Businessmirror may 24, 2016 by BusinessMirror

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AIRO—Egypt sent a submarine on Sunday to join the hunt for the flight recorders from the EgyptAir jetliner that crashed in the Mediterranean and killed all 66 people aboard, while hundreds of Coptic Christian mourners filled a church in Cairo to pray for their relatives among the dead. ➜Story on A8

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Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 227

Tail end of 16th Congress saw passage of key bills BY Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Butch Fernandez @joveemarie

@butchfBM

rue to their promise, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved a number of pending priority bills at the resumption of sessions on Monday, before they convene as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).

Deputy Speaker and Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Giorgiddi Aggabao of Isabela said the bill strengthening the Balanced

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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

PhiliPPine national Police consultant urged local banks to take effective security measures as Kaspersky lab ZAO recently announced an upgraded version of Skimer malware that threatens more banks and clients across the world. About 90 percent of ATMs (automated teller machines) in the country still employ vulnerable operating system, according to Angel Redoble, who chairs the national advisor council for the PNP-AntiCybercrime Group. Redoble replied to questions sent via electronic mail by the BusinessMirror two days after Kaspersky

attacKs on androids mounting–expert

TTACKS on mobile devices that run on outdated Android systems are mounting as theft of personal data become useful nowadays, a cybersecurity expert said. Reacting to a recent statement by Kaspersky Lab that Android users are facing growing threats, Isaac Sabas agreed that “black hats” are now very interested in targeting mobile devices. “The sheer amount of personal data that mobile phones carry” attracts cybercriminals, said Sabas, CEO of homegrown cybersecurity firm Pandora Security Labs Inc. When the security of a mobile device gets compromised, personal information, like credit-card details, contacts, messages and photos, stored in it can get into the hands of other people, Sabas explained in reply to questions sent via electronic mail by the BusinessMirror. Compromising a mobile device can be a “jumping point for further attacks,” he noted. “Its impact is more on the user as their personal data and privacy is breached.” In a statement, Kaspersky Lab ZAO said old Android devices are at risk from automatically downloaded and executed malware (malicious software). The Russian cybersecurity firm said its researchers “have spotted unusual activity in a malicious script, on an infected web site, which is putting Android users at risk.” In attacking Windows users, the script often activates download of Flash exploits, Kaspersky Lab added. “The script is a set of special instructions for execution in the browser, embedded in the code of the infected web site,” the company noted. Compromising a Windows PC can be easier than infecting an Android device, Kaspersky Lab said. “The Windows OS—and a lot of widespread applications for it—contains vulnerabilities that allow malicious code to be executed without any interactions with the user.” In the case of Android, the user has to confirm installation of the malware, the company added. “One script can dispatch an SMS to any mobile number; another generates malicious files on the SD-card of the device,” Kaspersky said. “Both malicious scripts are able to perform actions independently from the Android user: you would only need to occasionally visit an infected web site to be compromised.” Oliver Samson

Lab ZAO said its team of experts uncovered a plot and found evidence of an upgraded Skimer on a bank’s ATM during an investigation into an incident. “It was planted there and left inactivated until the cybercriminal sends it a control—a smart way of hiding tracks,” the Russian cybersecurity company said.

The Skimer group commences its modus operandi by gaining access to the ATM system, “either through physical access, or via the bank’s internal network,” Kaspersky Lab said in a statement. “After successfully installing ‘Backdoor.Win32. Skimer’ into the system, it infects the core of an ATM—the executable [file] responsible for the machine’s interactions with the banking infrastructure, cash processing and credit cards.” The Skimer was sown broadly between the years 2010 and 2013, “with up to nine different malware families identified,” according to Kaspersky Lab. The latest 20 samples of its family were uploaded from different countries, including the US, Russia, China, Germany, France, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Brazil and the Philippines. The Skimer group, however, is not much an issue today, Re-

doble said. “Cybercriminals have already developed an ATM card that contains a malicious code,” Redoble said. “When inserted into the machine, it executes the code and forces it to dispense all its stored cash.” Some cybercriminals open the ATM by force to gain access to its computer, he added. By inserting a CD into the machine, the cybercriminals will be able to dispense all the money in its storage, Redoble said. “It’s an attack on the vulnerability of the operating system used by the ATM,” said Redoble, who is also CEO of Right Factors Corp. (RFC) Advisory Services. He advised local banks to “upgrade the system and implement a better way in validating the identity of the bank client.” “The use of PIN has become obsolete and not anymore considered a security measure against ATM fraud,” he said.

analyTIcs fIrM helps clIenTs keep up wITh cOnsuMers By Brian Edwards

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)/TNS

INNEAPOLIS—As consumers’ lives become more and more focused on their phones, laptops and tablets, companies are looking for new ways to use the information from those machines to understand them. Minneapolis-based Calabrio, a data collection and analytics company, is helping companies pool valuable information to better inform customer interactions. With more than 160 new clients added last year, executives believe the company has only started to break through. Calabrio offers a package of services that allows companies to collect call recordings, keystrokes, e-mails and other correspondence from their call centers. After collection, the data is compiled and analyzed in a variety of ways. Speech-to-text conversions and screen, voice and keystroke recordings are among data that is automatically put through a phonetic engine to search for keywords, cancellations or mentions of competition.

Tweaks

ALL of these interactions are compiled into a simple report that shows companies what types of interactions work best and those that need to be tweaked. Though Calabrio’s rapid growth has revealed a bright forecast for the company, it took years for the company to begin to set itself apart. “This is not a young industry,” said Tom Goodmanson, chief executive of Calabrio. “Our two big competitors are each $2 billion companies. Getting people on these systems is difficult.” Nevertheless, Goodmanson credits forward thinking and the rise of “big data” as two of the driving factors behind Calabrio’s competitive move into the market. Finding customers was simple at first because the company was able to recruit people who may not have been using any type of recording or analytics service, he said. But when they started pulling customers away from existing companies, the competition took it harshly. “It’s really studying and listening to people to stay ahead,” Goodmanson said. Through listening to

customer feedback, studying new technology and hosting conferences, Calabrio has been able to make enough moves to keep ahead in an ever-growing industry, he said. “you can’t just be the executives,” he said. “you need to be the experts. We are just curious about how technology can help.”

Optimization

THE analytics wrapped up within the data recording services also allow companies to tweak their marketing strategy by combing through calls and other data to find trends in interactions that are most likely to result in a positive experience for the customer. Goodmanson said companies are always trying to do their best to figure out the efficiency of an advertising program and Calabrio’s products help companies find exactly which words, phrases or ad campaign has been most successful. Three industries are leading the way in using this type of technology, he said. Retail stores, shipping companies and banks have all stepped forward to use Calabrio’s products, and companies like J. Crew and FedEx represent two high-profile customers. It makes sense that companies in those industries would be

taking advantage of these analytics-based tools, Goodmanson said, because their work is highly tied to customer engagement. The company offers a variety of products, but many customers end up buying the entire package, or “suite,” which includes the recording of communications, work-force optimization and analytics. Interest in Calabrio’s products pushed the company’s revenue above $65 million last year. Goodmanson believes there is plenty of room to grow. The company is planning to add 40 employees this year.

Interactivity

AND as technology evolves, this type of consumer data will be coming from a host of devices through different “Internet of Things,” or IoT, systems. Washing machines will be able to report to their manufacturers when there is a malfunction or repair that is needed, Goodmanson said, and the ability to find trends in that type of data will propel the growing industry even further. The more people’s lives become shaped around the technology they use, the more companies like Calabrio will be able to find opportunities to use the data collected, he said.

Mandatory military training: Is it time?

By Lauren Zumbach Chicago Tribune/TNS

HICAGO—As a computer security researcher, Steve Manzuik says he’s “a little more paranoid” than the average person when it comes to his credit and debit cards. He’s familiar enough with ATM (automated teller machines) skimmers—devices that mimic an ATM’s card reader to swipe card data—to say he could probably make one, if he desired. But even Manzuik, 42, director of security research at Duo Security, couldn’t escape getting caught by one. One morning in December, he got an e-mail saying about $600 was withdrawn from his account at an ATM in Beverly Hills, California. Manzuik—at home in Las Vegas— immediately called his bank. The bank canceled his card, and a new one arrived about four days later. Getting his money back took about a week and a half, he said. “I was lucky I didn’t need that account,” Manzuik said. Fraud involving ATM skimming devices isn’t new but is on the rise, according to data from Fico Card Alert Service, which monitors transaction data for bank clients. Fico doesn’t release specific numbers but recently reported a nearly 550-percent increase nationwide in the number of ATMs compromised by criminals in 2015 compared with 2014.

SKIMMING is by far the most common way fraudsters obtain card data, according to Fico. Each of those incidents took less time than in 2014 and affected about

half the number of cards, which T.J. Horan, vice president of fraud solutions at Fico, attributed to criminals taking a “quick hit” approach. There are a wide variety of ATM skimming devices, but many involve a card reader that can be affixed on top of the genuine card slot to “skim” card details from the magnetic strip on the back of a card. Since debit cards typically require a four-digit personal identification number, an ATM with a skimming device also often has a false keypad or pinhole camera to record digits as customers punch them in.

ASHCASHPINOy web site owner Moonline Inc. announced recently it has ramped up its delivery tool focusing on speed. CEO Sebastien L’Hermitte said Moonline, which was reported last year of being charged by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for tax evasion, launched its same-day delivery service. Products immediately available and ordered before 2 p.m. will be delivered the same day, the Frenchborn executive said. L’Hermitte added the service was launched in response to the “growing needs of its members.” “We know online shopping generates a lot of excitement, and we want to make this experience even better,” L’Hermitte said. “[We] are committed to do all [we] can to deliver the best experience to members, existing and new.” The announcement comes as the the xCommerce market is seen by International Data Corp. (IDC) to grow rapidly in the Asia-Pacific ex-

A SHARP-EyED customer might be able to spot a skimming device, but as they get smaller and more sophisticated, sometimes even a bank employee could struggle to notice the difference, said David Tente, executive director of the ATM Industry Association’s US and Latin America chapters Upgrades that will let ATMs read the chips in newer credit and debit cards, similar to those already being rolled out in card readers at store checkout counters, will likely cut down on use of tough-to-spot skimming devices, according to payment industry experts. But they said fraud could rise in the meantime as criminals try to wring more dollars from skimming before it becomes less lucrative. “I think what we’re seeing is an indication it’s imperative we make the change,” said Doug Johnson, senior vice president of payments and cybersecurity at the American Bankers Association. “Criminals are realizing it’s a window that’s going away, and we need to make sure it does go away.”

Japan (APeJ) region, rising from nearly $7 trillion last year to nearly $17 trillion in 2019. IDC believes that in Asia, the traditional e-commerce models are evolving toward a new way of doing business, with new services at the core of a new economic model called xCommerce. IDC defines xCommerce as an all-encompassing term that highlights the increasingly innovative and complex business models catering to the rapidly changing consumer purchasing behavior over and above the traditional e-commerce models. These business models include on-demand services, “sharing economy” services, online to offline, social commerce, content commerce, new payment and logistics systems, and customer experience. L’Hermitte said the service, called “Fast-Track Delivery,” is only for their customers within Metro Manila, available from Monday to Saturday on credit and debit purchases. The service, according to L’Hermitte, is not available on Sundays and holidays. Rizal Raoul Reyes

Digital life

CODE VIOLATION

Sports BusinessMirror

Déjà vu Secondhand military boots, similar to those used by college students doing basic military training under the now-defunct Reserved

| Tuesday, May 24, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

Officers’ Training Corps, are displayed in a Guadalupe shoe store in Makati City. NONIE REYES

MonTeneGro’S danka Kovinic wipes her nose as she plays Petra Kvitova of the Czech republic in the first round on Sunday. AP AlexAnder FoliForov, a russian with Gazpromrusvelo, wins the 15th stage, an 11-kilometer entirely uphill leg.

CODE VIOLATION Chair umpire Carlos Ramos considered Nick Kyrgios’s bark during a first-set tiebreaker on Sunday too forceful and assessed a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. That led to a long-running, and occasionally curse-filled, argument from the 21-year-old Australian, who at one point said the official was “unbelievably biased.”

By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press

ARIS—It all started with what Nick Kyrgios insisted was an innocuous, if admittedly loud, directive to a ball kid to retrieve a towel between points—shouted above the din of spectators at the French Open’s cozy Court 1. Chair umpire Carlos Ramos considered Kyrgios’s bark during a first-set tiebreaker on Sunday too forceful and assessed a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. That led to a long-running, and occasionally cursefilled, argument from the 21-year-old Australian, who at one point said the official was “unbelievably biased.” Much as the 17th-seeded Kyrgios made of the disagreement at the time—he could have been docked a point for his colorful language—he managed to set it aside eventually and worked his way through a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over 124th-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy with the help of 16 aces, providing a bit of a spark on an otherwise dreary, drenched Day 1 at Roland Garros. “It didn’t put me off too much,” Kyrgios said of his flap with Ramos. “With someone like me that’s pretty emotional, it can frustrate me a little bit, but I felt like I dealt with it pretty well.” Of the 32 matches on Sunday’s schedule, his was one of only nine completed before showers created a rain delay of more than two-and-a-half hours in the afternoon, interrupting matches involving No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 23 Jack Sock and others. Winners included two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who acknowledged feeling “kind of down mentally” and was one game from bowing out against 59th-ranked Danka Kovinic of Montenegro before taking the final three for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 escape. Also advancing was No. 19 Benoit Paire of France, who needed five sets to get past 137th-ranked qualifier Radu Albot of Moldova. Right after the ruling that bothered him, Kyrgios asked whether he was being sanctioned for raising his voice in the direction of the ball kid, explaining that “the crowd was too loud for him to hear me.” Ramos nodded. “Really?” Kyrgios asked. “It’s not that you said, ‘Towel!’ too loud,” Ramos said. “It’s the way you said it.” Moments later, Kyrgios raised the topic again, insisting to Ramos, “I did nothing wrong” and referring to an episode this month at the Italian Open, when No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic reached out to grab the arm of an official who had stepped onto the court to examine a disputed ball mark.

“When Djokovic pushed the line umpire out of the way, he gets nothing,” Kyrgios said, punctuating the complaint with a swear word. At his news conference afterward, Kyrgios was asked about the Djokovic reference and replied: “I mean, I think we all know, in this room, if that was me that did that, it would be an absolute circus. But if he did it, you know, nothing really happened of it. It speaks for itself.” He also offered a hint of a conciliatory tone, saying “it’s not an easy job out there” for chair umpires and that he “might have to be a bit more patient” with ball kids. Kyrgios is known for spectacular play—he’s beaten Rafael Nadal and

Roger Federer and twice reached Grand Slam quarterfinals—and boorish behavior. He was placed on probation by the Association of Tennis Professionals last year, with the risk of a 28-day suspension, for comments toward 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka during a match in Montreal. Not everything came easily against Cecchinato. Kyrgios converted just one of 11 break points. He slipped on the damp court in the sixth game and tumbled into the net, staying down until Cecchinato offered a hand. And Kyrgios was forced to save two set points in the second tiebreaker. Still, he played well enough to eliminate Cecchinato, who is 0-4 in Grand Slam matches and 3-18 at all tour-level tournaments and said he didn’t pay attention to the Kyrgios-Ramos exchanges. Cecchinato also offered a nuanced defense of Kyrgios’s character. “I like him, because he’s arrogant and sure of himself.... He knows he’s good,” Cecchinato said. “’Arrogant’ in a good sense— he knows he’s strong and one of the best players in the world. ‘Arrogant’ not in a pejorative way, but in a positive way.”

niCK KYrGioS: i did nothing wrong. AP

BY Fil V. Elefante

TIME TRIAL TO RUSSIAN A

LPE DI SIUSI, Italy—Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk had a strong performance in a mountain time trial and opened up a potentially decisive lead in the Giro d’Italia on Sunday. Prerace favorite Vincenzo Nibali struggled and had to deal with a dropped chain and spectators blocking his path. Alexander Foliforov, a Russian with Gazprom-Rusvelo, won the 15th stage, an 11-kilometer entirely uphill leg from Castelrotto to Alpe di Siusi, in 28 minutes and 39 seconds. “I came to the Giro well prepared for this stage, in particular, because uphill time trials have always been my forte,” Foliforov said. Kruijswijk finished second, 0.16 seconds behind, and Alejandro Valverde was third, 23 seconds back. “I was close to the victory but, most important, I gained time over my rivals on GC [general classification],” said Kruijswijk, who also finished second in Saturday’s marathon-like stage. “I did everything for that and I’m confident that I’ll be able to defend the maglia rosa [pink jersey] during the last week.” Overall, Kruijswijk leads Esteban Chaves

by two minutes and 12 seconds, with Nibali third, 2:51 behind. Kruijswijk, who rides for the Lotto NLJumbo team, is attempting to become the first Dutchman to win the Giro. He finished seventh last year. Valverde is fourth, 3:29 behind. Chaves finished sixth in the stage, while Nibali was 25th, 2:10 behind Foliforov. Nibali was already losing a lot of time when his chain dropped and he had to change bikes midway through the stage. Then spectators started running alongside Nibali until the Sicilian swiped one of them away with his arm. Starting with a small incline, the route then got very steep the rest of the way, with an average gradient of 8.3 percent and a maximum of 11 percent. The finish at an altitude of 1,844 meters (6,050 feet) in Alpe di Siusi showed off Europe’s largest high-altitude Alpine meadow, which extends for 52 square kilometers. After a rest day on Monday, Stage 16 on Tuesday is a 133-km leg from Bressanone to Andalo featuring three classified climbs, two of them in the second category. The race ends next Sunday in Turin. AP

Frenchman hangs tough

ACRAMENTO, California—It took Julian Alaphilippe just a bit longer than he hoped to top the podium at the Tour of California. The French cyclist, who lost his lead on the final stage a year ago and finished second overall, managed to hang onto it on Sunday. Alaphilippe finished safely in the main field in Stage 8 to hold off Rohan Dennis of Australia and American veteran Brent Bookwalter for one of the biggest wins of his career. Mark Cavendish won the flat, fast stage over Peter Sagan and Alexander Kristoff in a sprint finish. In the women’s race, Dutcher star Kirsten Wild beat Lisa Brennauer of Germany and compatriot Marianne Vos at the finish of a 43-mile criterium, while Megan Guarnier held off Kristin Armstrong to win the overall. The men’s race ultimately was decided when Alaphilippe won the climb up Gibraltar Road, then minimized his losses in the time trial in Folsom. Dennis finished 21 seconds back in second place for the second time in three years, while Bookwalter was another 22 seconds adrift for his BMC Racing team. The final stage covered 86 miles before finishing on the flat streets of the California capital, and for a bit it looked like a breakaway just might stay clear. Their gap was 35 seconds with about 3 miles left. The Tinkoff squad of Sagan and the Katusha team of Kristoff began to give chase, trying to set up their fast finishers for a group

finish. They managed to reel in the break with about a mile remaining in the race, and then it was up to their lead-out trains to set them up for the race to the line. Kristoff was the first to begin his sprint, and Sagan swung out from behind him. Cavendish showed his veteran patience by waiting until the last possible second and swinging out from behind Sagan. He sped ahead of both his rivals and threw his arms up in victory as he crossed the line. It was his first stage win of the year and 10th of his career in California, the second-most in race history. While the men’s race meandered out of Sacramento before returning for the finish, the final stage of the women’s race was a 20-lap circuit of the wide, fast roads near the downtown area. The UnitedHealthcare squad of Olympic hopeful Coryn Rivera took to the front with two laps remaining, and four riders still controlled the race as the field began to position itself for the sprint. Wild was able to hold off Brennauer and Vos, who had won the previous stage, to capture her first of this year’s race. Rivera finished behind them in fourth and Amy Pieters was fifth. Guarnier, the world bronze medalist, finished 17 seconds ahead of Armstrong in the overall race, while her Boels-Dolmans teammate Evelyn Stevens made it an American podium sweep with her third-place finish. AP

Sports

The Entrepreneur

Manny B. Villar

or so long, Mindanao has been called the “land of promise” because of its rich natural resources, including vast fertile lands, and even its location out of the way of typhoons. It has also been known as the food basket of the Philippines, accounting for most of the country’s top agricultural products. About 75 percent of the country’s banana exports come from Mindanao, which makes the Philippines No. 3 in the global banana trade. Continued on A10

Tough-to-spot

local xcommerce firm ramps up delivery tool

All eyes on Mindanao

Purisima to submit $3-B tax proposals to Duterte

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Take a clOser lOOk aT ThaT aTM—are yOu abOuT TO be skIMMed?

Quick hit toM goodManson, president and ceo of calabrio, poses for a portrait on april 21, 2014, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Joel Koyama/minneapolis star tribune/tns

See “16th Congress,” A2

BMReports

local banks cautioned as threats to ATM grow LocaL banks cautioned as threats to atM grow A

Housing Development Program and the measure amending foreign-ownership restrictions in specific laws governing adjust-

ment companies, lending companies, financing companies and investment houses cited in the Foreig n Investment Negative List (FINL), except those in the Constitution, have been ratified by the lower chamber. Also ratified by the House were the act regulating the Philippine credit-card industry, the bill seeking to provide increased financial support to agrarian-reform beneficiaries, the proposed Exact Change Act and the measure institutionalizing the nationwide i mplement at ion of Job St a r t Philippines Program.

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

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Second of three parts

ESPITE the enactment of Commonwealth Act 1, otherwise known as the National Defense Act, in 1935, the road to establishing the nucleus for a reserve force composed of a citizen army was bumpy. Much of the problem arose when Commonwealth President Manuel

PESO exchange rates n US 46.7720

₧16M The annual cost to fund “an army suitable for the Philippines” and which Douglas MacArthur promised to Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon

L. Quezon and Douglas Macarthur, a US Army general and former US Army chief of staff, had a falling out because of the costs of raising and maintaining an army. Quezon had hired MacArthur as a military adviser. “Becoming national defense adviser to the Philippines would allow MacArthur to exit gracefully, escaping what, in all other senses, Continued on A2

utgoing Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima will submit tax-reform recommendations to the administration of newly elected President Rodrigo R. Duterte that, he says, could yield as much as $3 billion of revenue annually, enough to wipe out the budget deficit last year. The proposal includes lowering income and corporate taxes while lifting the sales tax, Purisima said in a May 20 interview in Manila. It also calls for increasing the excise tax on oil, removing exemptions for the sales tax and lifting bank-deposit secrecy, all of which could yield as much as P141 billion ($3 billion) in the first year of implementation, he said. “ T hey can look at how we planned to approach tax reform and mix it with whatever their concepts are,” Purisima, whose six-year term ends in June, said in an interview at his home. “We wanted to do it, but we ran out of time.” W h i le outgoi ng P resident

PURISIMA

Aquino has a lmost doubled state earnings by hunting tax evaders and curbing corruption, Fitch Ratings estimated general government revenue remains low at about 20 percent of gross domestic product in 2015, compared Continued on A12

n japan 0.4248 n UK 67.8708 n HK 6.0211 n CHINA 7.1415 n singapore 33.8658 n australia 33.7647 n EU 52.4408 n SAUDI arabia 12.4696

Source: BSP (23 May 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, May 24, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Mandatory military training: Is it time? Continued from A1

would be a demotion,” Ricardo T. Jose wrote in his book The Philippine Army 1935 to 1942. “Indeed, he would get the highest position in an army he himself would create.” It turned out that MacArthur was actually interested in being named as the US high commissioner to the Philippines. “He lobbied for it,” Jose wrote. Unfortunately for MacArthur, it turned out that under US laws, it was illegal for an officer to hold two appointments at the same time. This was one way for MacArthur to restore his prestige, which was tainted after he had ordered soldiers to attack and disperse a rally held by World War I veterans in Washington, D.C. As a sop to his ego, MacArthur was given the rank in the Philippines as “field marshal.” Then MacArthur went on with the task of forming the Philippine Army.

Budget

ACCORDING to Jose, MacArthur had promised Quezon that it would take only P16 million annually to finance “an army suitable for the Philippines.” “If you have a small regular force, as a nucleus to be expanded by employing the citizen army in time of peril, no nation will care to attack you, for the cost of conquest will be more than the expected profits,” MacArthur told Quezon. However, it turned out that it would cost P25 million annually to maintain at a bare minimum a regular force of 19,000 soldiers. That would mean a cost of P250 million instead of the P160 million in 10 years, which would extend to the period when the Philippines had gained independence. Another Filipino also worked on finding a solution to the budget problem. L. Siguion Reyna, a technical adviser to the secretary of

16th Congress. . . These proposals will now be submitted to President Aquino for signature.

Balanced housing

House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Act Chairman and Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of Negros Occidental said under the housing bill, the government program shall include a system to be specified in the framework plan, whereby owners and/or developers of proposed subdivision and condominium projects shall be required to develop an area for socialized housing equivalent to at least 15 percent of the total subdivision area, or total subdivision project cost, and at least 5 percent of condominium area or project cost, at the option of the developer, in accordance with the standards as provided by law; “provided, that proposed socialized subdivision projects and proposed socialized condominium projects shall be exempt from this requirement.”

FINL

The FINL measure, meanwhile, allows foreigners to own 100 percent of adjustment companies, lending companies, financing companies and investment houses. House Committee on Economic Af-

the Interior, submitted a preliminary study on national defense and related problems to Quezon. Jose wrote: “The main problem, Reyna concluded, was attaining maximum effectiveness at minimum cost. Despite economic difficulties, the Philippines needed an organized army similar to the Belgian and Swiss models, though the Philippine situation was compounded by a longer exposed coastline.” “A navy was out of the question because of its excessive cost but a coast artillery corps and an air corps could be developed to insure protection from threats at sea,”Reyna explained. “Coming to the same conclusion as others before him, Reyna stressed that the best solution was a small regular army with a large reserve force and militia, with various sectors of the country contributing to the defense effort,” Cortes wrote. “In order to further economize, Reyna stressed that the army must be useful both in times of war and peace, otherwise, it would be considered by the already overburdened taxpayers as a real parasite in time of peace.” “Reyna hit the problem on the head when he noted that it was essentially a problem of maximum effectiveness for minimum cost,” Cortes wrote. This was a problem in 1935 and more than 80 years later, the dilemma of adequately funding the Armed Forces of the Philippines still exists.

Choices

THERE were three basic systems that the Philippine Commonwealth could adopt for its fledgling army. The first was to adopt the voluntary service, which was in use in the United States at that time. However, this was seen as the most expensive in the long run. “The second system was to adopt the

Continued from A1

fairs Chairman and Liberal Party Rep. Anthony G. del Rosario of Davao del Norte said the bill amends investment restrictions in specific laws governing adjustment companies, lending companies, financing companies and investment houses cited in the FINL. The measure also seeks to amend “The Insurance Code” for adjustment companies, “The Investment Houses Law” for investment houses, “Lending Company Regulation of 2007” for lending companies and“Financing Company Act of 1998” for financing companies. “An investment house may be owned up to 100 percent by foreign nationals. Foreign nationals may become members of the board of directors to the extent of the foreign participation in the equity of said enterprise,” the measure added. It also said a lending company may be owned up to 100 percent by foreign nationals, “provided, however, that where the loan is secured by land, a lending company, more than 40 percent of whose capital is owned by foreign nationals, may bid and take part in any sale of such land as a consequence of such mortgage, avail of enforcement proceedings, take possession and trans-

monarchical system, “which was in use in old Prussia, Imperial Russia and Japan, wherein there was mandatory two- or three-year military service for all males,” Cortes wrote. The third system was to adopt either the Swiss or Austrian models, which contemplated a small regular force with a citizenry that was trained for fixed periods. Because of budget constraints, the third system was chosen. This was the opportunity for Quezon to realize his vision for the Philippines. Quezon, during his acceptance of his nomination for president, had said he wanted a neutral Philippines under the League of Nations. However, “we cannot rely exclusively on these implements of peace for our national defense,” Cortes quoted Quezon as saying. “I favor preparedness for national defense,” Quezon said. “We cannot afford to have, nor do I approve of, a large standing army or costly military establishments, but we must have a regular army of sufficient size for our requirements and a trained citizenry ready to be drafted for service in any emergency.” As part of adapting to the cut in military budget, the decision was build up the existing ROTC program. It was decided to revise its original two-year basic course and four-year optional course into a three-year compulsory course for college students. Training hours were extended from the previous three hours to four hours. “Under this new program, all graduates would be eligible for direct commission in the reserve force as officers or noncommissioned officers,” Cortes wrote. “This would solve the problem of shortage of reserve officers at reduced cost.” Additionally, specialized ROTC units were formed. For example, the University of the Philippines (UP) and the University of Santo fer their rights to qualified Philippine nationals for a period not exceeding five years from actual possession.”

Credit card

House Bill 5417, or an act regulating the Philippine credit-card industry, seeks to protect the rights and interest of financial consumers. Earlier, Sen. Sergio R. Osmeña III, chairman of the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, said while refuge may be sought under Republic Act 7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, this is silent with respect to the implementing agency that would oversee credit issues and/or financial consumer protection. “At present, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] has taken up the cudgels for credit-card holders solely on the strength of DOJ Opinion 69, which declared the BSP as the proper agency to enforce the provisions on consumer credit transactions of the Consumer Act,” the senator said. The measure provides the BSP with “supervisory powers over all creditcard issuers and acquirers, and all credit-card transactions.” The bill aims to standardize the method of computing the base amount for imposing the interest and finance charge on the unpaid outstanding bal-

Tomas were to provide one ROTC medical unit and a field artillery unit each, while the Mapua Institute of Technology was to have one ROTC engineering unit. These units would form the cadre of trained officers and troops for specialized military units if the reserve was mobilized. These units were also to form the backbone of the reserve force in the event of actual mobilization, because it was realized that it was too expensive to hold annual practice mobilizations and not all military trainees could join because of the disruption it would cause to the civilian economy. This system was still partially in place when World War II arrived in Philippine shores. The reserve force was called up and mobilized to firm up the 10 Philippine Commonwealth Army divisions and form the Philippine Coastal Artillery Units. Unfortunately, the budget cuts resulting in lack of proper equipment took its toll on Philippine Army units. When the Philippines fell to the Imperial Japanese Army, the bulk of ROTC graduates who did not surrender formed the cadre for different guerrilla units throughout the country. One of the most famous came to be known as the Hunters ROTC Guerillas. They were citizen soldiers of the country’s underground army.

After the war

THE signing of the surrender documents on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Japan in 1945 marked the official end of World War II. By 1946, the Philippines regained its independence. Two months after Philippine independence was restored, on September 13, 1946, the 10-division strong prewar Philippine Army organization was revived. This included the reactivation of the ROTC program. According to the Army Reserve Command ance by excluding new purchases after the statement cut-off date; rationalizes the Late Payment Fee or Penalty for Late Payment considering that it is more in the nature of an administrative cost than a cost of credit.

Agrarian reform

The lower chamber also ratified a bill seeking to create a credit facility in the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) to provide increased financial support to agrarian-reform beneficiaries, small farmers and fishermen. The measure seeks to mandate the LandBank to allocate 5 percent of its regular loan portfolio to provide qualified agrarian-reform beneficiaries, small farmers and fishermen with financial assistance. Loan portfolio refers to the total loans held by a bank or finance company.

Exact change

The leadership of the House also readied for President Aquino’s signature the proposed “Exact Change Act.” House Committee on Trade and Industry Chairman and Nacionalista Party Rep. Mark A. Villar of Las Piñas City said the bill imposes a fine ranging from P500 to P25,000, or 3 percent to 10 percent, of the gross sales of the business establishment, whichever is higher; and suspension or, at most, revocation of license to operate for repeated offenses.

Job start

Meanwhile, House Committee on Labor and Employment Chairman and National Unity Party Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City said House Bill (HB) 6415 seeks to reduce the job-search period of the youth by enhancing their knowledge and skills acquired in formal education or technical training. Launched in 2014 by the Department of Labor and Employment, the JobStart Philippines Program assists students’school-to-work transition and increases their chances of integrating into productive employment. Under the measure, the program requires participants from 18 to 24 years old, high-school graduate, not employed, studying nor undergoing training at the time of registration and with less than one year or no work experience.

At the Senate

The Senate unanimously adopted Concurrent Resolution 10, which would convert the two legislative chambers into the NBOC. According to Senate President

(Arescom), this set up for a citizen army was further strengthened “when the Philippine Army became the Armed Forces of the Philippines on December 23, 1950,” with the Philippines divided into four military areas. “ROTC units operating within these areas fell under the supervision of their respective Area Commanders,” the Arescom said. The prewar ROTC program, which emanated from Quezon’s Executive Order 207 in 1939, was updated on February 8, 1967. Under the updated order issued by then- President Ferdinand E. Marcos, ROTC was to be taken as a mandatory course at all college and universities with an enrollment of at least 250 male students. Under the old Commonwealth era order, the requirement was only 100 male students.

Rainbow rangers

A year later saw the rise of an experimental reserve unit based in UP. This was the Rainbow RangersSunday Soldiers. Their officers came from the ROTC program, while the trainees were students who specialized in small-unit tactics and unconventional warfare to be used as the backbone for civil home-defense units. In November 1971 one battalion of Sunday Soldiers and UP ROTC officers under the command of Lt. Col. Benjamin Vallejo mobilized and sent to guard the elections in the provinces of Lanao. “D uring its three -week stint of peacekeeping in Lanao, nine citations for bravery were earned by the cadets of the battalion,” according to publicly available records from the UP ROTC. Among these citations was a posthumous award for Cadet Captain Eustaquio Granadillos for acts of bravery. In honor of the slain cadet officer, the main barracks Franklin M. Drilon, the lawmakers will subsequently agree to create a sevenman, or nine-member panel from each chamber to facilitate the canvassing process in order to meet their June 30 deadline. He confirmed at least six senators are, however, expected to inhibit from active participation in canvasssing process having run and lost in the presidential and vice-presidential races, including Senators Miriam Santiago, Grace Poe, Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Alan Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV. “We are going to work for the early proclamation [of the next president and vice president],” Drilon told reporters shortly before banging the gavel to open Monday’s Senate session. The senators, cramming to pass other pending measures in the chamber, also proceeded to approve over two dozen bills awaiting approval on third reading, including a number of radio-television, telecommunications and local airline franchises. Osmeña, chairman of the sponsoring public services committee, however, moved to defer voting on HB 5942 granting a 25-year extension of the franchise of Smart Communications Inc., citing a request for deferment from Senate Deputy Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III and another senator he did not name. Osmeña, however, held out hopes the Smart franchise extension could still be approved by the senators before the current Congress finally adjourns sessions on June 10.

Franchise extensions

The Senate, likewise, passed on third and final reading a bill granting a 25year franchise to Pilipinas Asian Pearl Airways Inc. to establish, operate and maintain domestic and international transport services. Senators also passed 13 other local bills seeking to renew the franchise of an electric company and television and telecommunications networks. According to Osmeña, passage of HBs 6053 (Zoe Broadcasting Inc.), 5859 (People’s Broadcasting Service Inc.), 5601 (Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. or PT&T), 6168 (Byers Communication Inc.), 6193 (Kalayaan Broadcasting System), would also renew the franchises of the establishments for another 25 years. On the other hand, he noted that HBs 2185 (First Bay Power Corp.), 6003 (Ama Telecommunciations Inc.), 6005 (Infinivan Inc.), 6011 (Veritas Media Arts Inc.), 6312 (Metro Connections

of the UP ROTC now bears his name. This unit was disbanded in 1983 with the retirement of its founder, Gen. Benjamin Vallejo, a member of UP ROTC class 1952.

Rot within ROTC

AFTER Marcos declared martial law in 1972, military training in campuses under the ROTC program was put under a bad light. The abuses committed under the Marcos administration transformed the image of the military from being “protectors” to “oppressors.” And corruption set in within certain ROTC units. There were kickbacks in ordering supplies for uniforms, food and drinks. Students can avoid mandatory military training by bribing ROTC personnel. Others can opt for “light duty” instead of training for a fee. Instead of training college students to be part of a citizen army, certain individuals made the ROTC program into a milking cow. Many used it for personal gain while others used the money raised to finance ROTC training activities because most of the designated military funds were now going to regular forces engaged in the counterinsurgency campaign. Whatever the reason, it was still corruption. Then came 2001 and the discovery of Mark Welson Chua Jr.’s body in the Pasig River. Because of his murder, mandatory military training came to an end. In the third and final part of this series, the article will focus on the aftermath of Chua’s murder, which relegated military training as just one of the three optional courses college students can take under the National Service Training Program. More than a decade after Chua’s murder, there have been attempts to reinstate mandatory military training in campuses throughout the country. To be concluded

and Telecom Corp.), 6313 (Makinig Network, Inc), 6314 (Megamanila Telecom Corp.) and 6315 (Pilipinas Radio Waves Corp.) are new franchise applications for 25 years each. Osmeña explained that continued operation of these establishments are expected to “generate additional jobs, create career opportunities” and continue to provide the people with relevant information. The Senate also passed on final reading a House-approved bill declaring Batanes as a cultural heritage and ecotourism zone. Sponsored by Senators Escudero and Loren Legarda, the adopted HB 6152 seeks to promote and protect Batanes’s ecology and environment, as well as its natural and cultural heritage. The Senate likewise passed on third and final reading a bill seeking to establish the Southwestern Tagalog Region, to be composed of the provinces of Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, and the cities of Calapan and Puerto Princesa as the Mimaropa region. The Senate also approved a measure seeking to declare tourism areas in Camiguin, organizing the Camiguin Tourism Council and mandating support for tourism development in the province. Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, who sponsored HB 5576, said that the measure seeks to declare certain areas of Camiguin as ecotourism attractions, in particular classifying them Tourism Development Areas. Before suspending the session, the senators also passed a bill granting centenarians P100,000 in cash assistance. Sen. Nancy Binay, sponsor of Senate Bill 449, or the Centenarians Act of 2013, said the proposed measure also seeks to declare every September 25th as “National Respect for Centenarians Day.” Also approved on final reading is a bill seeking to require all TV networks to use closed caption options on television programs so people with hearing impairments could enjoy a full variety of television programs. Under the bill, closed caption shall mean a method of subtitling television programs by coding statements as vertical data signal that are decoded at the receiver and super imposed at the bottom of the television screen. Franchise holders or operators of TV stations and producers of TV programs will now be required to use closed caption options in their programs.

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‘Agri revival best way to cut poverty’

By Mary Grace Padin

@_enren

eviving the country’s agricultural sector should be the main strategy of President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte in reducing poverty in the rural areas. “[His] record on agricultural development and rural-poverty reduction can make or unmake Digong’s legacy,” Dr. Rolando Dy, executive director of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agribusiness, told the BusinessMirror. According to the economist, about 26 percent of Filipinos are poor, most of them from the rural areas and heavily dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. “If Duterte wants to have a dramatic impact on reducing poverty, then focus on agricultural productivity and diversification,” he asserted. Uplifting the lives of farmers, he added, can be achieved by increasing farmers’ income and promoting balanced and inclusive agriculture development in the country. The expert said the country needs to develop road maps for various commodities,establish valuechain corridors all over the country and create agriculture infrastructure in the local government. He said the Philippines should learn

from its Asean counterparts on how they were able to improve their productivity and reduce rural poverty. Dy also commended Duterte’s eight-point economic agenda, particularly the first four in the list, including his commitment to the agriculture sector. “These are good agenda and represents reforms,” he said.

Duterte’s economic agenda

Baring his eight-point economic agenda, Duterte promised to provide support services to small farmers, such as irrigation, to increase farm productivity in the country. He also assured improved market access and agriculture value chain. Many leaders lauded his agenda for agriculture, but in the end, they said its effectivity would depend on how the presumptive president and his appointed agriculture secretary would implement it. “It depends on how he will implement it,” said Edwin Chen, president of Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (Propork).

For Philippine Maize Federation Inc. President Roger Navarro, a big part of it would be the synergy between the Departments of Agriculture (DA), the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Science and Technology (DOST) and of Trade and Industry (DTI). The DA, he said, should cooperate with the DILG for the extension of services, the DTI for marketing and trade policies, and the DOST for weather and climate-change concerns, as well as technology development. “If there is no synergy among these agencies, the DA’s programs would fail to reach farmers in the barangay level,” Navarro told the BusinessMirror. The Samahang Industriya Ng Agrikultura (Sinag), meanwhile, expressed alarm on Duterte’s agenda to lift foreign-ownership restrictions on businesses. “We are concerned with the possible implications of this. Agriculture should be developed locally, and we are wary if this reform happens, foreign companies might buy our agricultural lands and exploit our resources,” Sinag Chairman Rosendo So said. The industry group said foreign investments in agriculture and fisheries production and

processing could cripple the local industry and, therefore, should not be allowed.

High hopes from agri sector

Other leaders from different agriculture subsectors also expressed confidence that Duterte is on the right track in pursuing the development of the agriculture sector. This means the next administration has to perform well, as hopes and expectations from farmers’ and stakeholders in the sector are so high. Chen said the hog industry has high hopes on the fight against smuggling, which is hurting local industries, particularly small farmers and fishermen. “If the government stops the rampant smuggling of agricultural products and support the local industries through collaboration and increased production, we can see farmers’ income to grow,” the industry leader said. Jesus L . A r ranza, chair man of the Federation of Philippine Industries Inc. and president of the Coconut Oil Refiners A ssociation, a lso ex pressed the same sentiment. “I feel that he [Duterte] will instill discipline and order in the system...he knows what should

I feel that he [Duterte] will instill discipline and order in the system.”—Arranza

be done to prevent the encroachment [of smuggled goods in the country],” he said. Pilipino Banana Growers and Ex por ters Association Executive Director Stephen Antig, for his part, said banana and pineapple growers in the country are expecting the next president to be supportive of these industries, and aid them in becoming more competitive in the world market through support services that will increase productivity and improve the quality of goods. “Assistance in the identification of new markets is also imperative, considering that many players and competitors are now encroaching into our traditional market,” he added. Roberto Amores, one of the lead conveners of the Agri-Fisheries Alliance and president of the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc., said stakeholder pa r t ic ipat ion i n a g r ic u lt u re projects, supervision of extension workers, credit extension to farmers, production subsidies and technical support are also important to promote aggressive growth in the agriculture sector. Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. Executive Director Francisco Buencamino said the next administration must also craft effective policies and guidelines that will increase the production and supply of agricultural products to make sure food will be available and more affordable for Filipino consumers.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

P-Noy signs D.I.C.T. law

resident Aquino signed on Monday Republic Ac t 10844 creating the D epar tment of Information and Co m m u n i c at i o n s Te c h n o l o g y ( DI C T ) , Communications Secretar y Herminio B. Coloma Jr. announced. The new specialized department will merge the following agencies into the newly created DICT: Information and Communications Technology Office; National Computer Center; National Computer Institute; Telecommunications Office; National Telecommunications Training Institute; and all operating units of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with functions and responsibilities dealing with communications. The National Telecommunic ations Commission, the National Privacy Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center were also mandated to become attached agencies of the new DICT for policy and program coordination, and shall continue to operate in accordance with their respective charters. As a result of the creation of the DICT, the DOTC shall be renamed as the Department of Transportation. Under the new law, the DICT shall be headed by a secretary, who will be assisted by three undersecretaries and four assistant secretaries. Two of the undersecretaries and two of the assistant secretaries shall be career officers, and one of the four assistant secretaries should be a licensed professional electronics engineer. “Moreover, the law also requires that the Secretary, as well as the Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries, have at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: information and communications technology; information technology service management; information security management; cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce, or human capital development in the ICT sector,” Coloma said in a statement. The new law provides for a six-month transition period, during which the transfer of functions, assets and personnel should be completed. David Cagahastian

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A4 Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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As El Niño exits, La Niña looms and promises her style of mayhem T

hink of it as Mother Nature’s roller-coaster ride: the shift between the weather patterns, known as El Niño and La Niña, that, at their worst, can cause havoc worldwide. El Niño—spurred on by a warming of the equatorial Pacific—has dried up rice crops across Southeast Asia, cocoa fields in Ghana, coffee in Indonesia and sugarcane in Thailand since last year. It contributed to the Western Hemisphere’s strongest hurricane on record and the planet’s warmest year since at least the 1880s. Now the ocean’s surface is starting to cool, which may signal the start of a La Niña. Scientists say this pattern typically contributes to more hurricanes in the Atlantic, drought in Brazil and heavy rain in Indonesia and India. While it might give a boost to US natural gas, it could hurt Australian coal operations and palm-oil output in Malaysia. For some areas, it may be worse than a typical El Niño. “El Niño extremes are greater, while La Niña lasts longer,” said Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The cycles occur every two or three years on average and help regulate the temperature of the Earth, as the equatorial Pacific absorbs the heat of the sun during the El Niño and then releases it into the atmosphere. That can create a La Niña: a “recharge state,” when “the whole Earth is cooler than it was before this started,” Trenberth said. Forecasters on two continents have issued La Niña watches for this year. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology says the odds are about 50 percent. The US Climate Prediction Center’s bet is 75 percent by December, but it says formation also could come earlier: some time from July to September. Peruvian fisherman centuries ago were first to notice the ocean would often warm late in the year. They called the phenomenon El Niño, after the Christ child. Modern researchers came to realize its importance to global weather in the 1960s, when they recognized the link between warm surface water and corresponding atmospheric changes. They tweaked the name to El Niño or Southern Oscillation. La Niña was named about two decades later. The patterns aren’t simply opposite sides of the same coin. “La Niña is more like a strong case of

‘normal,’” Trenberth said. If a region is typically dry, it could become arid in a La Niña. If it’s usually wet, there may be floods.

Greater intensity

So far, the United States hasn’t tried to predict how strong a La Niña might be. For both parts of the cycle, greater intensity means greater impact. The ebbing El Niño was one of the three strongest on record, spurring the growth of Hurricane Patricia last year, which clocked winds exceeding 200 miles (322 kilometers) per hour before going ashore in Mexico. La Niñas typically produce more hurricanes, but that may not mean more losses: What matters most is where the storms hit, according to Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research/Corporate Climate Center in Germany. And La Niñas actually have lowered the Atlantic hurricane count in some years by bringing more African sand storms—which reduce the moisture hurricanes need—and cooler water into the tropics, he said. Commercial and academic forecasters have said La Niña probably will cause a slightly above-average year for tropical storms and hurricanes. The 30-year normal for the June 1-to-November 30 season is 12. Last year, 11 storms rose out of the Atlantic. The year before, when the El Niño was trying to get started, only eight were named. One storm, Alex, already formed this past January.

United States

While El Niño can produce a milder winter across the northern US, La Niña often brings chills to the Pacific Northwest, northern Great Plains and parts of the Midwest. For places like Iowa, a major source of corn and soybeans, timing is key, said Harry Hillaker, the state’s climatologist. If a La Niña occurs early in summer, there’s a chance for hot and dry weather, which can hurt the plants as they are pollinating. Natural-gas producers in the US “would really like La Niña,” said Teri Viswanath, managing director for the commodity at PIRA Energy Group in New York. They hope it will produce warmer temperatures in summer and the possibility for

After a few months of respite from floods due to the prolonged dry spell, motorists and pedestrians passing through the corner of Dela Rosa Street and Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City (shown in this file photo) should brace themselves for up to waist-deep floodwaters anew in the coming weeks, as the rainy season, expected to be extended by La Niña, begins. Nonie Reyes

cooler temperatures in winter. “A cool winter, wow, that would be really helpful.”

United Kingdom and Europe

75%

For Europe, the energy prospects are more muddled. From November to December, the phenomenon could mean colder temperatures and thus higher fuel demand. “It’s also the case that we get the unfortunate relationship of lower wind speeds during that period, so that could mean we get lower wind power,” said Hazel Thornton, manager of the UK Met Office’s climate-change adaptation team. After the New Year, the pattern in Europe would typically flip, with temperatures becoming milder and wind increasing.

worsening Sáo Paulo’s water crisis, he said. Brazil tops the world for soybeans and oranges, and Sáo Paulo is one of the cities hosting football matches for this year’s Olympic Games.

Brazil

India

For Brazil, La Niña is more dangerous than El Niño because it hits crop production “hard,” said Eduardo Assad, a climate researcher at Brazil’s state-run agricultural research company, Embrapa. That’s because it can bring drier conditions, which also could damage the water supply,

The likelihood of a La Niña formation happening as early as July, according to the US Climate Prediction Center

For India, La Niña “means good rains,” said Atul Chaturvedi, CEO of Adani Wilmar Ltd., a refiner and retailer of cooking oils. “India has been reeling with poor rains for almost two years now, so La Niña for all practical purposes should be a boon.”

It might come too late to enhance this year’s monsoon, however, said Dave Streit, COO for the Commodity Weather Group Llc. in Bethesda, Maryland.

Malaysia

It also may come too late to help this year’s palm-oil crop in Malaysia, with futures there rising in February to the highest in eight years. “There is no way the emergence of La Niña, or just normal weather, will undo the damage done by El Niño,” said Ling Ah Hong, director of Malaysian plantation consultant Ganling Sdn in Kuala Lumpur. “This is something a lot of people misunderstand.” An extreme La Niña could cause yields to fall. Flooding hurts the ability to harvest and reduces the quality of fruit, said Roy Lim, group plantations director at Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd., Malaysia’s thirdlargest producer.

Australia

For Australia, the “main negative impact” from La Niña is heavy rainfall and “a disproportionate number

of major flood events,” said Blair Trewin, a climatologist with the national Bureau of Meteorology. In 2010-2011, the pattern triggered so much rain that 85 percent of the continent’s coal production was hit by flooding. Spot prices of metallurgical coal jumped to $383 by the start of 2011 from $212 per metric ton in the third quarter of 2010, Mark Levin of BB&T Capital Markets said in a May 10 note to clients. La Niña returned in 2011-2012, helping to boost wheat production to a record 29.9 million metric tons. It also caused vegetation to flourish in the usually arid interior—which fueled widespread grass fires when the rains stopped. While the world waits to see if a La Niña will develop, there’s always a chance it could fizzle. Forecasters were certain an El Niño would form in 2014, only to see it fall apart. The prediction models are better around June and July than they are now, according to Michelle L’Heureux, a forecaster for the Climate Prediction Center. So stay tuned. Bloomberg News

ERC approves power rates going up by 6.5 centavos per kWh nationwide beginning June T

he Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) released on Monday an order approving the ancillary services procurement agreement (ASPA) between the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Power Corp. (NPC), which would result in the collection of a 6.5 centavos-perkilowatt-hour (kWh) hike in transmission charge from all power consumers starting June. “The Commission approves the recovery of the differential charge

for the ancillary service provided by the NPC to the NGCP representing March 26, 2008, to October 25, 2009 billing period. “The [NGCP] should bill a uniform rate of P31.38/ kW month as ancillary service differential for the Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao grids until such time that the full amount shall have been collected, which would have an estimated rate impact of 6.5 centavos per kWh to end-users,” the ERC said in its 15-page order dated March 15, but was only promulgated last May

20. The impending rate hike, which will be reflected in the transmission component of an electric bill, was a result of a petition filed by the Power Sector Assets and Liability Management Corp. (PSALM), which took over the disposal of NPC-owned power assets, to recover P6.9 billion, including taxes, in differential ancillary service charges from NGCP. However, the ERC approved an amount of P5,286,853,359.62. Of which, P1,510,682,053.65 would be collectedinLuzon;P1,924,686,069.35

in the Visayas and P1,851,485,236.62 in Mindanao. At the same time, the recovery period within which the NGCP should impose the AS differential charge to its customers is six months for the Luzon grid, 36 months for the Visayas and Mindanao grids. “This scheme is designed to mitigate the rate impact of the AS differential to applicant’s NGCP’s customers. Further, a uniform rate for all grids must be implemented in recovering the AS differential amount. The said

uniform rate to be charged by NGCP is P31.38 per kW per month, with an estimated rate impact of 6.5 centavos per kWh to end users,” the ERC said. Once NGCP receives the order, the grid operator would have to bill the distribution utilities (DUs) nationwide, including, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) Then, the rate impact will be reflected after one month in the bills of end-users. The impact will mainly be felt as part of the transmission charge.ERC Spokesman Floresinda Digal said that

the rate hike would be reflected in the June electricity bills of consumers. When sought to comment on how this new rate adjustment will affect the 5.8 million customers of Meralco, Lawrence Fernandez, head for utility economics, said “that would be equivalent to around P13 in the bill each month.” Further, he said, “if the collection will be spread over six months, then the total amount to be collected would be P78 for a typical household consuming 200 kWh,” Fernandez said in an earlier interview. Lenie Lectura

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Kerry urges further reforms in Myanmar

S Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Myanmar’s new civilian-led government to complete the Southeast Asian nation’s transition to democracy by implementing further reforms to enshrine free markets, development and human rights. Speaking with Myanmar’s foreign minister and de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, after talks in the capital of Naypyidaw, Kerry pledged continuing US support for the country and hailed progress it has made since Suu Kyi’s political party took office in late March, after winning historic elections that ended decades of military control. “We strongly support the democratic transition that is taking place here,” Kerry said. His visit came less than a week after the Obama administration lifted sanctions against 10 state-run companies and banks in a sweeping modification of penalties imposed while Myanmar was under military rule. The administration, however, left in place restrictions on trade and investment with the nation’s still-powerful military. The changes are intended to spur more US investment and support economic growth under the new government, but also to encourage more reforms. The US waived its longstanding bans on investment and trade in 2012, after Myanmar began political and economic reforms, but retained restrictions on dozens of companies and individuals designated by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control because they oppose reform, or are implicated in human-rights abuses and military trade with North Korea. In addition, the US continues to ban the import of jade and rubies from Myanmar. “The key to the lifting of the [remaining] sanctions is really the progress that is made within Myanmar in continuing to move down the road of democratization,” Kerry said, adding, “It is very difficult to complete that journey, in fact, impossible to complete that journey, with the current constitution.” He called for the charter to be revised to fully respect civilian authority and clearly spell out a separation of powers among various branches of government, as well as protect minority rights and promote inclusivity. He said he raised those issues with the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military before departing later Sunday to join President Barack Obama on a visit to Vietnam. Suu Kyi said she did not believe the remaining sanctions would stay in place for long, but did not look at them as a punishment. “We’re not afraid of sanctions, we’re not afraid of scrutiny,” she said. “The time will come soon that the United States will know that this is no longer the time for sanctions.” Under the current, junta-era constitution, Myanmar’s military controls the ministries for defense, home affairs and border affairs, and 25 percent of parliamentary seats. Rights groups say stateless Rohingya Muslims and other minorities still face repression. The treatment of the Rohingya remains a major sticking point in US-Myanmar ties, with the government complaining that even US officials use the term to refer to the group, which many Buddhists inside Myanmar call “Bengalis.” They

BusinessMirror

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Tuesday, May 24, 2016 A5

Obama lifts arms ban in first visit to Vietnam

KERRY

The time will come soon that the US will know that this is no longer the time for sanctions.” —Suu Kyi say the 1 million or so members of the minority are mostly illegal immigrants and not a native ethnic group. In fact, the families of many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations. Because Myanmar does not officially recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, it denies most of them citizenship and basic rights. Conflict over land and resources in the western state of Rakhine, where most of them live, caused deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims that later spread to other parts of the country. More than 100,000 Rohingya were forced to flee their homes and now live in poor conditions in decrepit camps. Suu Kyi, who won international admiration and a Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy during Myanmar’s years of military rule, has in recent years disappointed many former fans by failing to speak on behalf of the Rohingya. Despite international expressions of concern, Myanmar’s previous military-backed government did nothing to ease the Rohingya’s plight. She called on Myanmar’s “wellwishers,” like the United States, to give the authorities time and space to deal with what she acknowledged was a problem. But she also warned against using the term “Rohingya,” saying it is a sensitive matter that complicates efforts to resolve the situation. “Emotive terms make it very difficult for us to find a peaceful and sensible solution,” she said. “People should be aware of the difficulties that we are facing and give us a safe distance.... What we are saying is that there are more important things to deal with than issues of nomenclature.” Kerry agreed that the matter was a sensitive one, but said it is key to ease the crisis in Rakhine state. “The name issue is obviously very sensitive, it is divisive and I know that it arouses strong passions here,” he said, adding, however, that the matter could not be ignored. “What is critical to focus on is solving the problems.” AP

U.S. President Barack Obama (left) and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang shake hands at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday. The president is on a weeklong trip to Asia as part of his effort to pay more attention to the region and boost economic and security cooperation. AP

nited States President Barack Obama on Monday lifted a decades-old arms export embargo for Vietnam during his first visit to the communist country, looking to bolster a government seen as a crucial, though flawed partner even as he pushes for better human-rights from the one-party state. Obama announced the full removal of the embargo at a news conference, saying the move was intended to step toward normalizing relations with the former war enemy and to eliminate a “lingering vestige of the Cold War.” “At this stage both sides have developed a level of trust and cooperation,” Obama said, adding that he expected deepening cooperation between the two nation’s militaries. Obama is seeking to strike this balance with Vietnam, amid Chinese efforts to strengthen claims to disputed territory in the South China Sea, one of the world’s most important waterways. Lifting the arms embargo will be a psychological boost for Vietnam’s leaders as they look to counter an increasingly aggressive China, but

At this stage both sides have developed a level of trust and cooperation.” —Obama there may not be a big jump in sales. Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang thanked Obama for lifting the embargo. US lawmakers and activists had urged the president to press the communist leadership for greater freedoms before granting it. Vietnam holds about 100 political prisoners and there have been more detentions

this year. The United States partially lifted the embargo in 2014, but Vietnam wanted full access as it tries to deal with China’s assertive land reclamation and military construction in nearby seas. Vietnam has not bought anything, but removing the remaining restrictions shows relations are fully normalized and opens the way to deeper security cooperation. After three days in Vietnam, Obama heads to Japan for an international summit and a visit to Hiroshima, where he will be the first sitting president to visit the site of the first atomic bomb attack. He arrived in Hanoi, the capital, late Sunday, making him the third sitting president to visit the country since the end of the war. Four decades after the fall of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, and two decades after President Bill Clinton restored relations with the nation, Obama is eager to upgrade relations with an emerging power whose rapidly expanding middle class beckons as a promising market for US goods and an offset to China’s growing strength. Obama was greeted on Monday by Quang at the Presidential Palace. Obama congratulated Vietnam for making “extraordinary progress.” He said he hopes the visit will show a continued interest in strengthening ties in the years to come. Obama will make the case for stronger commercial and security

ties, including approval of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Trade agreement that is stalled in Congress and facing strong opposition from the 2016 presidential candidates. The United States is eager to boost trade with a fast-growing middle class in Vietnam that is expected to double by 2020. That would mean knocking down auto, food and machine tariffs to get more US products into Vietnam. In Japan Obama will attend a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, where the uncertain global economy will be a top concern. They’ll also grapple with a full array of world challenges, including the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and the refugee crisis in Europe. Obama will finish his trip in Hiroshima, where the US dropped the atomic bomb that killed 140,000 people, ushering in the nuclear age seven decades ago. Another bomb killed 70,000 in Nagasaki three days later. It will be a moment to reflect on the devastating costs of war and to try to give new impetus to the call for a nuclear-free world that Obama issued seven years ago in his first year as president. He has faced criticism, however, that his mere presence at the site of the a-bomb explosion could be viewed as apology for an act that many Americans see as justified. AP

Think tank: Next government should strengthen US and other alliance treaties

lliance treaties with the US and other countries, like Japan and Australia, should be strengthened by the new government, as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) needs to shift its stance from internal security to territorial defense, an independent think tank said. “We believe the AFP should now develop a credible defense position that would make a potential

adversary think twice before using force against the Philippines,” said Dindo Manhit, president of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute (ADRi). Tensions threatened to escalate days ago over the disputed waters when Chinese fighter jets “maneuvered unsafely” as they intercepted an American navy reconnaissance plane. The two nations had since traded accusations.

An option is fostering a trilateral armed forces featuring the Army, Air Force and Navy for maritime territorial security, in particular the monitoring and securing of Philippines-controlled land features in the South China Sea and adjacent waters. Even so, Manhit cautioned that no amount of resources and arms acquisition can enable the Philippines to face an assertive

and militarily powerful China, so efforts must be concentrated on strengthening the AFP’s joint operations capabilities. Development of its early warning, surveillance, and command, control and communication must be designed with an ally or set of allies in mind. It is, thus, crucial for the administration of presumptive President Rodrigo R. Duterte to strengthen

its alliance with the US built around the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. “Continuous training with allied forces, including the US and its other bilateral allies, such as Japan, Australia and South Korea, should also be prioritized,” he said. Another area of cooperation is Stratbase ADRi’s very own US-Philippines Strategic Initiative (USPSI), a high-level policy dialogue project

launched last year in Washington featuring the think tank, the Philippines Inc. Eminent Persons Group, and Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Described as a potential “game changer” in US-Philippine relations, USPSI is a three-year project designed to add depth, creativity and a sense of urgency in modernizing the US-Philippine alliance.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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Japan’s exports post 7th monthly decline

Alexander Van der Bellen (left), candidate of the Austrian Greens, and Norbert Hofer, candidate for president of Austria’s Freedom Party, wait for the release of the election results during the Austria presidential elections in Vienna, Austria, on Sunday. Nearly final results for Austria’s presidential election on Sunday showed a right-wing politician neck-and-neck race with a challenger whose views stand in direct opposition to his rival’s anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic message. AP/Ronald Zak

Austria’s prexy fight between right-wing, Greens candidates

IENNA—With direct ballots counted but a final result still outstanding, Sunday’s elections for Austria’s presidency were too close to call a winner between a right-wing politician and a challenger whose views stand in stark opposition to his rival’s anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic message.

The direct votes gave rightwinger Norbert Hofer 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent for Alexander van der Bellen, a Greens politician running as an independent. But final projections that included still-tobe-counted absentee ballots put each at 50 percent with Van der Bellen narrowly ahead. Those nearly 700,000 absentee ballots will be counted on Monday, making them the likely decider by a minuscule portion of votes, considering that 4.48 million people voted directly on Sunday. Candidates backed by the longdominant Social Democratic and centrist People’s Party were eliminated in last month’s first round, which means neither party would hold the presidency for the first time since the end of the war. That reflects disillusionment with the status quo, and their approach to the migrant crisis and other issues. But Sunday’s voting revealed a profound split over which direction the nation should now take, particularly over migration and the future of the European Union (EU).

700k The number of still-to-becounted absentee ballots

Van der Bellen’s supporters back liberal refugee policies and a strong, unified EU, while Hofer’s Freedom Party wants closed borders and campaigns consistently on strong anti-EU sentiment within the country. Hofer and Van der Bellen drew clear lines between themselves both during the campaign and as they voted on Sunday. Asked as he arrived to cast his ballot what differentiated him from Hofer, Van der Bellen said: “I think I’m pro-European and there are some doubts as far as Mr. Hofer is concerned.” Hofer, in turn, used his last pre-election gathering to deliver a message with anti-Muslim overtones.

“To those in Austria who go to war for the Islamic State or rape women—I say to those people: ‘This is not your home,’” he told a cheering crowd on Friday. On Sunday Hofer sought to soothe international fears that he is a radical far-righter. The Austria Press Agency cited him as telling foreign reporters on Sunday that he is “really OK,” and “not a dangerous person.” Still, with the elections reverberating beyond Austria’s borders, such assurances are unlikely to have much weight. A Hofer win would be viewed by European parties of all political stripes as evidence of a further advance of populist Eurosceptic parties at the expense of the establishment. In Austria the result could upend decades of business-as-usual politics, with the two candidates serving notice they are not satisfied with the ceremonial role for which most predecessors have settled. Van der Bellen says he would not swear in a Freedom Party chancellor, even if that party wins the next elections, scheduled within the next two years. Hofer has threatened to dismiss Austria’s government coalition of the Social Democrats and the People’s Party if it fails to heed his repeated admonitions to do a better job—and is casting himself as the final arbiter of how the government is performing. The Constitution gives the president the right not only to sack the government, but also to dissolve parliament. Still, both men are likely to avoid open

confrontation, even if they occasionally stray from the usual ceremonial functions associated with the office, such as greeting incoming ambassadors, cutting ribbons and giving rubber-stamp approvals of new governments. Political scientists suggested as much. “The president can function only if he cooperates with the government,” Anton Pelinka said. “I, therefore, see any outcome as having major atmospheric but less immediate political significance.” Peter Fi l zm a ier sa id bot h would tone down their messages if elected, because “if they constantly take positions without being able to enact their views, they will soon have the image of a ranting heckler who cannot accomplish anything politically.” At the same time, Hofer as president may be unwelcome in some European capitals as governments there try to keep their populist Eurosceptic parties in check. And the Freedom Party’s anti-Muslim campaigning also could result in Mideast governments avoiding him. It would not be a first for Austria. President Kurt Waldheim, who was backed by the centrist People’s Party, was boycotted internationally decades ago after revelations that he served in a German unit linked to atrocities in World War II. Even with the vote still undecided, Hofer worked on Sunday to lessen any negative international fallout should he be declared the victor. He said, the international community would soon realize that reports that he is on the farright extremist fringe “do not jibe with the facts.” AP

Turkey’s Erdogan asks ally to form new govt

NKARA, Turkey—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday appointed one of his most-trusted allies to form Turkey’s new government, in a move seen to help consolidate his hold on power. Binali Yildirim, the transportation and communications minister and a founding member of the ruling party, was tapped to replace Ahmet Davutoglu who stepped down amid growing differences with Erdogan, including his wish to overhaul the Constitution to give the largely ceremonial presidency executive powers. Yildirim has said he would work to legalize the “de facto” presidential system by introducing a new Constitution to that effect. The appointment of the 60-yearold politician came hours after the ruling party confirmed him as party chairman, and he immediately expressed allegiance to the

Turkish leader, vowing to follow his path. Davutoglu remains caretaker premier until Yildirim forms a new Cabinet. “Our path is the path of the voice and the breath of the people, our party’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Yildirim said in a speech to thank delegates who voted overwhelmingly earlier on Sunday to endorse him as the new chairman of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP. “We have always proudly said that we are Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s companion, that we share a common fate and a common passion,” Yildirim said. “Mr. President, we promise you that your passion will be our passion, your cause will be our cause, your path will be our path.” In a message read at the opening of the convention, Erdogan again stressed his wish for a new Constitution, which he said would help

correct the current “skewed” system of administration. Delegates and party officials stood up as his message was read. “My legal bond with the AKP may have ended the day I took the [presidential] oath of office, but my bonds of love have never ended and never will,” Erdogan said. Supporters credit Yildirim for his role in developing major infrastructure projects, which have helped buoy Turkey’s economy and boost the party’s popularity. But critics, including the leader of the main opposition party, have accused him of corruption. Yildirim has rejected the accusation. The change in party leadership comes at a time when North Atlantic Treaty Organization member Turkey is facing an array of security threats, including renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast, a wave of suicide bombings linked to Kurdish and Islamic

State militants, as well as growing blowback from the war in neighboring Syria. The transition also coincides with growing tensions with the European Union (EU) over a controversial deal to reduce the flow of illegal migrants from Turkey to Greece, which Davutoglu helped broker. Davutoglu, a one-time adviser to Erdogan and a former foreign minister, fell out with the president over several issues, including the possibility of peace talks with Kurdish rebels, and the pretrial detention of journalists accused of spying and academics accused of supporting terrorism. Erdogan is pushing for a broader definition of terrorism, alarming rights groups who say existing laws are already too widely interpreted to crush dissent. His stance is also at odds with EU conditions for Turkish citizens to benefit from visa-free travel. AP

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apan’s exports fell for a seventh consecutive month in April as the yen strengthened, underscoring the mounting challenges to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to revive economic growth. Overseas shipments declined 10.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 9.9-percent drop. Imports fell 23.3 percent, leaving a trade surplus of ¥823.5 billion ($7.5 billion). Even a f ter com i ng of f a n 18 - mo nt h h i g h e a r l ie r t h i s month, the Japanese currency has gained 9 percent against the dollar this year, eroding the competitiveness of the nation’s products overseas and hurting the earnings of exporters. Concern about the impact of the yen was on show over the weekend as Finance Minister Taro Aso and his US counterpart disagreed over the seriousness of recent moves in the foreign-exchange market. “The yen’s appreciation is taking a toll on Japanese exports,” Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief market economist at SMBC Nikko Securities

in Tokyo, said before the report was released. “Exports are looking weak in the April-to-June period, posing a downside risk to Japan’s economy.” Maruyama also said supplychain constraints, following the earthquakes in the Kumamoto a rea l ast mont h, may a f fect shipments of some products, such as auto parts and elect ron ic comp one nt s, s low i n g Japanese exports to China and other Asian nations. The earthquakes hit the southern island of Kyushu in April, bringing a halt to production at factories of companies, including Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. Monday’s report also shows that: Exports to the US fell 11.8 percent in April from a year earlier, while shipments to European Union rose 9.9 percent. Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, dropped 7.6 percent. GDP expanded by an annualized 1.7 percent in the three months ended March 31, after a 1.7-percent contraction in the previous quarter. The leap year provided an extra day of production and spending to bolster the data. Blooomberg News

Trump sees political gain in Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs

or weeks, Donald Trump has dredged up stories from the 1990s about Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs. Then Trump went a step further, reviving an unsubstantiated rape accusation against the former president. Even for Trump, the anythinggoes showman whose insults left rivals reeling in the Republican presidential primaries, the attacks have a searing personal dimension, pushing boundaries and forcing his presumed Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, to relive the humiliation of her husband’s adultery. Given Trump’s own extramarital dalliances along his tabloidchronicled path from his first wife to his second and third, the tactic could backfire. But it serves strategic goals for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. His almost daily reminders of Clinton melodramas darken the glow that the former first couple often puts on their White House years, an era of economic prosperity. Trump is open about also using the personal attacks to blunt attempts by Hillar y Clinton and her allies to go after him over his repeated derogatory remarks about women, including crude assessments of sex appeal. Charlie Black, a veteran GOP campaign consultant who supports Trump, said the former president’s history is fair game when Tr u mp is f ight i ng t he Democrats’ accusations. “A lot of voters are so young, they don’t even know about this stuff,” Black said. “And the ones who are old enough to remember, it probably doesn’t hurt to remind them of it—that [Hillary Clinton’s] cooperation with him in trying to cover up these things is just not a pro-women stance.” Still, there is additional risk in revisiting the tumultuous past: reminding voters of the GOP’s hypocrisy surrounding the White House sex scandal. Newt Gingrich, the House speaker who led the charge for Clinton’s 1998 impeachment, admitted later that he was having an extramarital affair at the time. Gingrich’s designated successor, Rep. Bob Livingston of Louisiana,

gave up the post just before Clinton’s Senate trial after acknowledging his own extramarital affairs. Republicans then gave the speaker’s job to Rep. J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who was sentenced last month to 15 months in prison for financial crimes committed in his effort to cover up his sexual abuse of high-school boys on a wrestling team that he coached. As noted by Paul Begala, a senior White House adviser to Bill Clinton and one of his most pugnacious defenders, the result was a backlash that resulted in a surprising gain of Democratic seats in the 1998 congressional election. “It didn’t work when it was hot and new, and about the guy that was president,” said Begala, now a strategist for a pro-Hillary Clinton political action committee. “I don’t think it’s going to work when it’s old and stale and about the husband of the woman running for president.” Tr ump’s frequent brag ging about his sexual conquests, along with his affair with second wife Marla Maples when he was still married to Ivana Trump, make his attacks on Bill Clinton awkward. “If I told the real stories of my experiences with women, often seemingly very happily married and important women, this book would be a guaranteed best seller,” he wrote in The Art of the Comeback. In a deposition taken during their divorce proceedings in the 1980s, Ivana Trump alleged that Trump had once raped her. When it became public in 1993, she issued a statement saying that once in 1989, the couple “had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.” “As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited toward me, was absent,” she said. “I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.” For weeks, Trump has made a point of bringing up the former president’s sexual history each time Hillary Clinton or her allies accuse the New York mogul of mistreating women. Los Angeles Times/TNS

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BusinessMirror U.K. to face yearlong recession, Treasury forecast says news.businessmirror@gmail.com.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Finance chiefs unanimous: Brexit is wrong choice

lobal finance chiefs agreed that Britons should not vote to leave the European Union (EU) next month, as they warned that Brexit might have negative economic consequences.

Ger m a n Fi n a nce M i n i ster Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a briefing at the conclusion of the Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers’ meeting in Sendai, northern Japan, on Saturday that all G-7 members agreed on the consequences of Brexit, and shared the hope that Britain would vote to remain in the bloc on June 23. “We were all of the opinion that it would be the wrong decision for the UK,” Schaeuble said. “But it’s a decision to be taken by the British voters. We’re concerned that it could have negative consequences for the European and the world economy.” At the same time, the UK faces a yearlong recession if it leaves the EU, according to a Treasury forecast issued, as the government tries to persuade undecided voters that the risks of a so-called Brexit, or Britain exit from the EU, are too great. T he Treasur y’s assessment of the shor t-ter m impacts of a vote to quit the bloc, to be published on Monday morning, offers t wo possibilities.

‘Shock scenarios’

Under its “shoc k scenar io,” which it describes as “cautious,” Britain’s GDP in 2018 would be 3.6 percentage points lower than the current forecast, which is for a 4.3-percent increase. Inflation would accelerate shar ply and house prices would stall. Under the “severe shock” scenario, GDP would be 6 percentage points lower than otherwise, and house prices would fall about 10 percent from current levels. “With exactly one month to go to the referendum, the British people must ask themselves this question: Can we knowingly vote

10% The rate of fall of house prices under a “sever shock” scenario

for a recession?” Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was set to say in a speech in southern England on Monday, according to his office. “Does Britain really want this DIY recession?” The chancellor will be flanked by Prime Minister David Cameron. Both men’s careers depend on winning the June 23 referendum, and they are determined to do so by emphasizing the dangers of a vote to leave. Cameron on Sunday said the plebiscite matters more than a general election. The Japanese presidency of the G-7 released a summary of the meeting, which said the “shock of a potential UK exit from the European Union” would complicate the global economic environment. With only a month to go before the referendum, the G-7’s caution will provide further ammunition for Osborne, who is one of the main strategists behind Cameron’s campaign to keep Britain in the bloc. The G-7 view follows warnings from the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The issue has split the ruling Conservative Part y—and the Br itish Cabinet—down the middle. Osborne told the BBC in Sendai on Friday that an exit would provoke “an immediate economic shock.”

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso (seated, from left) poses with other finance ministers and heads of central banks of the Group of Seven for a group photo in Akiu, northern Japan, on Saturday. Yohei Kanezashi/Kyodo News via AP

‘Hit jobs’

“The Europe vote is more important, because if you don’t like the government, you can always get rid of them in five years’ time,” Cameron told ITV on Sunday. “If we make this decision to leave the EU, to get out of the single market and hit our economy and hit jobs, it would be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse that decision.” Extracts of the Treasury analysis already published suggest the pound would fall 12 percent after a vote to leave, pushing up annual household shopping bills by €220 ($320) over the same period. T he w a r n i ng of recession echoes that given by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney earlier this month. Carney will testify to Parliament’s Treasury Committee on the central bank ’s inf lation report on Tuesday. The emphasis on risk is aimed at pushing undecided voters—who polls indicate make up as much as a quarter of the electorate— into the “Remain” camp. Recent polling has suggested that the “Leave” side is losing

ground. An Opinium poll published on May 21 found Remain on 44 percent and Leave on 40 percent. The poll was conducted online, something that has tended to produce better results for Leave. Gambling web site Betfair put the chance of Brexit at 21 percent. The Number Cruncher Politics site has the probability at about 19 percent, the lowest it’s been.

Retailers’ warnings

The Treasury’s short-term forecast follows a long-term one last month, which warned of decades of pain in the event of a Brexit. “Prices would be higher, unemployment would be higher, growth would be affected, we would be less well off,” Cameron said on Sunday. “You really have to ask yourself, is it worth taking this risk?” T he prime minister’s comments add to a plethora of personal economic arguments presented by the pro-EU camp in recent days. Former CEO of retailers Tesco Plc., J Sainsbury Plc, Marks and Spencer Group Plc.

and B and Q Plc. said in the Mail on Sunday newspaper that Brexit would cause a spike in prices and job losses, while Osborne said on Saturday that a vote to leave the EU could also lead to higher mortgage rates. W hile the warnings appear to be having an effect, they are angering lawmakers and ministers in Cameron’s Conservative Party who support Leave. They complain he is campaigning too aggressively and using the machinery of government to do so. “ T he Treasur y has consistently got its predictions wrong in the past,” Iain Duncan Smith, who quit as work and pensions secretary in March, said in an e-mailed statement. “This Treasury document is not an honest assessment but a deeply biased view of the future and it should not be believed by anyone.” Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the public is “annoyed” at “scaremongering and all the false reports that have been coming from the Remain side.”

Turkey debate

Mordaunt’s appearance also illustrated the risks for Tories as they take a different side in the debate than their prime minister. Explaining the Leave side’s argument that EU membership carries a danger of increased immigration because the bloc is likely to expand to include Turkey, she denied that Britain had the power to veto such a move. Less than an hour later, she was bluntly contradicted by the prime minister. “Let me be clear,” Cameron said. “Britain and every other country in the European Union has a veto on another country joining. That is a fact. The fact that the Leave campaign are getting things as straightforward as this wrong, I think should call into question their whole judgment in making the bigger argument about leaving the EU.” Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, has publicly supported the campaign to keep the UK in the EU. Bloomberg News

Obama’s Hiroshima visit stirs differing views across Pacific T

OKYO—Two very different visions of the hell that is war are seared into the minds of World War II survivors on opposite sides of the Pacific. Michiko Kodama saw a flash in the sky from her elementaryschool classroom on August 6, 1945, before the ceiling fell and shards of glass from blown-out windows slashed her. Now 78, she has never forgotten the living hell she saw from the back of her father, who dug her out after a US military plane dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Lester Tenney saw Japanese soldiers killing fellow American captives on the infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippines in 1942. “If you didn’t walk fast enough, you were killed. If you didn’t say the right words you were killed, and if you were killed, you were either shot to death, bayonetted, or decapitated,” the 95-year-old veteran said. He still has the bamboo stick Japanese soldiers used to beat him across the face. Different experiences, different memories are handed down, spread by the media and taught in school. Collectively, they shape the differing reactions in the United States and Japan to Barack Obama’s decision to become the first sitting American president to visit the memorial to atomic-bomb victims

in Hiroshima later this week. The US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki three days after Hiroshima, and Japan surrendered six days later, bringing to an end a bloody conflict that the US was drawn into after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Japan identifies mostly as “a victim rather than a victimizer,” Stephen Nagy, an international relations professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo, said. “I think that represents Japan’s regional role and its regional identity, whereas the United States has a global identity, a global agenda and global presence. So when it views the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, it’s in the terms of a global narrative, a global conflict the United States was fighting for freedom or to liberate countries from fascism or imperialism. To make these ends meet is very difficult.” A poll last year by the Pew Research Center found that 56 percent of Americans believe the use of nuclear weapons was justified, while 34 percent do not. In Japan 79 percent said the bombs were unjustified, and only 14 percent said they were. Terumi Tanaka, an 84-year-old survivor of the Nagasaki bombing, said of Obama: “I hope he will give an apology to the atomic-bomb

Arthur Ishimoto, 93, a Japanese-American and US Army Military Intelligence Service veteran, is interviewed in Honolulu. AP/Audrey McAvoy

survivors, not necessarily to the general public. There are many who are still suffering. I would like him to meet them and tell them that he is sorry about the past action, and that he will do the best for them.” The White House has clearly ruled out an apology, which would inflame many US veterans and others, and said Obama would not revisit the decision to drop the bombs. “A lot of these people are telling us we shouldn’t have dropped the bomb—hey, what [are] they talking about?” said Arthur Ishimoto, a veteran of the Military Intelligence Service, a US Army unit made up of mostly JapaneseA mer ic a ns who i nter rogated prisoners, translated intercepted

messages and went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. Now 93, he said it’s good for Obama to visit Hiroshima to “bury the hatchet,” but there’s nothing to apologize for. Ishimoto, who was born in Honolulu and rose to be an Army major general and commander of the Hawaii National Guard, believes he would have been killed in an invasion of Japan if Japan had not surrendered. “It would have been terrible,” he said. “There is going to be controversy about apologizing. I don’t think there should be any apology.... We helped that country. We helped them out of the pits all the way back to one of the most economically advanced. There’s

no apology required.” Beyond the deaths—the atomic bombs killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 73,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945—the effects of radiation have lingered with survivors, both physically and mentally. Kodama, the Hiroshima schoolgirl, faced discrimination in employment and marriage. After her first love failed because her boyfriend’s family said they didn’t want “radiated people’s blood in their family,” she married into a more understanding one. The younger of her two daughters died of cancer in 2011. Some say she shouldn’t have given birth, even though multigenerational radiation effects have not been proven. Obama doesn’t have to apolog i z e, K o d a m a s a id , but he shou ld ta ke concrete actions to keep his promise to seek a nuc lear-f ree world. “For me, the war is not over until the day I see a world without nuclear weapons.” she said. “Mr. Obama’s Hiroshima visit is only a step in the process.” Nagasaki survivor Tanaka views the atomic bombings as a crime against humanity. A promise by Obama to survivors to do all he can for nuclear disarmament “would mean an apology to us,” he said. He added that his own government also should take some of the blame for the suffering of atomic-bomb

victims. “It was the Japanese government that started the war to begin with, and delayed the surrender,” he said, adding that Japan has not fully faced up to its role in the war. Japan did issue apologies in various forms in the 1980s and 1990s, but some conservative politicians in recent years have raised questions about them, said Sven Saaler, a historian at Sophia University in Tokyo. “In particular right now when Japan has a government that is... backpedaling in terms of apologizing for the war, if now the US apologized, that also would be, I think, a weird signal in this current situation,” Saaler said. Tenney, one of only three remaining prisoner of war (POWs) from the Bataan Death March, wants Obama in Hiroshima to remember all those who suffered in the war, not just the atomicbomb victims. “From my point of view, the fact that the war ended when it did and the way it did, it saved my life and it saved the life of those Americans and other allied POWs that were in Japan at the time,” he said at his home in in Carlsbad, California. “I was in Japan, shoveling coal in a coal mine. No one ever apologized for that.... I end up with black-lung disease because they didn’t take care of me in the coal mine, and yet, there is no apology, no words of wisdom, no nothing.” AP

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A8 Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Egypt sends submarine to hunt for crashed jetplane’s black boxes

A Coptic Christian touches a banner with an image of Jesus Christ during prayers for the departed, remembering the 66 victims of Thursday’s crash of EgyptAir flight 804, at Al-Boutrossiya Church, the main Coptic Cathedral complex, in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday. AP/Amr Nabil

AIRO—Egypt sent a submarine on Sunday to join the hunt for the flight recorders from the EgyptAir jetliner, which crashed in the Mediterranean and killed all 66 people aboard, while hundreds of Coptic Christian mourners filled a church in Cairo to pray for their relatives among the dead.

Mounting evidence pointed to a sudden and dramatic catastrophe that led to Thursday’s crash of Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo, although Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah

el-Sissi said it “will take time” to establish what happened aboard the Airbus A320. In his first public comments since the crash, el-Sissi cautioned against

premature speculation. “It is very, very important to us to establish the circumstances that led to the crash of that aircraft,” el-Sissi said in remarks broadcast live on Egyptian TV. “There is not one scenario that we can exclusively subscribe to.... All scenarios are possible.” A submarine belonging to the Oil Ministry was headed to the site about 290 kilometers north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria to join the search, el-Sissi said. The vessel can operate at a depth of 3,000 meters, he said. After starting his comments with a minute of silence to remember the victims, he thanked the nations that have joined Egyptian ships and aircraft in the search. Beside Egypt, ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States are taking part in the search for the debris from the aircraft, including its flight data and cockpit voice re-

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The distance of the submarine north of Alexandia port that will join the search for the flight recorders corders. Some wreckage, including human remains, have been recovered already. Egypt’s aviation industry has been under international scrutiny since October 31, when a Russian Airbus A321 traveling to Saint Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard. Russia said the crash was caused by a bomb

planted on the plane, and the local branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility, citing Moscow’s involvement in Syria. Thursday’s crash will further damage Egypt’s tourism industry, already reeling from years of political turmoil. The nation of 90 million people has been in crisis after crisis since a popular 2011 uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Since then, it has seen a dramatic surge in attacks by Islamic militants, bouts of deadly unrest, a battered economy and the steady decline in the value of its currency. El-Sissi spoke a day after the leak of flight data indicated that a sensor detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the plane’s cockpit windows in the final moments of the flight. The data was published by The Aviation Herald. Authorities say the plane lurched left, then right, spun all the way around and plummeted 11,582 meters into the sea, never issuing a distress call. Investigators have been studying the passenger list and questioning ground crew at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, where the airplane took off. In Cairo several hundred mourners attended a memorial service for nine Coptic Christians killed in the crash, including 26-year-old flight attendants Yara Tawfik. The service was held in the Boutrossiya Church, inside Cairo’s Saint Mark Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church. Relatives sobbed and prayed as Bishop Daniel, the senior cleric who led the service, offered words of comfort on behalf of Pope Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Church. “The church, the pope, the state and its representatives are very moved by this painful incident and are all standing together in offering their condolences to these families,” Daniel said. “They’ve ascended to heaven.” Nader Medhat, a cousin of Tawfik, said on Saturday he was still trying to come to terms with the disaster. “We hear about such accidents, a plane falls or explodes, but it is always far away from us, it was always so far-fetched until it happened to us,” he said. A service was held on Saturday in a Cairo mosque for copilot Mohamed Mamdouh, 25, another of the 30 Egyptians among the dead. “The funeral service was so packed with people there was no place for anyone to stand,” said Ahmed Amin, Mamdouh’s childhood friend. “It was really heartwarming.” AP

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Afghanistan confirms death of Taliban leader

ABUL, Afghanistan—The Afghan intelligence agency confirmed on Sunday that the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan. It was the first government confirmation of statements by US officials that Mansour had been killed on Saturday in the attack, which was authorized by President Barack Obama. The Taliban leader was traveling with another man in a car along the PakistanAfghanistan border, US officials said. The National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, said in a statement that Mansour “was killed as a result of a 3:45 p.m. air strike yesterday afternoon, in the Dal Bandin area of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.” The Taliban did not immediately comment on the announcement. Mansour was appointed to lead the group last summer after the Taliban confirmed that its founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had died. Mansour immediately confronted a power struggle that has left the insurgent movement—which had been largely cohesive under Omar––more divided than ever. Once regarded as a proponent of ending hostilities against Afghan and US-led international forces, and entering into peace talks, Mansour led the Taliban at a time when the group sought to gain more territory in northern and southern Afghanistan and prompted the White House to delay plans to withdraw the remaining 9,800 US troops in the country. As Taliban attacks increased, particularly in Kunduz and Helmand provinces, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s efforts to start negotiations—supported by the United States, China and Pakistan—failed to make progress. At the latest meeting of the four-nation group, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, described the Taliban as “irreconcilable.” Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook said Mansour had become “an obstacle to peace and reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban, prohibiting Taliban leaders from participating in peace talks with the Afghan government.” Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Sunday Mansour was “the main figure preventing the Taliban from joining in the peace process” and “intensified violence against ordinary civilians.” Last year saw the highest numbers of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the United Nations began keeping records several years ago. The comments appeared to be a justification for Obama’s attack order because the US government has not labeled the Taliban a terrorist group and has said in the past that it would not target members of the group in airstrikes unless they posed a direct threat to US forces or interests. Los Angeles Times/TNS

Hospitals deadly target in Middle East conflicts

EIRUT—As one of the few pediatricians remaining in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Dr. Mohammed Wassim Maaz offered hope to tens of thousands of children and their parents trapped in the horror and misery of the five-year civil war. But last month, an air strike widely believed to have been carried out by the Syrian government destroyed the al Quds hospital, where he worked, killing Maaz and dozens of colleagues, patients and other civilians. The April 27 strike was the latest of thousands of attacks in recent years on medical facilities in conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere that have killed hundreds in brazen violation of humanitarian norms. Facilities have been struck in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and South Sudan. The attacks have turned the universally recognized symbol of the Red Cross, which is supposed to offer protection and safety, into a deadly target and have exposed the failure of the international community to prevent and punish such crimes. The UN Security Council has denounced the attacks and demanded that all parties in conflicts protect medical fa-

cilities, staff and patients. But some of the council’s most powerful members, who backed the resolution, aren’t blameless. US forces struck a clinic in Afghanistan last year, killing 42 people. The Pentagon found the attack was a mistake caused by human error and 16 military personnel, including a two-star general, were disciplined. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which operated the hospital, has called for an independent investigation. Medical facilities have also been hit by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Russia, too, has been tied to attacks. Its forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been accused of intentionally striking hospitals. Assad’s military has been charged with deliberately striking civilian targets to crush the will of the population and render rebel-held areas unlivable. Physicians for Human Rights calls the attacks in Syria the most widespread and systematic assault on health care documented in the world to date. “Health facilities, which are meant to be places where people can go for relief of suffering, for survival and safety, have

instead become places of brutality and death,” said Susannah Sirkin, a director at the New York-based group. The Geneva Conventions state that hospitals, doctors and patients are offlimits in conflicts. Attacking them constitutes a war crime. Violations have happened before, but aid groups say the cruelty and frequency in recent years has been unprecedented. Nearly 740 doctors and staff have been killed in more than 360 attacks on hospitals in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, according to Physicians for Human Rights. A study by the International Committee of the Red Cross documented some 2,400 attacks against patients, health personnel and medical facilities from 2012 to 2014. Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, MSF, says at least 100 staff members, patients and caretakers were killed, and at least 130 were injured in aerial bombing and shelling attacks on more than 80 MSF-supported and-run health structures in 2015 and early 2016. Hospitals and physicians in the Middle East and elsewhere have been attacked simply for treating people on

both sides of the conflict, or because the facilities were located near what was perceived to be a military target. Treating patients in war zones has become so dangerous that some hospitals have gone undercover and residents in a number of communities in Syria have protested against efforts to reopen bombed hospitals to avoid being hit again, according to MSF. On Monday 80 governments and dozens of world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, inaugurated the first-of-its-kind World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. The summit, called by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in response to pressing humanitarian challenges, was set to be attended by 6,000 people including heads of aid groups and private sector leaders. But MSF, in a strongly worded statement, said it was pulling out, calling the summit “a fig leaf of good intentions.” According to the international organization, the two-day World Humanitarian Summit will “put states on the same level as non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, which have no such powers or obligations,” further minimizing the responsibility of the states.

An employee of Doctors Without Borders, walks inside the charred remains of the organization’s hospital after it was hit by a US air strike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in October 2015. AP/Najim Rahim Assad’s government denies targeting hospitals or other civilian areas and accuses the rebels of striking government clinics. But Syria’s top diplomat to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari, has accused MSF of being French spies and said they should be blamed for attacks on their facilities because they are operating in an area not controlled by the government. The attack on the al Quds hospital brought attention to the dangers faced by medical care workers. Closed-circuit footage of the last moments of Maaz’s

life was seen worldwide. They show him clad in green scrubs and slippers, moving busily around the ward and tending to his small patients. Maaz, 36, was the senior pediatrician in Aleppo, a northern city besieged by government, Kurdish and Islamic State fighters. He was a soft-spoken bearded man with balding hair, so devoted to his patients that he turned down a scholarship to study in France and opportunities to work in safer areas. He slept in the hospital to look after his patients during the night, colleagues said. AP

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The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • Tuesday, May 24, 2016

World Humanitarian Summit opens in Istanbul to tackle crises

STANBUL—An unprecedented summit to revamp humanitarian aid and global responses to modern-day crises has opened in Turkey.

The first World Humanitarian Summit is being convened in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday in a bid to better tackle what the United Nations describes as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. The gathering was conceived four years ago by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In preparation, 23,000 people were consulted in over 150 countries, UN officials say. Stephen O’Brien, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the summit’s success would be defined not by funds raised, but by the number of commitments to action made. He said the summit is “a once-ina-generation opportunity to set in motion an ambitious and far-reaching agenda.” A top United Nations official on Sunday urged word leaders to reform the humanitarian-aid system and uphold international humanitarian law ahead of a key summit. Speaking on the eve of the first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the gathering was a “wake-up call for action.” “There is a huge need for us to show solidarity with those who are affected by natural disasters and man-made disasters,” Eliasson said. Natural disasters, he warned, were on the rise because of climate change with more than 22 countries affected by El Niño. Eliasson also urged leaders to “stand up” for international human-

125m The number of people worldwide who require humanitarian assistance, among them 60 million people displaced from their homes

itarian law, which is being flouted in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. He described sieges against civilians in Yemen and Syria as “an absolute violation of international law” and “practically a medieval practice.” He also expressed hope that more energy would be devoted toward conflict prevention as an outcome of the two-day Istanbul meeting. Other priorities on the summit’s “agenda for humanity” action include closing funding shortfalls and reducing the number of those in need. Sixty-five heads of state and government representatives from 180 countries are expected to attend. The event is a bid to boost the response to what the United Nations calls the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. An estimated 125 million people worldwide require humanitarian

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mehmet Cavusoglu (left) shakes hands with Stephen O’Brien, UN undersecretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs, during a flag raising ceremony, marking the opening of business at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on Saturday. AP/Lefteris Pitarakis

assistance, among them 60 million people displaced from their homes. Sixty-eight countries, including host Turkey, Germany and the United States, issued a joint statement ahead of the summit, saying they were on board with its goals. War, conflict and persecution have forced about 60 million people worldwide to flee their homes, overwhelming the global humanitarian-aid system designed to help them and exposing its shortcomings. Haphazard organization, inefficient spending and a lack of coordination in delivering aid are among the problems, according to critics who charge that now, more than ever, the structure for helping the world’s most vulnerable people needs to be overhauled. “It’s definitely the case that the way in which we respond to humanitarian crises needs to be reformed,” said Jodi Nelson, senior vice president for policy and practice for the

International Rescue Committee. “It’s not just the humanitarian organizations, it’s the development organizations. It’s really about reforming the entire humanitarianaid system.” How to better coordinate, fund and organize humanitarian aid are among the topics the World Humanitarian Summit will explore. The two-day event, the first United Nations conference of its kind, was expected to bring together global leaders from government, business, aid organizations, affected communities and youth, among others. Jens Laerke, deputy spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said world leaders were expected to commit to advancing action in key areas. These include reaffirming the political and financial pledge to help ensure that 130 million people across 40 countries who are “in need of life-saving assistance and protection” have access to hu-

manitarian aid and protection. The leaders would also “respond to the widespread call…for a ‘new way of working’ to address today’s crises, which are increasingly urban, protracted and complex, leaving millions of people caught in longterm cycles of humanitarian vulnerability and need,” Laerke said in an e-mail. The problems of the system are endemic, critics charge, not least among them the delivery of aid. “They have a massive problem with coordination,” said Elizabeth Cullen Dunn, a geographer at Indiana University, Bloomington, who spent 16 months between 2009 and 2103 conducting research in camps for displaced people in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. “There is no one who is in charge. We see a lot of duplication of aid and gaps in delivery. “Once they are displaced, [refugees] enter into a system that is extremely chaotic,” added Dunn, who authored a paper on refugee protection and resettlement in the May issue of Science. “There is very little planning involved. It’s very ad hoc.” Dunn and other advocates for refugees also criticize the length of time that displaced people fleeing conflict and other trauma are generally left to languish in camps. The average is 17 years, she said. UN officials cite a gap in humanitarian funding as exacerbating the challenges to the humanitarian-aid system. “The sheer scale of the global crisis is something we’ve never seen before,” Brian Hansford, a spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in written comments. “But the whole humanitarian system is faced with a critical dilemma because the funds available are not keeping up with the rapidly expanding needs.” AP and Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bangladeshis return home after storm kills 26 Insect poop threatens to damage marble walls at India’s Taj Mahal

briefs

Spanish priest pleads for divine intervention to repair road

MADRID—A Spanish priest says he has given up hope that local authorities in his parish of Xestoso in the northwest of the country will fix the potholes in the roads, so he has asked for divine intervention. Luis Roldan Patino celebrated Mass on a pitted road on Sunday and splashed holy water to bless it. Each pothole is now marked with a wooden cross on the roadside so drivers can slow down before hitting them, he said. Roldan Patino told journalists that “just like we can pray to the Lord for rain,” he is pleading for divine intervention to fix the road because “it’s going to be the only way to do that.” He said the authorities are “blind to the situation and we feel totally abandoned.” AP

Indian PM in Iran to boost economic ties TEHRAN, Iran—Iran’s official Irna news agency says the Indian prime minister has arrived in Tehran, the first such visit in over a decade. The Sunday report said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with President Hassan Rouhani and other Iranian leaders during his two-day visit. The two countries are planning to develop Chabahar port in southeast Iran, expanding a trade route for the landlocked countries of central Asia that bypasses Pakistan. India is also looking to import more oil from Iran and develop a gas field there. In 2012 Iran was India’s second-largest crude supplier but oil exports subsequently fell. Tehran has been seeking to reintegrate into the global economic system, following a landmark deal with world powers that lifted sanctions in return for limiting its nuclear program. AP

Yemen suicide attacks kill at least 45 army recruits

SANAA, Yemen—Yemeni security officials say that a pair of suicide bombers killed at least 45 people in the southern city of Aden. The officials said on Monday that the two bombers targeted young men seeking to join the army. One suicide car bomber targeted a line outside an army recruitment center, killing at least 20. A second bomber on foot detonated his explosive vest among a group of recruits waiting outside the home of an army commander, killing at least 25. Yemen’s conflict pits the internationally recognized government against Shiite rebels, who control the capital, Saana, and are allied with a former president. The country also contains active al-Qaeda and Islamic State group affiliates. AP

Australian leader’s poll numbers sag two weeks into campaign

The sun rises over the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Archaeological experts say insects proliferating from a polluted river near the Taj Mahal are marring the intricate marble inlay work by leaving greenish black patches of waste on its walls. AP/Gurinder Osan

Bangladeshi men pull a loaded cart through a waterlogged street after heavy rainfall in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Saturday. A cyclone unleashed heavy rain and strong winds on Bangladesh’s southern coastal region, killing at least 26 people and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes. Mixing of rainwater and toxic waste from industries has turned water into green. AP/ A.M. Ahad

HAKA, Bangladesh—Tens of thousands of Bangladeshis returned on Monday to wind-battered villages and rain-soaked fields after a strong storm pummeled the coast and killed at least 26 people over the weekend. Authorities had ordered about 2 million people to be evacuated from coastal areas before Cyclone Roanu hit the port city of Chittagong on Saturday, but many ignored the call after deciding the storm’s winds, blowing at up to 88 kilometers per hour, were not such a threat. The low-lying delta nation has been regularly hit by much stronger storms. Still, tens of thousands spent the weekend in cyclone shelters. Moheshkhali Island Council chief Mohammed Ullah says some 100,000 islanders returned to damaged and flooded homes on Monday, and

many who lost their stored food supplies were struggling to find enough to eat. “They have to start anew,” Ullah said. “Many are surviving on just dry food, as their homes were submerged.” Local media reported at least 26 deaths caused by drowning or homes collapsing during the storm, though officials have yet to give a death toll. Ullah said islanders on Moheshkhali were now in constant fear that a 28-kilometer stretch of mud embankment badly damaged in the storm will collapse and allow seawater to swamp their homes and fields. Another 5,000 people in the village of Tajimuddin in Bhola district were also struggling to find enough to eat after the storm damaged their homes, according to the English-language

Daily Star newspaper. With millions living along the vulnerable coast, Bangladesh has worked to improve storm preparedness and to issue evacuation orders early to avoid high death tolls, such as the 300,000 killed in a single cyclone in 1970. When Cyclone Sidr hit in 2007, about 3,000 were reported killed. The country has built thousands of raised concrete buildings to serve as cyclone shelters across the vast region. Still, experts say Bangladesh will be increasingly vulnerable as climate change brings stronger storms and rising sea levels that will directly threaten low-lying coastal regions that are home to 160 million people densely packed into an area the size of the US state of Wisconsin. AP

UCKNOW, India—Swarms of insects breeding in a polluted river near the Taj Mahal are threatening the intricate marble inlay work at the 17th century monument to love by leaving green and black patches of waste on its walls, archaeological experts said on Monday. Workers scrub the walls clean every day, but the regular scrubbing can damage the floral mosaics and shiny marble surface, said Bhuvan Vikram of the Archaeological Survey of India. “A series of marble panels depicting plant motifs on the walls or reflective tiles used in this part of the monument are becoming disfigured,” Vikram said. Authorities are looking for a permanent solution to the problem created by the insects from the genus Goeldichironomus, a type of elongated fly that resembles a mosquito that is proliferating in the polluted Yamuna River. The river has stagnated to the point that it no longer supports fish that once kept the insects in check, environmentalist Yogesh Sharma said.

In addition, heavy algal growth and deposits of phosphorus from ash dumped by a nearby cremation ground “are the primary source of food for this particular species of insect,” said Girish Maheshwari, who heads the Department of Entomology at Saint John’s College in the northern city of Agra. The highest elected official of the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the Taj Mahal is located, called the insect menace a matter of “serious concern.” The Taj Mahal, one of India’s most cherished tourist attractions, brings millions of visitors to Agra every year. Archeologists are also struggling to protect the monument from air pollution, which turns the marble yellow and brown. “Officials have been asked to investigate as why there is sudden increase in number of these insects and how to control their population,” Uttar Pradesh state Spokesman Navneet Sehgal said. The Taj Mahal was built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and houses their graves and a mosque. AP

CANBERRA, Australia—Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity dipped slightly in a poll published on Monday two weeks into what appears to be a tight campaign ahead of July 2 general elections. Some 46 percent said they preferred Turnbull over opposition leader Bill Shorten, down 3 percentage points from the last poll two weeks ago, according to the survey by Sydney-based market researcher Galaxy. Shorten’s popularity, meanwhile, climbed 4 percentage points to 31 percent, with 23 percent of respondents uncommitted. AP

I.S. claims deadly blasts in 2 Syrian cities; 65 killed

DAMASCUS, Syria—A news agency linked with the Islamic State (IS) group says the group’s militants were behind the multiple attacks on civilian gatherings in two Syrian coastal cities. Monday’s back-to-back bombings occurred in the cities of Tartus, and Jableh, both government strongholds that also house Russian military bases. State media said the explosions killed at least 65 people, most of them in bus stations in the two cities, and outside a hospital and the electricity company in Jableh. The one-sentence report by the ISlinked Aamaq news agency offered no details. The agency regularly carries the group’s news and claims. AP

A10 Tuesday, May 24, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Did Ecstasy kill again?

he newspaper headline reads: “Five die after electronic music festival”. But this was not the news over the weekend here in the Philippines. This was on April 16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, May 22, four men and a woman died during and after an outdoor rave concert held at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Their ages ranged from 18 to 36 years old. At least one was a student, another a businessman and even an American national were among the fatalities. They were not together in a group and they were taken to different hospitals separately at 12:00 midnight, 2:00 a.m., 2:25 a.m., 3:00 a.m. and 3:55 a.m. Is it too early to speculate as to what happened? Absolutely not. The day after the deaths in Argentina, Dr. Alberto Crescenti, who heads the emergency medical system for the Argentine capital, told The Associated Press that doctors were still trying to determine what sort of drugs caused the deaths. Notice the statement: “What sort of drugs caused the deaths.” While the outdoor venue was packed with some 14,000 people, it is highly improbable that “normal” heat stroke would have targeted just five of the concert goers and killed them. Further, Chief Inspector Rolando Baula, head of the Station Investigation and Detective Management Branch of Pasay City Police, reported that initial medical findings show that massive heart attacks caused the deaths of the 18-year-old female student and the 36-year-old businessman. So, yes, we should “speculate” on what caused those unnecessary deaths. The popular street drug Ecstasy, or MDMA-Methylenedioxymethamphetamin, first invented in 1912, has absolutely no medical use. It is a recreational psychoactive drug and it can be deadly. According the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Ecstasy stops “the natural alarm signals given out by the body. As a result, after taking the drug, a person on Ecstasy may not realize that he has become overheated and can faint or even die of heatstroke.” Symptoms after taking the drug can be: high-blood pressure, seizures, loss of consciousness, and organ damage and complications due to increased body temperature. While fatality rates for MDMA usage are substantially lower than for other drugs known for causing “overdoses,” like heroin and methamphetamine (shabu), that is part of the problem. Recreational users of Ecstasy do not realize that they might be steadily killing their bodies while on the drug. At P1,000 or more per dose, this is a problem of relatively affluent young people, as the drug is not hard to find on any college campus. A shipment worth P1.5 million was confiscated by the Bureau of Customs in March. In 2014 an Indian national who was a student at De La Salle University was arrested with 500 tablets. “Prab” was well known on campus. Without making any judgment whatsoever in this case, people are going to do foolish things and that is their responsibility. But government also has a responsibility to educate and to enforce the law no matter how high in society the perpetrators might be. Since 2005

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Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur Continued from A1 Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, hosts some of the world’s biggest pineapple plantations. It is also rich in minerals, fisheries and other resources. Sadly, Mindanao still has to see its promise turned into reality. Because of lack of development, some of the poorest regions in the Philippines are in Mindanao. Part of the reason for the slow development of Mindanao is its small share in government expenditures. Based on published reports, the government has appropriated P380.9 billion for Mindanao, or 12.7 percent of the P3.002-trillion national budget for this year. The amount is bigger than the P285.4-billion (9.5 percent of the budget) for the Visayas, but smaller than the P594 billion (19.8 percent) for Luzon and the P457 billion (15.2 percent) for the National

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Capital Region. In fairness, Mindanao’s share of the national budget has been increasing every year, although still short of the amount needed to catch up with other parts of the country. From my viewpoint, the pace of development in Mindanao is also accelerating, largely because of the private sector, which has seen its huge potential. Three cities—Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos —have emerged as urban growth centers in Mindanao, where large business players have established their presence. Davao City, which generated the largest demand for office space for the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry in 2014, is now recognized as the outsourcing hub in Mindanao. The city of incoming President Rodrigo R. Duterte is now considered as the economic center of Mindanao.

I have always believed in the huge potential of Mindanao, and even more so now, with the election of Duterte as president. I am confident that Mindanao’s problems and its economy will now receive better attention from the national government. In 2014 Megaworld announced a P15-billion project to develop the Davao Park District, its first township in Mindanao, which it planned to establish as a major center for information technology and business-process outsourcing in Mindanao. SM is also expanding its nationwide mall chain, with the construction of SM Cagayan de Oro and SM Butuan. Davao City hosts seven projects of Vista Land & Lifescapes, accounting for the most number of the company’s projects among cities outside Metro Manila. The company, which has also established presence in other parts of Mindanao ahead of other major real-estate players, is launching 10 new projects in the Davao Region

More news on the Panama Papers

ust to review the facts, the Panama Papers are a set of 11.5 million documents that detail financial and attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore accounts and legal entities, such as companies. Some of this information date back to the 1970s.

Isn’t it interesting that the same people who write and enforce the laws of taxation and money laundering are also the ones that knew exactly how to avoid those laws? This reminds me of something about not putting the fox in charge of guarding the chicken house.

The document leak was given by a whistleblower to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and was reviewed for nearly one year by a group of journalists through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). These journalists represented 107 media organizations in 80 countries. The name Panama Papers was given to this data dump because these were the files of the law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, which is a Panamanian company. The government of Panama objects to the use of the name “Panama” for the “PP” documents and maybe they are right. Here is why. Since these documents have been made public there has been exten-

in the documents? The five most cited occupations of the people that hid assets in offshore companies away from the prying eyes of tax authorities and the public were: “businessperson,” “entrepreneur,” “lawyer,” “professional football player” and “politician.” However, the number of politicians involved is almost as large as the other four occupations combined. Of course, these documents only represent the clients of Mossack Fonseca and there are dozens of other large companies doing this sort of work, as well as many dozen more small firms. But there is good reason to believe that, while Mossack Fonseca may have just been the go-to firm for the politicians hiding

Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Dante S. Castro

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HOM

All eyes on Mindanao

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

sive detailed studies made that have gone beyond what the ICIJ did. The headline ICIJ report named some of the most notable names such as the father of the current British Prime Minister David Cameron and Juan Armando Hinojosa, who has been called Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s “favorite government contractor.” But digging deeper revealed many aides, associates and business partners of other famous people, who were not included in the list. Overall though, the abbreviation “PP” probably should not refer to the nation of Panama. It should probably mean “Politician Papers.” And you can probably guess what occupation is most frequently cited

this year, including a boutique hotel that will be part of the commercial component of its existing Camella Northpoint condominium project in Davao City, a township development in Toril and a horizontal project in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. I have always believed in the huge potential of Mindanao, and even more so now, with the election of Duterte as president. I am confident that Mindanao’s problems and its economy will now receive better attention from the national government. As mayor, Duterte is credited with making Davao City one of the world’s safest cities. He has also developed Davao as a model for development for other areas of the Philippines. I believe his election will attract the attention and significantly increase investors’ interest in Mindanao as the new growth hub in the Philippines. He will also inspire other localgovernment executives in Mindanao to replicate Davao City’s example, thus contributing to the development of the whole of Mindanao. For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@ gmail.com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

their money and assets, it is likely this is fairly representative across the world. Isn’t it interesting that the same people who write and enforce the laws of taxation and money laundering are also the ones that knew exactly how to avoid those laws? This reminds me of something about not putting the fox in charge of guarding the chicken house. While we are told that taxation is to benefit all the people and especially the poor, apparently the duty to pay those taxes is not for all the people. We are told that all those forms we have to fill out to put our money in the bank and to take our money out of the bank is to protect the nation from terrorists and drug dealers. Yet, politicians are finding ways not to fill out those same forms that are for the “good” of the country. American diplomat and political scientist Henry Kissinger once said, “Corrupt politicians make the other 10 percent that are not corrupt look bad.” E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Tuesday, May 24, 2016 A11

The incoming President Energy department needs a turbo boost must look at the lesson of contemporary history Ernesto M. Hilario ABOUT TOWN

Cecilio T. Arillo

database Part Two

S the late Sen. and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople once said, many of the leftist insurgents, Moro separatists and rebel officers in the military and police organizations supported then-Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Edsa II power grab. “Thus, they claimed the right to give advice to President Arroyo as members of her political alliance.” Some of the American observers who quietly visited the country in 2002 were wondering why the President excluded the leftists as targets in her 14-point antiterrorism agenda submitted to the Senate and the House when, on record, they killed more Americans than the Abu Sayyaf and MILF combined in the past. Subsequently, President Arroyo also issued 100 safe-conduct passes to top members of the leftist organization and unilaterally declared a cease-fire that jeopardized ongoing military operations and further exposed the country to security risk. The functions and responsibilities of the police and military are not clearly delineated and prioritized, and it, thus, compounds the problem. The job to eradicate the root causes of insurgency and criminality belongs largely to local executives, but they often received only lip service, having no operational command and control over the men in uniform although they are at the frontlines of the peace and order campaign and the guerrilla war in the countryside, as well as in the urban areas. As a result, civilian and military authorities often end up repeating the old pattern of buck-passing, finger-pointing and scapegoating every time a violent situation occurs. The Mamasapano incident, where 44 Special Action Force commandos were massacred by separatist rebels, was a perfect case in point. Worse, there is no agreed means by which the people and policymakers can gauge the overall capabilities and performance of the men in uniform. For instance, former AFP Chiefs of Staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang and Gen. Diomedio Villanueva promised that the military would settle the Abu Sayyaf problem and stifle insurgency and separatism before the end of their terms. In her time, President Arroyo also bragged, “isang bala lang kayo,” referring to the Abu Sayyaf. Clearly, those who anticipated spectacular battlefield victories were, and still are, not familiar with the way the enemies operate, and will undoubtedly be disappointed at the outcome of the war. For instance, the classic guerrilla tactic of the Abu Sayyaf and its extensive support structure from the Moro population, the Moro Islamic Liberation and the Moro National Liberation

The job to eradicate the root causes of insurgency and criminality belongs largely to local executives, but they often received only lip service, having no operational command and control over the men in uniform although they are at the frontlines of the peace and order campaign and the guerrilla war in the countryside, as well as in the urban areas. Front, makes it an elusive and difficult target even for military and police organizations not suffering from lack of funds, a tactical and strategic direction and a defective command structure. On the problem of military rebellion, the point for criticism against the military and police organizations was not only the lack of loyalty or fidelity to the Constitution, but also the failure of leadership to unify and discipline the ranks. Other related problems: 1. A timid, corrupt or muzzled press, as well as corrupt and incompetent public official, are unwitting allies of insurgents. 2. The best form of public or civil relations by the armed forces in an insurgency situation is concrete direction and responsible governance, not press releases or cheap gimmickry. 3. The men in uniform, as well as those in the civilian bureaucracy, must live within the broad spectrum of the country’s economic constraints and other limitations. 4. The country’s national security and public safety interest is paramount and it must not be compromised in favor of the enemies for any form of expediency, including blackmail and endless negotiations. The paradox is that the more united and cohesive the armed services, the fewer the threat to national security and public safety or no threat at all. The more inchoate and divided they are, the more violent challenges to the State occur. To be continued To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

The path to radicalization By Seamus Hughes | TNS

S one father told me the story of his daughter’s radicalization, his every word was heavy with regret. He should have intervened earlier, he said, when he first noticed she was hiding her online conversations from him. When his daughter disappeared, he frantically tried to call her. But it was too late; she’d gone to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS). Now she is among the 250 individuals who have attempted to or succeeded in traveling to Syria or Iraq to join terrorist organizations, such as the IS. Parents like the father I spoke to are desperate to halt their children’s descent into violent extremism, but they get little help and support from the government or anyone

else. Left to struggle on their own, parental interventions often fail. At George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, we spent six months looking for clues to explain the recent surge in American recruits to jihadism. We reviewed nearly 8,000 pages of court documents stemming from Islamic State-related criminal charges against 85 individuals. We also interviewed some family members and combed through online communications. In the end, we found no clear profile. The path to radicalization wasn’t linear or predictable. IS recruits were old and young, rich and poor, college graduates and high-school dropouts. Some had deep knowledge of Islam, while others had only a superficial understanding of the faith. While they shared an affinity

N every election campaign it’s almost obligatory for candidates for national positions to promise that they would work for full electrification of the country. That promise, however, is, more often than not, made to be broken. After all, the Philippines is an archipelagic country with more than 7,100 islands. If connecting the remote areas in the three main islands to the national grid is already a big problem, as it would definitely cost a lot of taxpayers’ money, bringing electricity to the thousands of small islands scattered across the length and breadth of the archipelago would entail much more in terms of time, effort and resources, even with renewable-energy sources in wider use nowadays. If total electrification remains an elusive goal and the hinterlands remain in the Dark Age, while the urban areas have already reached the 21st century, it’s probably also due to the fact that those tapped to undertake energy development under previous administrations may have allowed partisan political considerations to get in the way. The Department of Energy (DOE) plays a very important role in the country’s economic development and social progress. It is mandated by Republic Act 7638, or the Department of Energy Act of 1992, to prepare, integrate, coordinate, supervise and control all plans, programs, projects and activities of the government concerned with energy

exploration, development, utilization, distribution and conservation. The DOE mission, in partnership with stakeholders, is to improve the quality of life of Filipinos by formulating and implementing policies and programs to ensure sustainable, stable, secure, sufficient, and accessible energy. In pursuit of this mission, it has committed itself to render efficient service with utmost integrity and professionalism, and works under pertinent energy and powerrelated legislation, including the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, Biofuels Act of 2006 and the Renewable Energy Act of 2008. All this makes the job of DOE secretary a most daunting one. Not one to shy away from big challenges, self-made entrepreneur and PDP Laban Vice Chairman Alfonso G. Cusi has accepted the appointment offered by President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte to head the DOE. “I am truly honored and humbled by my appointment as the new secretary of the Department of Energy,” Cusi told media. “I will strive to do my best to help the Duterte administration achieve electrification of the entire country, ensure reliable,

steady and affordable power supply and work toward greater energy selfsufficiency as part of its agenda of sustained economic growth, social progress and political stability in the next six years,” he added. This will be Cusi’s first Cabinetlevel position. He served as general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority and head of the Philippine Ports Authority during the Arroyo administration. He was also appointed the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) in March 2010. The Caap was established by RA 9497 in March 2008, close on the heels of the January 2008 downgrade of the Philippine aviation industry from Category 1 to Category 2 by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) based on its Aviation Safety Audit in November 2007. As soon as Cusi took over the Caap, he immediately implemented a top-to-bottom housecleaning and instituted various organizational reforms, while also keeping an eye on solving the key problems of the aviation industry. When he resigned from the post in December 2010 with the Aquino administration in place, he had already made significant headway in regaining for the Philippine aviation industry the Category 1 status from the FAA. Cusi is the chairman of a Batangas-based shipping firm, Starlite Ferries Inc., which is now in the forefront of serious efforts to modernize the domestic maritime industry by acquiring brand-new roll-on, rolloff (Roro) inter-island vessels from Japan. Starlite plans to eventually build a fleet of seven Roro ships designed specifically for operation in

the rough waters within the Philippine archipelago. Cusi will have to give up his seat at the helm of Starlite Ferries once he takes over the DOE post starting in July this year and assists Duterte and his economic team in implementing its eight-point economic agenda. The Philippines holds the dubious distinction of having one of the highest electricity costs in Asia at present. That’s one reason foreign investors have been putting their money in business ventures in other Southeast Asian countries. And Cusi will have his hands full trying to bring about the reforms that will make power costs in the country within the reach of everyone. First on the DOE agenda when he takes over as energy secretary is to ensure energy security, which calls for accelerating the exploration and development of oil, gas and coal resources, and intensifying the development and utilization of renewable and environment-friendly alternative energy resources and technologies. The second thrust is to pursue reforms to promote an efficient, competitive, transparent and reliable energy sector, while the third is to promote good governance in the energy sector. With his broad experience in public office and as an entrepreneur, Cusi is in a unique position to make a difference in his latest job. He is described by friends as a “silent worker”, but can carry a big stick when the occasion calls for it. Integrity, competence and political will may just be what’s needed to give the energy department a turbo boost in the coming six years. E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.

Clinton Foundation would weigh down a Hillary presidency

They may be on the verge of creating another one: The Clinton Foundation, which has done extraordinary good works over the past 15 years, would present an inherent conflict of interest should she become president, and may be problematic for her even now as a candidate. Clinton has suggested that if she is elected, the foundation—which collects contributions from wealthy interests, including foreign governments—would continue basically as is. “The work that it’s done has been extraordinary,” she said in March when asked whether there would be any ethical concerns about continuing the foundation. “The answer is transparency.” Ethics experts reject that. They say there wouldn’t be any way to avoid the appearance of conflicts if

she wins the presidency. “If Bill seeks to raise large sums of money from donors who also have an interest in US policy, the public will rightly question whether the grants affected United States foreign policy,” says Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University School of Law. Ethics rules, he notes, are “not merely to prevent bad behavior but to foster public trust in the integrity of government choices.” He’s open, however, to the idea of the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, running the foundation. But others say any connection is unacceptable. Joel Fleishman, a foundation expert, says the Clintons have to “sever the relationship completely and put it in the hands of independent trustees.” They have to pick a leader of “impeccable integrity

and let it go its own way in raising money,” says Fleishman, who ran a foundation and has written a book on philanthropy. The Clinton Foundation and its various offshoots have raised about $2 billion from wealthy individuals, corporations—especially Wall Street —and foreign governments. Much of its work is widely praised. A major initiative provides care to poor people in developing countries, chiefly in Africa, to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria. It has negotiated with pharmaceutical companies for reduced prices for drugs and diagnostic equipment. It also has programs on clean water, food security and climate change. These efforts have encouraged citizen and volunteer involvement. This has not been without controversy. Some of the donors have been influence-seekers, including a Canadian businessman who, according to critics, who may have sought to parlay his Clinton connections to reap business benefits with dictators. The foundation also set up a Canadian subsidiary that effectively skirted some disclosure requirements. An article in the Wall Street Journal this month raised questions about a financial commitment that the Clinton Foundation made to a for-profit company run by politically

for jihadist ideology, they manifested that support in a variety of ways —from joining the so-called caliphate to raising money to send to Syria or Iraq. If red flags exist, it is family members who might spot them. Such early suspicions are best described as simply “parents’ intuition.” These feelings and observations could never be quantified into a checklist, but some families sense that something is awry. Our interviews and court records reveal how parents, siblings, even aunts and uncles try urgently to intervene, but often fail. In at least four cases we studied, families hid their loved ones’ passports. Minnesota resident Hanad Mohallim’s mother followed him to Turkey in a futile attempt to bring him home. He later died in Syria. When Sal Shafi, a father in California,

realized his son Adam was flirting with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, he sent him on a “scared straight”-style visit with a jailed Islamic State sympathizer. His efforts, too, were in vain: The FBI arrested his son for providing material support to a terrorist group. Simply enlisting the help of law enforcement doesn’t appear to increase the odds of success either. Police officers and FBI agents met with convert and Colorado native Shannon Conley at least eight times to dissuade her from traveling to Syria. They provided guidance to Conley’s parents, brought in a Muslim FBI agent to debate verses from the Koran and tried to redirect her energies to charities that help Syrians. Despite all those efforts, Conley was arrested at the airport on her way to Syria.

It is easy to criticize these families’ haphazard attempts to save their loved ones, but what options do they have? There isn’t a guidebook for American parents in these scenarios. There is no catalog of intervention experts to call upon. US government officials and community groups offer little practical help. Indeed, there are no comprehensive US deradicalization or disengagement programs. Other countries have programs that provide an avenue for interventions. In Germany and Austria, there are hot lines for concerned parents. In Canada the government-funded Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence gives guidance and support to families. The Danish city of Aarhus has developed a mentorship program to help radicalized individuals. Social workers

Albert R. Hunt

BLOOMBERG VIEW

he Clintons have been targeted by trumped-up scandals from Whitewater to Benghazi. There also are self-inflicted wounds: President Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton’s use of private e-mail servers while secretary of state.

connected close friends. Some of these issues surfaced during Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state. It’s a bigger problem now that she’s the leading presidential candidate, and it would be critical if she gets to the White House. The corrective would appear to be to follow Fleishman’s advice, separate totally from the foundation and select an unimpeachable leader. The current president, Donna Shalala, a respected former Cabinet member and university president, has not said whether she will stay on beyond the end of this year. Chelsea Clinton would not fit the bill for the post. To be sure, Donald Trump would face huge conflicts of his own, particularly regarding his connection to his business empire, but also when it comes to issues involving the US government, such as, for example, a dispute over a Trump golf course overseas or trademark regulations. President Barack Obama, his critics notwithstanding, has run a remarkably scandal-free administration; there have been very few ethical lapses. That’s a record that Hillary Clinton, or any next president, should try to emulate. That means separating from the Clinton Foundation.

from Hayat, a German non-governmental organization, counsel families. Just last week the French government announced a new plan to create “deradicalization centers” around the country. The FBI, however, has only haltingly introduced any alternative to arrest. It recently hatched a program called Shared Responsibility Committees that would, in theory, enlist local mental-health professionals, religious leaders, teachers, local law enforcement and social workers to develop strategies to counter violent extremism. The concept quickly attracted the ire of civil-rights advocates, however, for its lack of transparency and potential 1st Amendment issues. I share their concerns. Still, an estimated 250 people have left the United States to join the IS, or tried to.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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Ferrer: BBL, federalism go hand in hand

By David Cagahastian

@davecaga

HE Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) said on Monday the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), which will establish an autonomous Bangsamoro entity, can go hand in hand with the proposed shift to federalism.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Miriam CoronelFerrer said the passage of the BBL is needed so that peace in Mindanao could come soonest, instead of waiting for the shift

to federalism, which requires an overhaul of the Constitution and could take the whole six years of the incoming Duterte administration. “Any move to change the Charter requires a lot of study and

consultations. It will take several years, since such a major change is not a mere amendment to the Constitution and is best done through a constitutional convention,” Ferrer added. Ferrer said the passage of the BBL will help stabilize the situation in Mindanao and facilitate the full-scale decommissioning of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s weapons and combatants, while a delay in its passage could exacerbate the situation and allow extremists to recruit among the Moro youth. The call from Opapp was in response to the statement made by PDP-Laban Rep.-elect Pantaleon D. Alvarez of Davao del Norte, who is set to become speaker after securing the endorsement of presumptive President Rodrigo R. Duterte, that Congress will no longer pass the BBL and instead go straight

to work on the proposed shift to a federal system of government. But, Ferrer said, that even Duterte had earlier expressed support for the BBL “as a way to correct the historical injustices done to the Moros and the key to ending their armed insurgency.” Ferrer quoted Duterte’s statements during the last presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections in Pangasinan, where he said it was important for peace to be established in Mindanao, and that peace can only be achieved through peace talks. “If you cannot talk it out in the peace talks, everything will fail. And I am telling now the Republic of the Philippines, nothing will appease the Muslims, the Moro people, if we do not give them the BBL,” Ferrer quoted Duterte as saying. The Opapp will hand over to

Duterte defended by aide on antiprelate comment By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief @awimailbox

AVAO CITY—The main architect in winning the campaign to Presidency of Rodrigo R. Duterte defended the broadsides the mayor made against Catholic Church bishops, saying their calls to strike him out in the May 9 elections showed “their bias against” the president-elect. “When in occasions, such as when they would ask people to wait for the decision of the court, why can’t they give the same opportunity to Duterte?” Leoncio Evasco, a former Catholic priest who joined the underground Left, said. When the bishops called on voters not to vote for Duterte, “they already show[ed] their bias,” said Evasco, Duterte’s confidante and political aide for 22 years. Duterte’s retort “should be a reminder to some bishops not to react and judge people immediately,” he told the government-run dxRP Radyo ng Bayan in an early-Monday morning interview. Some bishops, among them Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, Arch-

bishop Jose Palma of Cebu and Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, have issued admonitions to voters against Duterte, who spoke in brazen street-smart language, as he campaigned for the May 9 elections. On Sunday Duterte issued a stinging remark against the Catholic hierarchy and warned them of exposing some bishops and priests who have sired children. “There are a few of you there. If I will start naming names, and I will give you the names of their children and their addresses, these will explode in the face of the Church,” he said. “You went overboard.” Meanwhile, Evasco explained the choices of Duterte of his Cabinet secretaries “as his personal choices.” “I have been privy to his political life all these years, and I know he will always consult people,” Evasco said. “But at the end of the day, he decides on his own.” Evasco added “this is his [Duterte’s] style of governance, and some people are not aware of this.” “People should not be hurt or disappointed with his choice, because the Presidency is his,” he said. “Let us wait and look at how he does things.”

Also on early Monday Duterte’s closest friend, Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy of the Christian sect Jesus Christ The Name Above All Names clarified that he was not disappointed by his exclusion from the selection teamthat would recommend the prospective members of Duterte’s hypothetical Cabinet. On the contrary, Quiboloy said he would “return to my ministry, which I left for a while to campaign and make sure of his victory.” We will continue to pray for him.” Quiboloy called for a news briefing after Duterte was quoted as saying that “friendship ends where the interest of the people begins.” Quiboloy and Duterte were, yet, to meet together to clarify each other’s position. In a late-night news conference that dragged on to the early hours of Sunday in southern Davao city, Duterte questioned the relevance of Catholic bishops, citing his overwhelming victory in the May 9 presidential election, based on an unofficial count, despite efforts by them to persuade Filipinos not to vote for him. Such harsh public condemnation of the influential church and its bishops by a top politician is rare in the Philippines, Asia’s bastion of Catholicism. It presages a potentially thorny relationship between the Catholic Church and the incoming President, who shocked bishops last November, when he cursed Pope Francis for sparking a huge traffic jam that trapped him for hours during a visit to Manila. Duterte apologized after bishops denounced his action. During the campaign, Duterte said he warned Catholics they may go to hell if they voted for him, because bishops have criticized him as immoral, partly for advocating the killing of criminals. Millions of Filipinos, however, still voted for him in the election, which he said served like a referendum. “Look, were you able to stop me?” Duterte asked, citing his lead of more than 6 million votes over his closest rival. The foul-mouthed mayor then turned to the bishops, accusing some of them of violating their vow of celibacy by getting married or keeping women and seeking favors, like cars, from politicians. Once, he said without elaborating, church officials whom he did not identify forced him to take steps as a mayor, so they could obtain a real-estate property in a residential enclave. Those acts amounted to corruption and violated the Philippine constitutional edict of separation of church and state, according to the brash Duterte, who is known for his vulgarity, sex jokes and devil-may-care irreverence. “Some people here in the Philippines can’t even afford to have food to eat or get medicine, while you’re enjoying the money of the goddamn people,” Duterte said. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves, you sons of bitches?” “You know,” Duterte said, “the most hypocritical institution is the Catholic Church.” Until a day before his inauguration as president on June 30, Duterte said he would continue to publicly disclose “the sins of the Catholic Church and whether you are still relevant,” promising to be more circumspect after his proclamation. Duterte says he believes in God but doesn’t believe in religion. Church officials were not immediately available for comment. With AP

the incoming administration their database system and recommendations, since the remaining days of the 16th Congress are not enough for the contentious issue of passing the BBL to establish a new autonomous Bangsamoro region. Malacañang, for its part, said the incoming members of Congress should study the proposal to shelve the BBL and instead go straight to the creation of a constitutional convention that will draft the proposed shift to a federal system of government. Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. appealed on the incoming members of Congress to study Malacañang’s position of pushing through with the passage of the BBL, citing the efforts of the Aquino administration to enact such law. “We would like to appeal that it

is studied carefully to ensure that the peace process would not be delayed, because we have already poured in a lot of time and resources to craft the proposed BBL. If only they would give this bill enough opportunities to be reconsidered, they would find out that there are many who are saying that it should be pursued,” Coloma said.

Any move to change the Charter requires a lot of study and consultations.” —Ferrer

LP to support Alvarez as members shift loyalty

PEAKER Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. led Liberal Party (LP) members in the House of Representatives on Monday in signing a manifesto supporting the speakership of Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon D. Alvarez and the legislative agenda of President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte. Majority Leader Rep. Neptali M. Gonzales II (Mandaluyong, LP) told reporters these LP members chose to remain to be with the current ruling party. Gonzales said in an interview these members do so despite the manifesto of support for Alvarez by the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). Alvarez is being eyed as speaker of the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress. “It was more of the expression of support to the speakership of Alvarez and the legislative goal of the incoming president as Liberal Party,” Gonzales said. “Speaker Belmonte has told me that he has already [expressed] commitment to Alvarez to support his speakership bid.” Earlier, Belmonte said he would still join the speakership race in the next

Congress and would remain with the LP to lead the minority coalition. “Those who have indicated their intention despite the fact that being members of the LP will remain part of the minority, then they will be part of the minority,” Gonzales said. “In accordance with the rules of the House, membership in the minority and those who will become the leader of the minority will be dependent on the outcome of the election of the speaker when the 17th Congress is called to order on the fourth Monday of July.” Gonzales quoted Belmonte as saying he is “too old to jump ship.” At least 80 of 116 LP members reportedly jumped ship to back Alvarez’s speakership race. On Monday former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and members of her Lakas-Christians Muslim Democrats and National Unity Party signed a coalition to support the bid of Alvarez. Lakas Rep. Martin G. Romualdez of Leyte said that coalition will also support the legislative agenda of the Duterte administration. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Purisima to submit $3-B tax proposals to Duterte Continued from A1

with the 28.6-percent median for similarly rated nations.

President’s ear

Reforming the country’s tax regime forms part of Duterte’s economic agenda outlined by his designated Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez on May 12. Purisima said he is confident in the skills of his successor, who he met for lunch before the interview, citing Dominguez’s previous stint as agriculture secretary, deep business experience and strong support from Duterte. “Having the president’s ear is crucial” if you want to push for reforms, Purisima said. The tax-reform package includes cutting personal and corporate income-tax rates to 25 percent within six years, and exempting workers earning P1 million and below a year from paying taxes, said Purisima. The corporate-tax rate is currently 30 percent, while income-tax rates are as high as 32 percent, among the highest in the region, according to the International Monetary Fund. These cuts will only be implemented if specific levels of the taxto-GDP ratio are met, Purisima said. The plan also recommends increasing the sales tax to 14 percent from 12 percent, reducing incentives for industries like real

estate and allowing revenue agencies to retain part of their collection to modernize and fund personnel enhancement, according to a summary of the study obtained by Bloomberg.

Similar plan

The proposal is similar to a plan unveiled by incoming Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia. The new economic team plans to cut personal income taxes to benefit low-income earners, while the corporate income tax can be patterned after neighbors in Southeast Asia, where the rate is about 25 percent, Pernia said by phone on May 20. There’s also a plan to lift bank-deposit secrecy and reduce tax perks to offset foregone revenue due to lower income taxes, said Pernia, professor at the University of the Philippines’s School of Economics who was previously lead economist at the Asian Development Bank. The Philippines must ensure any tax reductions are offset by revenue-enhancing measures to protect fiscal gains and fund propoor programs, Purisima said. Under Aquino, the nation won its first-ever investment-grade ratings and had its best period of growth since the 1970s. “We’re turning over a country in a better position, a country now with wind beneath its wings,” Purisima said . Bloomberg News