Businessmirror november 07, 2016

“This is an epic game. It's epic. I can't believe we were able to do it—108 years in the making. We did it.”—World Series Most Valuable Player Ben Zobrist, after the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, in 10 innings in Game Seven, winning their first title since 1908. AP

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“We don't want to blow this. We gotta win. We gotta win big.”—Republican Donald Trump to supporters in Miami, as he campaigned heavily in a state pivotal to taking the White House. AP

“Fighting Manny Pacquiao is like playing a very fast game of chess.”

—Jessie Vargas. “You have to be alert at all times, there are a lot of punches coming in. He was very fast and he was very sharp.” AP

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A broader look at today’s business

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Growth entails having PPP add-ons fewer children–Neda 21.6% T W PPP Lead

By Cai U. Ordinario

he Duterte administration could reduce poverty incidence to as much as 15 percent with the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood Reproductive Health (RPRH) law, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

INSIDE

Life

To mind our own business

EAR Lord, we know that each of us needs food according to the capacity of our own stomach. God is the sovereign master and He guides each one of us, as it pleases Him. He does not guide everyone in the same way. O Lord, we have a tendency to look at others to see how they are doing. We want to imitate them if they seem to be succeeding, and to tell them our way of doing it if they seem to be failing. Teach us to mind our own business spiritually and leave the guidance of others up to You, being all-knowing. Amen.

LIVING WISDOM FOR EVERY DAY, REV. B. KELLY, CP SHARED BY LUISA M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Monday, November 7, 2016

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Ernesto M. Pernia recently told reporters that the implementation of the RPRH law is Continued on A2

Yolanda memories: Hope amid despair

AND THEN SOME: HAPPY SKIN X DISNEY IS A COLLECTION FIT FOR PRINCESSES D4

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

The country’s poverty incidence rate in 2015

BMReports

modesty meets modern style D

Alberto C. Agra

@cuo_bm

D1

hat are the possible add-ons to government projects and existing publicprivate partnership (PPP) contracts and projects?

What are the benefits to add-on arrangements?

Will adding on components and contractual obligations require another round of competition?

Continued on A15

DOUBLE L by Lenny Agustin FAZURA X Adriana Yariqa and Lisa Fitria

KIVITZ

MFA

Modesty meets modern style

PHOTOGRAPHED

BY ROGER NAZAR LACTAO JR.

TOTA PULCHRA MISS CHARLIZE

@misscharlize

K

UALA Lumpur, Malaysia—One of the highlights of Malaysia Fashion Week, which was held from November 2 to 5 at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre, is the launch of “MODESTyle Malaysia,” which focuses primarily on modest fashions.

Run by the MODESTyle Group, the web site MODESTyle.com “is the first-ever hybrid B2B [business to business] and B2C [business to consumer] global Web and online trade platform. MODESTyle.com facilitates modest fashion brands, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers from across the world to participate in online trade for the $230-billion Muslimah fashion industry.”

Said Dato’ Sri Hj Ahmad Sukimi Ibrahim, chairman of MODESTyle Malaysia, “With the launch of MODESTyle.com, we are leveraging the Malaysian Muslimah fashion industry and making it a global hub of fashion trends, research and trade buying. This initiative will help position Malaysian Muslimah fashion as an innovative forerunner among its counterparts.”

The site also offers the latest modest fashion and beauty industry news, along with trends and reports from all over the globe.

Incidentally, a welcome development for Muslims the world over, CoverGirl enlisted its first Muslim ambassador, hijabi vlogger Nura Afia (babylailalov) from Morocco, to be the face of So Lashy Mascara, with a billboard in New York City’s Times Square to be unveiled soon.

Before the MODESTyle fashion show, MODESTyle Malaysia (www.modestyle.com. my) signed a memorandum of understanding with Koperasi Pembiayaan Syariah Angkasa Berhad to become its exclusive fashion distributor for the brand’s 8 million members. MODESTyle also inked a partnership with Matrade (Malaysia External

NAJUA YANTI

OWL by ND

PAPILLON

YAN'S Creation

Trade Development Corp.) to promote Malaysian fashion merchants locally and internationally.

The fashion show was participated by leading Muslimah fashion brands and designers, such as Papillon, OWL by Malaysian celebrity Nora Danish, MFA, Yan’s Creation, Double L by Lenny Agustin and Lisa Fitria, Najua Yanti, Kivitz, Reborn29 by Syukriah and Fazura x Adriana Yariqa.

“While across continents, there are continuous debates pertaining to modest fashion per se, MODESTyle Group proudly brings together faith and fashion that can be accessed by everyone. MODESTyle. com strongly believes in the rise of modest fashion across the world and supports this emerging industry, standing tall with its peers and counterparts,” said Timothy Chen, MODESTyle CEO. “With this web site, the MODESTyle Group aims to unite varied modest cultures, traditions and fashion.

Its vision is to focus on providing a unique platform for all people who want to access modest fashion.”

MODESTyle fuses stylish trends with the Muslim faith, making covering up look more comfortable and chic. But with what’s shown on the Malaysian Fashion Week runway, the “Modest Movement” is appealing even to non-Muslims.

“Modest wear is not new to Malaysia or the region; it is one of the fastest-growing fashion segments in the world, and has even made its way into the runways of last year’s London Fashion Week and the recent New York Fashion Week. With approximately 2 billion Muslims in the world, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the global population, it is not surprising to see the growing demand for modest wear,” said YB Dato’ Noraini Ahmad, chairman of Matrade.

As seen on the runways, modest or Muslimah fashion isn’t about severe, boring clothing that’s all about coverage. The pieces presented are for all occasions, from elegant evenings to athleisure pursuits.

“Even non-Muslim women are drawn to well-designed modest wear, as they portray professionalism and humility, while sending a clear message about their values and personality. Fashion commentators refer to this as an upcoming ‘Modest Movement,’ a form of universal dressing culture that is empowering and inclusive,” Dato’ Noraini said. ■

Life

OFFICIALS TO PROMOTE MINDANAO IN LONDON TRAVEL, TOURISM MART

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at 25, safdar hayat entered pakistan’s diplomatic corps

Perspective BusinessMirror

E4 Monday, November 7, 2016

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

T

www.businessmirror.com.ph

At 25, Safdar Hayat entered Pakistan’s diplomatic corps H

By Lorenz Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

E found himself seated inside an office of a Pakistani bank, bored by an accounting job that paid him really well.

It didn’t matter to then 25-yearold Safdar Hayat that his profession was highly sought after, and that it could lead him and his future family to a better life. Banking simply wasn’t a perfect fit for him.

A lawyer by education, but was discouraged later on, the young Safdar then sought a different field, where he could excel despite an apparent uncertainty.

“There was a lot of pressure and I somehow didn’t like the working atmosphere in the bank; it was depressing,” Safdar said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. “I wanted to leave the bank, but my father wouldn’t let me unless I got a better job.”

So, he applied for civil services, which required him to take an examination. Safdar described the civil-service exam as very competitive and strict, given that thousands of candidates apply each year. It involves a written test, a psychological assessment and a series of interviews.

“Luckily, I succeeded and I ranked 63rd for the whole of Pakistan. There were 6,000 candidates who applied and, out of that, only 120 were selected for foreign service,” Safdar said.

Foreign service was not his priority back then. He was eying a spot either on the district administration, police, or customs, but instead, passed the test for prospective consuls.

“I was a bit apprehensive at first because foreign service seemed to me very aristocratic. It would mean that most of the time, I would be outside of my country—it was something that was totally new for me,” Safdar said.

Fast forward to today, Safdar heads the Embassy of Pakistan in the Philippines, a position he never imagined he would assume when he was just a teenager.

“To be frank, I had no clear plans at all. I wanted to be an air-force pilot, but I flunked. When I did not succeed in that, I thought maybe I could become an engineer, but I did my bachelor’s degree in Economics, and then law,” he said.

He practiced law for a while, but was discouraged by his mentor. He then found himself working in one of Pakistan’s largest banks, and then serving as a consul to another country.

“You never know what is in store for you in the future. I never thought of being an ambassador,” Safdar said. “I never had such dreams in life. But the dream was to become someone, to acquire knowledge, to be successful in life.

There was no set field that I wanted to excel in.”

Just like his career, he had no specific qualities of a girl in mind.

He married his second cousin, Fehmina, at 25, and had three children with her.

“I met her at quite an early stage, but at that time, I didn’t know she was going to be my wife. It was an arranged marriage, but my family still asked for my view. I agreed, and the two families visited each other,” he said. “Marriage in Pakistan is the meeting of two families, not just two individuals.”

Fatherly inspiration

This cropped landscape photo shows the devastation of Supertyphoon Yolanda in Tacloban. Jesse Estrella

vative society. Pakistan’s family system is very strong where relatives are closely knit.

“The family system is very strong and conservative: We follow the instructions of our parents.

This was something inculcated into us—that respect for our parents is essential.”

His father is an architect, while his mother was a housewife. He has a younger sister, but wished he had more siblings.

His father, Sikandar Hayat, is one of his inspirations in life. He somehow owes his success to his father.

“My father was a self-made man. He started from a very humble background. He was from a village; he then moved to the city. He started on his own, but slowly and gradually, he reached a high level.

He is the epitome of a self-made man who started from scratch,” Safdar said.

“The more I tried to understand his life, the more I realized that such people really become your role model because they are the people who really work hard to reach their place.”

Safdar was also inspired by his uncle, Aman Ullahkhan, who somehow had the same background as his father.

“My uncle started as the lowest level of the police; he then headed the intelligence unit of the police,” he said. “Such examples really inspire you.”

“I was lucky because I had their guidance and then the environment that I grew up in was much better than theirs,” he added.

BY Fil V. Elefante

perspective

Humility is key

BUT despite all his achievements in life, he still believes that humility is the key to living a good life.

This, he said, should be one of the musts for a millennial’s attitude.

“They should keep their eyes on the prize, but still try to keep their feet on the ground. If their feet are not on firm, they will lose their balance. Millennials are too ambitious, and with that they lose sight of their goals,” Safdar said.

Because millennials have too many goals, they think they are jack of all trades—that they know everything, he said.

“It’s good to be confident, but all confidence is not positive and they should not go for the short-term.

They should try to follow the path which leads to the top,” he said.

“The role models that I had, they reached the top through hard work and not through a shortcut. If they reach the top and fall down like a rock, that is more painful.”

L

Thumbs up!

SAFDAR grew up in a very conser-

Sports

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uckiLy, i passed the civil-service examinations and ranked 63rd for the whole of Pakistan. There were 6,000 candidates who applied and, out of that, only 120 were selected for foreign service.”—Safdar Hayat “There is no shortcut to success.

People must work hard, and try to be less ambitious than they should be,” he said.

Safdar added that his three kids, all of whom are millennials, continuously learn all these from him. They are also being raised under a milder Pakistani culture, but with high emphasis on religion.

“The new generation—they are more independent. They do not accept too much supervision and control. They want to have their own experiences and learn from them,” he said.

Unusual retirement plan

SAFDAR will retire in five years, and given the opportunity, he

will launch his own social work in Pakistan. He describes his plan as something unusual.

“In some countries, I have seen eunuchs who are not given their due share in the society.

They are often ridiculed, not accepted and, as a result, they indulge in inequities that are below human dignity,” he said.

“It is also happening in Pakistan, and I am not aware of any non-governmental organization that looks after their well being. I want to do something for them because they are one of the most neglected sectors in society,” Safdar added. “I would like to make them useful citizens of society. How it will happen, I do not know yet.”

BusinessMirror

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| Monday, noveMber 7, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

Pacquiao wins loPsided decision with Mayweather watching

THUMBS UP! L

By Tim Dahlberg The Associated Press

AS VEGAS—Floyd Mayweather Jr. stopped by to see an old foe, and Manny Pacquiao tried his best to give him a show.

With Mayweather watching intently from a ringside seat, Pacquiao dropped Jessie Vargas in the second round and bloodied his face on Saturday night on his way to a lopsided decision that gave him a piece of the welterweight title once again.

Pacquiao won on all three ringside scorecards—118-109, 118-109, 114-113—to take the piece of the title Vargas won in his last fight. The Associated Press scored it 119-109 for Pacquiao.

“Not bad,” Mayweather said, giving Pacquiao a thumbs-up after the fight.

It was vintage Pacquiao at times, even though he couldn’t stop Vargas like he desperately wanted to. And with Mayweather at ringside, it certainly will stir talk of a second fight between the boxers who went at it last year in the richest fight ever.

That, of course, would depend on Mayweather coming out of retirement and Pacquiao being able to fight while still attending to his duties as a senator in the Philippines. Mayweather did not answer questions about a possible return to the ring shouted at him by writers at ringside.

“I invited him to be here tonight,” Pacquiao said, saying “we’ll see,” when asked if the two could meet again.

Pacquiao pressed the fight from the opening bell, trying to score a knockdown.

He looked as if he would when he caught Vargas with a straight left that put him on the canvas, but Vargas got up quick and fought the distance.

“I feel I could do more but every round I tried to knock him out,” Pacquiao said.

Just before the bell rang to start the fight, Pacquiao smiled and waved a fist at Mayweather. He clearly wanted to impress Mayweather, who won their first fight easily.

But Pacquiao, who has not knocked out an opponent in seven years, wasn’t going to stop the younger Vargas in his hometown. Vargas had difficulty dealing with Pacquiao’s speed, but was more than willing to trade punches to try and lure him into a brawl.

In the eighth round, he succeeded at doing that, hitting Pacquiao with a big right and punching his gloves together as if to tell him to stand and fight. Pacquiao went right back after him and they traded punches before staring at each other when the bell sounded to end the round.

“Fighting Manny Pacquiao is like playing a very fast game of chess,” Vargas said. “You

have to be alert at all times, there are a lot of punches coming in. He was very fast and he was very sharp.”

Vargas was cut over the right eye by an accidental clash of heads in the eighth, and blood trickled into his eye but it didn’t seem to be a factor.

The taller Vargas landed some good right

hands of his own, but they were infrequent and he rarely followed up on them. Still, they were enough to keep Pacquiao away at times and offset some of his advantage with speed.

“I didn’t want to be careless,” Pacquiao said. “I was very careful to go inside because I know he will counter me.”

Pacquiao was credited with landing 147 of 409 punches to 104 of 562 for

Vargas. Pacquiao also was given a 101-70 advantage in power punches.

Mayweather took a ringside seat alongside his daughter to watch the man who helped make him untold millions when they fought in 2015.

Mayweather won that fight,

and Pacquiao’s performance was largely panned, though he claimed to have an injured shoulder.

Pacquiao, fighting in his 22nd title fight in a pro career that stretches back to 1995, trained at night in the Philippines in the weeks leading up to the fight so he could tend to his day job as a newly elected senator. With the Senate out of session, he was back in a more familiar place, with a crowd of some 16,132 nearly filling the

Manny Pacquiao dominates Jessie Vargas during their world Boxing organization (wBo) welterweight title bout. (Below) Pacquiao scored a unanimous-decision win. AP

University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus arena to watch him take on Vargas, who was in only his second title bout.

Pacquiao, who earned a reported $100 million to fight Mayweather in the richest fight ever, was guaranteed $4 million-plus a percentage of the revenue of the fight. Vargas got $2.8 million.

Pacquiao improved to 59-6-2, while Vargas fell to 27-2.

Jessie Magdaleno hits nonito donaire Jr. during their world Boxing organization junior-featherweight title match. AP

Magdaleno dethrones donaire L

AS VEGAS—Two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming of China won his first professional flyweight title on Saturday night, taking a lopsided 12-round decision over Thailand’s Prasitak Phaprom.

Zou knocked down Phaprom in the second round and dominated the entire fight in a rematch of their bout two years ago in Macau.

He won every round on two of the ringside scorecards, and all but one round on the third.

The fight for the World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) vacant 112-pound title was one of three title fights on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Jessie Vargas.

Zou, who won gold medals in 2008 and 2012, was fighting for only the 10th time as a pro. He improved his record to 9-1, with the only loss

sports

coming last year in his only previous title fight.

“Now my dream is finally complete,” Zou said. “I’m a pro champion, an Olympic champion and now I’m a world champion.”

Zou was in such command of the fight that he began showing off in the middle rounds, much to the delight of the crowd. But Phaprom never gave up, and Zou did not have the power to put him down.

There were two other title fights on the undercard, with Jessie Magdaleno taking the 122-pound crown held by Nonito Donaire, and Oscar Valdez of Mexico stopped Japan’s Hiroshige Osawa to retain his WBO featherweight title.

Magdaleno, a hometown favorite, threw more punches and landed more than Donaire in taking a unanimous 12-round decision for the WBO version of the super batamweight title. He controlled most of the early rounds, but Donaire

came on strong in the final rounds, landing a number of hard rights to the head.

Magdaleno, who had never gone past the eighth round in winning his first 23 fights, leaped on the ropes in the corner with his arms raised in victory as the fight ended.

“I worked so hard for this,” Magdaleno said. “I don’t have words to describe it.”

Two judges scored the bout 116-112, while the third had Magdaleno ahead 118-110.

“I thought I got control of the second half of the fight,” said Donaire, who fell to 37-4.

“Losing never crossed my mind.”

Valdez was simply too strong for Osawa, dropping him in the fourth round with a left hook and consistently landing hard punches to the head. He finally stopped Osawa with a flurry of punches in the seventh round.

Valdez moved to 22-0 with 19 knockouts, while Osawa fell to 30-4-4. AP

@elefantefil

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Part 1

’WAS an hour before sunrise in Manila but dark clouds were gathering in Eastern Samar, nearly 600 kilometers away.

At 4:40 a.m. on November 8, 2013, a massive typhoon dubbed Yolanda made landfall in Eastern Samar. International weather experts said Yolanda reached its peak strength just as it struck the islands of Samar and Leyte.

By the time Yolanda left the country, the huge typhoon adversely affected 44 of 81 provinces in the Philippines. An estimated 3 million families suffered under Yolanda’s wrath. Thousands were killed and many more were injured.

PESO exchange rates n US 48.4850

It has been three years since Yolanda left, yet the memory of the devastation brought about by the mammoth typhoon is still etched on both the minds of the folk who survived and the people, both Filipinos and foreigners, who dealt with Yolanda’s aftermath.

First signs

ON November 2, 2013, word spread out from weather specialists in the Pacific Ocean that a low pressure area could develop into a super typhoon. The worse fears of the experts were confirmed the next day and a warning was sent to the Philippines, one of the countries on the typhoon’s path.

Civilian rescue and relief groups and their government counterparts began to prepare. It was a routine move, done

countless of times before whenever a typhoon approaches the country.

Among the units who joined in the preparation efforts was the 134th Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Squadron, led by physician Rodrigo Ong. For the next several days, organizations like Ong’s checked their equipment, gear and supplies in anticipation of Yolanda’s arrival.

On November 7 the public had been informed of the coming typhoon.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) warned local officials to activate their emergency protocols and systems. Officials felt confident they were ready for Yolanda.

They stockpiled and prepositioned equipment, medical supplies and relief

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Mindanao region will take center stage as the Philippines once more attends the World Travel Market (WTM) to be held from November 7 to 9 at the ExCel, London.

In a statement, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) said it will take the opportunity to celebrate the exemplary beauty and rich culture of the island-group in the Philippines least known to foreign tourists, through a mini-fashion show. The statement said the show “will intricately look into the rich canvas of Mindanao culture, as featured in its weaves, ethnic tribes and beautiful vistas with a fusion of music, video, dance and neo-ethnic fashion.”

The Philippine delegation will be headed by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, along with representatives from the TPB, the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT), as well as executives from a number of hotels, resorts and tour operators/ travel agencies.

Representing the private sector are about 25 tourism industry stakeholders, from Amorita Resort to Viva Ilocos Travel & Hospitality Services Inc. This year the Philippines’s pavilion will highlight the greatest offerings of the country—from the renowned hospitality of its people to the country’s natural wonders and world-class facilities, according to the statement.

The Philippines’s participation at “WTM London 2016” provides a venue for business-to-business meetings to See “Mindanao,” A2

Continued on A2

n japan 0.4656 n UK 59.3699 n HK 6.2522 n CHINA 7.1639 n singapore 34.9240 n australia 37.0862 n EU 53.6147 n SAUDI arabia 12.9286

Source: BSP (3 November 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, November 7, 2016

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Yolanda memories: Hope amid despair Continued from A1

goods in areas expected to be hit by the coming typhoon. The military, the police and other emergency services were placed on alert with then-Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin and then-Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas arriving in Tacloban City to oversee the government’s efforts.

Ground Zero

THEN-President Benigno S. Aquino III warned the public of the coming storm.

“All of our Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils [DRRMCs]—from the national, regional and down to the municipal and city levels—are also making their own preparations,” he added.

“The National DRRMC is coordinating with affected regions, municipalities and cities to prepare for the storm, for example, by providing as much information as possible so that we can adequately prepare for Yolanda.”

Aquino said the military’s three C-130’s, 32 planes and helicopters are on standby.

“Relief goods have been prepositioned in the areas we expect to be affected,” the president said. “Rest

assured that help will arrive as soon as the storm passes.”

Unfortunately, the plans and preparations proved puny in the face of Yolanda’s might. “ P re posit ioned good s a nd equipment were washed away in Region 8,” said the government’s official Yolanda timeline.

“Homes and vital infrastructure, including vital telecommunications, were destroyed.”

And that had an impact on the preparations of those who were about to deploy as first responders.

“About a week before Yolanda was set to arrive, the team was already getting ready,” said Maximo del Ponso Jr., Ong’s colleague. “We were monitoring the weather reports. We knew it was a strong typhoon. But Yolanda turned out to be stronger than we expected,” del Ponso said. “So our preparations— medicines, food, water and equipment—weren’t really enough.”

He said they had to bring whatever what was available in a rush to Ground Zero: Samar and Leyte.

To Tacloban

Del Ponso recalled that when they learned Yolanda made landfall at Guiuan and Hernani on November 8, they immediately bought tick-

ets from Philippine Airlines for a flight to Cebu.

“Nobody was flying to Tacloban.

We went to Cebu on the first flight available and that was 8 p.m.”

They arrived in Cebu at around 11 in the evening. “We were hoping that a Philippine Coast Guard vessel could ferry us to Tacloban or to Ormoc or the Philippine Air Force [PAF] can send us by aircraft,” del Ponso said. “But no aircraft or ship could reach Leyte because the storm was still too strong.”

Jesse Estrella, who was with del Ponso’s group, recalled that the earliest time a plane can safely fly to Tacloban was at 2 o’clock in the morning of November 9.

However, policemen were given priority on board the first flight, according to del Ponso.

Lost contact

THE police deployment was needed to secure the airport and reinforce the Tacloban City policy force that, along with Roxas and Gazmin, had lost contact with government authorities. The next available flight to Tacloban was at 8 a.m.

“Rescue and medical personnel were supposed to take that flight. But it was commandeered by certain government officials,”

del Ponso said. “I understand why they did that. They need to assess the situation.”

Three hours later, the third C-130 left Cebu, he recalled.

“But we decided to give our slot to the team from the World Food Programwho was bringing the first bulk food supplies to Tacloban,” del Ponso said. “They needed the space. The earlier they can get there, the earlier they can assess the situation and determine what kind of equipment, supplies and support personnel were needed.”

Apocalypse now

AN hour later, another PAF C130 arrived from Manila. This aircraft brought del Ponso’s team to Tacloban. His team was among the first civilian-volunteer units to arrive in the city that day.

“When we arrived in Tacloban, it was like a scene from a zombie apocalypse,” del Ponso said. “The medical tent of Department of Health was overflowing with injured people.

Just outside the airport fence, people were trying to get inside.”

The only semblance of organized assistance was to be found at the airport. Outside, the injured were asking for help.

“The landing strip still had dead

bodies on it,” he recalled. “The runway had to be cleared of debris and corpses before the C-130s were allowed to land.”

Once the runway was partially cleared, the PAF’s three C-130s came one after another.

According to del Ponso, Capt.

Roy Trinidad of the Naval Special Operations Group met him and members of his group at the tarmac.

“Capt. Trinidad was the highest ranking officer present at Tacloban airport at that time,” Estrella said.

“He instructed us to set up our camp right beside his makeshift operations center.”

‘Papa’s here’

AS civilian volunteers, like del Ponso’s team, worked with the military to treat the injured, a young police officer on the other side of Leyte recalled the same day. He was in Palompon.

“It was the only time I regretted being a cop,” he told the BusinessMirror. “My mind was not on what I was doing. I was disheartened.

There I was bringing other people to safety while I don’t even know what happened to my own family.”

The policeman who asked not to be named because he is still in active service said his wife and 2-year-

old daughter were at their home in Palo, Leyte, which was just at the outskirts of Tacloban City, when Yolanda hit.

“The day after the storm, our police chief allowed all policemen to check on their families who were living in other towns and villages,” he said. “I bought gas for my motorcycle. It cost me P1,000 to buy 5 liters of gasoline. “ “I went home to Palo,” the policeman said. “Our house was gone.

I had no idea where my wife and daughter were. I came across one of my neighbors. I asked him if he knew where my wife was. He looked at me. His eyes had that dazed look.

It was as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.”

“When he didn’t answer I feared the worse,” he added. “I wanted to knock some sense into him to get a straight answer. Fortunately, his wife showed up. My wife and kids were safe, she told me.”

With the woman’s help, the cop found his family.

“I hugged my daughter,” he said.

“I told her ‘Papa is here. You’re safe now.’ Then I reluctantly let go,” he told the BusinessMirror. “I kissed my wife and gave her money, food and water. Then I returned to Palompon.” To be continued

Growth entails having fewer children–Neda

crucial in the country’s fight against poverty. Based on the 2015 Poverty Statistics, the country’s poverty incidence rate is at 21.6 percent.

This was lower than the 25.2 percent recorded in 2012.

“We’re considering a target of poverty incidence of 20 percent to 15 percent by 2022. [This takes into consideration the] full implementation of RPRH and [a GDP] growth rate of around 7

percent,” Pernia said.

He added that if the RPRH law is fully implemented, the government can help mothers limit the number of their children to the desired number of three.

In terms of poverty reduction, making this happen for the poorest 20 percent of women, poverty incidence could already decline by 1.5 percentage points in just one year.

Pernia said that if the poorest 40 percent of women are able to bring down the number of their children to three, poverty rate could be cut by nearly 3 percentage points.

“Even by just doing that [full implementation of the RPRH], it can already be shown that if we enable the poor couples or poor households to achieve their desired family size, which is always fewer or smaller than the actual, then it will already, by itself,

reduce poverty,” he said.

“It’s a very simple calculation, we just assume that the smaller desired family or smaller number of children desired by many or most poor couples would already bring down poverty incidence by itself without even talking about the dynamic between economic growth and the RPRH law effect,” Pernia added.

In terms of population growth, Pernia said the full implementa-

tion of the RPRH law could help prevent the country’s population from reaching 106 million by 2018.

The estimate of 106 million is based on 2014 projections. However, Pernia said that, with the RPRH law, the number of Filipinos by 2018 could reach only 103 million.

Based on the 2015 Census of Population and Housing, there are 100.98 million Filipinos. The most

Continued from a1

populous regions are Calabarzon and the National Capital Region (NCR), with populations of 14.41 million and 12.88 million, respectively. While having a high population is one of the conditions the country must meet to reap the so-called demographic dividend, it is not the only factor that should be considered.

Prior to his appointment as Neda chief, Pernia told the BusinessMirror in January that a demographic dividend is reaped when the working age population is growing faster than the number of dependents.

Pernia said the demographic transition is the period when the country’s total fertility rate drops to a stable replace rate or 2 percent.

In a few years after the country enters the demographic transition, it will already start reaping the demographic dividend. Pernia said this can take as long as 50 years.

His predecessor Arsenio M. Balisacan, who is now the country’s antitrust chief, said countries in East Asia like Thailand, which entered the demographic transition in the mid-1990s, are still reaping the demographic dividend.

Mindanao. . .

Continued from A1

strengthen linkages with industry counterparts in Europe and other key travel and tourism markets of the world that would catalyze new tourism business and tourist arrivals for the Philippines, the statement added.

TPB officials were quoted in the statement as expressing confidence that the Philippines’s participation in WTM 2016 will help sustain the growth momentum of the country’s tourism industry. This year the DOT projects some 6 million in foreign tourist arrivals, growing annually to hit 12 million by the end of President Duterte’s term in 2022.

Staged annually in London, the WTM is an event for the travel industry to meet contacts and seal tourism business deals. It presents a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to the United Kingdom and other international travel locations. Now on its 36th year, the WTM generates more than £2.2 billion (P132 billion) of travel industry contracts, documents by the organizers said.

BMReports BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, November 7, 2016 A3

Duterte’s classmate in San Beda among additional tourism execs

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

M

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

ORE officials have been appointed to the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies, including a classmate of President Duterte, while four of its current officers were given higher responsibilities.

P romote d to Underse c re tary was Rolando Cañizal and to assistant secretary, Eden Josephine Laraño David. Promoted, too, to assistant secretary, was lawyer Reynaldo Ching.

Until his promotion, Cañizal was assistant secretary for Tourism Planning and of f icer-incharge of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PR A). David was the DOT Davao region’s chief tourism operations officer, while Ching was the DOT’s director for Legal Services.

All three rose from the ranks,

with Cañizal now serving his 25th year at the DOT, while David and Ching each serving 18 years in the agency.

Also appointed undersecretary was Falconi Millar, legal counsel of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies Philippines Inc., which Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo had headed before her appointment as Cabinet secretary. DOT insiders had earlier intimated that Teo was eyeing the Tourism and Promotions Board chief operating officer post for Millar.

All four officials were sworn into office by Teo last Friday, along with Vicente Pelagio Angala, newly appointed COO for the Duty Free Philippines Corp. (DFPC), and Bienvenido Chy, general manager of the PRA. Angala, a graduate of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, was a department manager at DFPC. Chy, a law graduate from San Beda College and classmate of Duterte, was the head of the legal division of the Bureau of Immigration.

It was not clear from the DOT what Cañizal’s new responsibilities would be, but he was the chief architect of the National Tourism Development Plan in 2011, a road map that plotted the directions, policies and programs that would propel the growth of Philippine tourism by 2016.

He had also help foster tourism convergence programs with the departments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), of Transportation, and of Social Welfare and Development, and other support agencies to tourism, as well as the

institutionalization of a capacitybuilding program on local tourism statistics to harmonize data collection and reporting among tourism establishments and local government units.

Prior to this, Cañizal was also instrumental in formulating the National Ecotourism Strategy in 2001, which led to the development of an Ecotourism Standard and Certification Program, as well as pilot programs involving indigenous peoples, women, out-ofschool youth, fishermen and local communities.

For her part, David will now head the newly created Mindanao office based in Davao, tasked to implement the sustainable and inclusive tourism agenda for the region.

“I welcome the challenge of putting Mindanao in a better position in terms of tourism administration, infrastructure development and promotions,” she said in a news statement. David herself, hails from Mindanao and has decadeslong experience promoting the various tourist sites in the region.

David said the region has the

potential to be a world-class tourist destination, although it requires substantial development work.

“First in the order of things, we have to improve access and enhance tourism infrastructure. The basic infrastructure support has to be in place to usher in the needed developments for tourism to flourish in the island. Access is primordial to get to the tourist spots via air, land and sea transport.”

She has already commenced the programs on land and air connectivity: “Prioritizing roads that lead to tourist spots with no distinction of being a national or local road as long as this brings the tourists to the destination, will now be intensified with the goal of the DOT and DPWH in order to reach 80 percent of road connectivity in Mindanao.”

A series of air connectivity projects are in full swing for four gateways, including Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Zamboanga City and Siargao.

“The objective is to build on the routes’ development for the airlines to take on the said connectivity requirement, thus, investing

Mango growers face difficulties in hiking exports to Australia

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

L

@jearcalas

ogistical problems and stringent importation measures hinder mango growers from fully capitalizing on Canberra’s recent recognition of the Philippines as pest-free, according to a group of fruit exporters.

Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization Inc. (Philfoodex) President Roberto C. Amores noted that local mangoes remain uncompetitive.

2.57 MT

The volume of fresh mangoes exported to Australia in 2013 “[The recognition] is a welcome move, but we still have competitiveness issues as we have to ship by air,” Amores told the BusinessMirror.

“Nevertheless, it is welcome news for mango exporters.”

Manila and Canberra signed an amended Specific Commodity Understanding (SCU) for Australia’s importation of fresh mangoes from the Philippines on October 27.

The signing formalizes Australia’s recognition of the area freedom status of the Philippines from mango seed weevil (MSW) and mango pulp weevil (MPW), except for the island of Palawan, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Amores, who is also the president of the Philippine Mango Exporters Foundation Inc., said this recent development is an opportunity to boost the volume of mango exports to Australia.

“Yes [this will boost our exports to Australia], but we cannot quantify at the moment, not until we are able to work on the promotions aspect and the actual timing, as Australia also produces a sweet, acceptable variety,” he said.

Photo taken from the web site of the DTI

Amores added that the mango industry should embark on a promotional campaign to make cost more competitive before expanding exports to Australia.

Before the signing of the SCU, only mangoes sourced from Guimaras, Davao del Sur and Samal Islands were allowed to enter the Australian market.

In Febr uar y 2013 the US, through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, declared the Philippines as a freedom area for mango pulp and seed weevil, except for Palawan. The declaration allowed Philippine mangoes sourced from any province, except from Palawan, to enter the US mainland market.

Before being declared as MSWand MPW-free by the US Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Plant Industry conducted a nationwide low monitoring survey for MPW and MSW in different areas in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The survey was done in 15 regions and 50 mango-growing provinces. Six regions and 20 provinces

were surveyed in Luzon; three regions and 10 provinces in the Visayas; and six regions and 20 provinces in Mindanao.

The last time the Philippines exported fresh mangoes to Australia was in 2013, with a total volume of 2.570 metric tons valued at $8,224, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

in the flights to bring in the travelers direct to the location from the feeder countries like Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and Korea, to name a few,” David said.

The new assistant secretary for Mindanao is also keen on further developing the Brunei DarussalamIndonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) where the Philippines heads the Joint Tourism Development Cluster.

The development of the BIMPEaga region has been listed as one of the top 10 priority programs of the new administration.

In a text message, Cañizal told the BusinessMirror he will “continue to handle the DOT convergence with the DPWH, international cooperation projects with the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Association of Southeast A sian Nations, and foreign-assisted projects. I will also handle the Administration sector.”

Brexit scarier than Trump for fund manager

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onald Trump as US president will shake global markets less than Brexit did.

A victory for Trump may only create short-term volatility since the impact of the election has been analyzed to a greater extent by the markets, according to Dagfin Norum, chief investment officer for fixed income and investment strategy at Storebrand Asset Management in Oslo.

“There will initially be noise and then markets will gradually calm down,” he said in an interview in Oslo on Thursday. “We don’t think the effects of that are so big that it will lead to a global or US recession.”

For now, markets are mostly reflecting fear. Over the past week, global stocks fell the most since before Britain’s June vote to leave the European Union, as opinion polls showed a dwindling lead for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The race has tightened since the FBI announced it was once again looking into more of Clinton’s e-mails.

While a Trump win on November 8 could lead to more protectionism and reduced growth, the question is how much he will be able to implement, said Norum, who oversees 420 billion kroner ($51 billion). Storebrand’s view is that Clinton will win, making the election a nonevent.

The 50-year-old investor supervises tactical asset allocation at the life insurer. Tactical mandates were reduced to neutral in stocks before the UK Brexit vote. His bond portfolios are overweight credit, or holding more in corporate debt than the indexes they’re measured against. The portfolio is also underweight duration, meaning it stands to outperform, comparatively, when rates rise. “If we compare credit in the US and Europe we have a slight preference for the US because you get a bigger pickup,” he said.

While there’s still some upside in credit, the bottom in interest rates is probably behind us, Norum said.

The big risk now is in how central banks move and communicate as they get closer to raising rates. Any moves must be gradual because markets won’t withstand rapid shocks, he said.

“It’s hard to see that happen without any market impact,” Norum said. “You must be prepared for more volatility going forward.” Bloomberg News

Economy

A4 Monday, November 7, 2016 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

‘Port congestion in Q4 highly unlikely’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

W

@lorenzmarasigan

hile traffic at ports in the Philippines is expected to continue rising through December, a ranking government official said a repeat of the logjam from two years ago is highly unlikely.

Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said exports and imports will post steady increases through the quarter, riding on the momentum during the first nine months of the year.

“Even with the strong performance of both sectors, our ports re-

main to operate under optimum condition and we do not expect any slowdown in the movement at any given time,” Santiago said.

Philippine exports posted the highest growth percentage in cargo volume pulling up the country’s total cargo throughput higher by 9 percent in the first nine months of the year.

Latest data from the por t body showed that throughput reached 183.730 million metric tons (MMT), as compared to the 168.074 MMT registered in the same period last year.

Foreign volume posted a 12.72percent rise in traffic anchored on the 15-percent increase in export volume from 47.945 MMT in 2015 to 55.134 MMT for the period in review.

“This is a great indication that Philippine exporters are gearing up to compete in the international market and would not be left out in the run-up to Christmas,” Santiago said.

Similarly, import volume also posted a double-digit hike of 10.75 percent, from 55.490 MMT to 61.459 MMT for the January-toSeptember period.

“Likewise, the double-digit

growth in the import volume suggests that imported Christmas cargoes have also started to come in,” he said.

Domestic volume, meanwhile, posted a modest growth of 3.87 percent to 67.139 MMT, from 64.638 MMT last year.

The increases in cargo volume were observed at the ports of Agusan, Mindoro, Bicol, Western Leyte/ Biliran and Negros Oriental/Siquijor.

The North Port remains as the top performer in terms of domestic cargo volume, with a share of 17.87 MMT, or 24.8 percent, of the total domestic volume, and 9.73 percent of the total cargo throughput nationwide followed by Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga.

Container traffic, on the other hand, registered a 9.36-percent increase in volume for the period in review, with 4.684 million twenty-foot

equivalent units (TEUs) compared to the 4.283 million TEUs processed in the same period last year.

Foreign boxes dominated the containerized traffic after posting an 11.51-percent hike, with volume reaching 2.869 million TEUs, as compared to the 2.573 million TEUs handled in 2015, while domestic cargoes reached 1.814 million TEUs, or 6.12 percent, higher than the 4.283 million TEUs posted last year.

Of the total foreign containers, import boxes totaled 1.450 million TEUs, while export boxes reached 1.419 million TEUs, increasing 13.97 percent and 9.11 percent, respectively.

As expected, the North Port ranked first in terms of volume of domestic boxes handled during the period, with 906,519 TEUs, while the Manila International

Stakeholders convene for bamboo industry road map

Davao biz continues to back President Duterte; shrugs off anti-US stance

K

ey stakeholders in the bamboo sector will meet this month to discuss the implementation of various initiatives in the industry road map meant to boost its competitiveness, both in the local and overseas markets.

The Bamboo Industry Development Road Map, approved by the Board of Investments in May this year, identified strategies to develop the bamboo sector and contribute to the Philippine economy and to inclusive growth over the next 25 years.

The industry’s short-, medium- and longterm development goals include targets for strengthening the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC); establishment of bamboo industry development programs; inventory of resources and enterprises; growth rates for furniture, handicrafts and e-bamboo; and the establishment of community bamboo-based enterprises in the rural areas.

It aims to achieve a 10-percent growth in exports in the bamboo furniture and handicraft industries by the end of 2020.

The targets also include the use of bamboo for power generation and as raw materials for the production of pulp and paper.

By 2040, the country will have available bamboo raw materials to the tune of 80 million culms, more than sufficient to supply the requirements of the various sectors of the industry. The bamboo furniture and handicrafts industries will have grown by 15 percent by that year.

Members of PBIDC will meet to also discuss the status of Executive Order (EO) 879 and its implementation under the current administration.

EO 879, signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on May 14, 2010, created the PBIDC to promote the bamboo industry development project.

It also directed the use of bamboo for at least 25 percent of the desk and other furniture requirements of public elementary and secondary schools, and prioritized the use of bamboo in furniture and other construction requirements of government facilities.

Philexport News and Features

Container Terminal handled the bulk of the foreign containerized cargoes, with 1.602 million TEUs, followed by the Manila South Harbor, with 774,692 TEUs, and Davao at 306,203 TEUs. The Philippines also continues its rise in the cruise-tourism industry after passenger volume soared 10.7 percent to 49.619 million anchored on the 35.78-percent increase in foreign passenger volume registering 73,348, from only 54,021 foreign passengers last year.

Domestic passenger traffic, meanwhile, posted a 10.71-percent rise to 49.545 million passengers, from 44.752 million passengers last year.

Shipcalls for the period went up by 7.26 percent, from 286,166 in 2015 to 306,949 this year. Domestic and foreign shipcalls grew by 6.99 percent and 17.67 percent, respectively.

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HOME DÉCORS Lamps made of various indigenous materials were on display at a recent fair, which featured home décors in Pasay City. NONIE REYES

AVAO CITY—The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) continues to back President Duterte and remains confident about sustaining the interest of foreign investors for the country, despite his continued anti-United States stance.

“They will still invest in the Philippines despite these statements for as long as business is profitable,” DCCCII President Bonifacio T. Tan said in an interview on Sunday. “Duterte has not prohibited American businesses to come here so why would they be discouraged?” he added.

Tan said the American companies in the city and the country’s businessprocess outsourcing industry and those that have already established their businesses here do not have anything to worry about.

“However, those who are just thinking of investing here might be worried, so the government, not necessarily the President, should conduct a dialogue with the sector just to assure them,” he said. “The most appropriate agency to talk to these companies is the Department of Trade and Industry, although other government agencies can also assure investors,” he added. PNA

Violators of Graphic Health Warning law face administrative fines–DOH

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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he Department of Health (DOH) has warned that administrative fines shall be imposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for noncompliant packages or any violation of the Graphic Health Warning (GHW) Law, or Republic Act (RA) 10643.

Health Scretary Paulyn Jean B. Ubial said all tobacco products should already bear GHWs, which show the ill effects of smoking starting on Friday.

“We already gained so much from our serious efforts to control tobacco use in the country. With the ‘sin’ tax and the GHW laws, we believe that many Filipinos will hesitate, if not stop, smoking altogether,” Ubial said.

The law prescribes printing of GHW on 50 percent of the principal display surfaces of any tobacco products and shall occupy 50 of the front and 50 of the back panel of the tobacco package; and shall be printed in four colors.

Also, Ubial cited Administrative Order 2014-0037 as a “clear basis” of the date of implementation, as it requires “graphic health warnings on cigarette packages and other tobacco product packages one year after the issuance of the templates by the DOH.” The GHW has proven effective in warning people on the devastating effects of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. It also aims to remove misleading or deceptive descriptors, like “low tar,” “light,” “ultra lights”or “mild,” which convey that a tobacco product is healthier, less harmful or safer.

Proceeds of administrative fines will be used for health-promotion campaigns on tobacco control of the DOH and the Department of Education.

According to the World Health Organization Bulletin, “taken as a whole, pictorial warnings are more likely to be noticed than text-only warning labels; more effective for educating smokers about the health risks of smoking and for increasing smokers’ thoughts about the health risks; and associated with increased motivation to quit smoking.”

The 2015 Philippine Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) reported one out of four, or 16.5 million, adults currently smoke tobacco: 42 percent of men and 6 percent of women.

This was 19 percent lower than the 29 percent smoking prevalence in 2009 as reported

by Philippine GATS. “We enjoin everyone to be vigilant and make sure that all tobacco products carry these pictorial warnings and that violators be reported to the respective government agencies. Above all, through these warnings, we want to inform everyone that smoking puts to waste human potentials,” Ubial said.

The amount of penalties differs or becomes much heavier among manufacturers, importers and distributors, such as:

On the first offense, a fine of not more than P500,000;

On the second offense, a fine of not more than one P1 million;

On the third offense, a fine of not P2 million, or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court.

It is also stated in the law that business permits and licenses, in the case of a business entity or establishment, shall be revoked or cancelled.

If the guilty officer is a foreign national, he or she shall be deported after service of sentence and/or payment of applicable fines without need of further deportation proceedings and shall be permanently barred from reentering the Philippines.

The following penalties shall individually apply to “retailers/sellers” of tobacco products that will be caught committing the offense, as well as their agents/representatives for any violation of Sections 6 and 7 of RA 10643, insofar as they are involved in the display, offering for sale and selling of the covered products, as well as Section 11 of the Act:

On the first offense, a fine of not more than P10,000;

On the second offense, a fine of not more than P50,000; and,

On the third offense, a fine of not more than P100,000 or imprisonment of not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.

The business permits and licenses, in the case of a business entity or establishment, will be revoked or cancelled.

Each day that noncompliant tobacco packages are found in the retail establishments of the retailers after the compliance date shall constitute one offense.

An additional penalty of P5,000 per day will be imposed for each day the violation continues after having received the order from the DTI notifying the

retailers of the infraction.

A total of 12 templates were selected and created by the DOH to be seen in the GHW as stated in Sections 6, 7 and 15 of the law.

All of these were then forwarded to the manufacturers to ensure their compliance prior to the implementation of the law.

Meanwhile, cancer survivor network New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) on Friday said the GHW law should also cover not only retailers and distributors but also ambulant vendors.

NVAP President Emer Rojas said that, while legitimate points of sale in Metro Manila have started complying with the law, ambulant vendors and many retailers in the provinces are still noncompliant.

“We want to reiterate our call to distributors to recall noncompliant cigarette packs from retailers and, at the same time, make the same appeal to retailers to refuse receiving products without graphic health warnings,” Rojas said.

A victim of smoking himself, Rojas said the tobacco industry was given more than enough time to comply with Republic Act 10643 since it was enacted in July 2014.

The law imposes a maximum penalty of P2 million, or a five-year imprisonment and revocation of business permit against manufacturers, exporters and distributors of tobacco products who violate it.

“We are glad to monitor that all local manufacturers and large importers are complying. However, it is also their obligation to make sure that their distributors recall all unsold noncompliant cigarette packs in the retail market.” Rojas said.

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, November 7, 2016 A5

Rice imports to stabilize food prices–Neda

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he timely arrival of rice imports are expected to help keep food prices stable in the October-to-December period, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Ernesto M. Pernia said the stable inflation prices in October is expected to continue. While domestic demand is anticipated to remain robust, Pernia added that supply conditions, particularly of food, are expected to improve.

“This should help keep commodity prices steady. Rice prices will be kept stable by the timely arrival of rice imports under the government-to-government procurement scheme,” Pernia said.

The steady rate was seen despite food inflation slightly increasing to 3.5 percent in October, from 3.1 percent in the previous month.

Pernia said Typhoons Lawin and Karen were partly to blame for this, as vegetable prices went up. The two typhoons battered Northern Luzon, where Metro Manila sources its highland vegetables.

The high vegetable prices caused the vegetable index to post a 12.6 percent growth in October.

“But inflation for January to October averaged at 1.6 percent, well below the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent set by the government for this year. We expect inflation for full-year 2016 to settle below the target range but upside risks remain,” Pernia said.

Risks include the possible rally in oil prices, depreciation of the peso against

Japan’s ongoing love affair with Philippine bananas

By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano Special to the BusinessMirror

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OKYO, JAPAN—Ripe bananas wrapped in clear plastic entice Japanese consumers at a Maruestu supermarket outlet in Ichigaya area. Even if labels are written in kanji letters (to the bewilderment of non-Nihongo fluent Filipino tourists), these yellow fruits are packed with brotherly love from a Southeast Asian neighbor.

Bananas are synonymous to the Philippines.

Not even drought and soil-related issues in the last few years can stop the Philippines from collaring 90 percent of the Japanese market for bananas, now the East Asian nation’s most preferred fruit.

Japan tinkered with getting supplies from other countries farther than the Philippines, like top producer Ecuador, Vietnam, or Mozambique.

But the Philippine banana is a Japanese fixation.

President Duterte and his economic managers tried to secure this fort in the Japanese fruit-eating market during a state visit last week in Tokyo. One of two deals all but secured the Philippine foothold of the Japanese market: starting 2017, 20 million boxes of Cavendish bananas will be imported courtesy of Farmind Corp., worth at least P10.6 billion if this volume will be shipped annually.

Farmind Corp. alone collars 30 percent of the import market in Japan. A competitor, Sumifru Corp., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corp., also gave a letter of intent to the Philippine trade department to increase its investments, targeting its Davao region operations. Sumifru also supplies about 30 percent of the bananas sold in Japan, according to Sumitomo.

Huge fans

The Japanese do love Philippine bananas, the country’s agricultural attaché in Tokyo, Dr. Samuel Animas, told the BusinessMirror.

And the prospective investment deals with Sumifru and Farmind will secure the country’s continued dominance of the Japanese banana market, Animas added.

Bananas started to become a Japanese craze after the World War II. These fruits grow best in tropical countries, like the Philippines. And the geographical proximity of the Philippines is as an advantage as local producers could send fresher bananas to Japan.

Japanese trading companies had invested in Philippine banana plantations since the 1960s, especially those located in banana-rich Mindanao. These initial investments, like that of Sumifru, were scaled up since the 1980s given rising demand from Japanese customers.

From 2002 to 2012, Philippine bananas imported by Japan soared from 743,500 metric tons (MT) in 2002 to 1.027 million MT in 2012, according to the latest Banana Market Review and Statistics report of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

According to the Philippine government data, Japan imported 605,492 MT of bananas amounting to $277.035 million in 2015. Government data showed that Japan accounts for more than 30 percent of the Philippines’s total banana exports annually.

New consumers

The Japanese’s love affair with bananas has turned generational as the fruit is also a hit to the new crop of customers—the working class who are always on the go and want ready-to-eat meals upon coming home. For this new generation of consumers, Animas said the banana is sweet and is easy to consumer.

“The Japanese want to slice their fruits right away. Everything should be convenient,” Animas said.

Japan Times reported in March that the banana lords it over other fruits as its status in Japan is seemingly “guaranteed by economics and convenience,” especially to young people.

A 2014 survey by the Japan Banana Importers Association showed that Japanese consumers ate bananas regularly; at that time, the price of the fruit was ¥350 per kilogram (around P150 at ¥100 = P0.43), higher than the previous price of ¥190. Toyo Keizai, a Japanese business magazine, wrote Japanese households consume 18 kilograms of bananas a year. Mandarin is a far second with 13 kgs.

Still, compared to other fruits, bananas are cheaper, wrote a March 2016 report by Japan Times. That is even if prices jacked up in 2014 due to consumption tax on bananas, the lower value of the yen, and a soil bacteria that previous typhoons had spread struck the country’s banana plantations from 2010 to 2013.

The Japan market had helped made the Philippines a fast-rising banana exporter worldwide, which Latin American banana powerhouse Ecuador continues to dominate. A third of global banana exports come from Ecuador.

Accoding to 2015 data from the web site World’s Top Exports, the Philippines is the seventh-highest grosser in banana exports proceeds, with $439.9 million (4.6 percent of the global total exports revenues). Ecuador, Belgium, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and the US are the top-grossing banana-exporting countries in 2015.

In terms of production, the 2012 data of FAO (the most recent one available) noted that the Philippines is the third-largest banana producer (behind India and China), with 9.225 million MT, valued at $2.337 billion.

If Philippine bananas are in short supply, importers buy from Ecuador just to meet their quota and avoid incurring penalties, according to Animas. Because of diseases and other logistical issues plaguing local producers, Japan was forced to turn to other importing countries. Apart from Ecuador, Vietnam and Mozambique also export to Japan. Indonesia started exporting bananas to Japan in 2015.

But Japan is not the only target market of the Philippines for bananas. The top 2 other target markets are China and South Korea. In 2015 China accounted for 23 percent of the total Philippine banana exports, or 447,915.102 MT, valued at $157.499 million, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). In the same year, South Korea imported 212,083.973 MT of Philippine bananas amounting to $89.986 million.

China previously banned some Cavendish banana exporters as their shipment was found to contain chemicals exceeding Beijing’s limit.

The ban was lifted during President Duterte’s state visit to China two weeks ago.

South Korea is the third-leading destination market. But Seoul’s more stringent pesticide regulation threatens Philippine banana exports to South Korea.

This is not the case in Japan, which has stringent food-safety regulations, as Philippine bananas meet Tokyo’s maximum residue limit (MRL) for various pesticides, Animas said.

“Japan is a very good market for food products in terms of food safety,” Animas told the BusinessMirror. “Other countries may be target markets, including those countries whose MRL is not so strict. But since [banana producers and exporters] want Japan, they would rather follow regulations because they can earn more from the Japanese market.” With a report from Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas Jeremaiah Opiniano is the publisher of The Filipino Connection, a community news organization in Batangas.

the US dollar, pending petitions for electricity rate increase and tropical cyclones.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported a 65-percent chance of La Niña developing in the fourth quarter and last until February 2017.

“Given the larger possibility of more frequent and stronger rains, the agriculture sec-

tor needs to implement adaptation measures to protect the income of farmers and keep food price inflation at bay,” Pernia said.

“We aim to strengthen the agricultural sector though a comprehensive agricultural development program, a major component of the proposed Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022,” he added.

Nonfood inflation in October remained at

1.5 percent as mild price increases were registered in majority of nonfood indices, such as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; transport; communication; education; and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services.

Core inflation, which excludes selected volatile food and energy prices, likewise, remained stable at 2.3 percent in October.

The Nation

A6 Monday, November 7, 2016 • Editor: Dionio L. Pelayo

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Opapp explains Nur’s temporary reprieve: MNLF, MILF now onboard together

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By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) said the temporary suspension of serving the arrest warrant on fugitive Moro revolutionary leader Nur Misuari is important in the pursuit of a more inclusive peace settlement in Mindanao.

“The peace process in Mindanao is on track with both the Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MILF] and the Moro National Liberation Front [MNLF] onboard for a more inclusive resolution to the conflict,” the Opapp said.

The Opapp added that the move further strengthened the willingness of the MNLF and the MILF “to sit at the peace table and work together with the government to address the historical injustices committed against the Moro people.”

“This is an unprecedented and historic development,” it said.

The MNLF signed a peace treaty with the government in September 1996, but several years later, it began to gripe about the failure of the government to comply with its commitment, as it warned the MILF later to be wary of proceeding with its peace negotiation with the government.

The MILF signed in March 2014 the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, but Congress turned down the Bangsamoro basic law that would have provided the legal framework to operate the autonomous unit now called the Bangsamoro.

In between, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Coopera-

tion gathered together the two revolutionary groups to thresh out a common thread for a unified peace settlement in Mindanao.

The temporary reprieve elicited immediate and significant response from Misuari, the Opapp said.

“Chairman Misuari has declared that only President Duterte can solve the long-standing problem of peace and order in Mindanao. This trust in the President’s leadership from the MNLF founder is a key ingredient in the President’s road map that will lead us to peace in Mindanao,” it said.

Misuari’s statement to participate in the Bangsamoro peace process and the signing of the executive order that will create a more inclusive Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) on Monday, November 7, “are significant steps closer to a comprehensive and inclusive resolution of the decades-long armed conflict in Mindanao.”

The Opapp said Duterte’s order to suspend the arrest of Misuari was among his “creative ways to get all the key actors to the peace table…to end the war once and for all during his term.”

A precedent action was when he ordered the release of a number of detained leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF) “so they can participate in the peace negotiations and declared an indefinite unilateral cease-fire.”

“The temporary releases of the NDF leaders and of the MNLF chairman is in pursuit of a larger vision of peace,” it said.

“The concern for justice related to the Zamboanga incidents in 2013, as well as other incidents identified by the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission, will be dealt with in a comprehensive program,” the Opapp said.

“As the major actors and stakeholders are now involved in pursuing peace in Mindanao, the opportunity is greater for dialogue and meaningful conversations that can lead to inclusive peace,” it said.

The Opapp also called on greater “public participation through the formation of various peace tables in the different sectors and communities following Duterte’s desire for inclusiveness, transparency and convergence.”

“The bigger peace table of the people will enable every Filipino to contribute not only to make peace happen, but more important, to make peace last,” it said.

Tawi-Tawi’s oldest mosque ready for grand annual visit

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AVAO CIT Y—The serene and scenic Tawi-Tawi, the country’s most southwestern island province and next to the contested island of Sabah, is set to receive the bulk of tourist visits this week, in time for the commemoration of the 14th-century arrival of the first Islamic missionary.

The Bureau of Public Information of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said the central focus among tourists is the Sheikh Karimul Makhdum Mosque, the oldest in the Philippines, in Tubig (Bohe) Indangan in Simunul town.

The main activity would be held on November 7 to commemorate the arrival of Sheikh Karimul Makhdum in the country, who introduced Islam in 1380, and has been historically recognized as the beginning of Islam in the Philippines.

Tourists would be expected to flock to the mosque, already declared a national religious and historical landmark.

The ARMM’s regional legislative assembly created a management board “to manage, preserve and promote the Makhdum mosque, as one of Bangsamoro’s historical landmarks,” the ARMM information office said.

Ayesha Mangudadatu-Dilangalen, secretary of the ARMM’s Department of Tourism (DOT), said numerous religious and cultural activities would educate and entertain visitors in Simunul this month, when the ARMM also commemorates its anniversary.

The ARMM’s DOT said the festivities for the twin activity include parades, a food festival, sports and cultural performances depicting the lives and culture of some of the region’s ethnic tribes. Manuel T. Cayon

DSWD mulls over new ESA guidelines amid confusion

By Elmer V. Recuerdo Correspondent

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ACLOBAN CITY—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is considering revising the guidelines on Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) for disaster-affected families, amid the continued uproar on the manner it was implemented in areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda on November 8, 2013.

The DSWD is doing an extensive investigation on the department’s recovery and rehabilitation in response to the clamor of many Filipinos seeking explanation on why it was able to provide immediate shelter assistance to survivors of recent Typhoons Ferdie and Lawin while many survivors of Yolanda are still awaiting the assistance.

A partial report on the investigation, led

by Assistant Secretary Aleli Bawagan, showed that, while over a million households have already been given ESA, thousands more claimed they have yet to receive the assistance three years after the typhoon.

According to the report, 667,429 households received P10,000 each for the repairs of their partially damaged houses, while 468,528 households with totally damaged houses were given P30,000 each.

The DSWD released on November 21, 2014, Memorandum Circular (MC) 14, the basis on who qualifies for ESA. MC 14 disqualifies from shelter assistance those living in danger or no-build zones, those who earn more than P15,000 a month, and beneficiaries of shelter assistance by nongovernmental organizations.

“We are doing this [investigation] independent of all outside help,” Bawagan said in a statement. “This is strictly our initiative in the DSWD, which we have taken, because of the continuing demands of the public that records on Yolanda aid be reported.”

She said Filipinos, especially those who have been hard hit by Yolanda, “have been demanding transparency and explanations for the last three years.”

“The DSWD, as caretaker of the dona-

tions and relief funds, as well as the government’s main welfare agency, cannot be remiss in its duty and allow another year to pass without giving a credible response to these demands,” she said.

The MC came after local government units submitted a list of beneficiaries to the Office of Presidential Assistant or Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR), then headed by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. With the issuance of MC 14, a number of beneficiaries were delisted, bringing confusion and anger to many Yolanda-affected people up to this day.

“Distribution of ESA was not easy; in fact, it could not be considered ‘Emergency Shelter Assistance’ anymore since it was distributed in 2015, more than a year after Yolanda struck the islands,” the report said.

The report added that wide discretion was given to the barangay chairman and other officials in the selection of ESA beneficiaries, resulting to inclusion in the list those who were ineligible for assistance.

The investigation found some households had more than one beneficiary, inclusion of people who remain voters of a barangay but are already living elsewhere, and individuals who were listed under totally damaged when their houses were only partially damaged.

“This practice also excluded other survivors, such as those living in remote sitios of the barangay; fishing people living in coastal communities; those who live in the barangay but temporarily relocated since there was no work available after Yolanda; and families, including government employees, with a monthly salary of P15,000 and above,” the report said.

The investigation also found an “increase in claimants of ESA, such as those who did not have their names listed since they did not believe that assistance will be provided [according to them ‘to see is to believe’], but had damaged homes, as well.”

The DWSD report also noted how local government units interpreted differently a provision on “danger zones.”

AseanMonday BusinessMirror

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It’s not just Trump casting cloud over SEA growth

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onald Trump’s protectionist policies aside, rising political risk in Southeast Asia is casting a shadow over economies that have been a driver of global growth in recent years.

Foreign investors pulled out of Thailand stocks at the fastest pace this year in October. The Philippine peso has sunk close to levels last traded during the global financial crisis.

Malaysia’s currency is also in a funk.

The common denominator is heightened political risk—from President Duterte’s stinging attacks on the US and his violent crackdown on crime in the Philippines to the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Thailand that’s removed an anchor of stability in the country. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, meanwhile, is embroiled in a funding scandal that’s being investigated by authorities around the world.

“Political risk is certainly on the rise in Southeast Asia,” said Bill Hayton, author of The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia. “The return of geopolitical competition in the region is creating uncertainties that had gradually dissipated following the end of the Cold War.” The worry for investors is that the uncertainty will stall decision making and scare off tourists and foreign investors at a time when exports— the region’s key growth driver—are already struggling. That’s before even factoring in global risks, like higher US interest rates and a Trump win in elections next week.

So far, the hit has been felt on financial markets, rather than the economy. Capital Economics Ltd.’s Krystal Tan and Gareth Leather said in a research note that they are sticking to their 2016 growth forecasts for the Philippines and Thailand this year, but next year is more uncertain and depends how the politics plays out. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting growth of 3.3 percent in Thailand next year, 4.6 percent in Malaysia and 6.7 percent in the Philippines. Sovereign risk— measured by five-year credit-default swaps —have risen for all three countries since September.

“Investors are not happy with the developments in these three countries as it introduces uncertainty,” said Manu George, a Singaporebased fixed-income director at Schroder Investment Management Ltd., which oversees the equivalent of $424 billion globally. With heightened political uncertainty from the US to Europe, “we are all resigned to the fact that geopolitical risk has risen globally,” he said. The biggest worry may be Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, where Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has requested a delay in taking the throne. The country has been under military rule since a 2014 coup with elections due to be held late next year.

Foreign funds sold a net $514 million of Thai equities in October, more than five times as much as from the Philippines. Economists have warned that a yearlong mourning period may curb growth on entertainment and other social spending. Airlines and tour operators are bracing for possibly fewer visitors to a country famed for its beaches, islands and nightspots.

Tourism makes up about 10 percent of GDP and has fanned a surging current-account surplus.

In the Philippines the peso fell to a seven-year low of 48.618 in October and was Asia’s worst performer in the third quarter, when it fell 3 percent. Global funds have pulled more than $600 million from Philippine stocks since inflows this year peaked in August. While government officials have sought to soothe nerves, there are worries the nation’s more than $20-billion business-outsourcing industry, which is dominated

by American firms, will be hurt by Duterte’s pivot away from the US and toward China. Bloomberg News

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Monday, November 7, 2016 A7

Indonesia’s Widodo tells China no compromise on sovereignty

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resident Joko Widodo said his country would not compromise on sovereignty, pushing back against Chinese claims that waters near Indonesian islands are also traditional Chinese fishing grounds.

The gas-rich Natuna Islands are “our territory,” Widodo, better known as Jokowi, told the Sydney Morning Herald just a day before he postponed a planned visit to Australia after a rally in Jakarta turned violent. “You know, we have the Natuna regency there and there are 169,000 people out there and we want to build our fishery industry there.”

Indonesia has sought to stay neutral in disputes between its neighbors and China over the nearby South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. It is not a claimant in that area. But incursions by Chinese fishing boats and its coast guard—plus public comments by senior Chinese officials about access to waters near the Natunas—risk drawing Indonesia into the broader maritime tensions.

“There is no compromise on sovereignty,” Jokowi told the newspaper. In recent months he has made several visits to the Natunas—including holding a cabinet meeting on a warship there—and the military has beefed up its presence. That’s even as new President Duterte sounds a more conciliatory tone over his country’s dispute with China in the South China Sea. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in a visit to China this week signed

a series of deals, including one to buy warships.

Asked if China was a destabilizing factor for Southeast Asia, Jokowi said he had discussed the issue many times with President Xi Jinping. “Because we need better economic growth and without stability, I said to him, there is no economic growth. And he agreed with my statement.”

China’s claims to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea were dented in July by an international tribunal that ruled it had no historic rights to the resources within the waters and that its actions there were aggravating tensions. China has rejected the ruling.

Jokowi has said he wants to transform Indonesia, a string of more than 17,000 islands that forms the world’s largest archipelago, into a maritime power and has in the past laid out a plan to develop the fishing industry, improve port infrastructure and bolster sea defenses.

Visit postponed

Jokowi was scheduled to hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before addressing Australia’s parliament on Monday, with both leaders keen to strike a balance between China—a

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop shakes hands with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on October 26. AP

major trading partner for both— and the US, which has for decades been the dominant military presence in Asia.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday that “it is with the deepest regret” that Widodo’s scheduled November 6 to 8 visit to Australia “has now been postponed.”

“Current development has re-

quired the president to stay in Indonesia,” the statement said.

Police on Friday fired tear gas at Islamic protesters demanding Jakarta’s Christian governor be jailed for his comments about the Koran.

About 200 people continued demonstrating into the evening and refused to leave an area near the presidential palace, with local media broadcasting running battles

with police who also used water cannons to bring the situation under control. At least 70,000 people earlier held a largely peaceful rally, National Police Spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said, with about 20,000 riot police and military personnel deployed to the capital.

The president was prevented from returning to the palace until the unrest ended. Bloomberg News

Activist investing takes aim at Singapore’s ‘buy, pray, hope’ model

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ctivist investors, having targeted companies in Japan and South Korea in recent years, have discovered a new playground in Asia.

In Singapore, where activist investing was virtually unheard of until now, two companies have found themselves in the crosshairs in the past month alone. Quarz Capital Management Ltd. urged retailer Metro Holdings Ltd. to return excess cash to investors and Dektos Investment Corp. pushed Geo Energy Resources Ltd. to change its debt structure, saying the coal-miners’ shares are undervalued by as much as 60 percent.

The investors are challenging a clubby, consensus-driven corporate culture where shareholder interests have traditionally taken a back seat. In doing so, they’re shining a light on a swathe of small companies that are undervalued, flush with cash and often ignored by analysts.

“We are on the cusp of change here,” said Lawrence Loh, associate professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and director of the Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organizations at the NUS Business School.

“Singapore is probably one of the best-kept secrets, it’s a very fertile ground for digging by activist investors.”

Singapore-traded companies worth $500 million or less are valued at a median 0.6 times the value of their assets, compared with 1.4 times in Western Europe and 1.2 times in the US, Bloomberg-compiled data show. Meanwhile, they hold more cash and their return on

assets is higher than in the US and comparable with Western Europe. What’s more, such companies in Singapore are less likely to be covered by analysts, the data show.

Pushing for change

Investors, like Quarz and Dektos, are betting they can unlock hidden value by pushing for change.

While activist investors play a role in efficient price discovery and enhancing corporate governance, they shouldn’t spread “false and misleading information,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in an e-mailed statement.

On October 4, when Quarz made public its call for Metro to return cash to shareholders, the stock jumped the most in more than seven years. A week later, the retailer said it’s reviewing investment opportunities to deploy cash.

Singapore is a “treasure trove of undervalued small- and mid-cap companies,” said Havard Chi, Singapore-based head of research at Quarz. The fund has a “pipeline of stocks in Singapore,” which it intends to target, with one or two firms to be approached within the next 12 months, Chi said. Real estate, electronics and engineering are all attractive sectors, according to Chi. From billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Elliott Singer taking on Samsung Electronics Co. and Bank of East Asia Ltd. to Dan Loeb battling Seven & I Holdings Co. this year, activist investing is gaining ground in Asia. Japan, especially, has been a target, with companies from Suzuki Motor Corp. to Sony Corp. and

robot-maker Fanuc Corp. getting pushed to bolster returns.

Singapore, by comparison, has been relatively quiet. Engaging companies publicly came late to the market because generally, “boards and senior management prefer a collaborative approach, which is in line with Asian culture,” said David Gerald, president of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore, an industry group representing shareholders.

‘Buy, pray, hope’

That may be starting to change as investors realize that reliability and transparency of local accounting and regulatory frameworks can work in their favor. Activist investors and short sellers are encouraging Singaporean shareholders to speak out at annual meetings and in discussions with management, Dektos founder Roland Thng said. “In the past in Singapore, it was just a case of ‘I am a shareholder, I buy, I pray, I hope,”’ Thng said. “Now it’s a case of ‘I let my money really work hard for me. But with my voice, I can make it faster.”’

Last month, Thng told Bloomberg in an interview that coal miner Geo Energy was “massively” undervalued and his fund had urged the company to cut funding costs and pay a dividend once earnings recover. A few days later Geo Energy announced a coal mine management agreement, sending the stock to an 11-percent two-day gain. Dektos had sold its stake in Geo Energy before Thng’s comments, but is seeking to invest in convertible bonds in the company.

Name and shame It’s not that Singapore has been exempt from naming and shaming. Muddy Waters Llc. was the first short-seller to test a Singaporean firm, publicly questioning the finances of commodity trader Olam International Ltd. in 2012, sending its stock plummeting. Commodity trader Noble Group Ltd. was attacked in 2015 by two short sellers, including Muddy Waters, who questioned the company’s accounting. Noble initially rejected the allegations, but announced management changes and an emergency capital raising as writedowns mounted. It agreed to sell its US Energy unit last month.

While those cases didn’t involve activist investors, they paved the way for shareholders to become more vocal. US research firm and hedgefund manager GeoInvesting Llc. last week issued a report critical of food processor Sino Grandness Food Industry Group Ltd., citing concerns over its reporting of revenues, sending the shares down 8 percent in two days. Sino Grandness said GeoInvesting’s report “contains allegation or comments based on misconstrued, erroneous and/or inappropriate interpretation of information and reports.”

The more critical approach is spreading to retail investors—a development that will ultimately benefit Singapore, according to Thng.

“Local investors are getting more daring, at least they know that they have the right to do that,” he said. “And that will give a boost to Singapore’s corporate landscape which still is a bit staid and more focused on consensus than in the US.” Bloomberg News

A8 Monday, November 7, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

The World BusinessMirror

Clinton, Trump fight for edge in final weekend of campaign

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up 6-month-old Catalina Larkin of Largo, Florida, during a campaign rally on Saturday in Tampa, Florida. AP/Chris O’Meara

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illary Clinton pleaded with supporters to cast their ballots before Tuesday’s election, while Donald Trump sought an upset victory fueled by an anti-Washington mood, as polls and early voting pointed slightly in the Democrat’s favor.

The final get-out-the-vote push ratcheted up the intensity of a highly unusual campaign that’s already exhausted many Americans and threatens to leave a deeply divided nation separated even more.

As both campaigns raced to the finish, Republican Trump was hit with a distraction when two former aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were convicted on Friday of creating a traffic jam for what prosecutors say was political revenge.

Christie, who had been scheduled to campaign on Trump’s behalf this weekend, is serving as the head of transition planning for a potential Trump administration and the convictions brought corruption talk uncomfortably close to the nominee.

A former Republican presidential candidate himself, Christie continued to say he had no knowledge of the plot to punish a mayor for refusing to endorse his reelection bid by closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. During the trial, however, jurors were told Christie was aware of the scheme and he was painted as a bully who punished dissenters.

Attack lines

The convictions offered Clinton, a Democrat, a fresh line of attack, using Trump’s own slogan about cleaning up Washington against him.

“He might start by draining his own swamp and asking Mr. Christie to resign as the head of his transition,” John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, told reporters aboard her plane.

Trump continued to strike at Clinton for her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state and made no mention of Christie, as he sought to project momentum for his unconventional bid. “Those polls are like rocket ships,” he said on Friday in Wilmington, Ohio.

The candidates are chasing each other through the most competitive states, as national and statelevel data suggest Clinton has an edge in the quest for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

Clinton on Friday tended to what she hopes will be a Midwest firewall, logging stops in Pennsylvania and Michigan, states where Trump is making a late play with his appeal to white, working-class voters.

She also attended a “get-out-thevote performance” with Beyoncé and the rapper Jay Z and other performers in Cleveland, trying to spur black turnout in a state Trump can’t afford to lose.

“Look how far we’ve come from having no voice,” Beyoncé said. “But we have to vote.”

Clinton is also returning to Cleveland on Sunday, the final day of early voting in the state, for a rally with LeBron James, the native Ohioan who brought the National Basketball Association championship to Cleveland with the Cavaliers last season and who has endorsed Clinton.

Trump spoke to a crowd of about 12,000 people in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Friday and took a dig at

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a rainstorm at a rally on Saturday in Pembroke Pines, Florida. AP/Wilfredo Lee

Clinton’s celebrity surrogates.

“I hear we set a new record for this building,” he said. “And by the way, I didn’t have to bring J. Lo or Jay Z. I’m here all by myself. I am here all by myself. Just me. No guitar. No piano. No nothing.”

The Democratic nominee added a stop in Detroit and her campaign is pouring more money into advertising in Michigan amid concerns that her lead is softening as the race tightens in the final days, especially after FBI Director James Comey’s announcement 11 days before the election that the agency was examining newly discovered e-mails that might pertain to the earlier investigation of her use of the e-mail server.

Roiled campaign

IN a Friday interview broadcast by MSNBC, President Barack Obama stopped short of any direct criticism of Comey, while implicitly acknowledging complaints by Democrats that the FBI director needlessly roiled the final days of a presidential campaign.

“Historically, both under Democratic and Republican administrations, our goal has been—and should be—that our investigators and our prosecutors are independent of politics,” Obama said. “They’re not politicized. They’re not used as a weapon to advantage either side in partisan arguments. And I want to make sure we continue with that tradition and that norm.”

During a speech in Pittsburgh,

Clinton used a jobs report released on Friday that showed employers added 161,000 workers last month to help contrast her position on the economy with Trump.

“I believe that our economy is poised to really take off and thrive,” she said. In a statement, Trump called the report “disastrous.”

The Democratic nominee called on her supporters to help her win a mandate, saying that they would then have “a big wind behind our backs going in.”

As she has throughout the campaign, Clinton argued Trump is unqualified and unfit to be president and asked her audiences to picture him in the Oval Office.

“Sometimes the fate of the greatest nations comes down to single moments in time,” she said in Pittsburgh. “This is one of those makeor-break moments for the United States. It is in your hands.”

Most aggressive

Although her campaign put resources into traditionally Republican states, such as Arizona, Podesta told reporters that the focus in the final days will be on the battleground states where the campaign was built to compete most aggressively.

“We’re crisscrossing the states that we still feel very good about, that we believe will produce the 270 votes or plus that she’s going to need to be elected president of the United States,” he said. “We’re feeling confident that we’re still in an excellent shape to do that.” Bloomberg News

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Melania Trump had modeling jobs in US before work visa

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A SHINGTON—Melania Trump was paid for 10 modeling jobs in the United States that occurred before she had legal permission to work in the country, according to documents from 20 years ago provided to The Associated Press (AP).

The details of Mrs. Trump’s early paid modeling work in the US emerged in the final days of a bitter presidential campaign in which her husband, Donald Trump, has taken a hard line on immigration laws and those who violate them.

Trump has proposed broader use of the government’s e-verify system, allowing employers to check whether job applicants are authorized to work.

Mrs. Trump, who received a green card in March 2001 and became a US citizen in 2006, has always maintained that she arrived in the country legally and never violated the terms of her immigration status.

The wife of the GOP presidential nominee has said through an attorney that she first came to the US from Slovenia on August 27, 1996, on what’s known as a B1/B2 visitor visa and then obtained an H-1B work visa on October 18, 1996.

The documents obtained by the AP show she was compensated for the modeling jobs that she worked between September 10 and October 15 of that year, altogether worth $20,056. During this time, her visa allowed her, generally, to be in the US and look for work, but not perform paid work. The documents consist of detailed accounting ledgers, her contract and related papers.

It is highly unlikely the discovery will affect the citizenship status of Mrs. Trump. The government can seek to revoke the US citizenship of immigrants after the fact in cases when it determines a person willfully misrepresented or concealed facts relevant to his naturalization.

But it effectively does this in only the most egregious cases, such as instances involving terrorism or war crimes.

The disclosures about the payments come as Mrs. Trump takes on a more substantial role advocating for her husband’s candidacy. She made her first speech in months on Thursday, in which she spoke of her time working as a model in Europe and her decision to come to the US. The documents obtained by the AP included ledgers, other accounting documents and a management agreement signed by Mrs. Trump from Metropolitan International Management that covered parts of 1996 and 1997.

The AP obtained the files this week after seeking copies since August from employees of the now- def u nc t model i ng f i r m, after Mrs. Trump made comments earlier this summer that

appeared inconsistent with US immigration rules.

A New York immigration lawyer whom Mrs. Trump asked to review her immigration documents, Michael J. Wildes, reviewed some of the ledgers at AP’s request.

Wildes said in a brief statement that “these documents, which have not been verified, do not reflect our records, including corresponding passport stamps.”

He did not elaborate or answer additional questions asking for clarification. Trump campaign Spokesman Hope Hicks also did not answer additional written questions from the AP. During the seven-week period between Mrs. Trump’s arrival in the US and her work visa, the ledgers list modeling work for clients that included Fitness magazine and Bergdorf Goodman department store.

The management agreement, which said it was not an employment agreement, included a handwritten date of August 27, 1996. The top of the document said it was “made and entered into as of this 4th day of September 1996.”

Many of the documents were part of a legal dispute related to the dissolution of the firm in the late 1990s and found recently in storage. The accounting ledgers for the firm’s models were listed on hundreds of pages of continuously fed paper that appeared yellowed with age.

They were authenticated by a former employee who worked at the firm at the time. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because this person feared retaliation from Trump’s presidential campaign.

A former partner, Paolo Zampolli, who previously told the AP that he recruited Mrs. Trump to come to the US as a model, confirmed that the contract language was used by his firm and his signature appeared on the document.

Mrs. Trump’s signature on the contract resembled her signature on her marriage license recorded in 2005.

Asked about the two dates on the document, Zampolli said he usually vacationed in Europe each August and probably arranged for the contract to be formally executed when he returned to New York after Labor Day, even though Mrs. Trump had signed it eight days earlier.

Zampolli said the ledgers for Mrs. Tr u mp were consistent with printouts used by his firm at the time, but he would not vouch for them because he said money matters were handled by the company's chief financial officer, who has since died. Zampolli said he did not recall Mrs. Trump working without legal permission.

Some ledgers were first made available to True.Ink, an online lifestyle publication, then independently obtained and verified by the AP. AP

Park’s former aides arrested as protesters demand resignation

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outh Korean President Park Geun-hye’s former secretaries were arrested early on Sunday on charges of involvement in a political scandal that has led to calls that Park herself step down.

Arrest warrants for former Senior Presidential Secretary for Policy Coordination An Chong-bum and former Secretary for Private Presidential affairs Jeong Ho-seong have been issued, according to text messages from the Seoul Central District Court.

An has been accused of pressuring local companies to donate funds to foundations controlled by Choi Soonsil, a friend of President Park who is at the center of the scandal. Jeong,

dubbed as a “door knob” to Park by local media in that he is one of the key members controlling access to the president, was arrested on charges of allegedly leaking confidential documents to Choi. Both were already in custody.

The arrests came as tens of thousands of citizens rallied in Seoul demanding Park’s resignation. The police said about 45,000 people turned out, although protest organizers estimated the crowd at 200,000, according to Yonhap News.

Photos in local media showed protesters flagging banners reading “Park Geun-hye resign” and “Park Geun-hye out.”

Park has seen seen her approval

South Korean union members shout slogans during a rally calling for South Korean President Park Geun-hye to step down in downtown Seoul, South Korea, on Friday. AP/Lee Jin-man

rating plummet after media reports that Choi, a longtime friend of Park’s and a private citizen, has taken advantage of their relationship to meddle extensively in state affairs.

Choi was formally arrested on November 3 on charges of attempted fraud and abuse of authority.

Park offered a national apology on November 4, saying that she feels “great responsibility” and that she would cooperate with investigators over allegations that her friend had undue influence over her administration. A Gallup Korea poll released the same day showed her approval rating dipped to 5 percent, from 17 percent a week earlier.

Bloomberg News

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Monday, November 7, 2016 A9

Americans still dread the future despite wage gains May flies to India to prepare ground for post-Brexit trade deal

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rime Minister Theresa May flies to India on Sunday to prepare the ground for one of Britain’s key trade agreements after it quits the European Union.

The premier will arrive in New Delhi with Trade Secretary Liam Fox and a delegation of 33 business leaders to cement links with the world’s fastest-growing major economy and seek to remove barriers to British companies winning contracts.

“The UK and India are natural partners—the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy,” May said in a statement. “This is a partnership about our shared security and shared prosperity. It is a partnership of potential. And on this visit I intend to harness that potential, rebooting an age-old relationship in this age of opportunity and with that helping to build a better Britain.”

The visit will include signing of host of commercial agreements that combined will create as many as 1,370 UK jobs, according to the statement.

While Britain isn’t permitted to open negotiations with India over a trade deal until it has formally started proceedings to leave the EU, May will use talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explore what a post-Brexit relationship might look like, according to a person familiar with her plans.

Modi’s reforms

Britain will offer to support Modi’s plans for reform to regulation and tax procedures to help make India a more attractive business partner. May would also seek to pave the way for British companies to gain from India’s planned investment in health, skills and infrastructure, the official said.

Fox, who will lead the charge for trade deals around the world after Britain starts the process of leaving the EU by triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, has praised India as a beacon of free trade.

“In 1993 around 45 percent of India’s population sat below the poverty line, in 2011 it was 22 percent—and it is no coincidence that in the intervening period India embraced globalization and started to liberalize its economy,” he said in a speech in Manchester on September 29. “Ask yourself whether there has been a greater emancipator of the world’s poor than free trade.”

India has the second-biggest army in the world and is the world’s largest importer of military equipment. Fox, a former defense secretary, will make the case for British armaments and aerospace companies to have a bigger share of the market.

Executives from Diageo Plc., Lloyd ’s of London, Standard Chartered Plc. and Aviva Plc are among those with May on the trip, according to the government statement. Bloomberg News

China announces plan to curb carbon emissions

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EIJING—China has announced a plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions over the next several years, while capping coal consumption and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels.

Under the plan, by 2020, the level of carbon-dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be 18 percent lower than in 2015, the State Council said on its web site on Friday, the same day that the Paris climate agreement came into effect.

Coal consumption must be capped at about 4.2 billion tons, while nonfossil fuel-energy generation capacity, like hydropower and nuclear power, will be expanded to 15 percent of China’s total capacity.

China has taken a leading role in climate-change talks, and its collaboration with the United States has been touted by Washington and Beijing as a bright spot in an otherwise strained relationship.

China will guarantee that emis-

sions peak no later than 2030 under the Paris pact. There are also plans to officially launch a national carbontrading market next year.

In recent years China has become a world leader in renewable-energy investment and installation of new wind and solar-power capacity, but efforts by the central government to break away from coal consumption have been frustrating at times.

Even after Beijing declared a “war on pollution,” hundreds of new coal-power plants were approved for construction in 2015 by local governments keen to buoy their economies.

Central economic planners earlier this year declared a halt on new approvals for coal plants. Energy officials went a step further last month when they declared a construction freeze on scores of partially built plants across more than a dozen provinces, garnering praise from environmental groups, such as Greenpeace. AP

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Americans continue to see the nation going downhill. Bloomberg News

ompanies are hiring, paychecks are growing and Americans are still feeling pretty lousy about the direction of the country, a dichotomy that’s revealed itself anew in the waning days of a contentious presidential campaign.

The US has added 1.8 million jobs so far this year and at 4.9 percent, unemployment is less than half of its 2009 peak, a Labor Department report showed on Friday, four days before Election Day. Wages picked up by the most since 2009 on a year-over-year basis. Even so, Americans continue to see the nation going downhill: 63 percent say it’s on the wrong track, based on the latest Real Clear Politics average.

The contrast between the general feeling of malaise and solid economic data has a few possible explanations. Right-track-wrongtrack questions are ambiguous and can reflect shifts in the political climate in addition to economic trends, said Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist who’s been studying the issue.

And while individuals’ financial situations may be improving, political rhetoric serves as a constant reminder that gains haven’t been shared evenly or could be a lot stronger.

1.8 million The number of jobs added this year “A lot of it comes down to discourse,” said Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management in Boston. “If you have populist politicians out there telling you that your country isn’t going in the right direction, and there are people to blame, I think that leads to a lot of negative sentiment among the population.”

How Americans feel about the nation is particularly relevant now.

Early voters are already casting ballots for either Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump as their next president. Voters rank the economy, as usual, among the most important issues.

Fine economy

“IN the aggregate, the economy’s

fine,” said Ellen Zentner, chief US economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. “That’s an environment that typically supports the incumbent party.”

This year, however, it’s been harder for Clinton to make that case. The Real Clear Politics general election average shows Clinton with nearly a 2 percentage-point lead, based on surveys taken from October 28 to November 3, from an about 7-point advantage in mid-October.

The race is tightening even though consumer confidence increased last week to the highest in more than two months, according to the weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index. People felt better about their personal finances and the buying climate, and views on the economy are at their brightest since January.

Even with slow growth, the economy has been creating an average 181,000 jobs a month so far this year, and jobless claims are near a four-decade low. Unemployment is below 5 percent in the battleground states of Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.

And last week, the government reported the economy expanded at a 2.9-percent annual rate in the third quarter, dispelling Trump’s claim that America “is dying at 1percent GDP.” Campaigning in Pittsburgh, Clinton praised Friday’s jobs report as a sign of an economy “poised to really take off and thrive,” while the Trump campaign in a statement

called the October employment report “disastrous.”

The fact that they’ve stayed negative despite job-market progress could reflect what voters are hearing from candidates on the campaign trail.

“These national polls, conducted in a political context, are not referenda on the economy,” according to Princeton’s Blinder.

“The economic indicators look good, but you have the propaganda machine of one of the two major candidates saying how bad things are,” said Blinder, who has advised the Clinton campaign. “On the other side, the Clinton machine has been loathe to brag about the state of the economy.”

Trump is highlighting the fact that growth has been steady but sub-par for years, and the benefits haven’t been fairly spread. So far in 2016, GDP has grown 1.7 percent per quarter on average, half the 3.4 percent quarterly growth rate the nation enjoyed during the 1990s.

The Republican candidate has also argued that Americans have been hurt by bad trade deals that have led to a big decline in manufacturing jobs. Factory payrolls have declined to just over 12.2 million from a high of 19.6 million in 1979.

“There is still some angst about the slow recovery from the recession,” said Gus Faucher, vice president at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh. “People are getting left behind.” Bloomberg News

Researchers training in Hawaii to simulate Mars manned mission

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A man and a child wear masks during a heavily polluted day in Beijing, China, on Saturday. AP/Ng Han Guan

ILO, Hawaii—Scientists will mix biology and geology this month inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as they help National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) get ready for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

The researchers will hike around Mauna Ulu to practice collecting rock samples as they would on the Red Planet, The Hawaii TribuneHerald reported on Friday.

The purpose is to develop protocols that would be used on a real Mars mission to identify and protect samples that could host life.

One of the concerns is contamination of rocks that might be home to living bacteria, said John Hamilton, an astronomy faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

“Really, the whole reason of going to Mars is to see if there’s life there,” he said.

“There’s a lot of great geology. But are

we alone?”

The project is known as Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (Basalt).

Hamilton said Nasa selected Hawaii, along with the Snake River plain in Idaho, as research sites because they both host volcanic terrain similar to Mars.

The Nasa grant is administered through the University of Hawaii-Hilo. The Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems also is a partner.

Hamilton said no spacesuits will be used with this project, though a “mission control” is being set up at Kilauea Military Camp. As many as 20 UH-Hilo students will assist the team.

Communication with researchers in the field will be placed on time delays of five or 20 minutes to simulate an actual mission, he said. AP

A10 Monday, November 7, 2016

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2 Italians, Canadian captives in Libya freed

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OME—Two Italians and a Canadian citizen kidnapped in southern Libya in September were freed unharmed and brought to Italy early Saturday, authorities said.

Italian authorities said the intelligence services of Libya, Italy and Canada cooperated in securing the release of the three men after nearly seven weeks of captivity.

The men, technicians working on an airport-construction project, were seized on September 19 by armed, masked men who blocked their vehicle in Ghat, a Sahara Desert city in southwestern Libya near the border with Algeria.

A number of criminal and extremist groups operate in the area, but it wasn’t immediately clear which group was involved.

“Today is a moment of relief and joy that I would like to share with the families of our technicians,” Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said, expressing special thanks to Libyan authorities and security forces.

Italy identified the Italians as Danilo Calonego and Bruno Cacace and the Canadian citizen as Frank Poccia.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the two Italians had not been mistreated during their captivity and were in good health.

Chantal Gagnon, the spokesman for Canada’s Global Affairs department, would not comment on Poccia’s health, saying his family has

requested privacy.

She said the Canadian government does not pay ransom requests and officials would not comment on whether a ransom was discussed.

The Ansa news agency said the Italians were employed by an Italian construction company. It was not immediately clear whether Poccia worked for the same company.

Italian prosecutors questioned the men for hours on Saturday, seeking more information about possible terrorist involvement in the case.

The two Italians were seen getting into cars after the questioning. Both had grown beards, in contrast to the clean-shaven looks they sported before their captivity.

Their relatives, waiting to be reunited, told Italian media of their huge relief at the news.

“I lived through hellish days, but now it’s all over,” said Maria Margherita Forneris, Cacace’s mother, according to Ansa.

Libya was once an Italian colony and Italy continues to have a strong commercial presence in the North African nation. Libya has fallen into chaos since former dictator Muammar Qaddafi was toppled in 2011 and killed by Libyan rebels. AP The two Italian hostages that were freed in Libya, Bruno Cacace (second from left) and Danilo Calonego (second from right), leave a police station after being questioned by prosecutor Sergio Colaiocco in Rome on Saturday. The two had been kidnapped at Gath, Libya, on September 19. Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)

Nigerian troops find kidnapped Chibok Thousands stream into UN camp as Iraqi forces penetrate into Mosul schoolgirl with baby K

A recently rescued Nigerian Chibok girl with her child at a local Nigerian government council house in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on Saturday. AP/Jossy Ola

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AIDUGURI, Nigeria—Nigerian troops rescued one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists more than two years ago in a predawn raid on Saturday on a forest hideout.

She had a 10-month-old baby boy born to a Boko Haram fighter, said a statement from army Spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.

It was the first army rescue of a Chibok girl.

Last month, Nigeria’s government secured the freedom of 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls in the first such release negotiated with Boko Haram. Another girl escaped in May on her own.

Thousands of other Boko Haram captives have been freed this year, as the military has forced the extremists out of towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, where they had declared an Islamic caliphate.

But until Saturday, none proved to be among the 276 schoolgirls seized from northeastern Chibok town in April 2014. Dozens of them escaped within hours.

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to secure the release of the nearly 200 schoolgirls who remain captive.

The failures of successive governments and security forces to free the girls brought international condemnation and the creation of a movement called Bring Back Our Girls. US

first lady Michelle Obama posted a picture of herself under that hashtag and vowed her husband would do everything in his power to help bring the girls home.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s initial refusal even to admit the girls had been taken hostage, losing precious days after their capture, contributed to his loss at 2015 elections.

Meanwhile, activists and relatives have objected to the government’s prolonged holding of Amina Ali Nkeki, the girl who escaped in May. She says she wants to be reunited with her mother and the father of her child, a detained Boko Haram extremist whom she says also was a victim of kidnapping and helped her escape.

The government says she is receiving trauma counseling and other care at a military hospital in Abuja, where she has been joined by the girls released last month.

Human-rights activists have protested against the prolonged military screening of escapees from Boko Haram that has kept thousands held in detention, where Amnesty International has reported babies are among those dying from inhumane conditions.

Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram’s seven-year Islamic uprising that has spread across borders and forced 2.6 million refugees from their homes. AP

H A ZIR , Iraq—Fami l ies made their way east on Saturday, past sniper fire, mortar rounds and the bodies of neighbors, to a new camp set up for those displaced by the battle to drive Islamic State (IS) out of Mosul.

They arrived in dump trucks and on foot, carrying their belongings in large bags, wrapped in bedding and tarps.

Relatives were waiting outside the camp’s chain-link fence.

Waeed Ahmed Hussein had not seen his parents and four brothers in almost three years, since the extremists seized the Iraqi city and their nearby village of Gogjali, and he fled.

When Hussein, 32, spotted his father in the camp’s screening area, he rushed over to kiss the elderly man’s hands through the fence.

“Uncle, uncle!” cried his 6-yearold nephew, Idris, sprinting out of the gate to hug him.

Guards ushered the boy back behind the fence, as Hussein wiped away tears.

The Hassan Sham camp, about 20 miles east Mosul, opened on Friday to help handle the exodus of civilians after government troops battled their way into the city last week.

More than 8,000 people had fled by Saturday, bringing the total number displaced since the offen-

sive began to about 30,000, according to United Nations estimates.

Hu m a n it a r i a n g roups h ad warned before the offensive began nearly three weeks ago that as many as a million people could be displaced, and that camps were unprepared because of lack of funding.

In addition to Hassan Sham, the UN refugee agency is building 10 more camps, but only half are ready to receive people.

Ha ssa n Sh a m now houses about 4,000 people and can accommodate 7,000 more. But with the volume of families streaming in, officials expect they will soon have to build another camp nearby.

More than 200 families arrived on Saturday and more than 600 on Friday, said Sadiq Mohammed, deputy camp manager. The Khazir camp up the road was already full of those displaced from eastern villages.

“The influx is massive and ongoing,” said Frederic Cussigh, a senior field coordinator for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Iraqi special forces are locked in a bitter battle for eastern neighborhoods of Mosul, commanders said.

“The [counterterrorism forces] are fighting inside houses, room by room,” said Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, who visited the

eastern front on Saturday.

Federal police on Saturday defeated Islamic State militants south of Mosul, raising the Iraqi flag in Hamam Ali, but they had yet to fully secure the town, Ibrahim said.

At least 20,000 people had been living there when Islamic State took control, and residents said the militants forced more in from surrounding communities after the offensive started.

“We need to clear the car bombs outside and take care of the people,” Ibrahim said.

For civilians caught in the fighting, the route to safety is a perilous one.

Hussein’s older brother, Saad Ahmed Hussein, said that when the family fled their village east of Mosul on Saturday morning, they were targeted by Islamic State snipers and mortar fire.

Iraqi forces had freed the village, but militants sneaked back in using tunnels near the graveyard, he said.

Saad Ahmed Hussein, 34, said he saw a neighbor and his two young children killed in a mortar strike. He also found the bodies of three women killed by mortar rounds. He buried them.

“Islamic State fighters use civilians as human shields. In some cases, Islamic State fighters will go on a roof of a house, and the

Iraqi army will avoid targeting them” because of the civilians inside, he said.

He tried to persuade his eldest brother to leave with the rest of the family, but he has several small children, including a toddler. “He said, ‘I prefer to die here,’” Saad Ahmed Hussein said.

Now he is receiving phone calls from friends in Mosul’s eastern Intisar neighborhood saying they too plan to flee, even if they have to live in small tents.

Yunus Qasim, 21, said he managed to escape the west of Mosul with his family last week by pretending to visit an uncle on the east side of the city. But he then found himself dodging bullets that shattered the windows of his uncle’s house Saturday.

“They fired at us,” Qasim said of the militants as he stood outside his new tent at Hassan Sham.

“There were mines and suicide car bombs. We saw jets bombing Islamic State positions. We were safe, but other people got injured.”

Qasim said he never received the leaf lets that Iraqi forces dropped from aircraft before the offensive urging Mosul residents to hunker down in their homes.

Instead, he received Islamic State leaflets warning of the Iraqi army’s impending arrival and saying, “If you stay in your houses, you will die.” Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bulgarians to choose a new president from 21 candidates

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OFIA, Bulgaria—Bulgarians on Sunday were choosing a new president who will have to face both a possible rise in migrants from neighboring Turkey and growing tensions between Russia and the West.

For the first time, voting in the presidential election is compulsory for the Balkan nation’s 6.8 million voters. Also on the ballot is a referendum on electoral-process issues.

Opinion polls suggest that none of Bulgaria’s 21 presidential candidates are likely to win in the first round

by getting more than the required 50 percent of the vote, and that a presidential runoff will be held on November 13.

The front-runner is the Parliament speaker, Tsetska Tsacheva, a 58-year-old lawyer and member of the governing center-right GERB party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov.

Unlike her party leader, however, she is not a charismatic figure.

To become the first female president of the country of 7.2 million people, Tsacheva must defeat the opposition Socialist contender Rumen

Radev, 53, a former fighter pilot and Bulgarian air force chief.

If Tsacheva is elected, she is widely expected to continue the pro-Europe foreign policy of incumbent Rosen Plevneliev, while her main opponent is seen as more sympathetic to Russia.

Radev has repeatedly said he would comply with Bulgaria’s European obligations, but has called for better relations with Russia and called for lifting sanctions against Russia, arguing that “being proEuropean does not mean being anti-Russian.”

A recent poll by Gallup International Balkan suggests the presidential election will go to a second round, with Tsacheva facing Radev.

The poll conducted from October 24 to 31 among 820 Bulgarians found Tsacheva supported by 27.2 percent and Radev by 23.1 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

Polling stations will close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) and preliminary results will be available 90 minutes later. Final results will be announced on Tuesday. AP

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Monday, November 7, 2016

China says it must intervene to deter Hong Kong separatism

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EIJING—Beijing must intervene in a Hong Kong political dispute to deter advocates of independence for the city, China’s top legislative panel said, calling their actions a threat to national security.

The Standing Committee of China’s rubberstamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, said in a statement that Beijing could not afford to do nothing in the face of challenges in Hong Kong to China’s authority, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late on Saturday.

The dispute in Hong Kong centers on a provocative display of anti-China sentiment by two pro-independence lawmakers, Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching, at their swearing-in ceremony last month.

The legislative panel said the two Hong Kong lawmakers’ words and actions “posed a grave threat to national sovereignty and security,” Xinhua said.

If such a situation were to persist, t he committee sa id, it would hurt the interests of Hong Kong’s residents and the

country’s progress.

“The central government cannot sit idly and do nothing,” it said.

The statement followed discussions by the top legislative panel on issuing an interpretation of an article in Hong Kong’s constitution, known as the Basic Law, that covers oaths taken by lawmakers.

Leung and Yau of the radical Youngspiration party altered their oaths to insert a disparaging Japanese term for China.

Displaying a flag reading “Hong Kong is not China,” they vowed to defend the “Hong Kong nation.”

Leung crossed his fingers, while Yau used the F-word in her pledge.

Their oaths were ruled invalid but attempts at a do-over have resulted in mayhem in the legislature’s weekly sessions.

Saturday’s comments indicated the panel intended to use its interpretation of the article

Newly elected young Hong Kong lawmakers Yau Wai-ching (center, left) and Sixtus Leung (center, right) are surrounded by photographers outside the legislature council in Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s government on Friday said Beijing plans to intervene in the political standoff over the two separatist lawmakers, in a rare move that is stoking fears the Chinese-ruled city’s considerable autonomy and independent judiciary will be undermined. AP/Vincent Yu

to send a strong message against separatism—and could ultimately lead to the democratically elected lawmakers’ disqualification from office.

Such an outcome would be favorable to China’s Commu-

nist leaders, who are alarmed by the former British colony’s burgeoning independence movement, but is also likely to plunge their troubled relationship into fresh turmoil.

Maria Tam, a Hong Kong deputy

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to the National People’s Congress, told reporters in Beijing on Saturday that the legislative panel has the “final say” on the dispute and that Hong Kong’s highest court would accept the panel’s interpretation as binding. AP

Turkey Istanbul airport shooting; two detained

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Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega (right) and first lady Rosario Murillo wave to supporters on July 3 during an event commemorating the 36th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front withdrawal to Masaya in Managua, Nicaragua. AP/Esteban Felix

Since then, the most powerful opposition forces have moved to the sidelines of the nation’s politics, urging Nicaraguans to join their boycott of the election, which they call a “farce.”

Many Nicaraguans, including political analyst Carlos Tunnerman, believe that the five other presidential candidates are not true opponents, but were placed on the ballot to make it seem that Ortega has legitimate competition.

“The only thing they are looking to do is play along with Ortega, permitting him to get additional small bits of power in the National Assembly, Tunnerman said.

Candidate Maximino Rodriguez, of the Liberal Constitutional Party, rejected that idea. “I only collaborate with the Nicaraguan people,” he said.

Ortega, who helped topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza as a Sandinista guerrilla leader, ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. After losing power in a shock electoral defeat, he later returned to power

briefs

Australian woman abducted in Kabul KABUL, Afghanistan—Unknown gunmen kidnapped a female Australian employee of a non-governmental organization in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan Police said on Sunday.

Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the Kabul city police chief, said a Pakistaniborn Australian woman was abducted on Saturday night.

Rahimi added that she was with her driver while she was taken away by gunmen. It is not clear what happened to her Afghan driver.

“We have had lots of developments in the abduction case...but right now I can't share it with the media,” Rahimi said.

Another police official with the Kabul police chief’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said she is more than 40 years old and works for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief.

In Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement the embassy was making “urgent inquiries” into the issue.

The statement added, “We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, including the serious threat of kidnapping.” AP

Florence police use tear gas to quell antigovt protesters

Nicaragua’s Ortega appears headed for reelection–again ANAGUA, Nicaragua—Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appears to have a clear path to a third consecutive term, following recent moves that weakened the country’s opposition.

Polls show the former guerrilla fighter easily winning Sunday’s presidential election with more than 50 percent of the vote in a field that includes five other lesser-known candidates. He’s running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his vicepresidential candidate.

Nicaragua’s steady economic growth and low levels of violence compared to neighboring Honduras and El Salvador have won support for Ortega and his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front. Many Nicaraguans also cite the first lady’s social programs as a major reason for the governing party’s popularity.

But his critics say his allies have manipulated the Central American country’s political system to guarantee he stays in power by dominating its branches of government, allowing indefinite presidential reelection and delegitimizing the only opposition force seen as capable of challenging him. They accuse him of wanting to form a political dynasty together with his wife.

“I don’t think it’s worth voting and wasting time, because it’s already fixed,” said Glenda Bendana, an appliance sales executive in a Managua shopping mall. “Here they have taken away not our right to vote, but to choose. Ortega wants to die in power and leave his wife to take his place.”

In July Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council effectively decimated the opposition by ousting almost all its members from congress—28 active and alternate legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and its ally the Sandinista Renovation Movement—for not recognizing Pedro Reyes as their leader. Reyes was appointed as head of the opposition by the Supreme Court, but is seen by many as a tool of Ortega.

The ousted legislators had supported former opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre.

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through the ballot box, assuming the presidency in 2007.

Much of the criticism of Ortega dates back to 2010 when Nicaragua’s Supreme Court, dominated by Sandinista-friendly judges, declared unconstitutional an article that barred the nation’s president from running for a consecutive term. Ortega’s detractors say it was the first step in ensuring his long-term hold on the country.

His current campaign for another five-year presidential term has been low key, without the massive rallies of elections past. Voters will also elect a new legislature.

“They are the dullest and least brilliant campaigns that we have had in recent times,” political analyst Cairo Amador said.

Edwin Castro, leader of the ruling party’s caucus in the National Assembly, attributed the smaller gatherings to a change in style.

“There are styles of campaigning,” he said. “We’re trying to make it the most environmentally friend-

ly, doing events in towns, not big gatherings.”

If Ortega is reelected, he will face an increasingly difficult regional landscape.

Leftist ally Venezuela is overwhelmed by an economic crisis and Cuba is normalizing relations with the US. The US House of Representatives has moved to punish Nicaragua since the opposition was gutted, passing a bill to require the United States to oppose loans to Nicaragua from international lending institutions unless the country takes “effective steps to hold free, fair and transparent elections.” A companion bill was introduced in the US Senate.

“The lack of Venezuelan support, the international price of oil, the price of our exports and the possibility that [US legislation passes] makes it a more complicated outlook for the Ortega in the next term,” said Oscar Rene Vargas, a sociologist and economist from Central American University. AP

STANBUL—Two suspects on a motorcycle were detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport after they refused to stop and police shot in the air at them, the city’s governor said on Sunday.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin tweeted early Sunday morning that “there were no weapons or explosives on them.”

Vehicles were stopped from entering or leaving the airport during the pursuit of the suspects.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said traffic resumed after police detonated a bag on the suspects’ motorcycle in a controlled explosion. The bag did not contain explosives.

The suspects have prior robbery records, according to the agency.

Turkish Airlines tweeted that departures from Ataturk Airport, the third-busiest in Europe, continued on schedule.

Turkey has been in the throes of violence since July 2015 with multiple suicide bombings that the government blames on the Islamic State (IS) group. Those attacks have killed more than 250 people.

Turkey is also in the midst of a renewed conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state. Since the resumption of hostilities last year, more than 700 security forces and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to Anadolu.

In June suicide bombers suspected to have links to the Islamic State group killed at least 44 and wounded hundreds in Ataturk Airport.

IS has claimed responsibility for Friday’s car bomb in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, according to US-based SITE Intelligence Group.

But the Diyarbakir governor’s office says PKK militants were behind that attack, which killed 11 people. AP

ROME—Hooded youths from an antigovernment protest attacked Italian police in Florence with cobblestones, sticks and other objects on Saturday, prompting the police to respond with tear gas.

The police used shields to block the young men who were charging them in an attempt to reach a building where Premier Matteo Renzi was attending political talks in the Tuscan city renowned for its Renaissance heritage.

Florence Mayor Dario Nardella said several police were injured in the clashes, but did not give a specific number. Italian media said one officer was injured on the leg, apparently from a firecracker.

Those involved in the clashes were among a larger group of peaceful antigovernment protesters who aimed to show opposition to a constitutional referendum on December 4 that Renzi has called. The Italian leader says the changes constitute important reforms, but opponents fear they will lead to an excessive centralization of power in Italy.

The demonstration was held under the slogan “No to Renzi! No to the referendum!” AP

2 nabbed at march against corruption in Washington WASHINGTON—Police in Washington say two people face charges for offenses that happened during an anticorruption march in Washington.

The police said in a statement they saw graffiti on buildings and sidewalks in the area of Saturday’s Million Mask March, which organizers describe on their Facebook page as a march against government and corporate corruption.

The police photographs appear to show the word “corrupt” and images of English antihero Guy Fawkes spray painted at the FBI building on Pennsylvania Avenue. They also show graffiti at the Trump International Hotel.

The police said a police cruiser was also damaged.

The police added that they arrested 27-year-old Eric Roberts of Florida and charged him with defacing the FBI building and resisting arrest. The police said they also charged 35-yearold Danny Hamilton of Louisiana with destruction of District of Columbia government property—the police cruiser—and resisting arrest. AP

Egyptian pound slides further following floatation CAIRO—The Egyptian pound is trading in banks at around 16 to the dollar, down from the £13 peg the Central Bank set as a guiding exchange rate when it floated the currency last week.

Banks were selling the US currency at £16, while buying it at around £15.5 on Sunday, the first full business day in Egypt since the Central Bank floated the currency on Thursday. The pound was trading in banks at £8.8 prior to the floatation.

The floatation was followed just hours later with a hike in the price of fuel, measures that met key demands set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a $12-billion loan to overhaul Egypt's ailing economy.

The IMF’s executive board has yet to ratify the loan. AP

Science Monday

A12 Monday, November 7, 2016

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

70 percent of Filipinos favor vaping

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By Lyn Resurreccion

J Villaruz placed a tube to his mouth, and a few seconds later a cloud of “smoke” billowed. But the smoke had no tobacco stench. It smells of cinnamon.

No, Villaruz, 27, was not smoking a conventional cigarette. He was using electronic cigarette (e-cigarette).

And the cloud emitted was not smoke—it was vapor A former cigarette smoker, Villaruz turned to vaping in 2012 when he experienced chest pains, which has since gone. Also, his appetite for food has improved.

4 percent Filipinos use e-cigarettes

Villaruz could be among the 4 percent of Filipinos who use e-cigarettes regularly or occasionally as alternative to conventional cigarettes that factasia.org, a consumer advocacy group, has found in a survey it commissioned recently.

The survey also found out that seven out of 10 Filipinos (70 percent) are in favor of e-cigarettes as alternative to tobacco products.

The survey was conducted by Ipsos research agency for factasia.org from July 26 to August 9. Surveyed were 600 respondents aged 18 and above in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.

Heneage Mitchell, cofounder of factasia.org, said at a recent news conference announcing the survey results that 70 percent of the respondents would consider switching to e-cigarette “if they were legal, met quality and safety standards and were conveniently available.”

He said almost nine out of 10 of adult smokers (86 percent) agree they should have the right to access information about less harmful alternatives to cigarettes, and almost eight out of 10 (76 percent) agree the government should encourage them to switch to less harmful products by easing fiscal and regulatory policies.

However, the Philippine government recently announced that President Duterte is set to sign an order banning smoking in public places— indoor or outdoor—including public vehicles. The ban will include e-cigarettes, news reports said.

Safe alternative to cigarettes

The survey was conducted to ask the consumers on their views on safer alternatives to cigarettes, such as ecigarettes, that do not burn tobacco and do not produce the hazardous particulates, tar and smoke in conventional cigarettes. It was also done “in order to gain a better understanding of Asian consumers’ demand for less harmful alternative to tobacco.”

Michell said only 15 percent of the survey respondents have tried e-cigarettes. He said world publichealth and tobacco-control experts encourage the use of e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative for smokers who have difficulty to quit smoking or enjoy nicotine.

Global health experts, he added, describe e-cigarettes as “more than 95 percent safer than smoking” and “no more harmful than coffee.”

Mitchell said advocates of tobacco control have recognized that nicotine patches and gum are ineffective alternative to cigarette, making 64 percent of those who stopped smoking reverting to cigarettes.

He said in the United Kingdom ecigarettes are “encouraged” by Public Health England, which recently reported that e-cigarettes are the most popular aid to quitting smoking, which has reached an all-time high.

What is e-cigarette?

E-cigarette was invented in 2003 by Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik, according to Internet sources.

Since e-cigarettes were brought to

86%

The percentage of adult smokers who agree they should have the right to access information about less harmful alternatives to cigarettes

the market in 2004, their global use has risen exponentially. As of 2015 most e-cigarettes are made in China.

An e-cigarette is a handheld electronic device. It vaporizes a flavored liquid, popularly known in the Philippines as juice. The user inhales the vapor. The fluid in the e-cigarette is made of pharmacological-standard nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine and flavorings.

The components of e-cigarettes are e-liquids or e-juice, a glass or plastic vial container of e-liquid, cartridge, atomizer, battery, cartomizer and clearomizer, digital display or lights to adjust settings, tank systems, drip tips, flavorings and programable software.

E-cigarettes in the Philippines could be bought from stores in malls or in small shops.

Harmful effects of cigarettes

E-cigarettes became popular as people were searching for an alternative to cigarette that has become known to harm nearly every organ of the body and has caused many diseases.

Cigarette smoking causes lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and most cases of lung cancer.

Cigarette smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing compounds and 400 other toxins.

Besides nicotine—which makes smoking addictive—cigarette ingredients include toxic ingredients as tar, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane.

Smokers-turned-vapers

Former cigarette smokers affirmed that their health problems related to smoking disappeared when they turned to e-cigarette.

Tom Pinlac, president of TheVapers.ph, a group of previous smokers, said before he turned to e-cigarette, he had experienced shortness of breath and high blood pressure.

He started vaping two years ago and has since been having stable blood pressure.

He said in the same news briefing that members of his group are “looking for truth on the use of ecigarettes.” Despite limited information, he said at least they “have a choice.”

He agreed that vaping is a “good alternative” to cigarette smoking.

Besides providing the vaper’s need for nicotine, it mimics the smoking motion of putting something in the mouth.

Alan Marciano, 39, secretarygeneral of ProVape, a 13,000-strong consumer group, told the same news conference he started smoking cigarettes when he was 15. He turned to vaping four years ago when his wife got pregnant.

A Filipino uses an electronic cigarette outside a mall in Manila. AP/Aaron Favila

He resorted to nicotine patch and gum alternatives but he later turned to vaping, like Pinlac, in order to satisfy his “physical addiction...and psychological addiction associated with smoking, which is the motion of puffing and blowing smoke.”

He told the BusinessMirror: “While other alternatives may deliver the nicotine fix we need, only vaping can address our psychological needs.”

Marciano said vaping has “a lot of advantages” as he currently feels “energetic” and “lighter”.

He encourages smokers to read up on vaping. “Don’t make assumptions based on unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal or testimonial evidences. There have been several scientific studies done in recent years, which show that vaping is a lot safer than smoking, and I’m quite confident that there will be a lot more in the coming years. And if you do decide to switch, please be a responsible vaper. Don’t vape where you can’t smoke, and use the device only as intended.”

Joey Dulay, president of Philippine E-cigarette Industry Association Inc. (Pecia), started vaping in 2010 and has been of better health since.

Pecia, the largest association of ecigarette and e-juice manufacturers and importers in the Philippines, has some 80 member stores employing an about 250 people. It accounts for more than 50 percent of e-cigarettes sold domestically.

Pecia members “strictly adhere to the highest standards of quality in the manufacture and selection of products that we import for sale to the public. We also employ selfregulation,” by being against the marketing to and sale of e-cigarette products to and by minors, the group said in a position paper sent to the BusinessMirror.

Dulay said e-cigarette units could not be used for illegal drugs.

Economical

Besides being beneficial to health, e-cigarette is more economical because a P150 to P200 of 30 milliliter (ml) of juice bottle is good for three to four days, or around P50 a day, compared to P70 for each pack of cigarettes.

Pinlac said he used to smoke two to three packs of cigarettes a day that cost him P210 daily.

An e-cigarette unit costs from P1,000 to P8,000, depending on the brand, but it is economical in the long run.

He said the e-cigarette technology in the country is improving and its use depends on the capacity of the unit’s battery. Some units even

have computerized chips to enable the user to adjust the heat of the coil.

‘No’ side effects

Asked by reporters if e-cigarette has side effects, “No,” Marciano replied.

“Besides stomach acidity or constipation, I did not experience any side effect,” he said.

Pinlac said, “[Talk of vaping] side effect is a laughing matter in our group. You smell a lot better than when you were smoking cigarette,” which emits foul tobacco stench.

Pinlac, who had sore throat when he started vaping, said one would only have an “adjustment period” of around one month, before one could settle to the amount of nicotine and flavor one requires.

Citing the World Health Organization, Mitchell said it has acknowledged that e-cigarette has no longterm side effect.

“Yes, it is addictive [because of the nicotine content], but it is just similar to caffeine addiction,” he told reporters.

Mitchell further clarified that “nicotine is not the cause of cancer. Carcinogen is found in burning cigarette.”

“In vaping, there is no smoke, no tar, no carginogen, no carbon monoxide,” he said The level of nicotine of e-cigarette is 3 milligrams (mg) to 18 mg per bottle, Pinlac said.

Pinlac added that some vapers no longer crave for nicotine but would just want to have the motion of puffing and blowing vapor.

Regulation needed

Pinlac, Marciano, Dulay and Mitchell agreed that there is need for legislation and institutional support in the Philippines in order to regulate the technology and protect the users.

Pinlac said due to lack of government regulation and information on e-cigarette, vapers resort to inquiring among themselves online about the products available, their quality and safety, and the manufacturers.

“As consumers, we are trying to reach to each other to protect ourselves,” Pinlac said. “We need to inform and encourage the people to use e-cigarette, which has more benefits.”

Consumers have the right to know, Marciano said. “We need to let the people know [about e-cigarettes] and have it regulated so it would be more accessible [to consumers.]”

He added: “We need help.”

Marciano said his organization was formed primarily in order to self-regulate.

“Instead of waiting for government regulations, we took the initiative to police our ranks [vapers and

Various types of e-cigarettes WIkimedia Commons

retailers] and ensure that all local vapers are practicing safe vaping....

Starting as a community that simply shared our personal experiences with vaping, it gradually turned into a group that shared news and studies supporting our advocacy.

“Now we’re seeking to engage the government in reasonable discussions to outline regulations that both parties [vapers and government] are actually pushing for,” Marciano told the BusinessMirror.

Mitchell said owing to lack of regulation, some e-cigarette products in the market could be harmful to consumers. He cited Malaysia, which has thousands of e-cigarette flavors, but since they are unregulated, the consumers might be in danger. factasia.org, an independent, not-for-profit, consumer-oriented advocate, recommends full retail availability of appropriately regulated e-cigarettes for product quality and safety, and with age-sale restrictions.

“There is a clear need for action in the Philippines to regularize the industry and establish quality standards, tax the products rationally and ensure they are made available only to adults, like many other consumer items,” Mitchell said.

“The government [in the Philippines] has a great opportunity to ensure there is no repeat of the situation that has arisen with conventional tobacco products, where 10 percent to 15 percent of total consumption is illicit—smuggled or counterfeit products,” he said.

Proposed principles

Pecia proposes the following principles to guide the approach on ecigarettes in the country: 1. Tobacco-harm reduction is aligned with good public-health policy and it is dangerous to hamper the choice of switching to e-cigarettes.

2. E-cigarettes should only be sold or marketed to adult smokers. Their use by pregnant or lactating mothers

should be prohibited.

3. Any health claim should be evidence-based.

4. Any form of regulation that will make e-cigarettes less available to adult smokers than conventional cigarettes is counterproductive and should be avoided.

5. Only pharmaceutical grade nicotine should be used for e-cigarettes.

6. Regulations should ensure that only quality products are used for e-cigarettes, through the form of Certificates of Analysis provided by suppliers that the Food and Drug Administration approved.

7. Proper labeling for child-proof bottles of e-liquid that contain nicotine should also be implemented, that they should be used by smokers only, and that they should not be sold to minors.

“The potential for e-cigarettes to lower the incidence of smoking-related disease is huge. The knee-jerk impulse to suppress and dismiss them as regular cigarettes should be resisted. Regulations should, instead, be tailored to realize its full potential,” Pecia said in its position paper.

Vested interests against vaping

Some vested interests, Pinlac, Marciano, Dulay and Mitchell agreed, are against e-cigarette in order to protect the sales of other cigarette alternatives, which are not as effective.

They added that the other threats to vaping are misinformation and lack of information, which result in public fears and paranoia.

They said anti-e-cigarette campaign have adverse effect on reducing cigarette smoking.

Mitchell added: “E-cigarettes are here to stay and consumers deserve the protection of regulation and standards that they expect in other products and sectors. Our survey shows they are calling for positive government action.”

For now, vapers, like Villaruz, so far, have found their alternative to smoking.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

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

Monday, November 7, 2016 A13

World Wide Fund for Nature’s ‘Living Planet Report 2016’

Global animal population dropped by 58%

G

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

lobal population of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish continue to shrink, according to a biannual report released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The Living Planet Report 2016 said there was a 58-percent overall decline in vertebrate population sizes from 1970 to 2012. This means that population abundance of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish dropped by more than half in the last 40 years.

According to the WWF, the 21st century presents humanity with a dual challenge: to maintain nature and its services and to create an equitable home for people on a planet with limited resources.

It says protecting the environment alongside economic and social development requires a system change.

“We need to shift from shortterm decision-making toward adopting a long-term, comprehensive, intergenerational vision. A fundamental part of this is reforming our food and energy systems,” the WWF said.

The report is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.

By providing an overview of the state of the natural world, human impacts and potential solutions, it aims to support governments, communities, businesses and organizations to make informed decisions on using and protecting the planet’s resources.

Using the Living Planet Index (LPI), the WWF noted an average decline of 2 percent with no sign of slowing down.

“If this downward trend persists, species populations could

decline on average by 67 percent by 2020, within only half a century,” the report said.

The LPI tells how species are faring by measuring trends in 14,152 monitored populations of 3,706 vertebrate species.

It reports how wildlife populations have changed in size—as opposed to the specific number of animals that have been lost or gained.

The report attributed the decline in species population to habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species, disease and climate change.

Monitored are species population in terrestrial habitats, which include forests, savannahs, grasslands, deserts, cities and agriculture fields, covering a total of 4,658 populations of 1,678 species.

The report indicated a 38-percent decline in average population size, with an average annual decline of 1.1 percent.

Among the biggest threats are habitat loss and degradation, followed by overexploitation.

This is because of the fact that majority of earth ’s land area is now modified by humans.

In freshwater habitats, which include lakes, rivers and wetlands, a total of 3,324 populations of 881 freshwater species were monitored. During the same period, the reported noted an annual decline of 3.9 percent. Freshwater covers just 0.8 percent of the earth’s surface, but provides a habitat for

SOURCE: WWW Living Planet Report 2016

almost 10 percent of the world’s known species.

Like in terrestrial habitats, the biggest threats are habitat loss and degradation through direct and indirection intervention, and overexploitation.

In marine habitats, which include oceans and seas, coral reefs, mangroves and fishing grounds,

the WWF monitored 6,170 monitored populations of 1,353 marine species, including birds, mammals, reptiles and fish.

The report noted a 36-percent decline in average population size between 1970 and 2012, with an average annual decline of 1 percent. The biggest threats are overexploitation followed by habitat

degradation and climate change.

The majority of fish populations that contribute most to global fish catch are either fully fished or overfished.

According to the report, due to the warming of their Arctic breeding grounds, red knot birds are becoming smaller with shorter bills, making it increasingly difficult for them

to reach deeply buried molluscs.

Meanwhile, African elephants are severely threatened by overexploitation mainly by poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation.

New data shows their numbers have fallen by around 111,000 since 2006, to a total of about 415,000 today.

On the other hand, a third of sharks, rays and skates are estimated to be threatened with extinction primarily because of overfishing.

River dolphins, like Irrawaddy dolphins, are declining rapidly due to unintentional overexploitation, such as entanglement in gill nets.

The WWF report said human activities are affecting the largescale systems that maintain life on Earth. “Researchers suggest that we have already crossed four of the nine Planetary Boundaries—on climate change, biosphere integrity, land-use change and flows of phosphorus and nitrogen—taking us into dangerous, unknown territory.”

According to the report, the Ecological Footprint—which measures the use of goods and services generated by nature—indicates that we require the regenerative capacity of 1.6 Earths to support global consumption. “The increasing pressure on biodiversity, our significant Ecological Footprint and the violation of Planetary Boundaries impact both people and nature. And they are rooted in our current systems of production, consumption, finance and governance.”

According to WWF, food production is one of the primary causes of biodiversity loss through habitat degradation, overexploitation of species, particularly overfishing, pollution and soil loss.

“It is also a strong force pushing against most Planetary Boundaries. New models of both production and consumption is needed to form a sustainable, resilient food system that can absorb and recover quickly from shocks, while continuously providing food to many more people.”

Metal-eating plants can help Peak renewable-energy investment seen holding back climate fight restore damaged mining sites

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CI T Y—Env ironmentalists are agog with the disclosure about the presence of metal-eating plants endemic in the country, as a scientist revealed they could be harnessed to restore forests and watersheds damaged by mining operations.

The environmentalist organization, Interface Development Interventions (Idis), announced the disclosure, of scientist Dr. Edwino Fernando, that there 20 plant species in the country with known metal-eating characteristics.

The Idis said Fernando and his research team discovered in 2011 the Rinorea niccolifera, a nickeleating shrub, in Zambales. The group said the recently discovered species was among the 20 species of metallophytes.

“These species are called metallophytes. They can tolerate high levels of heavy metals, such as lead.

Some of these will even require the presence of heavy metals in the soil in order to survive,” Fernando told the recent rainforestation capacity training organized by the Rain Forestation Restoration Initiative (RFRI) network at the Ateneo de Davao University Idis said the finding was significant “because the plant was able to accumulate and tolerate metal content at levels 100 times greater than the average ordinary plant growing

in the same environment.”

In the Ateneo training, Fernando said “the use of this species can be an alternative strategy to rehabilitate watersheds, which have been damaged by mining.”

“Given that there are so many mining companies right now, metallophyte plants can be used to restore forests in mining areas,” he said.

IDIS executive director Ann Fuertes said the properties of native metallophyte plants “are ver y va luable because it can increase the impact of current soil-remediation techniques.”

“This is very important, especially in watersheds with largescale and small-scale mining activities. This will shorten the rehabilitation period, enabling the renewal of the ecosystem more quickly. And because this approach is natural and environment-friendly, it would mean lesser costs for rehabilitation efforts,” she said.

“Now that the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] has been closing critical areas due to the damage caused by mining operations, this can be mainstreamed as a major approach toward renewing our forest resources in the watersheds,” Fuertes said.

The RFRI network will convene a conference next year “to discuss the potential of this species for propagation in the government’s forest rehabilitation programs.”

R

e n ewa b le - e n er g y investment probably has reached a peak of $349 billion that won’t be surpassed for at least five years, signaling a lull in the global fight against climate change.

That’s the outlook from Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) who predicted that funding for wind, solar and other clean-energy projects would probably fall at least 15 percent this year.

At a conference in Shanghai on Tuesday, he outlined how the industry’s capacity to generate power will keep growing, even with lower investment.

The findings are a blow to the international effort to rein in carbon-dioxide emissions blamed for damaging the climate.

With envoys from more than 190 nations gathering in Morocco next week to take forward a deal they pinned down in Paris last year on reining in fossil-fuel emissions, research from BNEF shows the world is far from reaching its goal of keeping temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius this century.

“Clean-energy investment will be down 15 percent to 20 percent this year,” Liebreich said in an interview in Shanghai. “As things stand, it will not bounce back to a new record in the next five years,” because of sluggish economic growth, moves by policy-makers to reduce costs and the falling price of wind and solar equipment.

Following are parts of Liebreich’s discussion to illustrate BNEF’s findings:

Clean energy output is growing, while investment stagnates

Developers are able to deliver the same amount of generation capacity as before with less investment. That’s because the costs of building wind and solar farms are falling, along with the expense required to finance

Reverse auctions, where bids are sought for developing a certain amount of capacity, force developers to bid prices for their projects.

“Policy matters in energy,” Liebreich said. “This is seen again and again around the world.”

Current investment is short of world’s climate goal

Wind turbine amid smoke emission Bloomberg News

$349B The estimated peak investment of renewable energy

them. Liebreich said trend would continue through 2020.

Bigger turbines, cheaper machines, higher towers and data allowing operators to run wind farms more efficiently mean more power flows from each farm. In solar, photovoltaic cells are becoming more efficient and grid managers smarter

about how to integrate those flows into the network.

“This isn’t going to stop,” he said at a conference organized by BNEF, noting that most people think wind farms operate at 15 percent of their capacity. “The truth is that new wind turbines onshore work 30 percent of the time or more of the time, and that drives down the cost of wind power,” he said.

Smarter subsidy structures have slashed costs

A shift in the way regulators deliver support for renewables has forced companies to slash costs. Countries can achieve a 30-percent saving in the first year, after switching away from awarding fixed prices for power in the form of feed-in tariffs.

E v e n with more megawatts flowing from each wind and solar farm, the pace of investment in renewables is short of where the world needs to be to rein in carbon emissions.

The current pace of development will impact on the mix of fuels used to generate electricity from now to 2040.

He said the carbon emissions expected are based on that fuel mix, with both BNEF forecasts and the pledges delivered to the United Nations dramatically overshooting the “2-degree trajectory” goal outlined by the International Energy Agency.

Liebreich said renewables are growing too slowly and coal use too quickly to remain consistent with the goals on climate agreed through the UN talks.

Asia’s coal consumption is rising

“If Asia keeps building coal-fired power stations, then there is no way of sticking within a carbon budget consistent with 2 degrees,” Liebreich said.

World leaders will be meeting in Marrakesh from November 7 to 20 for the Conference of Parties 22 meeting to implement details of their climate deal and discuss concrete steps forward. To date, 87 countries have ratified the Paris agreement, including China, the US and the European Union. It entered into force on November 4. Bloomberg News

A14 Monday, November 7, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial Is responsible journalism dying?

W

e like to think that, back in the “good old days”, the press and then the media were unbiased and objective. Newspapers were supposed to disseminate the “news”, information and facts surrounding an event. The reading public wanted to know what was going on in the world and expected the truth.

However, an “unbiased and factual” press is mostly a myth.

The term “yellow journalism” cannot be accurately attributed to any one person but came as a result of newspapers competing for sales in the mid-1890s more than 100 years ago. Bold headlines and graphics—often printed with yellow ink—were used to attract attention.

Sensational stories of murder and scandal, with a heavy reliance on unnamed sources and blind items, were printed to increase readership. Critics blasted sensationalizing of the news in order to drive up circulation. But the public loved the competition between papers, to see which could push the envelope of outrageous stories the farthest.

Frank Luther Mott, an American historian and journalist who won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize, defined yellow journalism this way.

There are three important characteristics: scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news; use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience; and “a parade of false learning from socalled experts”.

It appears not much has changed since the 19th century. The platforms may have changed in the digital age but the techniques are the same. The New York Times reported its print advertising dropped 19 percent. In the last quarter, Gannett Co., the largest US newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation, reported a 35-percent decrease in print advertising.

While web-site advertising is increasing, it is not enough in terms of revenue and profitability to offset the decrease in print ads. But many “news” web sites depend solely on viewers clicking their ads for revenue. Consequently, in the digital age, yellow journalism has been updated to “clickbait journalism”. The techniques to get readership are exactly as 100 years ago. And the public still loves it.

Have you ever thrown something away by mistake? Digging through the contents of the basurahan to find it, you will find mundane things, like candy wrappers. But you may come across something disgusting in your quest for your lost treasure. That is the Internet today.

Legitimate information shares the same space as fake-news web sites. Google search the most shocking and scandalous statement you can think of about a politician or public person you dislike or disagree with, and you will most likely find a “news” web site that claims that statement as a fact.

The public fueled the yellow journalism perpetrated by the circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. The public is just as complicit today. When a legitimate complaint is made against a news organization for bias and false or incomplete reporting, the complainant becomes the focus of the discussion and is attacked.

It is ultimately the reader’s responsibility to keep the news as “clean” as possible. While most news organizations are professional, many are not. If responsible journalism passes away, it will be the public that suffers.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Neda report: Number of poor Filipinos down by 1.4M

T

Another positive finding from the economic report is the fact that the decrease in poverty incidence from 2012-2015 was not only concentrated in NCR or nearby provinces, it was apparent in all regions across the country. The biggest drop in poverty incidence was seen in Region 11 and Region 12. And for the first time, the poverty incidence in Calabarzon is now at 9.1 percent.

The report was released on October 27 and was delivered by Director Reynaldo R. Cancio. It also stated that the subsistence incidence, or the measure for extreme poverty, was cut to more than half in 2015. And so it seems that the government’s projects, like the Conditional CashTransfer Program, have been making a difference in the lives of the poorest of the poor.

From 2012-2015, the per-capita income from households belonging to the bottom of the rank grew by 24.2 percent. This growth, the Neda says, is even bigger than the growth

education, or provide for their families. The Neda’s report confirms that incomes have improved, particularly for the breadwinners belonging in the low-income groups.

Another positive finding from the economic report is the fact that the decrease in poverty incidence from 2012-2015 was not only concentrated in National Capital Region or nearby provinces, it was apparent in all regions across the country. The biggest drop in poverty incidence was seen in Region 11 and Region 12. And for the first time, the poverty incidence in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon is now at 9.1 percent.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

he report is in from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) about the country’s poverty statistics for 2015. I started to give a summary in my last column, citing the report’s main point: Poverty incidence is down to 21.6 percent in 2015. It was 25.2 percent in 2012 and 26.3 percent in 2009. in income of households belonging to the top 20 percent income group.

Furthermore, inflation for the lower income group was only 11.7 percent in 2012-2015, compared to 12 percent from 2009-2012. This, despite the price increases in rice and other food items.

Generally, there are more jobs for the Filipino people. Even those who have not received their degrees yet can start working in call centers by virtue of their skills and special capabilities. Many young people work this way to send themselves through school, support their siblings’

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Conclusion

W

ithin the next few months, the accountancy scene in the Philippines will present several major initiatives and directions.

Coming soon is the long-overdue implementation of the Quality Assurance Review (QAR), or the “audit the auditors” program of the Board of Accountancy (BOA). To recall, the BOA issued Resolutions 23 and 88 in 2009 providing for the guidelines for the adoption of the QAR. However, a group of small practitioners filed an injunction case in December 2010 in Regional Trial Court (RTC) 128 in Caloocan to stop the implementation of the QAR. The RTC subsequently issued an injunction order holding the implementation of the QAR resolutions and ordered the parties to settle the matter in a judicial dispute resolution (JDR) process. Pursuant to this instruction of the RTC for a JDR, the contending parties agreed to settle the case after a meeting between the petitioners and the BOA

Chairman on July 4, 2010, in Waterfront Hotel in Cebu. In said meeting, the contending parties agreed on certain parameters to settle the case and signed correspondingly the Cebu accord on June 24, 2016, the RTC issued an order dismissing the injunction case and paved the way for the full implementation of the QAR. The Office of the Solicitor General also wrote a letter dated September 6, 2016, to the BOA confirming that the QAR can already be implemented.

The BOA will now lead the preparation for the implementation of the QAR Program.

Several requirements for the operationalization of the QAR are being addressed, including the forming of the QAR organization, hiring of officers, QAR reviewers or inspectors and staff of the organization, the

training of the QAR reviewers, setting up of the policies for QAR and communicating to the affected sectors on what they should expect from QAR. The World Bank and other developmental organizations are providing assistance on these. The Philippine Institute of CPAs (Picpa) has also created a QAR Committee, which has developed a Voluntary QAR Program for its members. With all these activities ongoing, the full implementation of QAR Program will be in place in a matter of time. For the meantime, those CPAs in public practice can continue upgrading the quality and standards of their systems and procedures. They can also actively participate and comply with the various related measures, such as the Picpa Voluntary QAR Program, the BOA Engagement Reporting requirement, the office verification and related accreditation requirements.

There is also a recent pronouncement on responding to noncompliance with laws and regulations that was released by the International Ethics Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants in July. The standard sets out a first-of-its-kind framework to guide professional accountants in what actions to take in the public interest when they become aware of a potential illegal act committed by a client or employer. This standard

Aside from increased job opportunities, another factor that helped ease people’s economic challenges was the increase in budget for the government’s social development programs. For example, the Pantawid Pamilya ng Pilipino Program enjoyed a 194.1-percent increase in budget, which resulted in a 91.3-percent growth in terms of coverage. This means that for three years, 4.4 million household beneficiaries received financial support that was able to see them through many economic challenges. For some, it may even have supported them as they diversified their sources of livelihood.

The highest poverty incidence was seen in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Eastern Visayas areas. Based on historical data, we know that these provinces suffer more in terms of calamities and armed conflict. The current government definitely needs to focus on peace-building efforts and the implementation of development programs to help the local economies.

Moreover, a system needs to be put in place to improve the relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts in times of disasters and tragedies.

will take effect on July 15, 2017, or earlier, if the accountancy regulator or standard setter decides for an earlier effectivity. The BOA referred to Picpa the proposed standard for evaluation and comment preparatory to the issuance of the appropriate resolution by the BOA. The copy of the standard may be accessed at www.ethicsboard.org.

Essentially, the standard provides that it is incumbent on the professional accountant after knowing the noncompliance or the suspected noncompliance with laws and regulations, to uphold the fundamental principles of integrity and professional behavior by informing management or the government regulator and to take such subsequent action as may be deemed appropriate in the public interest.

With these developments, the accountancy sector in our country is very much alive and kicking.

Chairman Joel L. Tan-Torres is the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy.

He is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He is concurrently a tax partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co., CPAs. He was the former commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue between 2009 and 2010.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

IC clarifies issues raised by PPP add-ons Steel Corp. of the PHL official MAIL

Please e-mail your letters to the editor to oped@businessmirror. com.ph. Letters chosen for publication in this section are edited for brevity and clarity.

Continued from Friday AS of date, SCP filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the August 19 decision.

Fourth, the second administrative case docketed as IC ADM. Case 515 filed by SCP against Philippine Charter Insurance Corp., Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp., Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., Asia Insurance Phils. Corp. and New India Assurance Co. Ltd., on May 12, 2015. The case is now in its pretrial stage after the resolution by this commission of the numerous motions initiated by SCP that involves questions on technicalities. After the resolution of these motions, the case proceeded with the pretrial conference on October 13.

As of date, SCP filed a motion for reconsideration of this commission’s resolution regarding the pending incidents. In the said motion for reconsideration, it was SCP itself that requested the suspension of the proceedings before this commission until such time that the Court of Appeals (CA) resolves the petition for mandamus.

This commission finds the actuation of SCP ironic considering that the purpose of the petition for mandamus filed before the CA on July 28 is to compel this commission to resolve the pending administrative cases. In a complete turnabout, SCP thereafter, through its motion for reconsideration dated September 21, moved that this commission suspend the resolution of the administrative cases until such time that the CA decides on the petition for mandamus.

Fifth, in the subject letter, Mr. Uy alleged that he sought the assistance of this commission regarding the identities of the reinsurers of the insurance companies involved in the second administrative case and claimed that this commission has not acted to such request.

Based on the records of this commission, a letter dated July 26 from SCP, through its comptroller, Mr. Alfredo C. de la Cruz, was received by this commission on July 28 requesting for assistance in ascertaining the reinsurance details of the Industrial All Risk Insurance Policy secured by SCP. Contrary to SCP’s allegation that this commission did not produce a report nor did this commission act on its request, this commission accommodated SCP’s request, through our Reinsurance Division (RID), who informed SCP that there is no record found of any report or submission made by the insurance companies concerned regarding their reinsurance

placements. The RID informed SCP that there is no record either, because there is no reinsurance treaty or that the reinsurance was ceded to domestic insurance companies.

In fact, in its letter dated August 15, which was received by this commission on August 17, SCP acknowledged the prompt action made by this commission and we quote, “We appreciate the prompt action of the Reinsurance Division in our request dated July 26, 2016, to secure the reinsurance details of the Industrial All Risk Policy secured by Steel Corp. of the Philippines in 2009 with a total sum insured of $227,827,900.”

To further accommodate SCP’s request, the RID forwarded SCP’s letters dated July 26 and August 15 to our Public Assistance and Mediation Division (PAMD) in order to call all parties concerned to a conference. In a letter dated August 31, the PAMD required the insurance companies concerned to comment on SCP’s request.

Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp. filed its comment to SCP’s request on September 19, wherein it stated that there is no record or information with this commission regarding the details of its reinsurance placement because it used its automatic reinsurance treaties and local facultative reinsurance support.

Since Mapfre used local facultative reinsurance support, it was not required to report nor seek prior approval of the commission. Unfortunately, Mapfre and the other insurance companies concerned manifested their unwillingness to undergo mediation or to join any conference since there were already pending complaints filed by SCP and this fact was relayed by the PAMD to SCP in a letter dated October 20.

This commission wishes to clarify that 1C Circular Letter 2014-42 cited

by Mr. Uy in the subject letter does not require insurance companies to seek prior approval and reporting if the reinsurance treaties or agreements does not involve remittances of foreign exchange with any unauthorized foreign company.

Sixth, taking the letter of SCP in its totality, it appears that SCP is trying to insinuate that the undersigned is favoring the insurance companies on the ground that I was previously connected with the insurance industry.

The allegation that the undersigned might be biased in favor of insurance companies is utterly unfounded, unjustified and unreasonable.

The undersigned was first appointed as insurance commissioner in January 2011. Since then, I was never accused of or held accountable for favoring any particular insurance company. In fact, when Republic Act 10607, otherwise known as the Amended Insurance Code, provided a new term of office for the insurance commissioner, I tendered my resignation only to be reappointed anew.

It is important to note that the insurance companies involved in these cases are nonlife-insurance companies, which the undersigned was never associated with prior to my appointment as insurance commissioner. During my previous involvement in the insurance industry, I was then employed by one life insurance company only.

To be continued on Tuesday

By Alberto Agra

PPP Lead Continued from A1

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here is room for improvement and dynamism. This is the rationale behind add-on schemes. An old and poorly maintained or even existing and kempt government or PPP projects can still benefit from enhancements. There could have been supervening events that were not contemplated at the beginning.

Occurrence of risks is another reason. Government may, likewise, be impelled to do more.

The add-ons can take different forms.

(1) Rehabilitating existing facilities. Under the BOT law and concession laws, like the National Water Crisis Act and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, rehabilitation and improvement of existing facilities may be introduced.

High incidence of nonrevenue water or transmission losses, in the case of the water and transmission

concessions, respectively, poor management and dilapidated systems may have prompted the add-ons.

In these cases, the add-ons were the rehabilitation of existing facilities, introduction of the PPP arrangement and entry of the private-sector proponent (PSP). Since there are new contracts, the selection of the PSP should go through a competitive process prescribed under the relevant law.

Monday, November 7, 2016 A15

(2) Adding parties, local and foreign. During the recent trip of President Duterte to Beijing, several government-to-government and private-to-private initiatory deals were hatched. China state-owned corporations are being eyed to become cofunders, corisk takers, coproponents and/or engineering, procurement and construction contractors of reclamation, land development and transport projects. Some of these projects are already the subjects of existing PPP arrangements.

By adding parties, project viability is enhanced. Good bilateral relations between neighbors are, likewise, fostered. Adding parties, when contemplated under existing or awarded contracts, no longer needs another round of competition.

(3) Incrementing PPPs with another PPP. A sealed PPP arrangement can be the platform of future PPPs and government projects. For example, vertical development, like warehouses, hospitals, power and water utilities, can be added on to pure horizontal development reclamation PPPs. On the government share, government centers, roads and parks may be

ROHQ vs RHQ: When one letter creates a substantial distinction Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

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n my July 31 column, I discussed whether the services rendered by a Regional Operating Headquarters (ROHQ) to its parent company may be subjected to value-added tax (VAT).

While it may be a little late in the day to discuss the basic concepts behind this specie called ROHQ, I would still like to take this opportunity to discuss the benefits and limitations of an ROHQ and differentiate it with a similarly sounding entity, the Regional or Area Headquarters (RHQ).

Republic Act 8756, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the Terms, Conditions and Licensing Requirements of Regional or Area Headquarters, Regional Operating Headquarters and Regional Warehouses of Multinational Companies, Amending for the Purpose Certain Provision of Executive Order 226, Otherwise Known as the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987’, which was enacted on November 23, 1999, defined an ROHQ as a foreign business entity, which is allowed to derive income in the Philippines by performing qualifying services to its affiliates, subsidiaries or branches in the Philippines, in the Asia-Pacific region and in other foreign markets. It is quite different from an RHQ, which is an office, whose purpose is to act as an administrative branch of a multinational company

engaged in international trade, which principally serves as a supervision, communications and coordination center for its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates in the AsiaPacific region and other foreign markets and which does not earn or derive income in the Philippines.

An ROHQ may engage in any of the following qualifying services: (a) general administration and planning; (b) business planning and coordination; (c) sourcing/ procurement of raw materials and components; (d) corporate finance advisory services; (e) marketing control and sales promotion; (f) training and personnel management; (g) logistics services; (h) research and development services and product development; (i) technical support and maintenance; (j) data processing and communication; and (k) business development. ROHQs are prohibited from offering qualifying services to entities other than their affiliates, branches or subsidiaries, as declared in their registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission nor shall they be allowed to directly and indirectly solicit or market goods and services whether

on behalf of their mother company, branches, affiliates, subsidiaries or any other company.

Meanwhile, the activities of the RHQ shall be limited to acting as a supervisory, communications and coordinating center for its subsidiaries, affiliates and branches in the region. It shall not derive any income from sources within the Philippines and shall not participate in any manner in the management of any subsidiary or branch office it might have in the Philippines nor shall it solicit or market goods and services whether on behalf of its mother company or its branches, affiliates, subsidiaries or any other company.

Due to the substantial distinction between an ROHQ and an RHQ, there are also differences in the incentives granted to them.

RHQs shall not be subject to income tax, while ROHQs shall be subject to a tax rate of 10 percent of their taxable income as provided for under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as amended by Republic Act 8424, provided that any income derived from Philippine sources by the ROHQ when remitted to the parent company shall be subject to the tax on branch profit remittance as provided for in Section 28(a)(5) of the NIRC. RHQs shall, likewise, be exempted from VAT and the sale or lease of goods and property and the rendition of services to RHQs shall be subject to zero-percent VAT rate. ROHQs, on the other hand, shall be subject to the 10-percent VAT. Mea nwhi le, t he fol low ing

Archdiocese of Manila to close the Jubilee Year of Mercy Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

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he Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by His Holiness Pope Francis on December 8, 2015, will be concluded on November 20, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ with the closing of the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

In the Archdiocese of Manila, the Jubilee Doors of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Makati City (at 4:30 p.m.), the Archdiocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy in Mandaluyong City, Santuario de Santo Cristo in San

Juan City and Our Lady of Sorrows in Pasay City (at 6 p.m.) will be solemnly closed with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on November 12.

The Archdiocese also announced that the closing of the Jubilee Doors

funded and built by government and/or by the PSP. Similarly, septage and sewerage projects can be added on to water supply and distribution projects, while malls and transport terminals can be added on to market-redevelopment projects. If the additional segments of the projects were not envisioned to be part of awarded contracts, then the subsequent PPPs must be vetted through procedures mandated by law or regulations.

(4) Supplementing agreements. Another type of add-on is the contractual add-on. This may take place even if no additional project components are brought in.

When tariff adjustments are made, when variations are allowed, when terms of a PPP contract are amended, provided no additional burden is assumed by the government and no additional benefit is extended to the PSP, then supplementary agreements are made. Without these, the original terms remain unaltered and continue to be enforceable. If contemplated under the terms of the competitive procedures, no new bidding or challenge is mandated.

Adding on is good. More is good.

will also mark the conclusion of pilgrimages. Pilgrim’s passport will no longer be issued after November 12. Those who have completed their pilgrimage, but have not yet gotten their certificates, may go to any of the Jubilee Churches and present their pilgrim’s passport with complete stamps until November 30. After the said date, the Jubilee Churches will no longer issue certificates.

Meanwhile, parish churches, communities and institutions that opened a Door of Charity should choose a day before November 12 for their closing.

The Archdiocesan closing of the Jubilee Year of Mercy will be on November 13 at 6 p.m., with the Eucharistic Celebration and the Rite of the Closing of the Jubilee Door of the Manila Cathedral.

The Archdiocese also announced that the closing of the Jubilee Doors will also mark the conclusion of pilgrimages. Pilgrim’s passport will no longer be issued after November 12. Those who have completed their pilgrimage, but have not yet gotten their certificates, may go to any of the Jubilee Churches and present their pilgrim’s passport with complete stamps until November 30. After the said date, the Jubilee Churches will no longer issue certificates.

In the Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis said we should be thankful for the gift of Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy granted to us.

“As we seal the Holy Door, we shall be filled, above all, with a sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for having granted us an extraordinary time of grace,” Francis said.

Before the closing of the pilgrimage season, Radio Veritas will be conducting its last Veritas Jubilee of Mercy Pilgrimage on November 6, on the Jubilee Churches in the Archdiocese of Manila, namely, Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Intramuros, Manila; Santuario de Santo Cristo, San Juan City; Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Mandaluyong City; Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Pasay City; and National Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Makati City.

In this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, His Holiness Francis

incentives are granted to the foreign personnel of both ROHQ and RHQ: (1) multiple entry visa for their foreign personnel, their respective spouses and unmarried children under 21 years of age, if accompanying them or if following to join them after their admission into the Philippines as non-immigrant; (2) exemption from the payment of all fees due under the immigration and alien registration laws, securing alien certificates of registration and obtaining emigration clearance certificates and all types of clearances required by any government department or agency; (3) withholding tax of 15 percent on compensation income; (4) tax and duty-free importation of personal and household effects of their respective alien executives; and (5) travel tax exemption. Moreover, both RHQs and ROHQs shall be exempt from all kinds of local taxes, fees or charges imposed by a local government unit except real-property tax on land improvements and equipment. Furthermore, both RHQs and ROHQs shall enjoy tax and duty-free importation of equipment and materials for training and conferences, which are needed and used solely for their functions as RHQs or ROHQs and which are not locally available subject to the prior approval of the Board of Investments.

I hope I was able to make it clear how the “O” made a difference between the two entities. ’Till my next column.

For comments, you may e-mail me at lpkapunan@kapunanlaw.com.

encourages us to go on a pilgrimage to designated Jubilee Churches, as it represents the journey each of us makes in this life. Also, the faithful can gain plenary indulgence by fulfilling these conditions: pass through the doors of mercy of the pilgrimage Church; make a profession of faith in the Church; sacramentally confessed the sins; receive the Holy Eucharist; and pray for the pope’s intentions and the pope himself.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 09054285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A16 Monday, November 7, 2016

P.R.O.C.groupto aid release of loan from Du30’s visit

By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29

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ANK of China (BOC) officials will be arriving in the Philippines this month to facilitate the release of the $3-billion facility secured during President Duterte’s recent trip to the People’s Republic of China (PROC), as well as to prepare for a wide-scale small and medium enterprise (SME) conference in 2017.

Dr. Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), announced the arrival of an advance delegation from one of PROC’s largest state-owned banks, the BOC, to The amount secured discuss how to authorize the during Duterte’s PROC visit $3-billion financing facility.

“From November 21 to 24, there will be officials from the BOC arriving to discuss the terms of the financing, such as which projects can qualify for the credit facility and what conduits can be used to release them,” Chua told reporters.

“It will be a brainstorming session,” he said.

To recall, Duterte embarked on a state visit to China two weeks ago with a 500-member private-sector delegation in tow.

The Philippines was able to secure a total of $24 billion in credit line and investment pledges over the four-day visit, among these, a $3-billion commitment from the BOC for financing.

Aside from threshing out the terms for the $3-billion credit line, the arriving delegation will also scope potential, local partners for an SME conference to be held next year and hosted by the BOC. “BOC President Deng Jun signed an agreement with the Department of Trade and Industry, the PCCI and the International Chamber of Commerce-Philippines for an SME project during the visit. We’ll sit down with them and prepare for the SME conference,” Chua added.

$24B

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Govt moves to assure US firms, other investors

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he Duterte administration will continue to make the Philippines an attractive place for investments by encouraging a competitive environment to level the playing field for business, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said over the weekend.

Dominguez made this assurance to members of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AmCham) during a meeting last Saturday. He added that the Duterte administration will make certain that the business environment is such that it encourages people to stay on.

“As far as business is concerned, President Duterte wants to have more competition and more innovation,” he said in a statement.

The finance chief added that the Duterte administration is pursuing a policy of “economic diversification,” which will open more markets for Philippine products overseas, encourage more investments in the country and create better-paying jobs for Filipinos.

DOMINGUEZ: “As far as business is concerned, President Duterte wants to have more competition and more innovation.”

During the meeting, Dominguez said AmCham representatives expressed their support for the government’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda. Speaking on behalf of AmCham Philippines, Executive Director Ebb Hinchliffe said the organization is “100-percent behind” the government’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda and wants the Duterte administration to be

successful in implementing its development programs.

“From AmCham’s standpoint, we want this administration to be successful. Can you imagine what a wonderful place this would be if we could get rid of crime, corruption and drugs? It will be an even better investment environment,” Hinchliffe said.

Dominguez thanked AmCham for supporting the government’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, and asked the chamber to help craft an action plan that would implement the reform plan’s goal on job creation recognizing AmCham’s role in generating hundreds of thousands of jobs in various industries in the country.

A mCham members, led by Hinchliffe, mentioned Duterte’s statements on Philippine-US relations, but informed Dominguez of their hopes for continued investment in the country.

We encourage competition and we encourage obedience to the law,” Dominguez said in response.

A day before Dominguez’s meeting with AmCham executives, US Secretary of State John F. Kerry said in Washington, D.C., the historic alliance between the US and the Philippines remains “ironclad”, despite recent differences.

“The US continues to place high value on the close ties that exist between our countries. We continue to recognize our ironclad commitment to the sovereignty, independence and security of the Philippines,” Kerry said during a swearing-in ceremony for the new US Ambassador to Manila Sung Kim. The AmCham members present during the meeting with the finance chief included representatives from the fields of manufacturing, construction, electronics, mining, business-process outsourcing, information technology, power, food processing and agriculture.

Among them were key officials from Capital One, Cargill Philippines, Freeport McMoran, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co., Optel, and AES Corp. Elizabeth Magsaysay of the US-Asean Business Council was also present at the meeting.

Before his meeting with AmCham representatives, Dominguez said he had spoken informally with a US state department official, who encouraged the Philippines to have good relationships with its neighbors, including China and Japan.

“You know, we are in discussions with everybody. I think the new policy of the President is to open doors to all,” he added. Rea Cu