led a crowd that filled blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Thousands more rallied at about 800 “sibling” marches around the country and abroad, where students, like those in the capital, made

eloquent calls for gun control and pledged to exercise their newfound political power in the midterm elections this fall.

Aerial video captured seas of people—in front of Trump International Hotel in New York; in a central square in Tokyo; along the streets of Boston; at a rally in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, and crammed into a park less than a mile from Stoneman Douglas High.

Delivered in soaring speeches, emotional chants and handpainted signs, the protesters’ messages offered angry rebukes to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and politicians who have left gun laws largely intact for decades.

A sign in Washington declared “Graduations, not funerals!” while another in New York said: “I should be learning, not protesting.”

Crowds in Chicago chanted “Fear has no place in our schools” as they marched.

Celebrities, including Lin Manuel Miranda, the Hamilton star, and pop singers Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus, performed in Washington, where politicians and adult activists were largely sidelined in favor of the fresh-faced students offering stories of fear and frustration, but also hope for change.

The most powerful, and impassioned moments came from the

A large crowd calling for an end to gun violence gathers, hours before the scheduled start of the March for Our Lives, in Washington, on March 24.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

surviving students of the Parkland shooting, who declared themselves angry, impatient and determined to stop the slaughter.

“Today, we march,” Tarr said. “We fight. We roar. We prepare our signs.

We raise them high. We know what we want, we know how to get it, and we are not waiting any more.”

An 11-year-old girl from Virginia, Naomi Wadler, captivated her audience as she declared “Never again!” on behalf of black women and girls who have been the victims of gun violence.

Calls like Naomi’s stood in stark contrast to action on Capitol Hill and at the White House in the hours before the rallies.

President Donald J. Trump signed a $1.3-trillion spending bill that took no significant new steps on gun control: It did nothing to expand background checks, impose additional limits on assault weapons, require

a higher age for rifle purchases, or curb the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The spending legislation, which was viewed as the last opportunity this year for Congress to enact major new gun restrictions before the midterm elections in November, included only some school safety measures and modest improvements to the background check system.

Organizers at national gun-control groups, who provided logistical support and public-relations advice as the students planned the Washington rally, said they believed that the students would not become disillusioned by the lack of immediate action in Congress.

They noted that rallies took place in 390 of the country’s 435 congressional districts.

“The mass-shooting generation is nearing voting age,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown

for Gun Safety, a national group that advocates tougher gun laws. “They know the midterms are six months away, and they plan to make sure that they vote and they get others to register to vote. They are absolutely poised to turn this moment into a movement.”

Gun-rights organizations largely stayed silent last Saturday, after vigorous efforts since the Parkland shooting to squash any movement toward significant gun-control

legislation. A spokesman for the NRA declined repeated requests for comment.

On the eve of the march, Colion Noir, a host on NRATV, an online video channel produced by the gun group, lashed out at the Parkland students, saying that “no one would know your names” if someone with a weapon had stopped the gunman at their school.

“These kids ought to be marching against their own hypocritical belief structures,” he said in the video, adding: “The only reason we’ve ever heard of them is because the guns didn’t come soon enough.”

Small counterprotests took place in a few cities. In Salt Lake City several hundred people gathered near a school, some carrying signs with messages like “AR-15’s EMPOWER the people.”

Brandon McKee, who wore a pistol on his belt, brought his daughter, Kendall, 11, who held a sign that said “Criminals love gun control.”

“I believe it’s their goal to unarm America, and that’s why we’re here today,” Brandon McKee said of the Washington marchers.

In Boston about 20 protesters favoring gun control confronted a small clutch of Second Amendment supporters gathered in front of the state House. The two sides quickly got into a shouting match.

The pro-gun protests were swamped in size and enthusiasm by those marching for gun control, many of whom traveled for many hours to attend the rallies in cities across the country.

New York Times News Service

If they continue to ignore us, to only pretend to listen, then we will take action where it counts.

We will take action every day in every way until they simply cannot ignore us anymore.”—Tarr

Lights go dark for Earth Hour Obama: N. Korea’s isolation means less leverage in talks to highlight climate change T

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ONDON—In Paris the Eiffel Tower went dark. In London a kaleidoscope of famous sites switched off their lights—Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye. That scene was repeated over and over across the world last Saturday night: at Sydney’s Opera House; at New Delhi’s great arch; at Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers; at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland; at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin; at Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow; at the Empire State Building in New York.

It lasted for just an hour and its power is purely symbolic. But in countries around the world, at 8:30 p.m., people were switching off their lights for Earth Hour, a global call for international unity on the importance of addressing climate change.

Since beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in, from turning IN this two-photo combination picture, the landmark India Gate off their own porch lights to letting monument is seen lit (top) and then the same location in darkness the grand sites like the Opera House when the lights are turned out for one hour to mark Earth Hour, in go dark.

New Delhi, India, on March 24. AP/Oinam Anand Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said 300 Paris buildings observed the blackout to send a “universal message.”

Those 60 minutes are “an opportunity” to shift “the consumption culture and behavior change toward sustainability,” Indian Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

All this happens and yet many people, of course, barely notice.

Around India Gate, New Delhi’s monument to the Indian dead in World War I, thousands embraced the city’s nightly warm-weather ritual last Saturday. They bought ice cream and cheap plastic trinkets. They flirted. Young children rode in electric carts that their parents rented for a few minutes at a stretch.

But for an hour the arch stayed dark, a silent call for change.

In Jordan the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature arranged 11,440 candles on a hilltop in the capital of Amman, establishing a Guinness World Record for the largest candle mosaic. The candles spelled the Earth Hour motto of “60+.” However, attempts to light the candles largely failed because of wind on the hilltop, which is close to the city’s landmark, the Amman Citadel. AP

OKYO—Former President Barack Obama said last Sunday that negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear weapons program are difficult, partly because the country’s isolation minimizes possible leverage, such as trade and travel sanctions against Pyongyang.

“North Korea is an example of a country that is so far out of the international norms and so disconnected with the rest of the world,” Obama told a packed hall in Tokyo last Sunday.

He stressed the effort to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons remains difficult, but countries working together, including China, as well as South Korea and Japan, to combine pressure on North Korea will be better than nations working alone.

He noted that past US efforts on Iran’s nuclear weapons were more successful be-

cause there was more leverage, but there’s little commerce and travel with North Korea to being with. “ That makes them less subject to these kinds of negotiations,” he said of North Korea.

Obama was speaking at an event sponsored by a Japanese nonprofit group during his trip to Asia, which included earlier stops in Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. His work after leaving office has been focused on nurturing young leaders.

Obama, welcomed by a standing ovation, said the US-Japan alliance remained strong, and the US is committed to defending Japan.

“North Korea is a real threat,” he said.

“Our view has always been that we would prefer to resolve these issues peacefully,” he said, adding that otherwise “the cost in terms

of human life would be significant.”

He acknowledged progress on a nuclearfree world would likely take a long time as long as Russia and the US could not agree to start reducing their stockpiles.

Obama also reflected on his 2016 visit to Hiroshima, one of two Japanese cities where the US dropped atomic bombs in the closing days of World War II. His visit was the first by an American president.

Almost all American presidents tend to be relatively popular in Japan, which views the US as its most important ally. But many Japanese particularly appreciate Obama’s efforts on denuclearization and remember with fondness his trip to Hiroshima and his message of working toward a world without nuclear weapons.

“It was an extraordinarily powerful moment for me,” Obama recalled. AP

Hundreds gather to leave section of Syria’s Ghouta

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EIRUT—Hundreds of members of a rebel group and their relatives boarded last Saturday on 17 buses in preparation to leave eastern Ghouta to oppositionheld areas north of the country as part of an agreement to evacuate the second of three pockets held by opposition fighters east of the capital Damascus, Syria’s state media reported.

State TV and the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media (SCMM) said more than 500 fighters and their relatives will leave last Saturday night toward northern Syria, and hundreds more will evacuate the following day.

State TV and SCMM earlier said that a total of 7,000 people will leave four towns in eastern Ghouta before reporting that the number had dropped to just over 3,000, without providing an explanation.

The departure comes a day after an agreement was reached between Faylaq al-Rah-

man, the second most powerful rebel group in eastern Ghouta, and the Russians to surrender the second of three pockets in eastern Ghouta, where rebels have been holding up over the past years.

Earlier in the day, bulldozers removed giant sand barriers from a main road in the town of Harasta that will be used by the rebels and their relatives to make their way to the country’s north.

After sunset, several buses carrying evacuees arrived at the edge of the town of Arbeen where they gathered before heading north.

The government-controlled SCMM said a corridor was prepared for Faylaq al-Rahman members and their relatives to leave the towns of Zamalka, Arbeen, Ein Tarma and Jobar.

The evacuations come after thousands streamed out of Harasta, the first pocket after a similar negotiated deal for the evacuation of armed fighters and civilians. Last Friday

night Harasta was void of rebels for the first time in six years.

“The city of Harasta in eastern Ghouta is free of terrorism,” SCMM said, referring to opposition fighters that the government refers to as terrorists.

Faylaq al-Rahman said in a statement last Friday that the deal would lead to the immediate evacuation of sick and wounded people for treatment and to allow aid to enter the besieged area.

The group added that opposition fighters and their relatives who decide to leave eastern Ghouta would head to rebel-held parts of northern Syria, while civilians who choose to stay will be guaranteed safety.

It said that Russian military police would deploy in Faylaq al-Rahman-controlled areas, including the Arbeen, Zamalka, Ein Tarma and Jobar. A prisoner exchange will take place between the group and the government, the group added. AP

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, March 26, 2018 A9

Debate on about more restrictive futures for Facebook and Google

Tech giants face crisis with call for privacy

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AN FRANCISCO—The contemporary Internet was built on a bargain: Show us who you really are, and the digital world will be free to search or share.

People detailed their interests and obsessions on Facebook and Google, generating a river of data that could be collected and harnessed for advertising. The companies became very rich. Users seemed happy.

Privacy was deemed obsolete, like bloodletting and milkmen.

Now, the consumer surveillance model underlying Facebook and Google’s free services is under siege from users, regulators and legislators on both sides of the Atlantic.

It amounts to a crisis for an Internet industry that up until now had taken a reactive, whack-a-mole approach to problems like the spread of fraudulent news and misuse of personal data.

The recent revelation that Cambridge Analytica—a voter profiling company that had worked with Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign—harvested data from 50 million Facebook users, raised the current uproar, even if the origins lie as far back as the 2016 election.

It has been many months of allegations and arguments that the Internet in general and social media in particular are pulling society down instead of lifting it up.

That has inspired a good deal of debate about more restrictive futures for Facebook and Google. At the furthest extreme, some dream of the companies becoming public utilities.

More benign business models that depend less on ads and more on subscriptions have been proposed, although it’s unclear why either company would abandon something that has made them so prosperous.

Congress might pass targeted legislation to restrict consumer data use in specific sectors, such as a Senate bill that would require increased transparency in online political advertising, said Daniel J. Weitzner, director of the Internet Policy Re-

search Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

There are other avenues still, said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, the chief marketing officer of Mozilla, the nonprofit organization behind the popular Firefox browser, including advertisers and large tech platforms collecting vastly less user data and still effectively customizing ads to consumers.

“They are just collecting all the data to try to find magic growth algorithms,” Kaykas-Wolff said of online marketers. This past week Mozilla halted its ads on Facebook, saying the social network’s default privacy settings allowed access to too much data. The greatest likelihood is that the Internet companies, frightened by the tumult, will accept a few more rules and work a little harder for transparency. And there will be hearings on Capitol Hill.

The next chapter is also set to play out not in Washington but in Europe, where regulators have already cracked down on privacy violations and are examining the role of data in online advertising.

The Cambridge Analytica case, said Vera Jourova, the European Union commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, was not just a breach of private data.

“This is much more serious, because here we witness the threat to democracy, to democratic plurality,” she said. Although many people had a general understanding that free online services used their personal details to customize the ads they saw, the latest controversy starkly exposed the machinery.

Consumers’ seemingly benign activities—their likes—could be used to covertly categorize and influence their behavior. And not just by unknown third parties. Facebook itself has worked directly with presidential

A pedestrian looks at his phone near steam vented near the Philadelphia Museum of Art on a cold morning in Philadelphia, in this November 30, 2012, photo. Every time a person shops online or at a store, loyalty cards linked to phone numbers or e-mail addresses can be linked to other databases that may have location data, home addresses and more. Voting records, job history, credit scores are constantly mixed, matched and traded by companies in ways regulators haven’t caught up with. AP/Matt Rourke

This is much more serious [not just a breach of private data], because here we witness the threat to democracy, to democratic plurality.”

—Jourova campaigns on ad targeting, describing its services in a company case study as “influencing voters.”

“People are upset that their data may have been used to secretly influence 2016 voters,” said Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. “If your personal information can help sway elections, which affects everyone’s life and societal well-being, maybe privacy does matter after all.”

In interviews, Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, seemed to accept the possibility of increased privacy regulation, something that would have been unlikely only a few months ago.

But some trade group executives also warned that any attempt to curb the use of consumer data would put the business model of the ad-supported Internet at risk.

“You’re undermining a fundamental concept in advertising: reaching consumers who are interested in a particular

Executives, economists voice trade-war concerns

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lobal economists and executives from Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook to BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink gathered in Beijing this weekend against the backdrop of a brewing trade war, after US President Donald J. Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese goods affecting more than $50 billion worth of products.

The stakes are high for the US economy and its multinational companies, Chinese officials and state media warned.

Here is what some top economists and business leaders said at last Saturday’s summit about rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies: Cook, CEO of Apple, said that he held passionate views on the issue and that he’d personally weighed into the debate.

“The countries that embrace openness

do exceptional and the countries that don’t, don’t,” he said.

“It’s not a matter of carving things up between sides. I’m going to encourage that calm heads prevail.”

Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, said that he believed dialogue and adjustments in trade policy can be in order.

“The world needs a strong China and a strong US. The world does not need a public fight in which we reduce future opportunities,” he said. Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary, compared trade wars to nuclear war, which can never be won. He also said the biggest effect by far is a psychological impact on confidence.

“This is also reflecting as much as it is leading a broad change in attitudes in the United States toward China.”

Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS Group AG, said he has begun to be concerned about a trade war but so far the numbers are modest in respect to the impact.

“We see the proliferation of the tensions on a bilateral basis potentially escalating.

This won’t be good for growth, won’t be good for geopolitical reasons,” he said.

Soren Skou, CEO of AP Moller-Maersk A/S, said a trade war would impact shipping negatively.

“The case for free trade is very, very strong in terms of economic growth, in terms of job creation, in terms of benefits for producers and consumers.”

Li Daokui, a former adviser to the People’s Bank of China, said in an interview that Trump is challenging not just China but also the global trade system. Bloomberg News

Saudis: US investors will have chance to buy Aramco shares

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mericans will have a chance to own shares in Saudi Arabia’s oil company, the nation’s energy minister said.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih also said some investors have been slow to sign on to the reform plan proposed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman because they are focused on dividends.

“We are going to have to face that when we list Aramco and have a conversation about how much cash will be given to investors,” he said in a speech last Saturday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The initial public offering of shares in Saudi Aramco is a cornerstone of the

prince’s reform plan—dubbed Vision 2030—to transform the nation’s economy and society. Saudi officials hope to raise as much as $100 billion by selling up to 5 percent of the company, valuing Aramco at $2 trillion.

Al-Falih is in the United States as part of the crown prince’s three-week tour that includes stops in Washington and New York. His remarks echo comments made last Wednesday by Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, who refuted a report earlier in the week that the country was only going to offer shares on its domestic exchange.

“We are still assessing international

markets—New York, London, Hong Kong— and obviously the anchor market is Saudi Arabia, so no decision has been made,” AlJadaan told Bloomberg Television.

Prior to the prince’s visit to the US, Aramco executives and government officials pitched their plan for what could be world’s largest share sale to some of the biggest US mutual fund firms and hedge funds and got a cool response, people familiar with the discussions said earlier this month.

Al-Falih said the crown prince would sign seven deals during his visit to the Boston area on Saturday, covering energy, health care, renewables and prosthetics.BloombergNews

product,” said Dean C. Garfield, chief executive of the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group in Washington whose members include Amazon, Facebook, Google and Twitter.

If suspicion of Facebook and Google is a relatively new feeling in the United States, it has been

embedded in Europe for historical and cultural reasons that date back to the Nazi Gestapo, the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and the Cold War. “We’re at an inflection point, when the great wave of optimism about tech is giving way to growing alarm,” said Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute. “This is the moment when Europeans turn to the state for protection and answers and are less likely than Americans to rely on the market to sort out imbalances.”

In May, the European Union is instituting a comprehensive new privacy law, called the General Data Protection Regulation. The new rules treat personal data as proprietary, owned by an individual, and any use of that data must be accompanied by permission—opting in rather than opting out—after receiving a request written in clear language, not legalese.

Mélanie Voin, a spokesman for the European Commission, said the protection rules will have more teeth than the current 1995 directive. For example, a company experiencing a data breach involving individuals must notify the data protection authority within 72 hours, and would be subject to fines of up to €20 million or 4 percent of its annual revenue.

In a January speech in Brussels, Facebook’s Sandberg said, “We know we can’t just meet the GDPR, but we need to do even more.” Google declined to comment.

New York Times News Service

The Regions BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, March 26, 2018 A11

Ombudsman rebuffs anti-coal group in Sual, Pangasinan

By Orly Guirao Correspondent

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UAL, Pangasinan—The Office of the Ombudsman has denied the petition for assistance filed by the Save Sual Movement (SSM) against Mayor Roberto Ll. Arcinue and Councilor John Christopher Arcinue.

Claiming intimidation and harassment from the two officials, Rosanna Marie Soriano, SSM chairman, filed the request for assistance on June 13, 2017. Her group opposed the construction

of a second power plant in the municipality.

Sual is host to the biggest power plant in the country, the Su a l coa l-f i red power pl a nt, which has a generating capacity of

1,218 megawatts (MW).

A c l a r if icator y conference was conducted by lawyer Joseph Marion P. Navarrete, graft investigator of the office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, on February 8, 2018.

Mayor Arcinue explained he had always been open to dialogue with anyone opposed to the construction of a second coal-fired power plant, which the group is opposing.

The mayor reiterated his challenge to the officers of SSM, including former Vice Mayor Alex Rigonan and a certain Fr. Alfred Viernes, to show proof directly linking the operation of an existing coal-fired power plant to environmental degradation or health problem of residents.

In several press interviews, R i g o n a n v o w e d t o p r e s e nt

evidence to prove their claim that the coal-fired power plant had been causing havoc to the local environment and that several residents have fallen ill because of the power plant.

“On my part, I have a copy of a recent study conducted by a reputable international agency and the municipal health office showing the coal-fired power plant is neither a threat to the local environment nor to the health of the residents,” Arcinue said.

He added the series of studies were mandated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

As local chief executive, he said he would immediately revoke the business permit of the power plant if the group could come up with solid evidence to prove the coal-fired power plant is a serious

threat to the environment and the health of the residents.

Both parties agreed to hold a public hearing on the proposed second power plant. They also agreed to name a third-party moderator for the public hearing yet to be scheduled.

Following the conference, lawyer Raquel Rosario M. Cunanan-Marayag, acting director for Public Assistance and Corruption Bureau of the Office of the Ombudsman, readily approved Navarrete’s recommendation that Soriano’s petition “be considered closed and terminated.”

Mayor Arcinue and an “overwhelming” majority of Sual residents that include the farmers, women, senior citizens, students and youth, and employees support the construction of another power plant that would provide

thousands of jobs and income opportunities, millions of additional revenues, hundreds of scholarship grants and business opportunities to the residents.

The project proponent based in South Korea is investing about $2 billion to the project that has a generation capacity of 1,000 MW. Korea Electric Power Corp. would be using the latest power-generation technology called ultra-super critical coal-fired power plant, which at present is considered as a “High Efficiency Low Emission Technology” and as a “green technology.”

Its high efficiency can reach up to 45 percent, which substantially cut its greenhouse-gas emission by 30 percent compared to its predecessors or older coal-fired power plants having efficiencies as low as 33 percent only.

Train 2 may derail Subic’s free-port gains Countdown for 76th Bataan Death

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

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UBIC BAY FREEPORT—For all its intent to make the current tax system simpler, fairer and more efficient, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act is perceived here as a threat to the tax-free regime enjoyed under the law by business locators at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Business and community leaders here the second package of the Train law, which seeks to cut corporate income tax but intends to rationalize tax incentives, is in conflict with Republic Act (RA) 7227, which created Subic and other freeport zones in the country.

“It will effectively repeal RA 7227,” Prof. Danny Piano, president of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC), said during a chamber event here the other week.

Piano warned the implementation of Train 2 might force some business locators here to move elsewhere. He added the most telling effect would be on the revenue shares given to eight local government units (LGUs) that are con-

tiguous to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, as these are sourced from the 5-percent taxes on the gross income earned (GIE) by Subic-registered companies.

Two percent of the 5-percent corporate taxes paid by locators here directly goes to LGUs, while the remaining 3 percent comprises the share given to the national government.

Piano said if the fiscal incentives to Subic investors were streamlined, it would effectively scrap the LGU shares that already stood at P147 million at the first semester of the year.

The Train law, or RA 10963, touted as the cornerstone of President Duterte’s poverty-alleviation initiative, sought to simplify the country’s tax system and strengthen the government’s tax-collection efficiency at the same time.

The first package, passed in December 2017, lowered the personalincome tax of most Filipinos and increased taxes on consumption, among others. The second package, which seeks to streamline fiscal incentives, is seen to make up for revenue losses arising from the first.

However, business leaders here said Subic, as a special economic zone, has been granted under RA 7227 with fiscal incentives like taxand duty-free importation of raw materials, capital and equipment.

The law also mandated that no local or national taxes shall be imposed within the Subic Special Economic Zone, except for the 5-percent tax on GIE by companies.

“In case of conflict between national and local laws with respect to tax exemption privileges in the Subic Special Economic Zone, the same shall be resolved in favor of the latter,” RA 7227 also stated.

In her recent State of the Freeport Address, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma also acknowledged Train 2 to be among the tougher challenges that the Subic agency would be facing in the future, along with solid-waste management, smuggling, and safety and security.

Eisma promised to work something out with business locators here “to get something more advantageous for Subic under Train 2.”

Cebu town seeks to become province’s coffee capital

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HE municipal government of Tuburan, Cebu, has gathered various government agencies to support its quest to become Cebu’s coffee capital.

Line agencies of the local and national government have formed the technical working group (TWG) to assist the 17 people’s organizations engaged in coffee farming.

These include the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Coconut Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Fiber Industry Authority, the Bureau of

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, the Provincial Agriculture Office, the Cooperative Development Authority, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the National Irrigation Administration, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Tourism, and the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante said he came up with the TWG to empower people to sustain the town’s livelihood program even after his term of office ends.

“We politicians come and go. I want this livelihood project to be sustainable,” Diamante said.

Diamante is pushing for an organic coffee farming and the TWG is also recommending to the municipal council to pass an ordinance prohibiting the use of pesticides.

Diamante said he is eyeing international accreditation for organic products in order to sell those at higher prices. Charles R. Pepito

March commemoration launched

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HE Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) kicked off the 76th anniversary of the Bataan Death March commemoration with the Mariveles-San Fernando-Capas Freedom Trail (Freedom Trail) event on March 24 and 25.

The two-day, three provincewide event, which aims to instill the values of “Bravery, Sacrifice and Love for Country,” will be highlighted by a retracing of the actual Death March 160-kilometer route by reservists and personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, 160-km run relay, motorbike tour, march, float parade and poster-making contest awarding.

The Veterans Bank’s Freedom Trail also honors Filipino World War II heroes and survivors by involving the public in this solemn remembrance of heroism. Organizers have prepared different categories to accommodate civilian, military and police units by running, walking or riding in two wheels while retracing the steps of the country’s fallen heroes during the Bataan Death March.

“It is our generation’s responsibility to commemorate and honor the bravery and heroism of our veterans during the war. It will be a sin to forget how valiantly they fought and how they looked out for their fellow soldiers amid torture, injury and starvation. History will hold us accountable if the next generations forget the Bataan Death March,” said Mike Villa-Real, head of Veterans Bank’s Corporate and Consumer Relations Division.

The Death March, considered as one of the darkest days in Philippine history, is the forcible transfer of 60,000 to 80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war (POWs) from Mariveles and Saysain Point, Bagac, Bataan, to Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac. The prisoners were

A CONTINGENT from the Armed Forces of the Philippines joins the launch of the commemoration of the 76th anniversart of the Bataan Death March.

loaded onto trains in San Fernando, Pampanga. The march began sometime on April 11, 1942 and left thousands dead and seriously wounded after enduring torture under the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army.

The Death March route stretches from Mariveles in Bataan to Capas, Tarlac via San Fernando, Pampanga, via the old roads.

The Freedom Trail will have three event categories: a competitive 160-km team relay; the Ride for Valor for big bikes; and the

Freedom March.

The 160-km team relay is open to all. There is a registration fee of P1,500 per team. Teams are composed of eight riders, with a minimum of two female riders. All teams must provide their own support vehicle, head lamps and food.

There will be checkpoints at every 10 km. Fastest top 3 teams to reach Capas National Shrine in Tarlac will win a trophy and cash prize. Assembly was at 5 a.m., March 24, at KM Zero, Mariveles, Bataan. Race started at 6 a.m.

The Regions

A10 Monday, March 26, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Charter change to be focus of President’s Sona in July

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

CONSULTATIVE committee member said the President would try to convince Congress to accept the anti-political dynasty provision created by the Con-com in its proposed draft Constitution.

L aw yer R euben R . C a noy, founder of Radio Mindanao Network, said he believed the draft Constitution would be the centerpiece of the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 23.

“I have a very strong suspicion, a very strong feeling that this would be the centerpiece of his address. Because it’s the biggest change he is going to take, changing the system,” Canoy told the BusinessMirror. “When he does this, the entire nation will be listening.”

Canoy added that with this, a lot of people will be convinced to support the Constitution. Congress and the Senate will be “pressured by public opinion to at least affirm what the Constitution is all about.”

He also “has great hopes” the anti-political dynasty provision they adopted would the Congress.

“I think, in the end, the congressmen and the senators would understand it because public

opinion is too strong to reverse,” he said.

Last week the President said in his speech he is in favor of the proposal of “principled men” to prohibit political dynasties, but he doubted if this would pass.

“A few of the principled men, I would say, want this kind of thing about dynasty abolished. I am for it. The problem is, would that pass?” Duterte said before a mayors’ meeting last week.

The Con-com tasked to review the 1987 Constitution provisions adopted the anti-political dynasty provision recently in their proposed Constitution under a federal-presidential form of government, prohibiting relatives of an incumbent official of up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity to simultaneously run, hold an elective position or succeed the official.

Under the prohibition on multiple positions, no two members

of any dynasty as defined under the provisions may hold any two regional or local positions at the same time.

The ban on succession means an incumbent official’s spouse, children and children-in-law, brother and sisters and brothers- and sisters-in-law, parents and parentsin-law, and grandparents-in-law may no longer run to fill the post to be vacated by their relatives.

In his speech to explain his vote during the en banc session, Canoy said it is “ironic” the man who created the committee would be the first victim of the provision.

Sara Duterte is currently the Davao City mayor, which is the hometown of Duterte.

Canoy also said back then he had doubts this would be approved

by Congress because some of them are members of political dynasties themselves.

A study by University of the Philippines Prof. Rolando G. Simbulan showed there are dynasties in 73 out of 81 provinces.

Another study submitted to the committee revealed there are at least 295 political families who control power in various regions. Metro Manila had the most number at 31, while regions with the most number of dynasties apart from the National Capital Region are Central Luzon with 21, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with 20, Bicol region with 15, Western Visayas with 12, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) with 11 and Central Visayas with 10.

SM Malls Bulacan switch off for biodiversity protection during Earth Hour on March 24

By Catherine Joy L. Maglalang Correspondent

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S the world celebrated Earth Hour’s 11th year, SM Bulacan Malls in Marilao, San Jose del Monte, Pulilan and Baliwag deepened their commitment by driving mass awareness on climate change and engaging communities to action.

T h is yea r’s worldw ide t heme “#Connect 2Earth” seeks to get the local community involved in the urgent need to care for the planet’s biodiversity and the environment.

Earth Hour 2018 shifted its focus by aiming to raise awareness on the crucial importance of biodiversity as a viable resource link that families, communities, nations and future generations depend upon. As the movement connects people to the Earth, Earth Hour hopes to jump-start conversations on how people can conserve and preserve their own diversity and inspire actions on healthy forests, plastic-free oceans, wildlife conservation and sustainable business.

“SM’s celebration of Earth Hour is more than an annual tradition of turning off the lights, but also a platform where we hope people can understand their great role as stewards of the environment,” SM City Marilao Mall Manager Bernadette Velasco said.

Each SM Mall in Bulacan came up

with creative programs and centerpieces to celebrate Earth Hour 2018.

Inspired by nature, fields of solarpowered light installation made, of bamboo, recycled cables and lightemitting diode or LED bulbs brightened up SM City Marilao’s front garden. SM City Marilao featured the creative use of light art and sustainable technology for Earth Hour to evoke awareness on climate change and to provide an imaginative focal point on recycling, as well as environmental protection. The hundred blooms were complemented by 4 feet of illuminated dandelions, which were all solar powered. Representing a magic garden, the sustainable installation offered guests the opportunity to enjoy not only the beauty of nature, but also to connect and experience the beauty of nature in a unique and mesmerizing way.

Reinforcing SM City San Jose del Monte’s call for action to recycle and reduce waste consumption, hundreds of tin cans used by households were repurposed into lanterns. Tiny holes in tin-can lanterns created a beautiful scattered light patterns of flowers, trees, animals and sea creatures that reminded audience of conservation. It also showed how simple gestures could help save the environment.

“Earth Hour should not just be a one-time, big-time, once-a-year event.

Our Earth Hour should be every hour,

every day,” SM City San Jose del Monte Assistant Mall Manager Arch Nelson Lopez said.

In SM City Baliwag, 16 feet of Glow in the Dark String Art Installation reminded the community of how things on earth is interconnected.

Because all of us share one home and one planet, understanding interconnectedness is one of the keys in solving Earth’s pressing challenges,” SM City Baliwag Mall Manager Andrew Cristobal said. He added that concerted efforts on saving the environment are needed to bring significant and positive change to the Earth.

A mural of candles depicting Earth Hour and the World Wildlife Fund Logo was lit in the foreground of SM Center Pulilan. Participants in the event also showed their commitment to save the planet through a Pledge for the Environment, led by SM City Pulilan Assistant Mall Manager Apple de Leon.

On top of the hourly lights-off campaign every year, SM Supermalls has long focused on energy efficiency and sustainable practices, such as water conservation, solid-waste management and air-quality projects, including SM Cares’ environmental programs through education and awareness. Regular cleanup drives and trash-to-cash activities were, likewise, conducted to involve the community in saving the Earth.

PALM SUNDAY RITES Roman Catholic devotees celebrate the traditional blessing of the palms on Palm Sunday, March 25, marking the start of Holy Week in the Baguio City Roman Catholic Cathedral.

MAU VICTA

DENR stops four DPWH road projects within Mayon danger zone

By Manly M. Ugalde Correspondent

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EGAZPI CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) failed to win back its four controversial road projects around Mayon Volcano ordered stopped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in October last year.

A cease-and-desist order was issued by the DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) on the four road projects costing P120 million. They were reported to be inside the 6-kilometer Mayon permanent danger zone in the towns of Bacacay, Malilipot, and Tabaco City of Albay’s First District.

A DENR report said the projects, which had intruded into the Mayon Protected Area, did not have the environmental clearance certificate (ECC) and the permit to cut trees needed to continue the project. About 8,000 board feet of cut trees were also found in the project site.

Engr. Venus Anthony Vinas of the EMB regional office said, however, that of the four projects under implementation by the Albay First District Engineering Office, only the road-opening contracts in the village of Barangay Bonga, Bacacay town, was able to comply with the ECC. Accomplishment of the four road projects was placed at 30

percent when the cease-and-desist order was issued by the DENR, said District Engr. Simon Arias of the Albay First District Engineering during an interview in November last year.

Albay provincial board member Howard Imperial said he received a report the DPWH failed to comply with the ECC requirements except for one project. Imperial added that Malacañang had also stripped the Albay First District Engineering of its budget under the 2018 General Appropriations Act. He said the DENR action and President Duterte’s order concurring Mayon’s permanent danger zone as a no man’s land during his Legazpi visit last February. “ T he Mayon road projects reportedly formed part of the P7-billion Mayon circumferential road project, which Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe of Ako Bicol described in radio interviews as ecotourism and infra-development.

The Mayon project, however, did not sit well with Albayanos when it was exposed by the Save Mayon Movement as anti-environment and could destroy the natural beauty of Mayon Volcano. DENR officials, as well as the Mayon-based Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) admitted they were not aware of the Mayon projects until they were exposed by the Save Mayon group.

Arias and his construction section chief, Cesar Sanorjo, said they

were not aware of the proposed P7-billion Mayon circumferential road project and that they were constructing are farm-to-market roads.

But former Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Marcial Tuanqui criticized the DPWH engineers for feigning innocence about the Mayon circumferential road project. Tuanqui said Arias should have first studied whether or not the project is valid and meritorious for Albayanos and not simply bow to the dictate of political pressures.

If not for the vigilance and exposé of the Save Mayon Movement in the social media, the DPWH would have wasted millions of pesos of of taxpayers’ money.

Gov. Al Francis Bichara said that, as chairman of the Regional Development Council, the Mayon project was never passed on to the RDC. Arias could not be contacted for comment as he was reportedly working for his reassignment with a Camarines Sur district engineer.

In December last year the provincial board of Albay committee on Urban Housing and Land Use, chaired by board member Howard Imperial, had unanimously approved a resolution assailing the Mayon project in support of the DENR action. The Urban Housing resolution also banned any infrastructure projects around Mayon to prevent any human activities in support of Phivolcs’s bid declaring Mayon a “no man’s land.”

DOT supports Sarangani Bay Fest

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Gumasa Beach, Sarangani Bay

HE Department of Tourism, through Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, recently expressed its support to Sarangani Bay Festival 2018, the country’s biggest beach party that features a host of water sports and fitness activities.

Now on its 11th edition, the event is set from May 26 to 28 at Gumasa Beach in Glan, with the theme “Sarbay United,” to showcase the tourism gems of southern Philippines.

“The Department of Tourism and the provincial local government unit

of Sarangani are committed to inculcate the importance of continuous awareness to protect and preserve the resources of Sarangani Bay,” the commitment of support declared.

“We are committed to strengthen a nationwide private-public partnership among government institutions, academe and private sector toward a sustainable tourism program through promotional partnership, participative planning and coorganizing of the entire SarBay Festival,” the statement said.

Sarangani Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon said this year’s edition

will celebrate the innovations the beach event embraced through the years, most notably its advocacy for sustainable tourism. The festivity concludes with environmental activities, such as beach cleanups and planting of mangrove trees.

The SarBay Fest is organized by the Sarangani Provincial Tourism Council and supported by the province of Sarangani, DOT Region 12, and the municipality of Glan. It is a consistent recipient of the Best Tourism Event Award from the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, March 26, 2018

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

Global sportswear execs do share in rehabilitating La Mesa Ecopark

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Why people should care about the water crisis

By Tim Wainwright Inter Press Service

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ONDON—For the past weeks, many have been anxiously tracking the approach of Cape Town’s Day Zero: the day its taps will run dry. To everyone’s relief, current predictions are that careful conservation may stave off such a catastrophe in the coastal South African city until the rains arrive.

It is not nearly often enough that a water crisis makes headlines around the world. The Mozambican capital of Maputo, home to nearly 1.2 million people, is facing a severe drought and water shortage that, despite the urgency, has received little attention.

A new WaterAid report, The Water Gap: The State of the World’s Water 2018, reveals that more than 60 percent of the world’s population lives in areas where the water supply does not, or will not, consistently meet demand.

There are 844 million people struggling to access what everyone needs most to live: water.

Uganda, Niger, Mozambique, India and Pakistan are among the countries where the highest percentages or largest numbers of people cannot get clean water within a halfhour trip. This means millions of people with long walks for water, which is often dirty and likely to make them ill.

By Leony R. Garcia

ll roads led to La Mesa Ecopark one fine, sunny day of March as the Primer Group of Cos. and Columbia Sportswear, together with its global executives, brand ambassadors, distributors, social-media influencers and media partners, visited the park in one of its most important programs yet, “Project: Rehabilitate La Mesa Ecopark.”

Those without power are the worst affected Participants in the “Project: Rehabilitate La Mesa Ecopark” paint playground structures.

Columbia Sportswear officials from Latin America and Asia-Pacific region participate in rehabilitation of La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. Michelle Aubrey (from left), Scott Greenwood, Peter J. Bragdon and Blaine Perrin join the project to rehabilitate the ecopark in Quezon City.

Columbia’s partners from all over the world participated in the momentous event of loving planet Earth—at least on this side of the globe—by weeding and preparing the soil, planting of germinants and repainting playgrounds in need of a little tender, loving care.

The germinants will be kept in the nursery and will be planted in the open at the start of the rainy season, according to the La Mesa representative who assisted the group during the visit. By planting in June or the start of the rainy season, the plants have the best chance to live and grow, the staff said.

Michelle Aubrey, senior director of distributors in Latin America/Asia Pacific, said it is the first time they have done the project in the Philippines, but they have been doing corporate social responsibility projects like this in many other parts of the world.

“We do our part in places we do our business, mostly for the sake of the environment,” she said.

Aubrey was joined by Peter J. Bragdon, executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel; Blaine Perrin, director, GTM; and Scott Greenwood, International Footwear merchandising manager.

For Columbia Philippines, Tif-

Columbia Sportswear officials weed the soil and plant germinants in preparation for the rainy-season planting.

fany Jane Batungbacal said they have been doing environmental projects at the ecopark in partnership with the University of the Philippines mountaineers.

Columbia Sportswear is a worldrenowned durable and tough-tested sports and outdoor clothing, accessories and outerwear. Through the years, it has maintained its “Tested Tough” brand DNA. Caring for the environment is tough business, that’s why it is only fitting that Columbia and the ecopark partner together, the group said. La Mesa Watershed is a 2,700-hectare property supervised and controlled by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), a government agency in Quezon City.

It is the primary source of drinking water of about 12-million Metro Manila residents. With 2,000 hectares of this property dedicated to woodland and wild life, it also serves as a carbondioxide sink, providing the city

with the fresh air it needs.

This forest is the last remaining one of its size in Metro Manila.

Due to lack of funds, illegal settling, poaching and logging, the La Mesa Watershed came into disrepair and ruin. Credit goes to ABS-CBN Foundation Inc., which created Bantay Kalikasan (Nature Watch) in 1999.

In partnership with the MWSS, Bantay Kalikasan rehabilitated and renovated a 33-hectare public park right outside the natural boundaries of the watershed and 40 meters below the reservoir.

Eight years ago, 1,500 hectares of this important property needed reforestation. Today, only 158 hectares remain to be planted, thanks to Bantay Kalikasan’s highly effective programs by involving the general public in rehabilitating the watershed through its Adopt/ Protect-A-Tree/Hectare programs.

In 2004 the La Mesa Watershed has been renamed La Mesa Ecopark and was reopened for

We do our part in places we do our business, mostly for the sake of the environment.”—Aubrey

the general public. Part of the property was renovated as a public park to spread environmental awareness through education and advocacy.

La Mesa Ecopark is the best venue for natural outdoor recreation, providing a true forest experience that families can enjoy together.

It is also a living classroom and laboratory for environmental education. It even aims to be a center for biodiversity conservation.

In 2006 over 280 different schools from all over the country, some coming from as far as Laoag, Bohol and Cebu, trooped to La Mesa Ecopark for their educational school field trips.

While significant changes have been made in the ecopark to transform it into an environmental landmark it is today, there is still much to be done to ensure its sustainability in the years to come.

This is why Columbia Sportswear has taken the step to help.

Columbia intends to make Project: Rehabilitate La Mesa Ecopark a regular activity of the company, knowing that its participation in caring for Mother Earth would encourage the public more on the importance of giving back and taking care of our environment.

The report also shows disturbing new data on the often-sizeable gap between rich and poor when it comes to access to water, demonstrating that even those countries making progress are leaving the poorest behind.

The least powerful, such as those who are older, ill or disabled, are most affected because they may be more susceptible to illness and infections from the use of dirty water, with potential fatal consequences.

In Mali and Niger—land-locked nations exposed to drought and flooding in the barren lands of the Sahel—the gap in access to water between rich and poor is vast.

In Niger—ranked second leastdeveloped nation in the world in 2016 by the United Nations—72 percent of the wealthiest people have access to water, compared to only 41 percent of the poorest.

While neighboring Mali made significant progress and secured access for 93 percent of the rich, only less than half of the country’s poorest can say the same.

This inequality impacts women and girls more, because they bear the brunt of waterfetching responsibilities.

Think about this: the UN-recommended amount of water per person per day is 50 liters. If it takes 30 minutes round-trip to collect water from the nearest water source, that is two and a half months a year to collect the minimum amount for a family of four—75,000 liters. That is a lot of time during which young girls should study, and when adult women might be able to care for families or earn an income.

Only 12 years left to fulfill a promise

First and foremost, political will and financing are critical in addressing the water crisis. This year there is an opportunity to change that.

Nearly three years ago, the UN adopted the Sustainable Development Goals and, thus, made a promise to end extreme poverty. This summer, world leaders will convene at the United Nations to review the progress made on Global Goal 6: to deliver water and decent toilets to everyone, everywhere by 2030.

In this, however, the world is dramatically far behind.

At the current pace, global access to clean water will happen only by 2066, and global access to decent toilets not until the next century.

Meanwhile, nearly 300,000 children under 5 continue to die every year because of diarrhea linked to dirty water, poor toilets and poor hygiene.

If we don’t achieve the water goal, other G lobal G oals for progress in education, nutrition, health, equality and stability will most certainly fail too.

Ending extreme poverty is impossible without universal access to clean water and decent toilets.

India has shown us that swift progress is possible. Since 2000 India has reached over 300 million people with clean water close to home; that is nearly the entire population of the United States.

But to make this kind of progress requires focus and political prioritization—it does not happen by accident. So, as world leaders prepare to meet later this year, it is an absolute priority that they move to provide water, sanitation and hygiene to ever yone, everywhere by 2030, regardless of social or economic standing.

Groups sue over decision to lift US ban on elephant trophies

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A S H I N G TO N —A co a l i t i o n o f e nv i ro n m e nt a l a n d a n i m a l welfare groups sued on Tuesday to challenge the Trump administration’s moves toward allowing the importation of the heads, hides and tusks of African elephants as hunting trophies.

Four groups filed an amended lawsuit in US District Court in Washington against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over this month’s announcement that the Fish and Wildlife Service will begin considering permit applications for importing body parts from sport-hunted elephants on a case-by-case basis.

The agency said its March 1 decision was in response to a legal ruling that found procedural flaws with how the Obama administration had imposed an earlier ban, which was challenged by pro-hunting groups.

The policy change came despite tweets from President Donald J. Trump decrying

big-game hunting as a “horror show.”

The agency said last week it has not yet issued any permits to import elephants, though 37 permits for lion trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia have been issued since a similar prohibition on them was quietly lifted last October.

The lawsuit contends the Fish and Wildlife Service went far beyond the earlier legal ruling on the issue, wiping the slate clean of long-standing decisions pertaining to trophy imports.

The groups say the Trump administration is failing to comprehensively consider the ecological impacts of trophy hunting and has been operating with a lack of transparency and public input.

The new challenge to the agency’s March 1 decision is being added to a pending cour t case contesting the administration’s decision to lift the Obama-era import bans on elephant and lion trophies. AP

U.N. expresses ‘deep concern’ over the terrorist label on 2 executives

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Victoria Tauli-Corpuz Wikimedia Commons

he United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) expressed “deep concern” over the Philippine government’s labeling as “terrorists” two UN executives.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Joan Carling, focal person for Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development were among a hundred of other individuals who the Philippines government alleged should be declared as terrorists. “These charges must be dropped immediately, and support provided for

the legitimate activities of these individuals who have UN mandates, and the civil society organizations with which they work,” said Erik Solheim, Unep in a news statement posted on its web site.

Solheim said UN Environment has a longstanding relationship with Tauli-Corpuz and Carling, in line with its mandate as leading global environmental authority, and its normative framework on international human-rights standards. “It is deeply concerning that authorities have routinely responded to the expressions of environmental- and human-rights defenders

by criminalizing and delegitimizing their voices.

The shrinking space available to independent people to carry out legitimate work and to speak on behalf of many voiceless indigenous and local communities globally is an issue that must be addressed through increasing openness and participation,” he added.

He said UN Environment has developed a policy on promoting greater protection for environmental defenders, which recognizes and relies on the critical work of the United Nations Special Procedures and civil society

actors. The policy is grounded in international environmental law, including in relevant UN instruments and resolutions.

“UN Environment also emphasizes the important role those named can play in implementation and effective policy-making. It is on this basis that UN Environment is calling for these allegations to be dropped, and the safety of those named in the legal petition be assured,” Solheim said. Internet sources said Tauli-Corpuz, of Igorot ethnicity, assumed responsibilities as the third United Nations Special Rapporteur on

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on June 2, 2014.

She is the first recipient of the Gabriela Silang Award, which was conferred in 2009 by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. She was the former chairman of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010).

She was a graduate of the Philippine Science High School in Diliman, Quezon City, in 1969 and completed her nursing degree at the University of the Philippines College of Nursing, University of the Philippines Manila.

Biodiversity Monday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Monday, March 26, 2018 A13

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

Bats: Boracay’s flagship species B

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

elieve it or not, the future of Boracay Island, the country’s top tourist destination in the municipality of Malay, Aklan province, may, in fact, depend on the survival of one particular species: bats.

Bats, the flying foxes or fruit bats and their small cousins, the insect bats, might as well be declared as Boracay’s flagship species, because of the important role they play in tourism and nature conservation.

Besides white sand beaches and pristine waters, Boracay is known to attract local and foreign tourists because of bats that thrive on the island. And there are several species of them: the flying foxes or fruit bats that hang out on tall trees and their smaller cousins, and the insect bats that dwell in caves.

Bat-conser vation advocates belonging to the Friends of Flying Foxes (FFF), a not-for-profit organization, recently added its voice to the increasing clamor to save Boracay Island, strategically by protecting and conserving bats and their natural habitats on the island paradise.

The group through its president, Julia Lervik, underscored the importance of protecting and conserving Boracay’s fruit bats, and threw its support behind the ongoing campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to save the island’s unique biodiversity.

In an inter view via socialmedia platform Messenger on March 16, Lervik said their group is alarmed by the declining population of fruit bats on Boracay.

FFF is a group of volunteers composed of island residents, wildlife specialists and returning visitors interested in the preservation of one of the many treasures of Boracay—the bats, especially the flying foxes or fruit bats.

“Currently, our focus is to protect the bats and the area they live in. Our specialists are all over the country but come down on regular basis for facts and data [on the bats]. Some members live on the island and gather data daily,” Lervik said.

No to Boracay closure

Lervik, however, said their group is strongly opposed to the plan of closing Boracay, which, according to the DENR, means a moratorium on tourism activities on the entire island for at least a year, starting next month.

“The Friends of Flying Foxes believes you can work on a sustainable plan to restore and rehabilitate the island without such drastic move to close it,” she said.

Lervik added that while Boracay is, indeed, besieged by various environmental problems because of many years of abuse coupled by the failure to implement environmental laws, “it still doesn’t make it right to take away the livelihood of so many individuals.”

“Many [people] have followed the law, why shou ld they be punished by those who didn’t?”

Lervik said.

According to Ler v ik, their group, nevertheless, supports the plan to shut down erring establishments for violating environmental laws, especially those that discharged untreated wastewater into the beach and those that constructed buildings on forestlands and wetlands.

Yes to rehabilitation

“We think that they have to look at the island as a whole and each

area should be carefully looked into for healthy ecosystems, and then take the measures to make sure they [are implemented],” she said.

“You can implement the law and protect the remaining forest, coral reefs and make wildlife sanctuaries without closing an entire island, as that will just create different problems. Implement the laws and maintain them. Look into the carrying capacity of the island based on the ecosystem and set a quota per day that can’t be exceeded,” Lervik added.

FFF also recommended the creation of an “Environmental Board” that shall overlook the islands’ ecosystem.

T he Env ironmenta l Board, she said, should be composed of specialists in various fields, such as marine biology, wildlife and beach forest.

“For any new building or plan, t his ‘ board of professiona ls’ should always have a final say,” Lervik said.

According to Lervik, the island brings people because of its natural beauty and wildlife, hence, it is only right to take care of it.

“Make an eco-friendly tourism environment that can be sustained for years to come,” she suggested.

Fruit bats hang from tall trees in the forest of Barangay Yapak on Boracay Island. Friends of Flying Foxes

Threatened bat habitats

According to FFF, bat population on the island is dwindling because of massive destruction of their habitats.

“Last June our bats roost site were severely damaged by illegal acts of cutting trees, bulldozing in a supposedly protected area.

Those who did that should be charged accordingly based on the Wildlife Act,” Lervik said.

“We think it’s fantastic that finally, the DENR is planning to protect the amazing beach forests of Boracay and Puka Shell Beach, and to create protected forest areas in all the remaining forest of the island, and to declare marine sanctuaries in some areas. We just hope to see it happen,” she added.

According to FFF, the forests of Puka Shell Beach and Barangay Yapak are the roosting grounds— the bedroom of Boracay’s bats.

“Puka Shell Beach is a stunning beauty and home to various inhabitants—sea turtles, monkeys, lizards, birds, snakes and fruit bats, just to mention a few.

The forest ridges and hills of Puka Shell Beach and Iligi-ligan Beach in Barangay Yapak are the roosting grounds where the bats sleep, rest, mate and deliver their babies.

Thus, it needs to be protected and left undisturbed,” FFF said.

“In preserving the forest ridges of Barangay Yapak, we protect the well-being of our ecosystem and make it possible for future generations to see what Boracay was and is all about,” the group added.

Ecosystem functions

B oracay h a s t h re e k no w n f r u it b at s p e c i e s . T h e y a r e roosting on trees in the forest of Barangay Yapak.

Boracay also has the smaller bat species, the insect bats, that roost in the caves on the island.

According to FFF, fruit bats regenerate in the forest of Boracay and beyond—including the

Northwest Panay Peninsula—by feeding and excreting seeds of more than 300 species of plants.

“Boracay’s water source comes from the forest in the mainland, which the flying foxes reforest.

Insect bats, found in caves, keep the insect population on the balance as one insect bat can consume 2,000 mosquito-sized insects in a night,” Lervik added.

A dec rea se i n i n sec t bat s population may lead to an increase in mosquitos, which carry diseases, such as dengue fever, Lervik warned.

“We can already notice some of those effects as Boracay did not have [a case of] dengue fever, but now there is a major increase in dengue [infection],” Lervik said.

Lervik added that if the fruit bats disappear, the forests of Boracay and the protected area of Northwest Panay will slowly go, as well.

Mission: Save the bats

The DENR, through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), is on a mission to save Boracay— by saving its rich biodiversity, particularly the bats.

According to the DENR-BMB, bats are keystone species and their protection and conservation may mean salvation for dying forests

besieged by destructive human activities.

In a telephone interview on March 20, DENR-BMB Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim told the BusinessMirror that a recommendation was forwarded by the team of experts that assessed Boracay’s rich biodiversity recently—urging the DENR chief, Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, to declare certain areas on the island as critical habitat.

A critical habitat is a portion of land outside protected areas that have known habitats of threatened or endemic species.

Protecting habitats

All the remaining limestone forests on the island where some caves sit are candidates for protection and have been recommended by the DENR-BMB team of experts as critical habitat under Republic Act (R A) 9147, the country’s Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, or Wildlife Act. Maintaining a healthy population of insect bats is not only essential for tourism but also to ensure ecological balance.

Bats prey on small insects, including mosquitoes, that carry a deadly virus that leads to diseases like dengue and malaria.

Also recommended for protection are portions of a forest in Barangay Yapak, which is a known roosting site of flying foxes or fruit bats.

Fruit bats are nature’s best farmers. As they feed on fruits, these bats leave feces behind, in effect dropping bits of “fertilizers,” and more important, the seeds of the fruits that would, later on, grow on the forest.

Once declared as critical habitats, these areas will be “off limits” to development projects and other destructive human activities, Lim said.

Under the law, particularly section 25 of R A 9147, the environment secretary shall designate critical areas outside protected areas under R A 7586, where threatened species are found.

“Such designation shall be made on the basis of the best scientific data, taking into consideration species endemicity and /or r ichness, presence of man-made pressure/threats to the survival of wildlife in the area….” the law said.

All designated critical habitats shall be protected in coordination with the local government units and other concerned groups, from any form of exploitation or destruction, which may

be detrimental to the survival of the threatened species therein, the law further stated.

According to Lim, besides declaring certain areas as critical habitats, it is a must to educate the people about the importance of bats, noting that in areas where they feed, these bats are often hunted for food.

Declaring certain areas on the island as critical habitats will not only benefit Boracay, Lim said, but other nearby areas, as well.

“As you adopt measures to protect the flagship species in the area, you should be able to help regenerate and protect the remaining forests. Added value to this is [making] the declaration inclusive. You engage the private sector and the communities to protect the critical habitat and the species,” she added.

According to Lim, besides habitat destruction, hunting bats is contributing to the problem.

Hunting bats for food, she said, must be stopped, because, without the bats, the forests will also suffer.

“We need to underscore the interconnectivity of the ecosystems and the species that thrive therein. We need to emphasize that these species are important to people, too,” she added.

A14 Monday, March 26, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial A week of corruption

T

he events of the week started with a bribe and ended with “people power.” There was treachery, “finger-pointing,” government officials without accountability, religious leaders interfering with government and maybe even fake news. It was a week of corruption.

A populist and popular person came to town, and the elite leaders were worried what might happen as they fought to maintain their power. When both the government and the official church are challenged, things are going to get ugly.

While all this could have been taken from the headlines last week, it was from a week 2,000 years ago.

Jesus of Nazareth had been rocking the boat for a couple of years, disturbing the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin, the assembly of rabbis and the Jewish parliament. By bringing his close followers with him to Jerusalem, he was poking his thumb in the eye of the establishment. The chief priests had known he was coming for many days and, when he hit the outskirts of town, he was happily greeted by the masa.

One of his close advisors, Judas Iscariot, goes to the priests and asks for a bribe—which was quickly paid—to betray their enemy.

Jesus is arrested by the temple guards and imprisoned by the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas—the high priest—hands out his own form of due process and sentences Jesus to death.

However, religious leaders always need the secular government to give cover and legitimacy for their actions, and Jesus is sent to the Roman governor Pilate. But Pilate is not going to step into this controversy, and ships Jesus off the Jewish King Herod. Herod is fine taking authority until he realizes that there might be some blowback and accountability for what he does and send Jesus back to Pilate.

Governor Pilate keeps asking Jesus if he is guilty of the crimes the Jewish leaders are complaining about, knowing that it is hard to defend against “fake news.” Pilate—as King Herod did—refuses to make any decision that might get him in hot water and literally washes his hands of the matter. He depends on “people power” to get him out of a difficult situation. A large group of probably paid protestors shout, “Crucify him!” Everyone’s problem has been solved.

All the players around Jesus are corrupt from the highest to the lowest. Personal and institutional self-interest comes before anything else. The bribe Judas received was about the equivalent of six months of wages. But he was also the treasurer of the disciples and may have been covering up past crimes of embezzlement. Peter, one of the closest disciples, denied even knowing Jesus to save himself from possible arrest. The Jewish leaders wanted the government to take responsibility so that, if there are any repercussions, they can point to the government. The government officials shifted the blame as quickly as possible. It is always easy to stand anonymously in a crowd and call for action.

So, who is to blame for what happened during this “Holy Week” 2,000 years ago?

We call on our national government officials to end corruption even as we individually look for ways to profit from someone else’s corruption. We accept the “one for me and one for you” mayor as long as we get our “one.” We support the barangay captain as long as we know he or she will make sure that a lechon baboy is delivered on time during the fiesta and paid for with public money.

How can we expect proper and righteous behavior from others when we are not willing to follow the same standards?

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The Saturday Group: A timeline Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

S

till in celebration of The Saturday Group’s 50 golden years, here is a rough timeline of The Saturday Group highlights according to periods under the different group presidents.

This is based on the literature prepared for Saturday Group Gold: Celebrating 50 Years in Art, an ongoing art exhibit at the Main Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Catch the show until May 6.

The H.R. Ocampo years (1968-1978) 1968: The first meeting was held at the Taza de Oro. This was called and led by founding members H.R. Ocampo, Alfredo Roces, Tony Quintos and Enrique Velasco. The artists agreed to meet on Saturdays, talk, shop and visit galleries and artists’ studios. There were other invited artists who, in turn, invited their own artist, collector, gallerist and media friends. The subsequent meetings were initially social

events, which eventually turned into serious art activities like landscape sketching, nude sketching and interaction painting.

Art exhibitions were also opened during this year, at F. Sionil Jose’s La Solidaridad Gallery and Luz Gallery. The first Philippine exhibition devoted to nudes was held at the La Solidaridad Gallery, as well as the first Philippine exhibition devoted to interactive painting (1971). It was, indeed, an exciting

Omnipotent no more

By Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno (Ret.)

Speech explaining his vote on proposed Constitutional provisions prohibiting political dynasties, en banc session of the consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution, March 14, 2018, Philippine International Convention Center.

F

or three straight days, we deliberated on how to deal with political dynasties. Unbeknownst to many, we were involved in the most difficult task of constitutional engineering. This is the task of striking the proper balance between two contending policies: on one hand, the right of the sovereign people to elect their representatives; on the other, the right of the members of a certain class of citizenry to participate in an election.

To strike the correct balance in the clash of these two rights requires a 20-20 vision, a vision that is guided by the past and a vision that can penetrate the veil of the future. I like to believe that, in prohibiting political dynasties to include their members up to the second degree of consanguinity and affinity, we were able to fix the right balance between the right of the people to elect and the right of some people to be elected. Let me stress further that we did not fix an unchangeable balance but, rather, we installed a balance that can be moved according to the necessities of the time. For the moment, the balance is fixed at the second degree of relationship. But if the balance needs to be moved to include the third and fourth degree of relationship, we have empowered Congress to do so.

With this kind of balancing, and the other political reforms we shall further install in our new Constitution, I am confident that we shall

soon be talking of the problem of political dynasties in the past tense.

I vote for the proposal of our subcommittee on political reforms. Let me go to the reasons of my vote, and I will avoid to be unduly prolix.

The first of the Declaration of Principles and State Policies states: “The Philippines is a democratic and republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them.” Sovereignty means the power to govern, but the power to govern cannot be exercised directly by the people altogether nor by mere particles of the people separately. Thus, the power to govern has to be exercised indirectly by the people through their representatives chosen in a free, fair and honest election. Election, therefore, is the heart of a “democratic and republican state.” Its arteries must be clear and clean, for from them flows the lifeblood of democracy.

The history of thought tells us that democracy has waxed and

The first meeting was held at the Taza de Oro. This was called and led by founding members H.R. Ocampo, Alfredo Roces, Tony Quintos and Enrique Velasco.

The artists agreed to meet on Saturdays, talk, shop and visit galleries and artists’ studios.

There were other invited artists who, in turn, invited their own artist, collector, gallerist and media friends. beginning not only in terms of art sessions and exhibitions but also in publishing. Alfredo Roces and other authors put out the book “10 Years of Saturdays” during the first year. Carlos Botong Francisco, a member of The Saturday Group, was awarded the National Artist status posthumously in 1973.

The Cesar Legaspi years (1978-1994)

When H.R. Ocampo died in 1978, the group was able to convince Cesar Legaspi to take on the leadership role in the group. In 1981 Vicente Manansala, also considered a Saturday

waned depending on how free are the people in electing the representatives who will govern them. By force of arm, the votaries of democracy wrested away from the claws of the monarchs the right to elect their rulers. For the people, after centuries of sufferance, realized that the right to rule cannot be passed through inheritance. Thus, they ended monarchies, where the right to rule depends on the last will and testament of kings, and installed the regime of democracy where the right to govern depends on the ballots of the people.

The road to the people’s right to elect the people who will govern them would not, however, be an easy passage. Along the journey, this sovereign right has been stolen, diluted, defaced and desecrated by a new breed of monarchs known the world over as political dynasties. There are no counterfacts to the truth that political dynasties, whose only political platform is to promote progeny, have brought down democracy in many parts of the world. For this reason and more, nations from across the globe have exerted all efforts to stunt and stop the growth of political dynasties and purge them out of their electoral process. The laws of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Columbia and Paraguay have banned political dynasties from participating in their political process in varying degrees. In the case of the Philippines, the number of political dynasties has multiplied like mushrooms, and they now reign in most of our national and local

Group member, was recognized as a National Artist for the Visual Arts.

In 1983 the Saturday Group moved to Finale Art File. Collectors, onlookers and other gallery owners no longer joined the sessions, as these became more structured and focused on sketching. There were also occasional art talks delivered by Dr. Rod Paras-Perez, the first Filipino who earned a PhD in Art History from Harvard University.

In 1986 Cesar Legaspi introduced the portrait sessions wherein art patrons paid for, and kept, the artworks made during the art sessions. The following year, an art exhibition was opened at the Megamall Art Center (Alay kay Mang Nanding at Mang Cesar). It was also in 1990 that then group President Cesar Legaspi received the award National Artist for the Visual Arts.

The same honor was accorded H.R. Ocampo in 1991.

Hitting its 25th anniversary in 1993, the group celebrated by opening an art exhibit at the SM Megamall Art Center.

To be continued

elective positions from Aparri to Jolo. In colorful prose, Secretary Harry L. Roque Jr. derisively calls the Philippines as the “political dynasties capital of the world.”

Our fight against political dynasties has been tepid. Our 1935 Constitution did not have a word against political dynasties. The 1973 Constitution did not ring the alarm bell against political dynasties. Our 1987 Constitution saw the light of day, but the debates on whether to ban political dynasties reveal that the Commissioners were almost split in the middle on the ticklish issue. The Commissioners who opted to ban political dynasties won by a measly three votes. When the time came to set in black and white the latitude and the longitude of the ban on political dynasties, they demurred and left the task to Congress to provide the enabling law.

After 30 years, the enabling law that will come from Congress has been written in invisible ink. We can no longer wink away the fact that political dynasties have putrefied our politics. Dynastic politics has occluded if not closed the opportunities of the greater number of Filipinos to run for public office to serve our people. For all intents and purposes, the great many of our people have been denied the right to get elected to public office simply because they have the wrong blood in their bodies.

By making elections a family affair, dynasties have mocked democracy’s definition as a government “of the See “Puno,” A15

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The ways and means of the regulators

A little of administrative law in PPP law

By Alberto Agra

PPP Lead

Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

W

e are all familiar with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (BOA). These government offices are mandated to regulate their respective area of jurisdiction, all of which affect those who are in our particular sector, the accountancy profession. In addition, there are global organizations that come out with measures that affect the Filipino accountants. These include such organizations as the International Federation of Accountants and the Monitoring Group (MG).

The MG is a group of international financial institutions and regulatory bodies committed to advancing the public interest in areas related to international audit standard setting and audit quality. It is comprised of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, European Commission, Financial Stability Board, International Association of Insurance Supervisors, International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the World Bank.

On November 9, 2017, the MG issued a consultation paper that provided a number of options to enhance the governance, accountability and oversight of the international audit standard setting process.

The 179 comments submitted on the MG Consultation Paper on the standard setting process have been published at the IOSCO/Monitoring Group web site. (https://www.iosco. org/about/?subSection=monitoring_ group&subSection1=reforms-to-theglobal-audit-standard-setting-process).

I, as chairman of the BOA, submitted a comment to present the perspective from the Philippines on the issues raised in the consultation paper. This can be viewed in the link https://www.iosco.org/library/ pubdocs/586/pdf/Board%20of%20Accountancy%20of%20Philippines.pdf.

In addition to these comments, valuable input was received at four roundtable meetings in Johannesburg, London, Washington and Singapore. I attended the meeting in Singapore on January 31, 2018.

The transcript of this meeting can be downloaded from https://www. iosco.org/about/monitoring_group/ pdf/2018-01-31-Singapore%20Roundtable.pdf.

This consultation is the Monitoring Group’s first step toward establishing reforms in the governance of the international audit standard setting boards, including the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board of International Federation of Accountants. The objective of the MG is to establish

Puno. . .

continued from A14

people, by the people and for the people.” Further, studies show that the evil of political dynasties involves more than the dilution of the essence of democracy. The predatory politics of dynasties has bred corruption in government. Auditors tell us that as a rule, relatives lose their smell of the stench of the wrongdoings of their relatives, and hence lose all their sense of accountability. Furthermore, you cannot bleach the ugly reality that where political dynasties rule, poverty reigns. Political dynasties monopolize the resources in their constituency and deny them to the people, for the strength of dynasties is directly proportional to the poverty of the people. Lifting the poor from the quagmire of poverty is the least of their interest.

Let me conclude by stressing the sacred promise of federalism. It is none other than to strengthen democracy because it allows the constituent units of the federation, the rights of self-rule and shared rule,

a more independent, sustainable and effective governance structure, widen the experience and professional background of the boards, reduce the undue influence of the profession over audit standards and strengthen the process by which the public interest is considered throughout the standard setting process. This direction is something that the BOA supports as the regulator of the accountancy profession in the Philippines. However, the ways and means of the proposed regulatory changes have raised issues that have elicited a lot of concern and comments from the 179 stakeholder respondents.

The more important issues raised are the multi-stakeholder and broad geographical representation for standard setting; sufficient checks and balances in the process; funding options; oversight and governance in the system; transition process for changes to be made; and the question on the universality of the ethics standards.

The Monitoring Group will be reviewing the responses received and provide feedback within a few months. The MG is also expected to engage the various stakeholders in a second consultation scheduled within the third quarter of 2018.

The auditing and accountancy stakeholders in the Philippines should continue to participate in this consultation. The outcome of this process will definitely influence the way the BOA will pursue its regulatory and oversight mandate. In turn, there will be the resulting impact in the entire accounting and auditing sector in the Philippines.

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy. He is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He was the former commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue from 2009 to 2010.

This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

through the correct allocation of the powers of government. It ought to be self-evident that the constituent units of the federation cannot successfully exercise these rights of self-rule and shared rule if their governments have been captured by political dynasties. The governments of the constituent units must be run on the basis of merits and not by reason of genetics. The proper regulation of political dynasties is therefore a condition sine qua non before we shift to federalism.

I do not give a nanosecond thought to the possibility that in voting to regulate political dynasties, we shall be incurring the ire of the gods in our political firmament whose fortunes may be compromised. As for me, I would rather be in harm’s way than our democracy, for our democracy can no longer withstand political dynasties powered by genealogy and not driven by ideology. Let us always remember that in drafting a Constitution, we should be blind to any bias, hence, we cannot be blinded by any fear, even the fear of the omnipotents in our politics. With our vote today, they shall be omnipotent no more.

Monday, March 26, 2018 A15

Continued from A1

T

here are other laws that have a bearing on PPPs. One such cluster of laws would be laws pertaining to administrative agencies, i.e. administrative law (AL). For PPP stakeholders, practitioners and regulatory agencies, they must be mindful of the Administrative Code of 1987 and enabling instruments of administrative agencies (AAs). While there are commonalities, every AA has its peculiarities—name, purpose, geographical jurisdiction, relationship with other AAs, structure, corporate powers, rule-setting and quasi-judicial powers, among others.

These two sets of laws are intrinsically linked with each other. To illustrate, the Department of Tourism (DOT), which is an AA governed by its charter or creating law, (1) can undertake a tourism PPP project under any of the modalities listed in the

BOT law. However, it cannot pursue a reclamation project because this is not within its mandate nor can it enter into a JV for that tourism project because national government agencies are not covered under the Neda JV Guidelines.

It is written Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

‘M

aktub” in your language would be something like “it is written”, the crystal merchant says to Santiago in the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Leaving the comfortable crystal shop was a difficult decision for Santiago. But as he began his quest to look for his treasure here on Earth, he felt reassured that all his actions are in accordance with the fate God has written for him. The concept Maktub was adopted by other characters in the book to express their conviction that an event is “meant to be,” for it is written.

The idea of Maktub says that nature is not dependent on our will and that our power of choice has little or no impact on our destiny.

As I always tell my friends, when an event is meant to be, no force on Earth can stop it. Conversely, when something is not meant to be, no force on Earth can make it happen. According to Maktub, no person can change his own destiny, which indicates that He has predetermined the fate of all people. But for destiny to take shape, each person must be in touch with his or her innermost self, just like Santiago.

And each person will nonetheless decide, just like Santiago. Being aware of our heart’s desires simply means that whatever happens in our lives happened not by accident but by design—because it is written

by Him, and by choice—because we were gifted with free will.

My colleague in PAL, Cielo V, is the embodiment of poise, charm and confidence. Her charisma and ability to communicate effectively makes her a valuable asset for any company. Having worked with her for a few months, I have realized that she has always been attuned to the desires of her heart, which led her to make unconventional life-changing decisions. Her dream unfolded simply because of Maktub.

After graduating from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a degree in Broadcast Communications, Cielo became a reporter and newscaster in the then top-rated television station RPN Channel 9. While most of her contemporaries opted to choose either reporting or newscasting, Cielo decided to do both in order to gain more experience and greater credibility. She said, “I have to do fieldwork to know

The reason the DOT cannot reclaim and enter into JVs demonstrates two AL principles, i.e., (2) nondelegation of powers and (3) subordinate legislation. To expand the powers of the DOT through administrative fiat, like a DOT memorandum circular, would be to arrogate unto itself legislative powers reserved to Congress. Further, all rules and policies issued, and contracts entered into by the DOT must not be inconsistent with its charter and other laws and regulations.

While the DOT cannot enter into JVs, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), being an implementing arm of the former, can. However, the DOT cannot cancel Tieza contracts, even if the Tieza board is chaired by the DOT secretary, since the latter is an attached agency of the former and not under its control. (4) Administrative relationship between AAs is a hallmark AL characteristic.

For the DOT and Tieza properties, they can be leased out, lease being a PPP modality. Unlike BOT

law-modalities and JVs, which are governed by specific policies and procedures, there are no guidelines for long-term straight leases. In the exercise of (5) administrative discretion and for as long as no law is violated, the DOT and Tieza can adopt their respective lease guidelines. The guidelines could provide for a definition of lease, the lease conditions and requirements, and the procedures for selecting the lessee-private sector proponent.

This regulation, if so worded, would be classified as a supplementary-procedural rule like the BOT law IRR and Neda JV Guidelines.

This requires publication to become effective and if questioned, direct recourse to courts can be made without seeking reconsideration from the DOT or Tieza. The three other features of AL are captured here— (6) rule-making powers of AAs, (7) judicial review and the applicability of the (8) rule of non-exhaustion of administrative remedies.

These eight AL principles and features are all must-know in PPPs.

the issues by heart.”

Within the scant eight to 10-hour workday, Cielo was able to cover her bases, complete her writing tasks, do the voiceover reports, get her hair and make-up done, review the script for the evening newscast, and deliver the report in front of millions of viewers. She was eventually appointed Chief of Reporters and was offered a top post as Board Director of the Network when she was only in her early 30s. However, after several years, Cielo felt that she needed an overhaul of her professional and personal direction in life, and took a sabbatical in the United States to connect with her innermost self.

Upon returning to Manila, she served as the communications consultant of a senator who was then aspiring for a higher post. The campaign allowed Cielo to closely examine the intricacies of an election and the mechanics of public service.

As Maktub would dictate, while in a beauty salon, Cielo found herself seated beside a woman who worked for Philippine Airlines (PAL). That woman offered Cielo a job, and now, on her 13th year with the national flag carrier, Cielo has been communicating and flying the friendly skies ever since. Still busy as a bee and approaching the peak of her career, Cielo continues to share her energies and passion to her peers and colleagues in our Corporate Communications Department. She has yet to know what is to come; but she knows that “it is written.”

Maktub somehow relieves Cielo and most of us of the anxiety of decision-making. In the book The

Alchemist, Fatima, Santiago’s love interest, believes that if she and Santiago were meant to be with each other, he would return to her. If he does not return, it is because their love was not intended to be. Similarly, Cielo imitated Santiago not too long ago, leaving a loved one behind with the belief that if they are meant to be, they will be reunited.

In the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:1618 tells us, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” To some, Maktub and fate are one. To others, fate and God’s will are one. So, while it is written in the Bible that we have been predestined to be saved, we still have the choice to believe in Him and obey His commands.

In the Bible, Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Cielo seemingly believes in Maktub as she has confidently surrendered her professional and personal life to fate. She has made milestone decisions all her life that made her who she is today: a very empowered woman whose single blessedness is a matter of choice.

For Cielo, faith in Him and her fate here on Earth is always a combination of belief and choice.

Her journey happily continues, and if Maktub would have it, Cielo’s story, whose name means “heaven” in Spanish, may just appropriately end up with a heavenly afterglow.

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

Behind ‘trade war’ slogans, a few routes to peace

By Daniel Moss Bloomberg View

T

he flashy term “trade war” is being thrown around with abandon, but thankfully for now it’s actually more of a frontier skirmish.

While announcements fly back and forth between Washington and Beijing, what’s been said—and not said—offers opportunities to deescalate.

Consider the Trump administration’s announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The exemptions granted are significant: Mexico, Canada, the European Union, Australia, Brazil and no doubt more to come. They now look more like they are aimed at China, but the process allowed for lots of room to maneuver.

The same anti-climax may follow the White House’s announcement this week of tariffs against imports from China (and Beijing’s proposal to levy tariffs on certain items from the United States).

In short, everybody calm down

and take a cool shower.

First: A fact sheet from the US trade representative shows the measures are far from immediate. USTR has 15 days to publish a proposed list of products to be subject to the tariffs. There is then a 30-day period of public comment on the proposals. The trade representative then reviews the comments and takes some time to conclude matters.

Second: The White House has called for a 25-percent tariff on certain Chinese imports. Um…25 percent of what, exactly? Watch that space.

Let’s assume the timing and the implementation details are, like everything in Washington, subject to lobbying.

One group that has surely swung into action is multinational companies, many of them US-based. A lot of what the US buys “from China” does not originate there, but is assembled there from components made in other places. Deutsche Bank AG economists estimate that well over a third of American imports from China are produced in third countries.

China’s much-ballyhooed “hit back” proposal to tax imports from the US is only in response to the earlier Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum. Given the timing, it would be easy to conflate it all, but China was careful. The hit back over steel and aluminum could be read as a signal along the lines of: We are watching and waiting and showing we won’t be pushed around, but we aren’t going to get into some self-harming spat unless we really, really have to.

Can you think of any multinational corporations that might start to grumble? Apple Inc., for example, is based in Cupertino, California.

The pieces that come together as an iPhone, though, tread a complex path to the door of your local Apple store.

Two other things Trump announced will take time. The Treasury Department has two months to piece together a response to China’s investment practices in sensitive technology. Don’t expect big changes

from this review. Even under existing rules, does any Chinese company now seriously think it has a chance to buy an American tech firm?

And I love this: The US will object to China’s technology licensing rules through the World Trade Organization (another long process). Isn’t the WTO up there with the press as a globalist enemy of the American people?

As Trump might tweet: Interesting!

China’s much-ballyhooed “hit back” proposal to tax imports from the US is only in response to the earlier Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum. Given the timing, it would be easy to conflate it all, but China was careful. The hit back over steel and aluminum could be read as a signal along the lines of: We are watching and waiting and showing we won’t be pushed around, but we aren’t going to get into some self-harming spat unless we really, really have to.

None of this is to say that China deserves praise for trade practices— far from it—or that the US should just sit on its hands. For both sides, there’s plenty of room to maneuver here and still claim victory.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A16 Monday, March 26, 2018

World’s largest hotel group to expand presence in PHL 9,000

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

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@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Wyndham Hotel Group will be expanding its network of accommodations in the Philippines by introducing three more brands over three years.

In an interview with select media, Barry Robinson, president and managing director of the Wyndham Hotel Group Southeast Asia and Pacific Rim said: “We’ll have at least six brands in the Philippines in the next three years...so there could be Microtel, TRYP by Wyndham, Days Inn, Ramada and Wyndham [Hotels and Resorts].

Maybe, we’ll also have Ramada Encore or Dolce or Super 8.” He said this is the hotel group’s bid to hit all market segments in the Philippines.

Speaking on the sidelines of last Thursday’s formal launch of TRYP Manila, Wyndham’s latest property in partnership with the Phinma Microtel Hotels Inc., Robinson added: “Ramada is coming back; we don’t have a partner, that’s independent. So we’re going independent with whoever— individual developers, owners.” He also said the hotel group, was “going to reinvent Days Inn,” which used to have a chain of hotels in the country, as well.

Asked about the location of the hotel group’s new properties, he said: “We’ve got two down in Boracay, two Wyndhams in negotiation with, or just finalized, and we’ve got some properties opening up here in Manila, I can’t tell you the location yet.” Robinson added that the first Ramada is set to open “before the end of the year,” but couldn’t go into specifics about the number of rooms.

Ramada Manila along Quintin Paredes Street in Binondo has been open since 2012, but it was then still managed by another hospitality group until the property was taken over by the Wyndham Hotel Group.

Wyndham Worldwide is the largest hospitality company in the world, with some 9,000 hotels in 80 countries, and accounting for some 900,000 rooms under 20 different brands, including its latest acquisition, La Quinta.

In the Philippines the group has partnered with the Phinma Microtel for Microtel Hotels and TRYP

by Wyndham; the latter’s first

property is in One Esplenade, in the Mall of Asia complex.

Jose Mari del Rosario, president of Phima Microtel, told the BusinessMirror that his group is committed to open “eight TRYPs in 10 years,” with locations in Cebu, Batangas, among others. He said there would be “possibly two” TRYPs in Cebu, while the Batangas property will be a “resort location.”

He said the number of rooms for these other TRYPs can vary; “it’s what the market can take. Up to 300 keys is doable.” TRYP Manila has 191 rooms, and is geared toward young, modern travelers.

TRYP Manila property has “a restaurant, meeting rooms, rooftop pool, fitness center and concierge. It also offers specialty guest room types, like Family Rooms with bunk beds for young families traveling with children; Fitness Rooms complete with exercise equipment; and a media room, which features high-tech multimedia to create

The number of hotels being operated by Wyndham worldwide

and interactive, entertaining atmosphere,” he added.

Del Rosario stressed that TRYP is a timely brand to launch, as “young, urban travelers make up a substantial portion of today’s hotel guests. Launching an urban hotel brand, such as TRYP, would allow us to provide what our modern travelers look for—local experience, value for their money and reliable Wi-fi.”

He noted TRYP is in “exciting cities,” like Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, New York, São Paulo and Brisbane. “It appeals to modern travelers who seek new experiences and spend time discovering the city and immersing in the local culture.”

Asked about the timing of TRYP Manila’s launch—at a time when negative perceptions about the Philippines exist—the veteran hotelier said: “I’m used to launching concepts in times of adversity. We were in the midst of the Asian crisis [when we opened the first Microtel], then followed by the Estrada years, after a good streak with ‘Steady Eddie’ Fidel

V. Ramos…. Notwithstanding negative perceptions, I’ve learned from the lessons of the Chinese taipans like Henry Sy, John Gokongwei, etc., that they become even more aggressive during times of seeming adversity—negative political perceptions don’t bother them.”

This was echoed by Robinson, who said “there’s nothing fundamentally that’s really changed [in the Philippines over the years]. If anything, security’s actually better and so, therefore, should be better for tourism, but the perception’s not getting out there.” The hotel group has had a 20-year relationship with Phinma Microtels.

Adding that the hotel group has set up shop in Clark, he underscored that “we’re still focused here. We haven’t seen any issues that are making us nervous about the marketplace down here.”

The hotel group has established Wyndham Services Asia Pacific (Philippines) Inc. in the Clark Freeport in Pampanga, has about “200 employees in a variety of services, [such as] public relations, copyright designers, IT [information technology], finance and reservations” among others, Robinson said.

A listed firm, the Wyndham Hotel Group is a unit of Wyndham Worldwide headquartered in New Jersey, and which reported a profit of $570 million in 2017.

It projects its profit to rise by 25 percent in 2018 between $702 million and $717 million.

TRYP Manila was launched on March 22 at its property on One Esplenade, Mall of Asia (MOA) complex. Leading the toast for the hotel’s formal opening is Jose Mari del Rosario (from left), president and CEO, Phinma Microtel Hotels Inc.; Ramon R. del Rosario, Jr., president and CEO, Phinma Group; Oscar J. Hilado, chairman, Phinma Group; Barry Robinson, president and managing director, Wyndham Hotel Group for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim; Johnny Hernandez, director, Microtel/TRYP MoA; and Dean Y. Cid, general manager, TRYP by Wyndham. Contributed photo

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Consortium presses govt to start talks on Naia-upgrade proposal

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he Naia Consortium vowed to “faithfully follow” the permitting and approval process for its unsolicited proposal to upgrade and expand Manila’s main gateway.

“The seven Filipino conglomerates comprising the Naia Consortium stand on uncompromising legal compliance for the approval of its proposal,” Jimbo Reverente, the consortium’s spokesman, said in a statement.

He noted the country urgently needs a proper national gateway now, and asked all parties to help instead of impeding the process to move forward, “so the country, the Filipino flyers and the foreign tourists and investors will have finally a proper welcome and send-off venue.”

“These seven conglomerates set aside their individual competitive spirit for country. We ask others to do the same or, at least, let the proper process take its course before raising questions that are based on speculation,” he said.

The build-operate-transfer rules, he added, call for negotiations between the proponent and the government to find the best iteration of a new Ninoy Aquino International

ICC. . .

Continued from A1

“It means, you geniuses, that now ICC has no jurisdiction over human rights violations in this country; all because hormone-deficient hysterics got their rocks off upholding the human rights of drug dealers and moral-equating selling drugs with being of a persecuted race or religion,” Locsin tweeted.

In this connection, the former Makati lawmaker also denied that the President decided on the ICC pullout out of fear of prosecution.

“The cowards here are the ICC, Agnes and her native allies, because they won’t meet the President and hear him out face to face. They expect him to just sit there and be insulted by them. A figure of speech like being ‘fed to crocodiles’ had them running for cover behind Prince Zeid,” he said.

Locsin noted the President merely tried to avoid a “rigged fight” following the insults and other attacks from some ICC and UN officials.

“Nope, he just avoided a rigged fight where one side is supposed to lie in the ring tied up, and the other side throws brickbats from the gallery, while screaming in panic whenever the guy tied up in the ring shouts insults at the gallery. It’s over,” he said.

“It makes the ICC weaker by yet another withdrawing member joining the ranks of Israel, the US, Russia and, well, China.”

The court has more than 120 membernations, but countries that are nonmembers include the United States, China, India, Iraq, Libya, Indonesia, Yemen, Qatar and Israel.

Why is the US not a member of the ICC? AHA Legislative Associate Matthew Bulger, in an article that appeared in the The Humanist.

Com, had this theory:

Airport (Naia) and that is where changes, or “tweaking,” will happen.

“For us, our proposal provides the short-, medium-and long-term solutions to Naia’s problems. However, we are flexible and can adjust to what the government wants.

Otherwise, we can proceed to deliver on our promise as soon as we are cleared for take-off,” he said.

Reverente said if the government expedites the approval process and gives the notice to proceed by early next year, the consortium can expand the Naia’s terminal capacity from the present 31 million passengers per year to 47 million by 2020 and to 65 million by 2022.

Last year the Naia accommodated 42 million. This year the throughput is expected at 44 million.

“If we do nothing now to improve capacity, our growing passenger volume will continue to suffer, and our economic growth will be hampered. In our eyes, this is a national crisis,” he added.

The consortium is waiting to be awarded an original proponent status after its proposal was recently declared as complete in terms of documentation, a milestone in the approval process.

Unlike other international courts, the ICC can only prosecute individuals and not organizations or governments. This allows the court to focus on high-level government officials that are typically exempted from international prosecution for their government’s illegal actions.

Quoting Stephen Rapp, the US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Bulger said one of Rapp’s key points was that long-standing political and philosophical traditions in America have prevented them from joining the ICC. The most important of these traditions, according to Rapp, is the belief by Americans that they can better help suffering people than the international community. Rapp added that America’s ability to help others without changing their national identity or culture “will be threatened by joining an international institution that has its own laws and regulations which come from nonAmerican societies.”

Bulger felt that a certain degree of misinformation, such as the common but mistaken belief that the ICC is a part of the much-maligned UN, “has prevented American policy-makers from advancing the relationship between the US and the ICC.” “There is also a concern from some American lawmakers that if we as a country join the court, individuals from the global community will punish America for its aggressive foreign policy by using the ICC to prosecute American soldiers and other military actors.”

China, on the other hand, won’t support some cases being referred to the international court, but many of the ICC members are also quick to dismiss its participation.

“China may be willing to help bring war criminals to justice, but it is also important to recognize when and why it sometimes will not be,” the diplomat said.

See “ICC,” A2

AS THE SHIFT TO FEDERALISM GOES INTO HIGHER GEAR, EXPERTS DEBATE ON ITS COST TO TAXPAYERS Continued from A1

Asked if the funding for the transition to federalism should be included in the 2019 national budget already, Puno said it should be.

But Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno thinks otherwise.

“No, we’re operating as if we are still unitary because this [shift to federalism] will not happen immediately. For example, most likely this [new Charter] will be ratified on 2019, it will take effect [probably] in 2022,” Diokno said in an interview. Duterte repeatedly said that he will step down when his term ends in 2022, and that he is even willing to cut his term short once a federal constitution is adopted earlier in his term. “[Y]ou need this to be ratified, and there is still no proposal yet. That has to be approved by Congress, then to be submitted for referendum. It is not as if we could just say yes today and then change the

Constitution tomorrow. There has to be a transition,” Diokno pointed out.

Asked if the shift would be costly or not, Diokno answered: “No.” “You have to take a long view. Of course, there will be initial cost. Some people will probably get separated; that is an initial cost. But, in the long run, it might turn out to be lower, since we will have slimmer government,” he said.

Diokno added they already had a budget call for 2019 budget, and they are planning to submit the President’s budget to Congress before the Chief Executive’s Sona on July 23.

Rosario G. Manasan, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, estimated that the government would need to spend an additional P44 billion to P72 billion a year to shift to federalism.

“That is the additional bureaucratic costs, meaning the salaries of the governors, vice governors of regions, salaries of regional legislators because there is another level of

government that is not existing now, so it is additional, additional legislators, increase in the number of federal level Senate and, of course, each of those offices have additional staff,” Manasan said.

Manasan earlier revealed these figures during a Senate hearing on Charter change.

The number of senators to be elected per region and number of regions are still to be determined by the Con-com.

But Manasan said she used the federalconstitution proposals from the House of Representatives and PDP-Laban Federalism Institute as bases. Since the PDP-Laban did not specify the number of regions, Manasan said she assumed that there will be 17 regions. But for the House, or the De Vera-Gonzales model, she used 18 as stated in the proposal.

Manasan said the additional bureaucratic cost of P44 billion to P72 billion is just a conservative figure, as this did not include the regional operations of the departments that will prospectively be devolved.

“For instance, education,the Department

of Education [DepEd] has regional offices.

It will just be devolved so the cost will be transferred from national to regional government, so I didn’t consider that as additional cost,” she said.

But Manasan also doubted that the c o s t wo u l d d e c re a s e s i g n i f i c a n t l y because—what federalism advocates are saying—there will be a fewer number of offices, and employees under the jurisdiction of the national government as the country is shifting to federalism.

“Most of the agencies will still retain the central office because that is the standard setting,” she said. For example, the DepEd, who will take care of the curriculum? That is not curriculum determined by the regional level.”

Even if there were fewer number of regions, Manasan still doubts that there will be a significant decrease in the cost she computed.

Asked if this additional cost could affect some government projects, Manasan agreed.

“No free lunch. I think, whether they say Build, Build, Build will suffer [or] will they

get the fund there or they will reduce other allocations to, say, education, say, to social services, to health,” she said.

Although she believed that the shift would come at a cost, she acknowledged that there are benefits, such as addressing the wide disparity among regions in terms of economic development by empowering them.

Over the years, economic activities have been largely concentrated In the National Capital Region, accounting for 36 percent of the country’s total GDP. Combined with nearby Central Luzon (9 percent) and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) (17 percent), the three Luzon regions account for 62 percent of total GDP. Fourteen regions share in the remaining 38 percent.

She stressed that it is also important that a mechanism is in place to help the poorer regions be more economically capable and viable, especially during the transition.

“What I’m saying is there, are things you should do for the federal system to work. It’s not something that we could just put regional

governments, and then it’s already okay,”she said.

But she also cautioned that there are risks while the country is moving toward federalism.

Risks include getting the design of fiscal aspects of federal system right, high likelihood is that the initial model will be changed to reflect the particular interests of the framers of new constitution, whether in a Constituent assembly or constitutional commission and achieving the preconditions for the success of a federal system.

Manasan also suggested that the Local Government Code be amended to strengthen the Regional Development Councils in the meantime that the country is not yet ready for the shift in government.

“Strengthen them so that maybe, after five years or so, they are stronger and more ready for a federal system, and then that’s the time to actually shift. Otherwise, the risks are so big that you cannot change it. It’s hard to change back once you go federal. It’s hard to change since it’s already in the Constitution, then everyone needs to agree with it,” she said.