Businessmirror march 28, 2018

Grab vanquishes Uber with local strategy, billions from SoftBank

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s Uber Technologies Inc. looked to conquer ride-sharing around the world, Grab was focused on serving the 620 million people that share its home in Southeast Asia.

Helped by the deep pockets of SoftBank Group Corp., Grab emerged the winner on Monday when Uber agreed to swap its business in the region for a 27.5-percent stake. The deal is a vindication for cofounder Anthony Tan’s strategy of tailoring services to local needs and working with incumbent taxi operators instead of against them.

With $4 billion raised from investors led by SoftBank, Tan has turned Grab into a ride-hailing juggernaut since it was born in a tiny Kuala

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 168

WTO members press PHL to relax procurement rules

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

everal members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are pressuring the Philippines to harmonize its government procurement regime with multilateral trading rules by acceding to the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).

According to documents obtained by the BusinessMirror from a Geneva-based trade official, some WTO members even told Manila that liberalizing the country’s

government procurement rules will boost the Duterte administration’s massive infrastructure program.

The European Union, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States

GPA

The multilateral Agreement on Government Procurement meant to ensure a transparent and competitive procurement process sent separate papers to the WTO calling on the Philippines to participate in the WTO’s GPA. Parties to the GPA must implement a national treatment and nondiscriminatory policy for suppliers with respect to procurement of covered goods, services and construction providers. It also details procedural requirements framed to

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Where to shove it Teddy Locsin Jr.

free fire

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n Tuesday, March 20, the Philippines delivered the first statement at the Preparatory Committee for the Third United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

Continued on A10

RISING NUMBER OF FOREIGN WORKERS SHOWS JOB-SKILLS MISMATCH PERSISTING IN PHL

By Joel R. San Juan

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@jrsanjuan1573

T’S all systems go for the recount of votes on the electoral protest filed by former Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. against Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo.

On Tuesday mediamen were toured by Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) Clerk of Court and Supreme Court (SC) en banc Clerk of Court lawyer Edgar Aricheta at the fifth floor of the SC-Court of Appeals Building on Padre Faura in Manila, where the revision of votes will be conducted.

Lawyer Jose Lemuel Arenas, Adhoc PET member, described the revision as the process of verifying the ballots, recounting the votes of the parties and recording the objections or claims of the parties.

2016 ejap journalism awards

Continued on A2

Recount on for Marcos, Leni votes

Continued on A2

See “Grab,” A2

BusinessMirror

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Lumpur storage room about six years ago. Rich funding has helped him lure top talent and survive through the losses generated by a fierce battle with Uber to win over customers. Now the 36-year-old Harvard grad, who spurned the family’s automotive empire in Malaysia to strike out on his own, has emerged stronger as he turns to his other significant competitor in the region, Indonesia’s Go-Jek. “Anthony is a great leader, someone that I’ve learned a lot from,” said Jeremy Kranz, head of the technology investment group at GIC Pte., Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

@sam_medenilla

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LAMENTING CHRIST’S PASSION Older residents of Barangay Santa Rosa in Cainta, Rizal, recite the Passion of Christ during the traditional Pabasa by the Santos-Salazar family. Bernard Testa

PESO exchange rates n US 52.2860

fter becoming one of the top source-countries of migrant workers for decades, the Philippines is now also emerging as a popular destination for foreign workers, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Data obtained by the BusinessMirror from the DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) showed that the number of foreigners with alien employment permit (AEP) skyrocketed from 22,740 in 2013 to 50,234 in 2017.

An AEP is a mandatory documentary requirement from the DOLE for expatriates, who would like to work in the country for more than six months.

For those who would work locally for less than six months, they could get a special work permit (SWP) from the Bureau of Immigration.

The BLE recorded its biggest growth rate in 2016, when the government relaxed the requirements for

While we have many professionals, they still lack the needed higher level of education, training and competency needed by the industry.”—Tutay

AEP the previous year as part of its commitment under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

AEPs rose from 28,371 in 2015 to 41,993 in 2016, which is equivalent to a whopping 33.4-percent increase.

Chinese nationals consistently comprised most of the AEP holders from 2013 to 2016.

In 2013 Chinese nationals only Continued on A2

n japan 0.4961 n UK 74.4082 n HK 6.6643 n CHINA 8.3249 n singapore 39.9587 n australia 40.5007 n EU 65.0595 n SAUDI arabia 13.9437

Source: BSP (27 March 2018 )

A2 Wednesday, March 28, 2018

BMReports BusinessMirror

WTO members press PHL to relax procurement rules Continued from A1

ensure a transparent and competitive procurement process that does not have a bias against products, services and suppliers of other parties. On the other hand, developing and least-developed countries are allowed to avail themselves of special and differential treatments under the procurement deal.

The Philippines is not a GPA signatory or observer. The GPA, ratified in 1994, is presently made up of 19 parties covering 47 WTO members and observed by 31 countries, of which 10 are in the process of ratifying the procurement deal.

Brussels, for one, urged Manila to expedite amendments to the country’s procurement law. “First, the EU would like to encourage the Philippines to speed up the ongoing revision process to improve nondiscriminatory access of foreign bidders and to lift restriction on foreigners’ participation in the public procurement of goods,” it said in a statement.

“For this, the EU would also suggest an easing of licensing requirements for foreign operators, in particular the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board

Grab. . .

Continued from A1

The deeply religious Tan, who still attends Bible study classes, started Grab in his native Malaysia. With Harvard classmate Tan Hooi Ling, he kicked off operations for what was then known as MyTeksi in Kuala Lumpur, allowing users to book cabs.

Grab later relocated to Singapore and now provides a host of services from Indonesia to Vietnam and the Philippines. The company is valued at $6 billion by CB Insights, making it the most valuable startup in Southeast Asia.

Along the way, Grab has been picking up talent, from engineers to product developers, as its funding helped woo them from household names in the technology world.

“In Southeast Asia one of the most difficult things to build is tech talent,” Tan said at the Money 20/20 conference this month. “We’ve been able to build tech talent from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft. We’ve been very blessed. With that, we could build great products.”

That includes Ming Maa, a former executive at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and SoftBank, who was hired as group president in 2016 and oversees Grab’s fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic issues.

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Recount on for Marcos, Leni votes Continued from a1

The revision would cover a total of 5,418 clustered precincts covering three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

These provinces were chosen by Marcos as the best provinces where he could prove the irregularities he cited in his poll protest.

Arenas said three revisors would be assigned per table, which will be composed of the head revisor (employee of PET), protestant’s revisor and protestee’s revisor.

The revisors will not be allowed to bring in their personal belongings, including their mobile phones, inside the venue. The PET has provided a locker for their belongings.

The recount will commence from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., with two 15-minute breaks and a onehour lunch break. It will run from Monday to Friday.

Arenas said the time limit per ballot box with less than 300 votes will be 5.5 hours, while for 300-700 votes will be 8.25 hours, and for more than 700 votes, it will be 11 hours.

Arenas added the PET is currently holding some 1,400 ballot boxes from Camarines Sur, one of Marcos’s chosen pilot provinces for the recount.

Arenas said that other ballot boxes are currently with the Commission on Elections, due to storage issues.

Once the recount on the first 1,400 ballot boxes is done, the PET will receive the other ballot boxes from Camarines

Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

For her part, Atty. Ma. Carina Cunanan, member of the PET AdHoc committee, said some 213 personnel will come in per day during the recount.

These include 60 employees of the tribunal, psychometricians, lawyers and representatives of both parties, and the revisors.

The revisors are part of the tribunal’s committee tasked to examine the contested ballots.

On the other hand, Cunanan said the venue will be secured by members of the Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Police Security Protection Group and PET guards.

She added that closed-circuit television cameras were installed around the recount venue and the storage area for security purposes.

It can be recalled that the recount was initially set in February but was later reset to March 19.

Earlier, both camps agreed to withdraw all the motions they had filed before the PET in order to proceed with the recount.

In his election protest, Marcos claimed that he was a victim of massive fraud during the 2016 elections.

Marcos is protesting the results from 132,446 precincts in 39,221 clusters, covering 27 provinces and cities.

Robredo won the vice presidential race in the May 2016 polls with 14,418,817 votes, or 263,473 more than Marcos’s 14,155,344 votes.

requirements, as well as local content requirements. The EU would also encourage the Philippines to join the GPA as an observer to attract more FDI [foreign direct investments],” it added.

The same sentiment was shared by the US, which indicated that various laws and regulations continue to hamper active and competitive participation of American firms in government biddings in the Philippines. In a statement, the United States lamented the eligibility requirement that specifies minimum Filipino-ownership requirement for bidders, as well as the government’s preferential treatment for local goods over imports in the bid-evaluation process.

“The Philippines has also remained on the sidelines of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Given the benefits that could accrue to the Philippines from GPA membership, we strongly encourage the Philippines to adopt the agreement in the near future,” the statement read.

“Lifting the restrictions on government procurement makes even more sense, as the current Philippine government’s massive

campaign to improve the national infrastructure could benefit greatly from the participation of foreign suppliers. We look forward to hearing more about the Philippines’s procurement market and efforts to broaden the opportunities for overseas companies on a fair and equitable basis,” it added.

Switzerland said the Philippines will benefit from the GPA deal because it will open more opportunities for the country under a transparent economy. As a “sizeable part of the Philippine economy,” government procurement should at least translate into “the workings of an open market,” Switzerland said in a statement.

“There are a great many efficiency gains to be made by bringing usually opaque market into line with the best practices of a modern and outward-looking economy. These gains would not only give public finances more breathing space but also ensure a better allocation of resources when it comes to the tremendous task of improving the country’s infrastructure,” it added.

Similar to Brussels’s recommendation, Bern told Manila to become

an observer of the GPA. This way, it said, the country might be able to achieve a higher level of transparency, fairness and competitiveness in government biddings.

Ukraine posed the same question to the Philippine delegation in the WTO: Does the Philippines have any plans to the join the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement? It also asked what measures is the governme nt t a k i n g to i mpro ve it s procurement process.

In Southeast Asia only Singapore is a party to the GPA, while Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are under observer status. Like the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar are not parties nor observers to the procurement deal.

Members of the WTO are currently quizzing the Philippines over its trade policies as part of the trade-policy review being conducted once in every six years.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo Jr. heads the delegation to the multilateral trading body’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, joined by top officials from different government agencies.

Still, it’s not a clean victory. Go-Jek remains a potent rival, particularly in Indonesia as it moves beyond just ride-sharing to real-world service, such as food delivery and hairdressers on demand. Also, the US company is getting a bigger slice of Grab than it did when it sold out in China. Uber got less than 18 percent of Didi Chuxing in that deal, although it did get 36.6 percent of Yandex when it retreated from Russia.

To some, Grab’s victory may also have been the result of pressure from SoftBank to consolidate a global ridehailing empire and whittle down billions of dollars in losses.

“After investing $700 million in the region, we will hold a stake worth several billion dollars and strategic ownership in what we believe will be the winner in an important global region,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a message posted on its web site.

While Tan is the rare CEO to credit his success as part of God’s plan, others see more terrestrial reasons behind his rise.

“A lot of guys have the ability to succeed, but it’s people like Anthony who end up winning,” said Amit Anand, managing partner of Jungle Ventures in Singapore. “He comes from the ground up, and he never forgot what got him there, versus people who never had to hustle.”

As the company expanded, it tai-

lored services for new markets. For Indonesia, it operates GrabBike in a country where many are comfortable traveling on a two-wheeler. In the Philippines, where Uber got into fights with regulators, Grab adopted a more cooperative approach.

“In online businesses, we would have expected big global players to dominate due to their scale of operations,” said Lawrence Loh, associate professor at National University of Singapore. “Uber’s sellout suggests that the pendulum has swung toward the importance of business localization.”

Grab has also been effective at keeping its customers. Its reward program lets riders accumulate points that can be redeemed for everything from KrisFlyer miles, the frequent flier program of Singapore Airlines, as well as free rides to a Big Mac. In Indonesia customers can cash them in for durian, the stinky fruit that’s popular in the region.

“Grab has done a great job building those proprietary linkages that make consumer experience more stick y, more consumer- centric,” Anand said. “ Today, every great company has access to technology, people and capital. What keeps you ahead of the game is building those linkages that are difficult for other people to replicate.”

RISING NUMBER OF FOREIGN WORKERS SHOWS JOB-SKILLS MISMATCH PERSISTING IN PHL

Bloomberg News

Continued from A1

comprised 23.7 percent (5,412) of AEP holders. This grew to 45 percent (18,920) in 2016.

Following the Chinese in the top 3 nationals with biggest number of AEPs are South Koreans and Japanese, respectively. Both usually register an average of 4,000 AEPs each year.

While the growth rate slowed down last year to 16 percent, BLE said this was still significantly higher compared to the years before 2015.

“There was significant increase in the issuance of AEP [in 2017], particularly in NCR (National Capital Region) and Region 2. This can be attributed to the prevalence of online gaming industry in the areas whose clients are mostly from China and other South East Asian countries,” the BLE said.

Temporary in nature

The Federation of Free Worker said it was surprised by the surge in the number of foreign workers in the country, while the Philippines continues to lose many of its professionals abroad.

“The government has always said that the comparative advantage of Filipino workers is that we are highly skilled. Thus, this news comes as a surprise. That’s more than 100-percent increase,” FFW Vice President Julius Cainglet said.

“It’s unacceptable. A lot of our professional and skilled workers are going abroad and yet, it appears that work is readily available,” he added.

BLE Director Dominique R. Tutay, however, noted that the country is still in need of more foreign workers to address the skills gaps of its professionals.

“While we have many professionals, they still lack the needed higher level of education, training and competency needed by the industry,” Tutay explained.“That is why foreigners are still hired here temporarily until we could get their expertise.”

She said the AEP holders are usually hired as technicians and associate professionals, or for administrative, executive or managerial positions.

By its very nature, AEPs, Tutay said, usually last for two years, although she added there are cases wherein it would last up to five years or sometimes just only a year.

As to concerns of the labor sector that the AEP holders will compete with Filipinos for local positions, Tutay said this is unlikely because

of their labor-market test.

“The labor-market test ensures that no Filipino is available with that skill needed for a job, that is why it is given to a foreign national,” Tutay said.

The DOLE assures that only a small portion of the country’s 44 million work force are foreigners.

More to follow

Tutay expects the number of AEPs to continue increasing, as the government engages with more trade agreements with other countries.

“Once you open your market, many countries will come to your country to see if it will be viable for their business,” Tutay said. “We allow their people to come in and check which areas in the country they could invest in.”

She added many foreign companies have shown interest in doing business in the country after the government made its AEP more accessible for foreign workers.

“Trading partners usually look for favorable conditions for investments.

If the law is too restrictive, they think it is not good to do business there,”Tutay said. She added this was apparent from the industries where most of the AEP recipients were based.

“Most of them are in the manufacturing, and information and technology sector. There are also those in the construction, accommodation and food and service. So these are investmentsrelated,” Tutay said.

Other popular industries for foreigners are business-process outsourcing; arts and recreation, particularly online gaming; and wholesale and retail.

WTO review

No less than the WTO has recognized the country’s efforts to liberalize its work force in its fourth Trade Policy Review (TPR), particularly its participation in the Asean Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for professionals.

The country is currently undergoing its fifth TPR, wherein it would report its efforts to reduce its regulatory barriers for foreign trade and services.

Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Chairman Teofilo Pilando Jr. said the review will be crucial to entice new foreign investors in the country, and also to open up opportunities for Filipino professionals abroad.

He explained a good review from the WTO will encourage more countries to ease their restrictions for Filipinos to practice their professions in their

territories. “They will reciprocate our efforts if they find it satisfactorily.”

Pilando earlier said the W TO has show interest in the remaining professions within the country’s Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL)—the list of sectors of the economy where foreign participation is restricted or banned.

In November 2017 the PRC reported that the government was able to reduce the restricted professions on the list from five to three. Currently, the FINL only covers radiologic technology, criminology and law.

The PRC also reported it was asked

by WTO representatives, who visited the country last year, about the status of its implementation of the Asean MRAs. As for the DOLE, the WTO required it to report on the government’s efforts to promote female employment in the information technology-business process management industry.

Pilando said they are hopeful the WTO will retain its favorable review to the country due to the said reforms.

“So far, we have yet to receive any protest [from WTO about service],” he said.

Development blueprint

Former DOLE Undersecretary and University of the Philippines economist Rene Ofreneo said the country’s dependence on foreign workers may be a symptom of the lack of coordination among government agencies.

“What is the plan of the PRC? Will it license professionals to work abroad or locally? That is why it should coordinate with the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] to determine this,” Ofreneo said.

He added this could be addressed through a development blueprint for its labor force to determine which industries should be opened or closed to foreign workers. The DOLE was able to address this problem in the past through its JobsFit report, which contained the labor-market trends it sourced from local industries and other government agencies.

Tutay said they are set to release their latest Jobsfit report this year.

She pointed out that this will determine which industries should be prioritized by the government so Filipinos can compete abroad.

“The challenge for our sector is to compete globally, because as of now, only our construction sector can compete abroad,” Tutay said.

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No ‘enabling environment’ to resume peace talks with communists, Palace says

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alacañang on Tuesday thanked members of Congress for urging President Duterte to resume peace negotiations with communist rebels.

Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. issued the statement after 61 lawmakers from the House of Representatives filed House Resolution 1803, urging Duterte to continue the peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

“We thank those who signed the resolution for their support to the peace agenda of the administration,” Roque said in a news statement.

He added that right from the start of the President’s term in 2016, Duterte has shown his commitment to peace, as he started formal peace talks with communist groups.

“However, we find it unfortunate that the communists have become spoilers of peace, because of their penchant for double talk and treachery.

Their motives are not for attaining

sustainable peace but rather to push for their greater control and influence,” Roque stated.

Duterte canceled peace talks in November last year due to continued attacks of the NPA rebels on government forces and their supposed harassment on innocent civilians despite ongoing talks. Roque reiterated the government’s position that an “enabling environment” must be present for peace talks to resume.

He said the CPP-NPA-NDF must show “genuine sincerity” by stopping their hostilities against innocent civilians and government forces.

Roque added the communist rebels must also “end their extortion activities, violent streaks and wanton killings; lay down their arms, return to the fold of the law and restart to live normal lives.”

“Even without the peace talks, the government’s efforts at forging peace with communist rebels have been gaining ground, as evidence by the surrender of NPA fighters,” Roque said. PNA with Bernadette D. Nicolas

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, March 28, 2018 A3

Govt urged to ensure safety of OFWs in Saudi amid Yemen missile strike

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

ollowing a series of Yemeni missile attacks on Riyadh and three other Saudi cities, two members of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs on Tuesday urged the departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to get the country’s contingency teams in Saudi Arabia ready.

Party-list Rep. Aniceto D. Bertiz III of ACTS OFW and Rep. Winston Castelo of the Second District of Quezon City said the DFA and DOLE should always be ready for situations like this and asked the

two departments to provide the public an update on the situation and ascertain the safety of 1.2 million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia is home to over a million overseas Filipino workers

[OFWs]—the biggest in the Middle East—who could be at risk in case the situation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia deteriorates,” Castelo said.

The lawmaker added that this is not the first time that Saudi Arabia had been fired upon by Yemeni rebels, who had taken over the government in the poorest country in the Middle East.

“So this should be just routine exercise for the DFA and DOLE. Nevertheless, the two agencies have to be on their toes and be able to mobilize its personnel in Saudi Arabia at the touch of the button,” he said.

Castelo added the DFA and DOLE should have maintained an inventory of OFWs in critical areas in Saudi Arabia so that they could be alerted at a moment’s notice.

“There should also be a quick monitoring and feedback mechanism so that authorities will immediately know the status of OFWs

and assistance can be dispatched when necessary,” he added.

Bertiz, meanwhile, said the attack endangered the lives of Filipino workers in the world’s largest oil producer.

“There are over 1.2 million Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia. Any ballistic missile that is not intercepted by the Saudi Air Defense is bound to put in harm’s way the lives of our workers there,” Bertiz said.

According to Bertiz, in Riyadh alone, over three missiles were effectively intercepted by the Saudi Air Defense, where there are more than 400,000 Filipino workers.

Citing the Saudi military, he added that Saudi Air Defense captured in the air seven inbound ballistic missiles last Sunday evening, including three aimed at Riyadh.

He said the missile assault was apparently staged by Iran-backed Houthi rebels based in Yemen.

PACC to Duterte: Sanction DOJ prosecutors who dismissed drug raps vs Espinosa, Lim

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he Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has recommended to President Duterte the imposition of preventive suspension of all Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors responsible for the dismissal of illegal-drug

charges against several personalities, including Kerwin Espinosa and Peter Lim and other co-accused.

Aside from the recommendation of preventive suspension of the prosecutors, the PACC also sought for the approval of the President that

an investigation be conducted for gross neglect and manifest partiality in the performance of duty that caused undue damage to the government and to subject the concerned public officials to lifestyle checks.

The recommendation was issued

after the dismissal of the drug case against Espinosa and Lim. The resolution on the dismissal of the case was signed on December 20, 2017, but was only made public early this month.

In a news statement, PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez said the com-

mission won’t take the dismissal of the drug case sitting down.

“Something is fishy,” Jimenez said.

“Our mandate is to assist the Office of the President to investigate corrupt and erring public officials in relation to the performance of their duties,

and this is exactly what we will do.”

Through PACC Commissioner and Spokesman Greco Belgica, the commission also secured a copy of the case filed on March 14 after the dismissal of the drug case.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

Economy

A4 Wednesday, March 28, 2018 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Lawmakers raise alarm over Grab-Uber merger

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM @joveemarie

& Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

he House of Representatives on Tuesday called on the government to transfer the supervision of transportation network companies (TNCs) from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and ensure that no monopoly prevails in the ride-hailing sector.

House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of the Second District of Camarines Sur and House Committee on Transportation member Party-list Rep. Ciriaco Calalang of Kabayan issued separate statements in the wake of the recent acquisition by Grab Philippines of the Southeast Asian operations of its main rival, Uber.

Emerging monopoly?

Senators, meanwhile, raised the red flag on Tuesday on the Grab-Uber merger deal over its impact on competition policy and commuter welfare.

Following reports confirming the Grab buyout of its sole competitor, the chairmen of two vital Senate committees urged caution in the

merger of Grab and Uber, prodding regulators to closely watch merger’s possible impact on competition policy and consumer welfare.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, economic affairs committee chairman, alerted government regulators to specifically guard against an emerging potential monopoly in the ridehailing business.

“Even though [neither] Grab nor Uber has notified the Philippine Competition Commission [PCC] about the recent buyout by the former of the latter, the regulator should be wary about a creation of a new monopoly in the ride-sharing industry that can be detrimental to commuters,” Gatchalian said.

In a news statement, the senator stated that, in the absence of any

competition, the PCC should closely look out and guard against “any possible anticompetitive practices that will take advantage of this situation.”

“We believe that this buyout is not favorable to the Filipino commuters, as it would lessen choices for all of us,” Gatchalian said, adding that “the PCC is now our last bastion for fair and reasonable conduct in the ride-sharing industry.”

Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the public services committee tasked to review franchises, however, did not rule out the possibility that another investor may be enticed to enter the TNVS business to compete with the Grab-Uber monopoly.

“Although this is a business decision that should ultimately be settled between Grab and Uber, it is still imbued with public interest,” Poe said, adding, “We all know that thousands of commuters rely on TNVS to ferry them to work and other places of destination.”

She added “the most important thing is that service to our commuters will not be disrupted.”

Ill-conceived guidelines

According to Villafuerte, the buyout by Grab of its biggest rival in the business has led to a monopoly in the ride-hailing business in the country.

“This monopoly would leave the public at the mercy of a single mega transport network vehicle services company that would be able to dictate fare prices and be less enthusiastic in improving its services, knowing that riders are left with very limited

options,” Villafuerte said.

Grab has recently announced that it had acquired Uber’s operations in the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia. Under the share swap agreement, Uber would be getting a 27.5-percent stake in Grab. Uber will shut down its operations here starting April 8 as part of the deal.

Villafuerte said the LTFRB has been coming up with ill-conceived guidelines for TNVS because of its misguided interpretation on the role of these service providers.

“The LTFRB treats TNVS as common carriers like taxicabs and passenger buses when the nature of the service they provide clearly show that they are not. This is probably the reason it is having a hard time coming up with the guidelines,” Villafuerte said.

He added that, to provide a permanent solution to this issue, Congress should swiftly tackle and approve his proposal of coming up with a separate regulatory framework for TNVS and TNCs like Grab.

Villafuerte earlier filed House Bill 6467, which, among others, proposes that the DOTr, and not the LTFRB, should have authority over TNCs and TNVS, because the vehicles used in these pointto-point transport services are private carriers and not common or public carriers that fall under LTFRB supervision.

He said TNVS like the drivers of Uber and Grab should be classified as private carriers because they can choose not to offer their car-

riding services by signing off from the platform, and their services are by special agreement only, unlike “common carriers,” which are persons, corporations or associations engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both for compensation.

Villafuerte said TNCs do not provide transportation services, but merely link a potential customer with a third-party driver or TNVS, and are thus not parties to a transportation contract.

To protect the riding public, he said, the bill requires TNCs and TNVS to secure permits from the DOTr, which is authorized to compel them to secure comprehensive insurance policies; conduct safety inspections of prospective TNVS before these are approved for use; and oversee drivers through stringent background checks, among other requirements.

Not good

Given the new development of the sale by Uber of its entire Southeast Asia business to Grab, Calalang, for his part, said the Philippines now suddenly finds itself with a ride-hailing service monopoly, “a situation that is not good for the riding public because of the lack of competition and competitive pricing.”

“It may take some weeks or months for the effects of the Uber sale to Grab to cascade to the Philippines, but it will eventually happen,” Calalang said.

“The urgent task now before the

LTFRB is for it to adjust to the new situation by allowing the entry of more ride-hailing services and promulgating sound fare-setting mechanisms. U-HOP, the other TNC, as it is now is not as large an operation as Grab will very soon be,” he added.

Calalang said the LTFRB should proactively encourage other TNCs to enter the Philippine market in order to serve more passengers and break the monopoly of Grab.

“The LTFRB can do so by reducing red tape inside the office, setting new regulations opening the TNC sector to new investors both local and foreign and creating an environment ready for the influx of new TNCs,” he said.

“Such a proactive move shall benefit the riding public, healthy competition naturally breeds innovations, new technologies, higher standard and lower prices,” the lawmaker added.

He added the riding public needs more choices and better price options, and this means having more than just Grab and U-HOP, saying two or three more TNCs can address the huge demand, not just in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao but also in the highly urbanized cities of Cavite, Laguna and Bulacan.

“A liberal, yet public safety grounded LTFRB policy, through a board resolution encouraging more TNCs to be accredited, is what the new environment calls for,” he said.

MICC kicks off 1st phase of mines-closure review

HK labor attaché gets job recruiters’ support

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group of job recruiters who deploy household-service workers (HSW) to Hong Kong has appealed to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III to reconsider the recall order issued to Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre to the labor department’s home office in Manila.

“Bello’s order has created a wave of protests among the various stakeholders in Hong Kong and Manila,” said Alfredo Palmierey, president of the Society of Hong Kong Recruiters of the Philippines (Sharp).

The labor chief recalled dela Torre amid reports that the latter allegedly abused his discretion by accrediting only recruiters whom he reportedly favored.

Following Bello’s recall order, 89 overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong released a joint statement during the weekend throwing their support behind dela Torre and to oppose his recall.

In justifying his order, Bello said, [“the] recommendation is for me to recall him [dela Torre] so he can explain and answer the charges against him. This is not a penalty,” Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute head Susan Ople said she concurs with the joint statement of support for dela Torre, stating the immediate recall order is uncalled for.

“The traditional way would be for the DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] central office to ask the person concerned to reply to whoever is complaining against him or her first,” Ople said.

In this connection, Palimiery, in a letter to Bello, said “lawyer dela Torre has been a staunch opponent of human traffickers.”

“He introduced effective programs in the Hong Kong Labor market that improved [the] welfare protection and benefits for our HSWs, in the Special Administrative Region,” he said in his letter to Bello.

Palmierey added that Sharp, the only accredited agency sending workers to Hongkong, described dela Torre as “a model of what a labor attaché should be.”

“Not only that he performs his job well but he introduces innovations in the discharge of his official duties and functions in support of the overall overseas employment program of our government with emphasis in the furtherance of workers protection and welfare,” he said.

Palmierey added dela Torre had also “set the ground work for the agencies adherence to Ethical Recruitment Standard and Practices; expanding the Sunday training programs to cover other skills and arranging Tesda [Technical Education and Skills Development Authority] certification in Hong Kong.” “ln his almost two years as labor attache in Hong Kong, we have not heard of any complaint against him by our member agencies and their counterpart agencies in Hong Kong.”

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

he Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) has started its review of the 26 mining sites ordered closed or suspended by former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, with the first phase of the review covering legal, technical and environmental concerns targeted for completion within a three-month period.

Finance Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin, who represents the Department of Finance during MICC meetings, said the MICC has kicked off its “fact-finding and science-based” review of an initial batch of the 26 mine sites with on-site visits that started this month.

During the MICC meeting earlier in the month, Agabin said the first phase of the review covering legal, technical and environmental concerns will be completed within a three-month period, while the social and economic aspects of the study will be done in another three months as requested by the technical review teams (TRTs).

“When we were looking at this, we set the period for review for three months. But when the teams were formed, the concern, especially on the economic study, is that they will need the inputs from the technical, the legal and the environment,” he said.

Dr. Marian de los Angeles, who is the overall coordinator of the TRTs, the experts comprising the teams are now in the field and commencing their review of the 26 mine sites.

De los Angeles said the second phase of the review focusing on the social and economic aspects will include a “social cost benefit analysis” and an “evaluation of the changes in the ecosystem,” as well as a “more in-detail look into the equity aspects” of the mining operations.

Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa S. Habitan added that the MICC has tapped the Development Academy of the Philippines to implement and manage the review process on the 26 mining operations.

National Economic and Development Authority Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the review should come up with recommendations on mining-related methodologies and procedures to maximize the benefits of mining and avoid damages; the list of inefficiencies, violations and damages done by mining companies that are difficult to address by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources alone; and the appropriate penalties that have to be imposed for such inefficiencies done.

Agabin said the clustering of the mines for review was based on the types of minerals and locations, which are as follows: TRT Team 1 for gold, copper and nickel mines in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley (Region 2) and Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (Region 4-B); TRT 2 for iron and nickel mines in Central Luzon (Region 3); TRT 3 for chromite, nickel and iron mines in Eastern Visayas (Region 8) and Caraga; and TRTs 4 and 5 for nickel and chromite mines in Caraga.

Twenty-five experts will comprise the five TRTs tasked to conduct the review of the 26 mining operations. The MICC is cochaired by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III. As proposed by Dominguez during the MICC meeting last October 24, the MICC agreed to conduct another review in 2019 and succeeding ones every two years thereafter, in keeping with the MICC mandate under Executive Order 79 on a review of all mining operations once every two years.

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www.businessmirror.com.ph

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Editor: Jun B. Vallecera • Wednesday, March 28, 2018 A5

Households with savings reach 36.6% in Q1

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By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

espite the rising prices of consumer goods in the first three months of the year, more Filipino households said they were able to save in January to March this year.

A recent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey showed a rise in the percentage of households with savings for the first quarter of 2018, despite an inflation uptick during the period.

T he B SP s a id t he percent a ge of

household s w it h sav ings rose to 3 6 . 6 p e rc e nt i n t he f i r s t q u a r t e r of 2018, f rom 35.6 percent in t he previous quarter.

Among the top reasons Filipino consumers wanted to save, the BSP said, was

Endorsing financial inclusion bill to law

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ow on second reading in the Senate is Senate Bill 1450, known as The Financial Inclusion Act/Personal Property Act, which had already passed third reading in the Lower House under House Bill 6907.

One of the three Cs missing in granting credit to borrowers in the Philippines is the issue of “collateral.” It is not its absence but the lack of bank appreciation of certain types of collateral, given the existing legal framework and ambiguity with respect to their comfortable valuation to suit the risk appetite of lenders.

Banks currently would prefer land and other “hard assets” as collateral.

Thus, many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are forced to go to the informal “5-6” usurers—thus, impeding their growth. Statistics also bear out that the Philippines is one of the countries with the highest ratio of business owners borrowing capital from relatives and friends—sometimes destroying precious relationships in the collection process.

On the other hand, the Agri-Agra law, which mandates banks to allot 25 percent of their total loan portfolio to agriculture, is observed more on the breach with banks opting to pay billions in penalties to avoid compliance. Is this bill one of the ways out of this fix?

The bill essentially allows the acceptability of “movable assets and personal properties” as collateral. Key to this is the establishment of the common electronic registry through the Land Registration Authority (LRA) of all such collateral, allowing for more transparency, less legal hitches in foreclosure and disposition of assets and does away with the expensive and tedious process of booking such collateral.

Effectively, the bill looks at the following collateral as considerations for lending: inventories, account receivables, future receivables, crops, machinery and equipment, warehouse receipts, intellectual property and other personal property.

The process precludes the same due diligence on the borrower per se and the possible loan value of such collateral, which is always addressed by the sound judgment of astute bankers. But in the end—the ability of the banks to change their mind-set and accept the spirit of the bill will enable them to diversify earning assets (into healthy MSMEs) and their risks (geographically and industry wise), as well as broaden their collateral-mix.

According to Gay Gloria-Santos of the International Finance Corp. (IFC) of The World Bank Group (which is acting as adviser to this bill), this has gotten full endorsement from major government institutions, such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Trade and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission and the LRA. From the private sector, the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), the Association of Rural Banks and the “Go Negosyo.”

Gil S. Beltran, undersecretary of the DOF said, “the bill aligns well with the 10-point government socioeconomic agenda on economic competitiveness and enhances the ease of doing business, especially on the Legal Registration Index.”

Finex free enterprise Zoilo ‘Bingo’ Dejaresco III If passed into law, it shall have created a mechanism to perfect the establishment of security interests of lenders in movable assets and other personal properties.

A change in the mind-set of banks is also needed, though they have expressed support for the bill—as this will create a new market for loans—which will also reduce their needless over-liquidity and improve their returns compared to their reliance on low-yielding, but perhaps, less risky instruments.

One might consider egging the BSP to convert the Agri-Agra law allocation into this facility to cover this bill rather than just a lone industry like agriculture. Besides, Nestor Tan, president of the BAP, earlier told Finex that the 25-percent (of portfolio) mandated allocation to agricultural is far more than the total productive financial needs of the industry.

Moreover, IFC’s Santos sees this as one of the first moves to enthuse Filipinos to borrow within the formal credit system rather than rely on tenuous relatives’ support and the usurious unregistered lenders.

Of course, there is no false prophecy to say the bill is the lone silver bullet that will emancipate the MSMEs and micro businessmen from underdevelopment and engender greater prosperity but it could be a law that can be implementable—and useful—six months after approval.

In six months, the electronic registry could be set up, for instance.

There are other evolving bills, as well, like the Ease of Doing Business, which is more comprehensive but could take more time. The national identification law is good for the un-banked community and improves all the institutions’ need to KYC (know your customer).

The land-classification bill will free many of the unresolved conflict points in identifying the land for collateral and commercial needs. One can look at this ambiguity as, perhaps, the reason banks to this day are generally averse to taking in agricultural land as collateral.

It is a tragedy when one considers that we are, largely, an agricultural country and partly explains, perhaps, why our agricultural sector, thinly capitalized and deprived of banking support, languishes as a contributor of a mere 13 percent of the gross national product.

Among those fashioned to help financial inclusion, this bill of financial inclusion appears to be the one having immediate and robust impact on the economy, in general, and the MSME’s practitioners, in particular. We urge the Senate to prioritize in making the bill into law.

Dejaresco, a former banker, is a financial consultant, media practitioner and book author. He is a life member and the chairman of Broadcast Media of Finex.

But his views here are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Finex. dejarescobingo@yahoo.com.

primarily for emergencies, education, health and hospitalization, retirement, purchase of real estate and business and capital investment.

Furthermore, among households that were able to save, almost two-thirds, or 63.6 percent, had bank deposit accounts, while 44.3 percent kept their savings at home and 29.6 percent put their money in cooperatives, paluwagan and other credit and loan associations.

For the next quarter, the BSP said the percentage of respondents who reported they could save money declined to 41.8 percent, from 43.6 percent in the previous quarter.

The higher propensity of Filipino consumers to save is notable, despite their lower optimism for the economy in the first quarter of the year.

Results of the BSP’s Consumer Expectations Survey showed weaker consumer confidence in economic prospects from local consumers in January to March this year, with the overall confidence index (CI) declining to 1.7 percent, from 9.5 percent in the previous quarter.

CIs are computed as the percentage of optimistic respondents, minus the percentage of consumers that indicated

other w ise. A smaller but still posit ive CI mea ns t hat t he nu mber of opt i m i st s de c l i ne d , but st i l l out numbered the pessimists during the review period. “ T he pr imar y reason dr iv ing the weaker outlook across income groups was their expectation of higher prices of goods. A secondary factor noted by the

low- and middle-income groups was low family income or salary,” the BSP said.

Inflation during the first two months of 2018 averaged at 3.7 percent based on the new 2012-based consumer price index. This is almost one whole percentage point higher compared to the adjusted 2.8-percent average in the first two months of 2017.

Case clippings

By Justice S J Ranada Jr. DUE PROCESS–Administrative/judicial sense Administrative due process cannot be fully equated with due process in its strict judicial sense, for in the former a formal or trial-type hearing is not always necessary, and technical rules of procedure are not strictly applied. The essence of due process is to be heard. In administrative proceedings, due process entails a fair and reasonable opportunity to explain one’s side, or an opportunity to seek a reconsideration of the ruling complained of.

Sibayan v. Alba 17 Jan. 2018

GR No 233395 Velasco, J

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

The World BusinessMirror

Train’s arrival in Beijing raises suspicion of Kim visit

THE police in tactical gear block a road leading to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, on March 27. Unusually heavy security at a Beijing guesthouse where prominent North Koreans have stayed in the past and media reports of a special train arriving have raised speculation that Kim Jong Un is making his first trip to China as North Korea’s leader. AP/Mark Schiefelbein

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EIJING—The arrival of a special train in Beijing and unusually heavy security at a guesthouse where prominent North Koreans have stayed in the past have raised speculation that Kim Jong Un is making his first visit to China as the North’s leader.

Kim has summits planned with South Korean President Moon Jaein in late-April and with President Donald J. Trump by May. While there has been no word of a similar meeting with Chinese leaders, China has been one of North Korea’s most important allies even though relations have chilled recently because of Kim’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

A vehicle convoy entered the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday evening and a military honor guard and heavy security were seen later. That followed reports from Japanese network NTV and public broadcaster NHK of a special North Korean train arriving in Beijing under unusually heavy security.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, a convoy of official Chinese cars was seen leaving the east gate of guesthouse, heading in the direction of government offices and the city’s two train stations.

C it y pol ice a nd t he pa ramilitary People’s Armed Police stood guard in the area and unidentified men in plainclothes

attempted to prevent photographers from taking pictures.

Cars in the convoy were identified by yellow stickers but carried no diplomatic license plates. The guesthouse had been the favored residence of Kim’s father, North Korea’s former leader Kim Jong Il. A staffer with the Chinese foreign ministry’s press office responded to a question about Kim’s possible presence in Beijing by saying, “So far, I am not aware of the situation you mentioned.”

Past visits by K im Jong Il to China were surrounded in secrecy, with Beijing only confirming his presence after he had crossed the border by train back into North Korea.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said she was not aware of the situation and had no further comment. North Korea’s state-run media had no reports of a delegation traveling to China.

South Korea’s presidential office said on Tuesday that it could not confirm reports that the train carried Kim nor a separate report that Kim’s sister was onboard.

South Korean analysts were doubtful the visitor is Kim Jong Un. Since succeeding his father as leader in 2011, Kim has touted an image of his country as diplomatic equal to China and it’s unlikely he would sneak into Beijing for his first face-to-face meetings with the Chinese leadership, the analysts said.

They said it’s more likely Kim sent a special envoy, possibly his sister Kim Yo Jong, to appease a traditional ally ahead of his planned meetings with the presidents of South Korea and the United States.

The envoy could potentially seek Chinese commitment for future support should North Korea’s talks w ith rivals fall through, said Du Hyeogn Cha, a visiting scholar at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

“North Korea doesn’t want

North Korea doesn’t want to send a message that China has been pushed to the back as it makes diplomatic approaches to the United States and South Korea.”—Cha

to send a message that China has been pushed to the back as it makes diplomatic approaches to the United States and South Korea,” Cha said, adding that the visit could be part of the North ’s effort to gain leverage in the talks with South Korea and the United States.

“If the talks with South Korea and the United States fall through, North Korea will surely try to demonstrate its nuclear weapons and missile capabilities again. The special envoy could discuss this possibility with Chinese officials, asking China not to press too hard with sanctions if that happens,” Cha said.

Heavy security was reported at the Friendship Bridge before the train passed from North Korea to China, and there were reports of it passing through several stations on the way from North Korea to Beijing.

NTV reported that the green and yellow train appeared very similar to the one that Kim Jong Il took to Beijing in 2011, and has 21 cars.

A video that aired on NTV also showed a motorcade of black limousines waiting at the train station and rows of Chinese soldiers marching on what appeared to be a train platform. The video did not show anyone getting off the train.

White House Spokesman Raj Shah said on Monday that the United States could not confirm reports that Kim was visiting China.

Shah reiterated Trump’s plans to meet with Kim, saying the USled international pressure campaign against Pyongyang “has paid dividends and has brought the North Koreans to the table.” AP

Japan school scandal official denies Abe ordered cover-up

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former Finance Ministry bureaucrat at the center of the cronyism scandal surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that no one from the premier’s office gave orders to falsify documents related to a controversial land deal.

Nobuhisa Sagawa resigned earlier this month, amid questions over his role in the sale of public land for a fraction of its value to a school operator with ties to the prime minister’s wife.

The Finance Ministry has admitted it altered documents relating to the transaction. Sagawa told parliament last Tuesday that neither Abe, nor his wife or Finance Minister Taro Aso asked for the papers on the deal to be doctored.

He added that concerns about a criminal investigation prevent him from answering questions about how or when he knew documents had been altered.

While support for opposition parties remains weak, it is rising, and public anger has cast a shadow over Abe’s prospects of winning a third term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a September election. The allegations of cronyism have also sparked calls for Aso to resign, and are hampering Abe’s bid to achieve his long-held ambition of changing the pacifist Constitution.

Sagawa oversaw a division involved in negotiating the sale of a tract of land to Moritomo Gakuen, the operator of a kindergarten known for espousing elements of the prewar nationalist curriculum and for explicitly backing Abe. The land was to have been used for a new elementary school and Abe’s wife, Akie, was to have served as honorary principal.

The Finance Ministr y has said 14 documents, including an official agreement to sell the land, were altered after the scandal

emerged last year. The names of Abe’s wife and several politicians were removed, along with a reference to the sale as a “special case.”

A man from Kagawa Prefecture filed a criminal complaint for falsifying public documents against Sagawa and another individual on March 16, the Fuji News Network reported.

Comments by Sagawa, who was promoted last July to head the National Tax Agency, were frequently interrupted by opposition jeering. “ Th i s t e s t i m o n y i s c o m p l e t e l y meaningless,” Akira Koike, a lawmaker with the Communist Party, told the committee after Sagawa had refused to answer a question. “Not only Mr. Sagawa, but Ms. Akie Abe must give the testimony the opposition parties are seeking. There is no other way to resolve this.”

Tetsuro Fukuyama, a lawmaker in the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, said: “This testimony has greatly

deepened suspicions. You have come here to give testimony, but you have added fuel to the fire.”

Lawmakers are seeking to find out why the land was sold for ¥134 million (about $1.27 million), a discount of about ¥800 million, and who ordered the subsequent cover-up. Abe was not present for the testimony, which continues in the afternoon.

An Asahi News Network poll conducted over the weekend showed Abe’s approval rating fell 11.7 percentage points to 32.6 percent over the past month, while disapproval rose 13.2 points to 54.9 percent.

A separate Nikkei newspaper poll found 49 percent of respondents disapproved of the premier, compared with 42 percent who approved.

Abe has repeatedly apologized over the scandal, denying that either he or his wife were involved in the transaction or the alteration of documents. Bloomberg News

Editor: Lyn Ressureccion | www.businessmirror.com.ph

Puigdemont held as German court voices doubts on extradition

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court ruled that former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont must remain in German custody until a review of Spain’s extradition request, but voiced doubts on the merits of the bid.

Puigdemont can be held to allow an appeals court to consider Spain’s arrest warrant, a judge in the northern German town of Neumuenster ruled late on Monday.

The judge said the Spanish filing isn’t invalid on its face, which would have required the court to set him free.

“The warrant has some points indicating that under a thorough review balancing the legal issues, the extradition may have to be ruled illicit,” the court said in an e-mailed statement. “But it’s also not obvious that the warrant fails to state” any crime at all.

Spain’s effort to get hold of the Catalan politician led to the 55-year-old Puigdemont’s arrest last Sunday as he crossed into Germany from Denmark by car.

Monday’s ruling is only the start of a cascade of court procedures in Germany over his fate that could drag on for months.

German prosecutors will now start the process of handling the Spanish request to return him to face trial on rebellion charges.

Spain issued a European Arrest Warrant, which typically simplifies and speeds up extraditions between members of the European Union.

Nevertheless, German law requires that a court must clear any extradition, a procedure, which can take several weeks or months.

The former Catalan president’s detention in Germany was hailed by antiseparatist forces as a decisive blow against the push for Catalan independence. In a boost for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the arrest will force Puigdemont off the political stage, at least for the short term.

Soeren Schomburg, a German lawyer for Puigdemont, didn’t immediately reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

The Schleswig Higher Regional Court will now be asked to decide whether Puigdemont can be held in custody while the proceedings are pending, said Michael Rosenthal, a German defense lawyer. Its judges could decide to grant him bail and order some provisional

measure ensuring he will stay in Germany.

Prosecutors in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, where Puigdemont is being held, will first have to check whether there are legal reasons to block his extradition. If they find the extradition is valid, Puigdemont’s lawyers can challenge the warrant in court. Whoever wins at that level, the case will likely end up at Germany’s Constitutional Court.

Warrant rules

Under the rules for the European Arrest Warrant, there’s a catalog of offenses for which countries must extradite, such as terrorism, human trafficking or child pornography.

Rebellion isn’t on that list, so the judges need to determine whether the charge against Puigdemont is also a crime under German law. The comparable crime of high treason under German law requires violent acts or threats to use violence, said Otto Lagodny, a professor of comparative criminal law at Salzburg University.

Since Puigdemont has avoided being associated with violence, the court may have to block the extradition, he said.

“The judges would need to show a lot of spine,” Lagodny said. “I’m afraid they will duck out of it.”

Even if the court ruled that there aren’t legal obstacles, Germany would have some political leeway to oppose it, Rosenthal said, the defense lawyer. While the authorities of Schleswig-Holstein will have to rule on this, they have to liaise and consult with the federal government.

“There’s still that good old tradition that you normally don’t extradite for political offenses,” said Rosenthal. “Some of that is still in the rule that, even if courts clear an extradition, the authorities can say no.”

Past proceedings over European Arrest Warrants have taken months, if not years. In a case against four traders charged in the United Kingdom for rigging i nterest -rate benc h m a rk s at Deutsche Bank AG, the UK had issued a warrant in May 2016.

The men, all German citizens, weren’t put in custody and their extradition was finally blocked by a Frankfurt court in February.

Bloomberg News

WH disputes porn star’s claim she was threatened

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ASHINGTON—The White House is disputing adult-film star Stormy Daniels’s claim that she was threatened to keep quiet over her alleged affair with Donald J. Trump and said the president continues to deny the relationship.

Daniels’s detailed her allegations in a widely watched inter view with 60 Minutes that sparked new legal wrangling between lawyers for the porn star and the president’s team.

A lawyer for Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, demanded that Daniels publicly apologize to his client for suggesting he was involved in her intimidation.

Daniels responded by filing a revised federal lawsuit acc using Cohen of defamation.

Trump, who frequently takes on his foes in person and on social media, remained uncharacteristically quiet about the matter on Monday. He sent a cryptic tweet saying “fake news” has “never been more voluminous or more inaccurate” but it was unclear what exactly he was referring to.

Instead, he left the denials to his White House staff.

Spokesman Raj Shah declined to say whether the president had watched Daniels’s interview, but said Trump did not believe any of the claims she made.

“The president strongly, clearly and has consistently denied these underlying claims, and the only person who’s been inconsistent is the one making the claims,” Shah said.

But Daniels was on Trump’s mind this weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, where he had dinner last Saturday night with Cohen at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump, according to one person who spent time with him, told guests that Daniels now owes him $21 million for breaking her silence, and that every time she talks, she owes him a million more.

Trump appeared in good spirits, laughing off the fact that Daniels will be bringing her “Making America Horny Again” strip show to a nearby venue next month, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose private conversations.

Mar-a-Lago member Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, told ABC last Sunday that Trump told him “much of the Stormy Daniels stuff” is a “political hoax.”

Trump returned to Washington last Sunday night, though first lady Melania Trump stayed behind in Florida. A spokesman for Mrs. Trump said she is “focused on being a mom and is quite enjoying spring break at Mar-a-Lago while working on future projects.”

In her interview, Daniels said she’d slept with Trump once, shortly after Mrs. Trump gave birth to the president’s youngest son.

She also said that a man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, when she was with her infant daughter, and threatened her with physical harm if she went public with her story. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Lyn Ressureccion

The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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US, 22 nations expel Russian diplomats

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ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials on Monday, joining a coordinated campaign by two dozen countries to retaliate for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain in a Cold War-style escalation that again highlighted the disparity between the president’s words and actions.

The mass expulsion of Russian personnel stationed in the United States was the largest ever, eclipsing even the darkest days of the globa l showdown with the Soviet Union.

But Trump avoided any public condemnation of Russia’s role in the attack just days after phoning President V ladimir Putin to congratulate him on a reelection widely considered a sham.

In approving the expulsions and ordering the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle, Trump followed the lead of Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, who rallied a multinational coalition to respond to the poisoning.

With London pressing for action, Trump called foreign counterparts to see if they would join, too. Aides said he pushed for action, but also knew that failure to go along would have left the United States isolated.

In addition to the US, at least 22 other nations backed Britain by expelling about 57 more Russian diplomats and intelligence officers as of Monday evening, including France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Poland and Canada.

May originally expelled 23 Russians shortly after British authorities determined that Moscow was likely responsible for the nerve agent that left Sergei V. Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter in a coma.

The joint action intensified the conflict between Russia and the West that has accelerated since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine in 2014, and its clandestine effort to influence the US presidential election in 2016.

Based on past practice, Russia will almost certainly retaliate by kicking out western diplomats, echoing the tit-for-tat confrontations of the Cold War. The expulsions brought into focus the disconnect between aggressive actions taken against the Kremlin by the Trump administration and the president’s public eagerness to have a cooperative relationship with Putin.

Tr u m p h a s s t au n c h l y r e sisted criticizing the Russian president, even as he imposed sanctions on a series of Russian organizations and individuals for inter ference in the 2016

A person, who refused to give his name, checks a sign on the door of the Russian consulate office stating that the office is closed and not accepting any new passport applications in Seattle, Washington, on March 26. The United States and more than a dozen European nations kicked out Russian diplomats on Monday, as the West sought joint punishment for Moscow’s alleged poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain. AP/Eugene Johnson

presidential election and what the administration called other “malicious cyberattacks.”

Trump, who energetically comments on almost any other subject on Twitter or in encounters with reporters, stayed conspicuously silent on the showdown with Russia on Monday, leaving it to aides to explain his decision. “ The only real conclusion to draw is there is something of a divide,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe. “ They may have convinced him to sign off, but he doesn’t want to be the face of it. He could have resolved this any day with a 10 -minute

appea ra nce. T h at ’s t he pa r t that’s puzzling to me.”

Michael Anton, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Trump deserved credit for organizing the joint response and expressed frustration at the perception that the president had not been firm enough with Russia.

“No matter what we do, it’s like, ‘You guys are soft on Russia,’” he said. “What do we have to do to show that we’re tough? We just coordinated a 22-nation action and kicked out 60 Russians.”

Anton said the president did not publicly excoriate Russia for its actions because he wanted to maintain a constructive relation-

We want to have a cooperative relationship. The president wants to work with the Russians, but their actions sometimes don’t allow that to happen.”—Shah

ship at the level of the countries’ leaders. “Happy talk on one phone call is better than belligerent talk on one phone call,” he added.

Speaking from the White House lectern on Monday, Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, called the poisoning attack “brazen” and “reckless,” and said that it impeded Trump’s continued desire to foster a constructive relationship with the Russians.

“We want to have a cooperative relationship,” Shah said. “The president wants to work with the Russians, but their actions sometimes don’t allow that to happen.”

Indeed , a ides were i ntent on describing a president who was keenly aware of Russian misbehavior. One official, who was not authorized to publicly descr ibe t he president ’s pr ivate conversations, said Trump sounded aggressive about Moscow during a discussion with advisers in the Oval Office last Friday, calling Russia’s actions of late “ dangerous.”

The US expulsion order was designed to root out Russians actively engaging in intelligence operations against the country, White House officials said.

Those expelled included 12 people identified as Russian intelligence officers who have been stationed at the United Nations in New York, and 48 operating under the Russian embassy in Washington.

The Russians and their families have seven days to leave the United States, according to officials. US officials estimate there are currently more than 100 Russian intelligence officers in the United States.

The Trump administration also announced that it would close the Russian consulate in Seattle because of its proximity to Naval Base Kitsap, one of two US naval

bases that houses a fleet of nuclear-powered, ballistic missilecarrying submarines.

Shah said the president took a proactive role in speaking with foreign leaders and encouraging others to join the efforts.

White House officials who described the expulsion order said it had coordinated with about a dozen US allies.

A British official said London’s diplomats, military officers and intelligence officials had spoken with their American counterparts on a daily, even hourly, basis since the attack on Skripal.

The Kremlin has maintained that it had nothing to do with the poisoning. In a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministr y on Monday, officials accused British authorities of “a prejudiced, biased as wel l as hy pocritical stance” in carr ying out the expulsions, and castigated European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization member-countr ies for following suit.

“It goes without saying that this unfriendly move by this group of countries will not go unnoticed, and we will respond to it,” the statement read.

Current and former diplomats said the real test of the expulsions would be if they serve to deter Russia from further intervention in other countries.

“The key question for me is whether all this—and whatever else is to follow—will finally persuade Putin that the cost of killing off enemies and ‘traitors’ and subverting other people’s societies in order to ‘make Russia great again’ just isn’t worth it,” said Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the United States.

“That would be a great prize for the free world, and for British diplomacy.” New York Times News Service

The issue that divides US and China isn’t tariffs: It’s Beijing’s plan to build the cutting-edge industries

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Visitors enjoy the cherry-blossom viewing at Shinjuku Gyoen national garden in Tokyo, on March 26. At the garden, people laid down picnic sheets to enjoy hanami, which is a Japanese custom of flower viewing. AP/Koji Sasahara

Cherry blossoms reach full bloom in Tokyo

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OK YO —Japan’s famous cher r y blossoms have reached full bloom in Tokyo as spring-like weather descends on the nation’s capital.

Crowds flocked on Monday to popular spots in much of Japan to enjoy the sea of delicate pink and white blooms. Some laid down picnic sheets at Shinjuku Gyoen, a former imperial garden in the

heart of Tokyo, to enjoy hanami, the custom of blossom viewing.

Eating and drinking under the trees is a popular pastime.

People young and old strolled beneath a canopy of cherry blossoms on a walkway along the Meguro River, also in central Tokyo.

Some stopped to take selfies or close-ups of the blooms.

“There are of course so many

beautiful f lowers, but nothing compares to the cherry blossom,” said one, Hiroko Igarashi.

Tourists and Tokyo residents padd led in rowboats in a picturesque moat lined w ith overhang ing cher r y trees outside the Imper ia l Pa lace.

The blooms in Tokyo are expected to last until the end of this week. AP

EIJING—China has struck a hard stance on the issue at the root of the looming trade fight between Beijing and Washington: China’s government-led drive, which Washington describes as breaking international rules, to build the cutting-edge industries of the future.

Chinese officials in recent days have been defending the government’s ambitious plan, known as Made in China 2025, to create globally competitive players in industries, such as advanced microchips, driverless cars and robotics.

While Beijing has signaled a willingness to compromise on other matters, the intractable standoff over its core industrial, policy could prolong a trade fight that has already shaken markets and led to concerns about a full-blown trade war. “ We a r e t h r e e y e a r s i n t o t h e implementation of Made in China 2025, and we will keep going,” Miao Wei, China’s minister of industry and information technology, said on Monday, the last day of a three-day economic policy forum in the Chinese capital.

The Trump administration has threatened to impose 25-percent tariffs on imports involving many of the industries, being developed under the Made in China 2025 program. Administration officials strongly object to the program’s goal of having Chinese companies dominate these advanced industries, particularly in the Chinese market.

Washington has also protested that companies in the targeted industries have been offered loans at low-interest rates by state-controlled Chinese banks.

The White House argues that will result in global capacity gluts that could drive down prices and destroy the viability of tech companies in the West, as well as in countries such as Japan and South Korea that are allied with the United States.

“China has engaged for a very longtime in the theft of our intellectual property, as well as practices like forced technology transfer,” Peter Navarro, President Donald J. Trump’s

trade adviser, said on CNBC on Monday. “We’re hopeful that China will basically work with us to address some of these practices.”

Navarro on Monday tried to calm financial markets, which were rattled last week by the prospect of a trade war. He emphasized that “growth and stability” were the aim of Trump’s policy goal of ensuring that trade with the United States is fair and reciprocal.

Investors’ fears of a trade war seemed to subside some on Monday. The S&P 500 climbed 2.7 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.8 percent and the Nasdaq composite jumped 3.3 percent.

Whether an agreement that forestalls a protracted economic conflict can be reached remains unclear. The two nations, whose markets are highly integrated, have engaged in discussions for years with little to show as a result.

Talks between the United States and China stalled last summer, and the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue between two countries has produced little progress.

The Trump administration has largely shunned the highly structured discussions of past administrations, which were used to try to reach agreement on economic and security issues. The White House now views those channels as producing largely hollow promises by the Chinese and has shifted toward engaging directly with senior-level Chinese counterparts.

Last Saturday just two days after the administration announced tariffs on up to $60 billion worth of Chinese imports, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, called Liu He, China’s economic czar, to congratulate him on his new role of vice premier. The two discussed the trade tensions, including reducing tariffs on US cars and opening up China’s financial-services sector to US firms.

“They also discussed the trade deficit between our two countries and committed to continuing the dialogue to find a mutually agreeable way to reduce it,” a Treasury spokesman said.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, characterized the call between Mnuchin and Liu as confrontational, with Liu warning Mnuchin that US trade actions against China were straining economic ties between the countries.

Chinese leaders contend that their country’s economy is still developing. They openly reject Trump’s call for reciprocity in trade relations. They have instead offered concessions such as raising caps on foreign investors’ stakes in Chinese financial institutions, and proposed eliminating import tariffs in narrow categories such as drugs to treat cancer.

Beijing says that opening up some services sectors would improve the efficiency of the Chinese economy, as well as make money for foreign companies. Improving health care, particularly for the aging, has also become a national priority.

But Chinese officials argue that their country is still dangerously reliant on smokestack industries of the past, such as steel, aluminum and cheap manufacturing.

The average Chinese household lives on a quarter of the income that US and Western European households do, and standards of living remain very low in rural parts of the country, and across central and western China.

Wang Shouwen, China’s vice minister of commerce, and Pascal Lamy, a former director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), squared off at the Beijing forum over precisely that issue.

Wang insisted that China had made considerable strides in opening up its health, agriculture and shipping sectors to international competition. He noted that the United States and the European Union had higher tariffs than China on some imports of shirts and dairy products.

He argued that China meets its WTO obligations; the WTO has long allowed developing countries to have higher tariffs to protect certain industries from international competition. New York Times News Service

A8

The Regions

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Senate probers uncover ₧8.7-billion road racket in General Santos City

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATE Blue Ribbon probers on Tuesday bared an P8.7-billion road right-of-way (ROW) racket in General Santos City, unmasking members of the syndicate behind the multibillionpeso racket.

Sen. Richard J. Gordon, who spearheaded the inquiry, also uncovered the modus operandi of the group that perpetrated the road scam in General Santos City, bailiwick of Sen. Manuel Pacquiao.

At Pacquiao’s behest, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired

by Gordon conducted a joint investigation with the Committee on Public Works chaired by Pacquiao, resulting in exposure of ROW scam.

Conducting an on-site public hearing in General Santos City on March 23, and attended by Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III, Senate probers grilled witnesses to uncover the modus operandi and identified members of the syndicate, giving senators “a clearer picture” of how the syndicate pulled the scam off, Gordon reported.

“We are happy with the way the investigation is progressing.

The Blue Ribbon Committee, at

the request of Sen. Pacquiao, went to GenSan, the Senate President was there, too, because it was important enough to investigate a long, simpering racket involving right of way payments and a long, long racket of fake titles being issued right under our noses,” Gordon said.

The senator noted that officials of other government agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Commission on Audit (COA) were “listening avidly and taking notes of the admissions” concerning the payment for ROW claims that were already made.

“We were able to pinpoint with accuracy who are the people involved like the people with SPA [Special Power of Attorney] who admitted under cross examination that they are the ones being used to fleece the government and act as conduit for the money,” Gordon said, adding: “The BIR was there listening. All these money flying around and the BIR said they were taking notes. The COA was there.

The BIR and the COA can now go after these people.”

Rural women continue to experience various abuse from male partners Chinese tourists dismayed over Boracay’s imminent closure M

WALKING ON AIR On the way to a picnic grove in Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya, young local tourists traverse a hanging foot bridge, oblivious of any risk. Such foot bridges are seen in upland villages to access local destinations. LEONARDO PERANTE II

ARRIED women in their 30s who are living in the rural areas have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their husbands, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Based on the preliminary results from the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), around 11,558 married women aged 15 to 49 years old were abused.

Around 4,257 of them were between 30 and 39 years old, and 6,294 of them are living in rural areas nationwide.

“As observed, the percentage of women who have experienced violence in physical, sexual and/ or emotional form from their husband declines slightly with women’s age. Women who are separated or widowed are more likely to have experienced all forms of violence by their most recent partner compared with women who are married or living together,” the PSA said.

In terms of the number of women, Calabarzon, Metro Manila and Central Luzon recorded the highest incidences of physical, emotional or sexual abuse at 1,964, 1,727 and 1,175 respectively.

However, in terms of popula-

tion share of women experiencing either physical, emotional or sexual abuse, the highest were recorded in Caraga at 51.8 percent, as well as Zamboanga Peninsula and Bicol at 43.4 percent each.

In Caraga, there were a total of 323 women who were abused, while in Zamboanga Peninsula there were 448 women, and in Bicol, 707 women.

“Women’s experience with violence by a partner varies widely by region: only 7 percent of every married woman in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao report experiencing physical, sexual or emotional violence by their last partner compared with 52 percent of every-married woman in Caraga. All forms of violence generally decline with increasing household wealth,” the PSA said.

Spousal violence refers to violence perpetrated by partners in a marital union. Since spousal or intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence for women aged 15 to 49, the PSA said the NDHS collected detailed information on the different types of violence experienced.

The PSA said that, currently, married women were asked about violence perpetrated by their current husband or partner, and

formerly married women were asked about violence perpetrated by their most recent husband or partner.

Republic Act 9262, or the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004,” is one of the Philippine government’s initiatives, in addressing the issue on violence against women.Under this act, violence against women is classified as a public crime and penalizes all forms of abuse and violence within the family and intimate relationships.

The NDHS 2017 is a nationally representative survey of almost 31,000 households and 25,000 women aged 15 to 49. The survey was conducted from August to October 2017.

The NDHS 2017 is the 11th in a series of demographic surveys undertaken in the Philippine since 1968. Funding for the NDHS 2017 was provided by the government of the Philippines.

T he United St ates A genc y for International Development prov ided technical assistance and equipment through ICF under the Demographic and Health Surveys program. A comprehensive final report will be disseminated by third quarter of this year. Cai U. Ordinario

DOH Mimaropa finds 9 more Dengvaxia patients

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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INE more Dengvaxia Vaccine Individuals (DVIs) were identified by the Department of Health (DOH)— Mimaropa through its Dengvaxia Task Force from the province of Palawan.

Mimaropa is composed of the provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.

“All identified DVIs in the region were verified and are now being monitored for any incidence or occurrence of signs and symptoms that may or may not pertain to the injection of the Dengvaxia vaccine,” Regional Director Edu-

ardo C. Janairo said. “They are closely being monitored and are being supported in all of their health-seeking needs 24/7.”

As of March 23 the Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Resu), in coordination with the provincial health offices, identified a total of 121 DVIs in Mimaropa. Most recipients were from Occidental Mindoro, with 58; Oriental Mindoro, 34; Marinduque, 13; Romblon, seven; and Palawan, nine (one from Taytay and eight from Puerto Princesa City).

There were six recorded admissions, but were later discharged after experiencing headache, fever, cold and vesicular rashes.

There were no reported casualties.

Resu also reported a decrease

of 27 percent on dengue cases in the region with 465 cases compared to 640 cases with the same period last year from January 1 to March 23.

Janairo said most DVIs received the vaccine from private clinics and hospitals and government schools in Calabarzon and at the National Capital Region in 2016. “One identified DVI was vaccinated in 2012.”

“We are continuously coordinating, gathering and collecting data from physicians in the provinces who have administered Dengvaxia to children ages nine years and above and ready to provide immediate medical assistance when the need arises,” Janairo said.

By Jun N. Aguirre Correspondent

B

ORACAY ISLAND—Chinese tourists wanting to go to Boracay were reportedly disappointed over the imminent closure of this resort island for at least six months.

In a news conference here, Thomas Santiago, president of the Boracay Filipino Chinese Tour Guides Association, said the national government must learn from the Manila experience of shutting down both Chinese and Taiwanese tourists.

“Remember when a group of Chinese tourists was held hostage

in Manila several years ago? As a result of this, only a few Chinese tourists ended up visiting Manila then. But when Manila opened its doors to Chinese tourists once again, skilled workers working at the hotels and restaurants were unprepared for the influx of tourists.

This may also happen in Boracay, as skilled workers in certain fields may go different paths, which would result in the vacuum of skilled personnel,” he said.

“We are willing to help solve the environmental woes in Boracay, but only if we will be given a chance,” he said, adding that the tour guides’ association has

around 130 regular members in Boracay.

Already, the association said, at least three airlines already temporarily cancelled their direct flights to Kalibo. Among those cancelled is a direct flight coming from Hong Kong.

“There are eight cities from China with direct flights to Kalibo. Each Chinese tourist spends around P30,000 to P40,000 for their threeday stay in Boracay. The impact of closure would be unimaginable for us,” he added.

Chinese tourists love Boracay because of its seamless travel and pristine nature.

Ilocos resort owners score DENR over foreshore land-lease snafu

By Orly Guirao Correspondent

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AUANG, La Union—Tourism stakeholders and local chief executives in the Ilocos region slammed officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for having allowed encroachments on beach front areas declared as foreshore lands.

The DENR’s tolerance on illegal occupancy of beach heads has now become a big problem for the tourism industry and the government’s environmental protection and preservation program, the resort owners said in an open forum during the coastal management summit arranged by the DENR regional office last week at the Arianna Hotel here.

Mayor Marlon Sales of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, told the forum that the failure of the DENR to issue guidelines on foreshore lands over the years has worsened encroachment problems in the town’s coastal tourism hub.

“LGUs are being pressed against the wall because of the DENR’s tolerance [on encroachment],” Sales said.

Sales’s sentiment was echoed by

Bolinao, Pangasinan, Mayor Arnold Celeste, who admitted to newsmen in an interview that the non-issuance of guidelines on the use of foreshore lands has emboldened people to build structures contrary to environmental laws.

More often, the encroachments led to near bloody clashes between the beach lot owners and “invading” parties, Celeste said.

Tourism landmarks in Pagudpud and Bolinao are the considered the region’s favorites, apart from the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos City, Pangasinan.

Then-Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez was asked by resort owners in La Union to momentarily suspend the issuances of foreshore lease agreements (FLAs) in an effort to prevent the scramble over prime beach lots in the province, particularly in this town’s Barangay Pugo.

The coastal summit was called after Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu visited last week the beach front of Pagudpud in barangays Saud and Maraira and found for himself several illegal structures put up on foreshore lands.

Following a meeting with local officials and resort owners, Cimatu ordered the demolition of the

structures and warned operators of tourism establishments of penalties should they be found violating environmental laws similar to the Boracay Island incidents.

The resort owners smeared at the covenant on environment watch dangled by the DENR for them to sign, but they finally agreed to cooperate after DENR Regional Director Reynulfo Juan vowed to immediately act on their complaints “These things happened before I came. I will create a task force soonest to look into these unwarranted interventions and I assure you that heads will roll,” Juan told the forum.

The environment official also vowed to personally inspect a beach front property in Barangay Pugo in this town, which was declared “underwater and salvage zone” and reportedly “landgrabbed” by a group of real-estate developers in alleged collusion with some DENR personnel in the region.

Juan, who traced his roots in Ilocos Norte, was plucked out by Cimatu, a native of Bangui, Ilocos Norte, from his post in Region 12 to replace regional executive director Paquito Moreno in whose watch the “underwater” issue erupted.

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Exporters urged to maximize US GSP privilege extended to PHL

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), urged Philippine exporters to maximize the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) privilege, which has been extended until December 31, 2020, with the signing of the US Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 on March 23. The previous US GSP program expired at the end of 2017.

“The extended US GSP, which promotes economic growth and development in developing countries through the grant of preferential and duty-free entry of goods to the US market, stands to benefit existing exporters to the US, as well as those

who are looking at the US for their market expansion,” EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said.

The Philippines is a beneficiary of the US GSP, which gives zero or reduced tariffs to a total 5,057 products, or 48 percent of

the 10,600 total United States tariff lines. Of these, over 3,500 are available to all beneficiary developing nations, while least-developed countries can ship an additional 1,500 products without duty.

On July 1, 2017, under the special trade-preference program, the coverage of the US GSP expanded to include travel goods, which added 23 new tariff lines, such as trunks, suit cases, vanity and attaché cases; handbags; and travel, sports and similar bags. With the inclusion of travel goods, marked improvement was seen in this sector’s export performance, with Philippine exports of leather trunks, suit cases and executive cases increasing by 589 percent, from only $13.77 million in 2016 to $94.94 million in 2017.

Similarly, exports of handbags of other materials increased by 495 percent, from $11.45 million to $68.19 million.

With the renewal of US GSP this year, it is expected Philippine exports to the US would further increase.

In 2017 the Philippines’s total exports to the United States amounted to $9.2 billion, making it the country’s second-biggest market after the combined markets of China and Hong Kong.

GSP exports account for about 18 percent of Philippine exports to the US, valued at $1.59 billion.

Top GSP exports to the United States include telescopic sights for rifles, spectacle lenses other than glass, new pneumatic radial tires made of rubber, nonalcoholic beverages not including those from fruits and vegetables, and electrical machinery and equipment parts.

The extended US GSP includes a mechanism that refunds tariffs paid from January 1.

In addition to the DTI advocacy of GSP access, the Philippines also aims to negotiate and conclude a free-trade agreement with the US. The link to the US GSP-eligible products can be found at http:// tradelinephilippines.dti.gov.ph/web/ tradeline-portal/quick-links.

APBC welcomes PHL delegation to Australia

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HE Australia-Philippines Business Council (APBC) welcomed the Philippine delegation to Australia, led by Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano, through a welcome reception participated in by Australian and Philippine business leaders on March 16 in Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia.

Lopez and Cayetano witnessed the signing of letters of intent to invest in the Philippines from different private-sector leaders and firms planning to maximize the Philippines’s growing economy. Investment includes setting up of an assembly plant for GPS tracking devices, development of a $10-million biomass power plant and construction of a $30-million hotel and residential place in Cebu.

Australia’s Macquarie Bank Chairman Peter Warne, Chairman of TMIP Holdings David King, ANZ Philippines CEO Anna Green and Austal CEO David Singleton were among the Australian business executives present. Philippine business leaders like Jose Concepcion III and SM Investment’s Teresita Sy-Coson were among the Filipino executives in attendance.

In his address to the business community, Lopez highlighted the government’s support programs for micro, small and medium enterprises and its initiatives that ensure the growth, development and competitiveness of these enterprises. He sharedthe Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Negosyo Centers, Pondo Para sa Pagbabago, Shared Service Facility, market-access ini-

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Wednesday, March 28, 2018 A9

DTI-EMB invites local exporters to join China Intl Import Exposition

By Rudolph Jay Velasco

Trade-Investment Specialist, Market Innovation Division DTI-EMB

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), are inviting all exporters to join the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and register on or before the deadline on April 6, even as it concluded the CIIE Roadshow dubbed as “CIIE: Your Gateway to the China Market” information session in Cebu City and Davao City on March 20 and March 23, respectively.

The CIIE is expected to be a major opportunity for Philippine enterprises to enter the huge Chinese market as China is expected to import $10 trillion in value of goods and services in the ensuing years.

The Cebu and Davao information sessions were part of the road show organized by the DTI, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Manila.

In attendance were more than 200 participants combined for the Cebu and Davao legs of the road show. The CIIE Roadshow included a presentation on CIIE and discussion on export opportunities in China and its import regulations.

Senen M. Perlada, EMB director, expressed his desire to see more

design-driven products, especially in Cebu, exported to China.

“We’d like to see your furniture, wearables, fashion accessories, dried mangoes and manufactured goods at the CIIE,” he said.

The Philippine participation to the CIIE is expected to be the biggest-ever participation in an overseas trade fair, with over 100 Philippine product and service exporters, investors and government representatives.

The CIIE is set from November 5 to 10, 2018 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, China. The event will focus mainly on the importation of goods and services to China. The section of trade in goods includes six exhibitions areas: High-end Intelligent Equipment; Consumer Electronics and Appliances; Automobile; Apparel, Accessories and Consumer Goods; Food and Agricultural Products; and Medical Equipment and Medical Care Products. The section of trade in services comprises Tourism Services, Emerging Technologies, Culture and Education, Creative Design and Service Outsourcing.

Companies interested in joining the CIIE may contact Rowena Mendoza via Rmendoza@citem.com. ph, or Eva Marie Mariquina at emmariquina@citem.com.ph on or before April 6.

PHL gets 5th trade policy review in WTO

T PHILIPPINE Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano lead the delegation of local business leaders that met with their Australian counterparts during a meeting on March 16 in Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia.

tiatives that provide permanent space for MSME products, and online digital-space programs, summed up in the DTI’s 7M strategy on MSMEs. Lopez said increasing the trade base between Australia and the Philippines should be based on the complementarity of industries and sectors where growth will be highly recorded. Some examples he gave were on agri-based commodities, shipbuilding, construction (Build, Build, Build), and InformationTechnology and business-process management services.

In his closing remarks, Lopez shared the Philippines’s economic breakout, supported by growth in GDP, manufacturing and consumer confidence, among others. He also emphasized the enhancement of domestic policies, with new regulations

adopted to ensure competitiveness of businesses and industries.

Lopez cited the recently issued tax law (TRAIN), where individuals are expected to have bigger takehome pay. With its implementation, it is expected to build a wider consumer base with higher buying capacity leading to greater opportunities for businesses. Lopez reiterated the Philippines is open for business, with the DTI’s core task of bringing more job-generating opportunities for all Filipinos.

During the event, APBC President Ed Alcordo expressed APBC’s gratitude for the Philippine government’s commitment in strengthening bilateral ties between Australia and the Philippines, where foreign and economic relations have grown through 70 years of friendship,

with a comprehensive partnership agreement signed in 2015.

At the end of the welcome reception, a meeting attended by Lopez, Cayetano and Singleton was held.

Singleton shared Austal’s shipyard operations in Cebu and its plan to expand its operations in the Philippines.

Austal makes fast, lightweight aluminum boats for civilian and military use. They are the sole foreign company supplying Aluminum-hulled ships to the United States Navy.

Singleton said they make ships in the Philippines for export to customers in Germany, Australia and many other overseas clients who require high quality shipbuilding.

The business reception was organized by the APBC and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Sydney.

R A DE Secretar y R amon M. Lopez, the Philippines’s chief negotiator at the World Trade Organization (WTO), said an inter-agency delegation headed

by Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will appear before the WTO Trade Policy Review Body in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 26 to 28 for the country’s Fifth Trade Policy Review.

Rodolfo will be joined by senior officials of the DTI, the departments of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and of Labor and Employment, Board of Investments, National Food Authority, the Food and Drug Administration, Intellectual Property Office and Government Procurement and Policy, as well as officers of the Philippine Mission to the WTO. The WTO, of which the Philippines has been a member since 1995, conducts individual trade policy reviews, an exercise in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals.

For developing countries like the Philippines, the review is conducted once every six years. Substantial developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. The last Philippine review was con-

ducted in 2012.

Lopez said, “This fifth trade policy review will be an opportunity not only to highlight the country’s impressive economic growth but also to share critical policy reforms and aggressive infrastructure program being undertaken by the Duterte administration. It also signals that the Philippine government is actively engaging the international community, self-confident in the policies we are implementing.”

The meeting in Geneva will be a culmination of an intensive process that began last year with the preparation of a Report on Philippine Trade Policy by the WTO Secretariat, which was supplemented by a counterpart Philippine Government Report submitted in December 2017.

Ahead of the meeting in Geneva, 22 countries (including the United States and China) have submitted questions covering a wide range of trade and economic issues, such as the developments in the Philippines’s tariff structure, restrictions on investments, import-licensing requirements and the rice-tariffication process.

Some questions which were not directly related to trade were also received, such as on gender equality and visa availments.

DTI holds overseas and domestic construction information and capacity-building sessions

By Gliceria N. Cademia

Trade and Industry Development Specialist DTI-EMB

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HE Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) in collaboration, with the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines’s (CIAP) Philippine Overseas and Domestic Construction Board, held the Overseas and Domestic Construction Industry Information and Capacity Building Sessions during Worldbex2018 at SMX Convention Center, Pasay City on March 16.

Maria Teresa S. Loring, division chief of EMB, delivered her welcome remarks underscoring that with the EMB and CIAP’s col-

laboration, it aims to further assist new companies and the more established ones to make their entry into the international market.

The participants were apprised on topics, such as EMB services, understanding free-trade agreements (FTA) in trade in services and Ripples Plus. The Development Bank of the Philippines discussed its financing program, while PCAB explained the PCAB registration and licensing procedure, Contractors Performance Evaluation System and CIAP Document 102, which refers to the uniform general condition of contract for private construction.

TheEMBismandatedtooverseethe development,promotion,andmonitoring of Philippine exports. It provides

would-beexportersandcurrentexporters the enabling environment to make them globally competitive.

To support its services, it provides export assistance; business matching; coffee accreditation and export documentation. It handles trade complaints through its Export Trade Complaints Committee; coffee accreditation and export documentation; and export accreditation under the Export Development Act. Likewise, it provides market and product consultancy; conducts outbound/ inbound business missions; and maintains a knowledge processing unit for export and import statistics.

Its four major programs are the Philippine Export Competitiveness Program, Doing Business in

Free Trade Areas, Doing Business with the EU Using GSP+, the Regional Interactive Platform for Philippine Exporters and the Halal Export Industry Development and Promotion Program.

The FTA agreement addresses the elimination of tariffs among and between partner economies and other nontariff restrictive regulations of commerce on substantially all the trade between countries or group of countries for products and services governed by Gatt Article XXIV and Gats Article V. The perceived benefit for the construction industry is greater market access in six Asean FTA partners (i.e. Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, India and Japan). Ad-

ditionally, there is an ongoing discussion on the movement of natural persons to have a more relaxed process under Mode 4.

Loring said service exporting is different from product exporting where a product is shipped out of the country. In services like construction, the design or drawing can be done through online platform; which falls under Mode 2, hence qualifies as a service export. The four modes of supply in services where discussed: 1) Cross Border Supply, which includes any goods or services being transmitted online; 2) Consumption Abroad, which includes foreign students studying in the Philippines and tourist and foreigners awaiting services in the

country; 3) Commercial Presence, which involves investment in another country and establishing a satellite office or marketing office anywhere in the world, and 4) Movement of Natural Persons, which includes people doing a certain activity for a specific period in a company based in another country.

The overseas Filipino workers sector falls under Mode 4. However, their income is not considered as export revenue since it is classified as salaries and wages. Only professionals are sent as a natural person by a Filipino company for a temporary period of time to perform the services abroad for a contract closed with a foreign company/client is combined exports revenue under Mode 1. To be continued

A10 Wednesday, March 28, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

DA must rejoin NFA Council

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T was in May 2014 when former President Benigno S. Aquino III decided to transfer the supervision of four agencies attached to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to the Office of the President (OP).

Removed from the supervision of the DA were the National Food Authority (NFA), the National Irrigation Administration, Philippine Coconut Authority and the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority. Aside from this, the DA was also removed from the NFA Council (NFAC), considered the highest policy-making body of the food agency.

Aquino issued Executive Order (EO) 165 to authorize the transfer of these agencies to the Office of the President. Citing EO 292, or the Administrative Code of 1987, Aquino said he has the continuing authority to reorganize the administrative structure of the OP, including transferring any agency to the OP from other departments and agencies. The move was made after former Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala faced plunder charges for allegedly benefiting from the porkbarrel scam and for violating election laws. There was also speculation that Aquino was displeased with Alcala for his failure to achieve the rice self-sufficiency goal.

The past two years bore witness to the consequences of the DA’s exclusion from the NFAC. While it is not the only possible reason behind the failure of the NFA to import rice or roll out other that will augment its depleting stockpile last year and this year, it may have played a factor. The DA is responsible for agricultural development and oversees food production. It is not known how often the council consults the DA regarding farm production matters. But the current system is simply inefficient.

It also does not make sense to exclude an agency that should be on top of food production from deciding on matters that would have an impact on farmers. While the NFAC includes, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., the exclusion of DA officials from the council is an anomaly that must be corrected soon. This will make it easier for the NFAC to act immediately should the NFA encounter problems related to its stockpile or its procurement program.

The Duterte administration must heed the advice of Party-list Rep. Cecil Chavez of Butil who pushed for inclusion of DA officials in the NFAC. Chavez pointed out that the DA is the agency “perfectly situated” to provide data on the supply side, which the NFAC needs. Also, she noted that the best agricultural economists and statisticians in the country are with the DA. President Duterte should consider the suggestion of Chavez until Congress is able to restructure the NFA. After Congress converts the quantitative restriction on rice into tariffs this year, lawmakers are expected to tackle changes in the mandate of the NFA. But, until and unless this is done, the NFA would have to grapple with the problems that continue to hound it. In the meantime, the Duterte administration can consider the inclusion of the DA again in the council as a possible measure to help the food agency address its problems in a timely and efficient manner.

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Where to shove it Teddy Locsin Jr.

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hank you, Mr. President. I thank your able chairmanship of this Preparatory Committee Meeting. The Philippines associates itself with the statement of Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.

“The Philippines is an archipelago of some 7,600 islands. Because of the porous nature of its borders, safeguarding the national territory from the movement of illicit goods—particularly drugs, firearms and explosives, which in our experience go together—is an existential challenge.

“Our adherence to the UN Programme of Action and its International Tracing Instrument on Small Arms and Light Weapons is more than a perfunctory obligation. It is a necessity that requires us to partner with other countries. Philippine policy is reflected in our various

laws addressing the trafficking of illicit firearms.

“The draft of the National Action Plan on Small Arms and Light Weapons is now with our President. The Plan aims to enhance the capacity and capability of the government to stop, fight and eradicate the illicit traffic of arms.

“Philippine policy is carried out by collaboration and cooperation. First, at the national level, concerned agencies and the Armed Forces conduct checkpoints and visibility patrols. Second, the National Action Plan on Small & Light Weapons is being

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

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“However, the Philippines stresses that this process of providing assistance must not be politicized. No intervention on law enforcement will be tolerated. The methods of keeping the peace and enforcing the law is first, foremost and exclusive to the state concerned; particularly in a climate where organized crime has the capability, particularly the financial means, to influence international policy.

“Second, there is a need to strengthen the end-user instrument by developing an international template for this documentation to reduce arms diversion.

Third, the marking that determines the authenticity of firearms should be improved to ensure proper tracing.

“Additionally, the Philippines stresses the importance of sharing good practices, including the conduct of open-forum discussions to address concerns on the proliferation of illicit trade of firearms. The Philippines assures you, Mr. President, of our full support.

Thank you.”

Clear as a bell and essentially tells the EU and Canada where exactly to shove their arms trade. Don’t you think?

On Piñol’s idea to rise with rice in Papua New Guinea

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finalized. Third, the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security is being pursued for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions. Last, we are considering a measure published by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research.

“Regional and International cooperation are demonstrated by various activities, such as information exchange between Aseanapol and Interpol. Joint patrols with Malaysia and Indonesia. And regular reports to UN POA since 2003. With a grant from ATT, we conducted the Training Course on Licensing, Investigation and Enforcement last February 2018.

“For this Third Review Conference on Small/Light Weapons, the Philippines reiterates that the capacity of states to implement the provisions of the Programme of Action is key.

“Priorities for the Philippines are as follows: Repeating our call to states and international and regional organizations to extend more technical and financial help in capacity building, training of lawenforcement agents and conduct public-awareness programs on the problems caused by the illicit trade.

Michael Makabenta Alunan

on the contrary

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griculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol’s proposal to “export” Filipino private sector-led rice-farming systems to Papua New Guinea may have raised condescending eyebrows from economists and agriculture experts, but his novel strategy can perhaps open up vast potentials and unintended opportunities. n Thinking out of box? Piñol, a boxing aficionado early on in his career, even as a former journalist, long before he joined politics, was thinking out of the box when he proposed to bring high-end Filipino rice-farming systems to Papua New Guinea.

Only over a week ago, Piñol went to Papua New Guinea, a British Commonwealth Realm, and got its Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to commit to come over to meet with President Duterte sometime in May and possibly cement bilateral economic commitments, followed by a treaty that can institutionalize any mutually beneficial arrangements.

However, top-notch economists and agricultural planners led no less

by former Socioeconomic Secretary Dr. Cielito Habito and former Agriculture Secretary William Dar have criticized Piñol, asking two valid questions: 1) Why focus on “rice self-sufficiency” when we cannot compete against Thailand’s and Vietnam’s production costs of rice at P5 to P6 per kilo against P10 to P12 per kilo in the Philippines? Many economists would therefore advise to give up the elusive goal of self-sufficiency, and settle instead for food security while focusing on higher incomes from other high-value cash crops and livelihood activities; and 2) Why go to Papua New Guinea when we have more problems locally? n Can’t do away with rice yet. Speaking on March 22 before

the 2017 Philippine Agricultural Journalists Inc. and San Miguel Corp.’s BINHI Agricultural Journalism Awards, Piñol argued we cannot simply abandon rice selfsufficiency, unless Filipinos change their diets and reduce their rice consumption.

For the poor, who survive on a hand-to-mouth existence, 80 percent to 90 percent of their income is spent on food, the bulk on rice to fill their hungry stomachs and less on real food. A study by Professor Jeyakumar, a rice dietary expert and one-time fellow of the International Rice Research Institute, noted that obesity of Westerners like the Americans is caused by almost 40 percent in high-fat diets, compared to Asians, whose average diets are composed of 67 percent carbohydrates, mostly rice, and only 21 percent fats. For the dirt poor, rice may even share as much as 90 percent of their diet.

As our traditional sources of rice imports, Vietnam and Thailand are also vulnerable to climate change with Thailand devastated by a tsunami years back, Piñol claims we must continue aiming for rice selfsufficiency and developing alternative sources like Papua New Guinea. n It’s no “Guinea pig,” it’s real! Piñol argues the rice-farming potentials in Papua New Guinea are

real and tremendous based on actual pilot results. This makes Piñol’s idea no longer a “guinea-pig experiment,” referring to how scientists use rodents or laboratory rats, popularly called “guinea pigs.”

Actual rice-farming experiments done in Papua New Guinea yielded 8.5 metric tons per hectare, even without fertilizers, even double our national average yield of 4MT per hectare, he revealed in conversations while seated at the BINHI awards.

The reasons for this are 1) Papua New Guinea is blessed with good rainfall with its remaining lush forests and watersheds as evidenced by its vast rivers as wide as a kilometer, and easily diverted to feed irrigation canals; and 2) Papua New Guinea’s farm soils are vastly virgin and rich, unlike Philippine rice lands that are already toxic from four to five decades of chemical fertilizer and pesticide usage. n All the land to offer. Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neil instantly offered 100,000 hectares for planting even starting tomorrow, but can develop easily 2 million hectares in government lands for rice farming with irrigation.

“PNG has only 8 million people and over 46.28 million hectares of land, mostly forest and agricultural lands, compared to our 105 million See “Alunan,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Mobile insurance as distribution channel for microinsurance Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM

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he face of insurance marketing is being redrawn by digital technology. Mobile phone-based insurance, or simply mobile insurance, which is the sale of insurance products using mobile phones, is an emerging distribution channel for microinsurance.

InsurTech in the world of microinsurance IN this regard, mobile network operators or telecom companies have gotten into the picture as major players in the promotion of microinsurance. Providing these services is also seen as enhancing customer loyalty for the MNOs and improving the overall customer experience.

Hence, MNOs have not only looked at providing insurance but other financial services, as well, such as banking and investments. In other words, the use of mobile phones as a distribution channel has become a mutually beneficial endeavor for both the insurers and the MNOs. As of 2016 there are an estimated 2.6 billion SIM cards all over the Asian region. The Microinsurance Network and Munich Re Foundation estimate that MNOs have sold insurance products (life insurance, personal accident and health) to over 40.3 million people using mobile phones, as of mid-2016. Microinsurance Network is a platform of over 300 microinsurance experts, from over 40 countries, dedicated to promoting access to microinsurance to low-income populations. It is funded by the government of Luxembourg.

In India the telecom provider Telenor provides insurance to 53 percent of its subscribers. In Bangladesh Grameenphone provides to 15 percent of its subscribers. In Sri Lanka, the largest telecommunications provider, Dialog Axiata, has sold over 1.46 million mobile insurance policies, from 2013 to 2016, to its subscribers. This trend is driven by the widespread use of smart phones, the decreasing costs of mobile technology and the technology-savvy young population.

The sale of microinsurance has not been easy. Reaching out to the low-income population has been beset with challenges, primary of which is accessibility. The mobile phone has provided the missing link. The payment of premiums can either be

Alunan. . .

continued from A10

and 30 million hectares, respectively,” Piñol said.

Rice farming will mutually benefit both countries. Rice farming will be done exclusively by the private sector, but can tap Filipino workers.

Any excess produce can be exported cheap to the Philippines, and any excess exported worldwide. For Papua New Guinea, producing its own rice is novel, as it had long been sourcing rice from former surrogate colonizer, Australia, which allegedly imports cheap rice from Vietnam, then sells it to Papua New Guinea by as much as P100 per kilo.

Pursuing the Papua New Guinea option is logical for Piñol, as we have limited rice lands of 4.8 million hectares. In fact, only 3.9 million hectares are planted to rice, of which only 1.2 million hectares have irrigation, the remaining 2.7 million hectares are rain-fed areas producing only once a year at low yields. n New sites, new sights? As an island archipelago, we have fewer flat lands suitable to rice producing thrice a year, but more sloping mountain areas with mixed eco-systems, including adjacent marine and

through airtime or mobile-money.

In the Philippines the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Co., a local MNO, through its subsidiary Voyager Innovations Inc., has launched the Fintqnologies Corp.

(Fintq) to provide financial access through mobile services. It aims to promote microsavings, microlending, microinvestment and microinsurance. Fintq has called them “sacheted” financial products. Taking its cue from the term “financial inclusion,” this program has been launched under the KasamaKA (you are included) battle cry and brand.

This is the first of its kind in the Philippines. Using the power of the mobile phone, digital technology will be used to access the low-income families in the Philippines. With 7 out of 10 families being unbanked, its microsavings program seeks to help Filipinos start saving. Interestbearing savings accounts can now be opened for as low as P20 through the sari-sari store. A customer only has to register in the KasamaKA web site or mobile app and open an account.

Deposits can be made through the nearest sari-sari store, and the customer will receive a notification via SMS for every successfully made deposit. The savings account can be viewed in the mobile phone itself. As for microlending, with 1 in 5 families being “loan underserved,” credit has also been made more accessible.

For microinsurance, the customer can acquire insurance protection for as low as P10. The insurance coverage, premiums paid and the benefits can be viewed as well in the mobile phone itself. For this purpose, Fintq has been licensed as an insurance agency by the Insurance Commission and will receive commissions as an agent. It has partnered with a number of insurers for this endeavor.

Lawyer Dennis B. Funa is the current insurance commissioner. Funa was appointed by President Duterte as the new insurance commissioner in December 2016. E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com.

mangrove areas. Piñol added traditional rice sites like Luzon and Bicol are ravaged yearly by 21 typhoons a year.

We won’t abandon these areas, but we need to develop new sites like Palawan, Samar, Agusan, Zamboanga, Davao, Basilan and Soccsksargen and, of course, in Papua New Guinea.

Piñol declared earlier that even former warzones in Mindanao and portions of military reservations like Fort Magsaysay’s 46,000 hectares, can be converted to production areas.

This will realize the biblical phrase of “converting swords to ploughshares,” which we can call transforming arms into farms.

While Piñol is confident of hitting 100-percent rice self-sufficiency by 2020, he says the growing population will overtake our capacity to produce. Thus, the need to develop new sites, and the urgency to keep our sights on new ideas, new technologies and even achieve unintended opportunities, which, ironically, are the very intended targets of our economists and experts. As we gain from new sites, old sites may slowly shift to non-rice, but more profitable commodities and other agro-processing ventures.

E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 A11

Again, Digong praises Balutan Florante S. Solmerin

FACT IS MIGHT!

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N his speech in the previous assembly of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) at the Manila Hotel, President Duterte reiterated that the so-called lavish Christmas Party for the employees of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is not an issue to him. Duterte has once dismissed the issue when he delivered a speech in the launching of his “Malasakit” program in February at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

The PCSO is included in the Malasakit program.

In his speech, Duterte praised PCSO General Manager Alexander F. Balutan, and asked him to stand to be recognized. During the LMP assembly, Duterte was apparently irked.

Before the mayors, this is his blunt question to Sandra Cam: “Sandra Cam…. Can you handle Balutan?”

Deafening silence is not what arose

afterward but laughter, howling and applause. Present in the assembly were Balutan and Cam, together with PCSO Chairman Anselmo Simeon Pinili.

Duterte no longer jests. Cam was appointed by Duterte as a director of the PCSO in December 2017. Only after a few days, she has complained to the media about the allegedly grand Christmas party of the PCSO

in which 2,580 employees and their families have attended, and accused Balutan and former Chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz of irregularities. The Palace clarified that Corpuz resigned due to his health, not because of the alleged irregularities.

At present, the Senate and Congress continue to hold hearings regarding the issues Cam raised against Balutan and PCSO. This eventually led to Cam going against several lawmakers, 48 of which signed the resolution imposing contempt against the said director and that she should resign as PCSO director.

According to the congressmen, Cam disrespected a few of them, particularly Rep. Arnulfo Teves Jr. of the Third District of Negros Oriental and Danilo E. Suarez of the Third District of Quezon. Cam said she was only defending herself.

In the public eye, it is not wise to involve the PCSO in such controversies given that its mandate is charity.

To use the PCSO for one’s personal interest is disadvantageous to both the PCSO and its beneficiaries, especially if the allegations are false, not

Not everyone loses in a trade war Michael Schuman

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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conomists like to say that no one wins in a trade war. We may soon find out if they’re right. Only hours after US President Donald J. Trump said he would slap tariffs on a range of Chinese products, China imposed punitive duties on some imports from the United States in retaliation for previously announced US tariffs on steel and aluminum. And here we go, down the rabbit hole.

Companies, workers and consumers from both countries are almost certain to get hurt in a tit-for-tat conflict. On the other hand, the carnage could produce big winners elsewhere in the developing world.

On the surface, a disruption of trade might seem a disaster for other countries in Asia. A blow to Chinese exports could ripple through the supply chains that stretch across the region, robbing other economies of growth opportunities and jobs.

At the same time, a US-China trade war will spill over into another ongoing economic battle—the one between China and its low-wage competitors in global export markets. For many emerging economies, the longterm benefits might well outweigh the short-term damage.

China, the world’s largest exporter, has long been the destination of choice for United States and European companies looking to outsource and offshore manufacturing, especially of labor-intensive consumer goods like clothing, footwear and electronics. As factory wages in China have risen to the highest in emerging Asia, however, other developing countries with lower costs have begun to steal away investment and jobs, helping to promote industrialization and boost growth at home.

Apparel and electronics manufacturers, for instance, have already started diversifying production to rivals like Vietnam and India. Vietnam has been enjoying an export boom, led by sectors traditionally dominated by China,

including clothes and mobile phones. Taiwan-based Wistron, famous for assembling Apple gear in China, is expanding its assembly operations in India.

Till now, China has managed to hold on to a surprising amount of low-end manufacturing by offsetting high costs with better infrastructure and more reliable and extensive supply networks. Poorer countries haven’t been able to capitalize on cheap wages as much as they should. For example, while US textile and apparel imports from Vietnam and India rose last year, the value of China’s exports remains far larger, with shipments worth nearly $39 billion in 2017.

A wider United States-China trade war could accelerate the transition. US companies that rely heavily on imports from China, such as electronics brands and retailers, would be forced to redesign their supply chains around tariffs.

Multinationals and their suppliers would look for alternative facilities outside China; some would probably decamp from the mainland altogether for cheaper climes.

This is bad news for China. Even though the government is attempting to upgrade manufacturing into more advanced products, the country still relies on cheap factories to employ lots of low-skilled workers.

The sooner apparel and electronics

Stormy Daniels spanks Trump again

By Michelle Goldberg New York Times News Service

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ecause there is broad consensus that Donald J. Trump is a lewd degenerate, nothing Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film actress and director, told 60 Minutes about their alleged 2006 sexual encounter was particularly astonishing. (Though the mental image of Trump dropping his pants at Daniels’s command for a spanking will likely dampen libidos throughout the land.)

Everyone knows Trump is a disloyal husband, so it’s no shock that he slept with Daniels—and, at about the same time, with the former Playboy model Karen McDougal—while his wife, Melania Trump, was caring for their new baby.

Everyone also knows that Trump has a repulsive compulsion to sexualize his daughter Ivanka—he once happily concurred with Howard Stern that she was a “piece of ass”—so it’s not surprising that he told Daniels she reminded him of his child before he slept with her.

(According to McDougal, Trump said something similar to her.)

Nevertheless, the Daniels interview aired last Sunday was important, portending danger for both Trump and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen. As I’ve written before, the Daniels affair is a corruption scandal disguised as a sex scandal. And on the corruption front,

we learned things last Sunday that could help unravel Trump’s wretched presidency.

Daniels’s most shocking disclosure was her account of being threatened, apparently on Trump’s behalf, in 2011, a few weeks after agreeing to tell her story to a gossip magazine for $15,000. She said she was in a parking lot with her infant daughter when a man approached and said: “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” Then, she said, he looked at the baby and warned, “A beautiful little girl—it would be a shame if something happened to her mom.”

There was another, less-direct threat this year, Daniels said, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen had arranged a $130,000 hush money payment to her before the 2016 election.

Both her former attorney and her former business manager, she told 60 Minutes, pressured her to sign statements denying the tryst and the payoff, saying of the Trump camp, “They can make your life hell in many different ways.”

In a statement from his lawyer on Monday, Cohen denied threatening Daniels and said he didn’t believe the parking lot encounter ever happened.

But Michael Avenatti, the aggressive, mediagenic lawyer who took on Daniels’s case this year, is convinced the attempted intimidation originated with the Trump camp, and he told me he “absolutely” has evidence about the threat that has not

yet become public. Avenatti has been strategically—if maddeningly—coy about just what he’s holding back. Last Thursday he tweeted, “If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth?,” accompanied by a photo of a CD or DVD. Whatever was on that disc, we didn’t see it last Sunday.

“In no way would we play our entire hand on 60 Minutes,” he told me.

Of course, he could be bluffing. But if he’s not, this case could provide a crucial window into Trump’s thuggish way of doing business.

Right now, Daniels and Avenatti are fighting to have the nondisclosure agreement she signed in 2016 declared null and void. If she signed it because she felt threatened, that strengthens her position. As the suit proceeds, said Norman Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “Stormy and her lawyer will be able to bring in a lot of evidence of other threats associated with Trump.”

There’s already quite a bit in the public domain, some thanks to BuzzFeed News, which obtained FBI reports on cases involving threats made by alleged Trump associates. In 1995, the site reported, security guards working for Trump “shoved, threatened and held a 12-year-old boy and his mother against their will,” in an attempt to silence a whistleblower. In 2009 BuzzFeed News’s Jason Leopold wrote, a lawyer

enough evidence can be presented and the intent is to injure an entity to satisfy one’s interests. These must cease. Instead, we should unite to make up for the PCSO’s shortcomings to fortify the agency as a charitable institution for the Filipino people.

In my perspective, as it was Duterte who challenged Cam, his statement may imply if Cam can topple the general manager. That is if the director has any evidence that can prove her allegation of irregularities against Balutan.

It is akin to Teves’s provocation that, if said director can present legal documents that state that he operates a small town lottery in Negros Oriental, he will abdicate himself as congressman. If not, Cam must resign as PCSO director.

In September Balutan will have been PCSO’s general manager for two consecutive years and Duterte’s trust in him remains steadfast. Duterte has dismissed a number of his appointees due to corruption. After the Holy Week, we will see who is next.

E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com.

production moves offshore, the more pressure Chinese leaders will face to boost innovation and create new, high-tech export industries.

We still don’t know which Chinese exports will get hit by Trump’s tariffs, so the impact on Chinese factories is hard to predict. And, even if the two manage to avoid a protracted confrontation—behind-the-scenes talks are apparently underway to defuse the current dispute—the threat of a widespread disruption of trade could undercut the confidence of US companies in China as a production source, convincing them to diversify faster.

The real loser in all this, though, is likely to be Trump’s trade policy.

Though some factory production in China may “reshore” to the United States, much of it probably won’t.

Such labor-intensive assembly would simply be too expensive in high-wage America. That means Trump could find closing the trade deficit to be much like a game of whack-a-mole.

As he pounds down the deficit in China, it’ll bulge in other countries as production hops from place to place.

Indeed, that’s already happening.

As Vietnam has become a more important player in supply chains, the US trade deficit with the country has swelled—to $38 billion last year, three times larger than in 2011. In a world of global production, tariffs may never hit their target.

representing investors who stood to lose over $1 billion in Trump’s casino bankruptcy got a threatening phone call. We “know where you live, and we’re going to your house for your wife and kids,” the caller said.

If you can find this and more with a Google search, imagine what Avenatti might uncover through the legal process of discovery. The fact-finding potential of the case expanded further on Monday, when Avenatti filed a revised complaint in US District Court in California. The part that made headlines is that Daniels is now suing Cohen for defamation. More significant, though, is Avenatti’s claim that the original hush agreement is invalid in part because it “was entered with the illegal aim, design and purpose of circumventing federal campaign finance law.” If the case proceeds, Avenatti could get a look inside the Trump campaign. “The amended allegations will provide me and my team with significantly more discovery relating to what Mr. Trump knew, when he knew about it and what he did about it, if anything,” Avenatti told me on Monday evening.

Will the new strategy work?

“I think it’s well done,” Eisen told me, though far from a sure thing. I don’t want to get my hopes up about a porn star saving the republic. But I can scarcely think of a more satisfying way for this terrible era to end.