Businessmirror october 09, 2016

‘annie,’ the musical Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) latest theater offering Annie is all set to captivate Filipino audiences anew with the stellar performances of young stars Krystal Brimner and Isabeli Araneta Elizalde. Complemented by a cast that includes such seasoned actors as Michael de Mesa, Menchu LauchengcoYulo, Jill Peña, Red Concepcion, Mako Alonso, Justine Peña and James Paolelli, Annie is well on its way to being another family musical milestone for RWM that champions Filipino talent.

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DOTr mainly successful in programs for 100 days

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AVE for a few hiccups, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) was generally successful in implementing its first 100 days program, a target that was seen by many as ambitious, but proved to be doable.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the transportation sector —broken down to rails, seaports, airports and road—saw improvements in 100 days, after implementing measures to ease congestion on all fronts.

Some of these, he said, were done in a matter of weeks, no matter that problems were persisting for the past few years.

He admitted, however, while the agency made good with its promises, some of the items on his checklist were left unmarked.

“There were problems we initially identified as difficult, but in the course of addressing them, we found out they were, indeed, extremely difficult,” Tugade said. “We have promised some things in the past that we were not able to do, but it does not mean that we didn’t do anything.”

Tugade’s recipe in addressing issues is simple: To solve problems the easiest, fastest and most beneficial way possible.

One example of such is his agency’s thrust in solving the bullet-planting incident at the Ninoy See “DOTr,” A2

A broader look at today’s business n

Sunday, October 9, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 365

ADB: Brace for slower economic growth

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

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HE country should brace itself for slower economic growth next year, a regional development bank warned, as shipping volumes are seen to be dampened by the slowdown in global trade and weak demand for Philippine exports.

As early as now, the country is threatened by weaker-than-expected demand from major markets for Philippine exports. Hence, economic growth is seen to dip slightly to 6.2 percent, although still above the previous forecast of 6.1 percent, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in an outlook update.

Sadly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) also reduced its global-trade forecast, warning that anti-globalization rhetoric and Brexit were pushing trade growth to its slowest pace since Britain’s financial crisis.

Global trade is now estimated to expand by a mere 1.7 percent, 1.1 percentage points below its original forecast of 2.8 percent—also a far

@Pulitika2010 Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HE Miss Universe beauty pageant is definitely still on, an official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said, amid new rumors the hosting in Manila has been canceled.

‘Hot’money fleeing PHL

Business enterprises urged to tap social networking sites

Continued on A2

F

LOSING THE PINE TREES Forest cover in Baguio City is almost gone, with the unabated building of houses and other permanent structures on the city’s mountains.

MAU VICTA

Miss Universe pageant in PHL still on–DOT exec

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

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2015 environmental Media Award leadership award 2008

Another event that is sure to push through, the DOT said, is the Madrid Fusión Manila in 2017, after the agency and the event’s Spanish organizer and franchise holder recently inked an agreement to hold it for the third year.

In a text message to the BusinessM irror, Tourism Undersecretary for Administration and Special Concerns

PESO exchange rates n US 48.2370

Katherine de Castro said: “I am always in touch with the people from the Miss Universe Organization [MUO] and IMG. There have been no cancellation talks.”

IMG is a global sports and entertainment events-management company.

She said there would be “worldwide announcement” for the event in the next few days, about more details

regarding the beauty pageant, which is scheduled to take place in Manila on January 30, 2017.

Published reports (not in the BusinessM irror) on Friday alleged the William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Llc. (WME), a talent management and entertainment agency and parent firm See “Miss Universe,” A2

OREIGN portfolio investments (FPI)—or shortterm investments made by foreign investors to the country—have been consistently being pulled out of the Philippines, starting end-August this year, latest data from the central bank showed.

FPI—or also more popularly known as “hot” or “speculative” money—showed a consistent net outflow from the week ending August 31 up to the Bangko Sentral’s latest available data leading to the week ending September 23.

In particular, from August 29 to September 23, FPI’s outflow amounted to some $790 million—with the largest weekly outflow seen in the week ending September 16.

This is the longest and largest streak of weekly outflows the country has encountered for the entire 2016.

FPI are more popularly known as hot or speculative money, because they are easily pulled in and out of the local platforms. The movement of such investments usually mirrors the perception of international investors to the Philippines’s prospects as they are moved by slight change of

sentiment.

The outflows, however, do not signal a deterioration of the local economy, rather, a socalled perception gap among investors owing to the contrast of the strong economic fundamentals and the recent political rifts in the country.

In its latest assessment of the local economy, an Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) banking group research team said the strong economic story of the Philippines is being “overlooked” with the given weakness in portfolio movement and the weakness in the local currency.

This is as foreign investors turned more cautious of the Philippines owing to “recent negative international media coverage,” particularly on local politics.

“Philippine asset prices have been under pressure, weighed down by foreign investor-portfolio outflows,” ANZ said.

“Yet, the country’s economic fundamentals have remained sound, leading to a perception gap as foreign investors have responded to the negative media coverage rather than to economic developments,” ANZ added.

See “Hot money,” A2

n japan 0.4641 n UK 60.8654 n HK 6.2188 n CHINA 7.2325 n singapore 35.1531 n australia 36.5733 n EU 53.7987 n SAUDI arabia 12.8622

Source: BSP (7 October 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, October 9, 2016

ADB: Brace for slower economic growth Continued from A1

cry from the year-ago growth projection of 3.9 percent. Increases in trade had fallen to its slowest pace in around seven years, when the global financial crisis hit.

The international trade regulator also warned “creeping protectionism,” coupled with lacking trade liberalization and, perhaps, the growing role of the digital economy and e-commerce might help explain the recent declining ratio of trade growth to GDP growth.

Think tank Economic Intelli-

DOTr . . .

gence Unit (EIU) said the collapse of Hanjin Shipping, the world’s seventh-largest container line, was an evident sign the industry has hit a crisis point, and a massive transition will be needed to turn profitability around.

Hanjin Shipping debacle for now has little effect on the country’s trade since local exporters said they do not extensively use Hanjin vessels. But a study by SeaIntel cited by the EIU report showed an instant capacity reduction of 6 percent to 8 percent on trans-Pacific trade and a 5-percent to 6-percent reduction on the Asia-Europe trade, as a result of

Continued from A1

Aquino International Airport (Naia).

The previous administration was hit hard on this issue. Passengers complained of extortion from airport personnel for finding a bullet or two in their luggages in exchange of not filing cases against them.

What the new administration did was simple. It stopped filing cases against people with a bullet or two in their luggages and, instead, just confiscated them if found. There are no more cases of bullet planting incident at the Naia today.

This, among others, is part of his agency’s checklist for its first 100 days.

During the period, the agency was also able to improve flight services at the international gateway in Manila. In the past, only four out of 10 planes took off and landed on time. Today, on-time flight arrivals is now at 72 percent, data from the Manila International Airport Authority showed.

“We have been increasing our punctuality record. What we did was a number of initiatives, namely, simplifying the system, banning of general aviation activities during peak hours and restricting slotting,” Tugade said.

Some jets were also moved to Clark to limit the number of planes in the airport complex in Manila. The initial plan was to move them to Sangley, but the airport needed immediate rehab, hence, the most plausible way to do is to move them to a functional airport.

A rule on tarmac delays and flight diversions were also instituted by the Civil Aeronautics Board. Now, airlines are required to

the debacle. “Hanjin also has major stakes in the ports of Busan and Osaka, which will most likely see high-capacity disruptions, and impaired profitability, as these ports will lose ship calls from Hanjin,” the EIU report read.

It added that ports have also denied access to Hanjin vessels, amid fears that the company would not be able to pay the fees to dock and store its containers, leaving most of Hanjin’s ships stranded at sea.

The company’s financial woes can be traced back to the financial crisis in 2008, which severely hampered global growth and trade and had a

deplane passengers after two hours of tarmac delay. Likewise, Naia’s secondary was reopened to commercial aviation. It used to be closed due to safety issues.

It also added new seats at the Naia Terminal 3, deployed high-speed wireless Internet access at major transport hubs, including airports, opened a well-wisher’s area in the Naia Terminal 1, allowed regular taxis to pick up passengers from the airpots, and partnered with airline companies to better manage the toilets at the complex.

Transportation Undersecretary for Aviation Roberto C. Lim added that the agency will introduce “next week” an instrument landing system, which allows an aircraft to land with more precision.

“It is used when you don’t have good weather. It was not operational in the past two years because there were components that were not working. We have taken steps to procure those to repair it. We will be installing it next week,” he said.

This will mean there will be less flight diversions, leading to less congestion and safer flights.

The transport department has asked local airlines to move some of their flights to Clark International Airport to decongest the Naia.

This move, according to Tugade, has a twin benefit: First, it eases congestion at the Naia and, second, it promotes Clark as a hub for local transit.

Aside from all these, the transport agency was able to deploy “a state-of-the-art CCTV system at the Naia Terminal 1.”

“This is still a proof of concept still, meaning, we perfect the system first, then we will make it a project, then bid it out,” Tugade

knock-on effect on the shipping industry, which lost an estimated $15 billion, the report said.

“The crisis surrounding Hanjin highlights the severity of the container shipping industry’s slump, which is experiencing its deepest and longest downturn in over six decades. This year itself, major container shipping lines have seen operating profits plunge, with earnings being exceptionally volatile,” the report read.

A study by credit watchdog Moody’s Investors Service also indicated a consistent fall in profits and poor economic climate will

said. “While this is being done, the cameras are installed at the Naia.”

Lim said premium airport buses were also deployed during the first 100 days, noting that this project was started by the previous administration.

Change, he noted, will not be limited to the Naia. The government plans to implement the same to all other airports in the Philippines. “We are introducing a standard level of service in all Philippine airports —that is the vision of the department,” Lim said.

Tugade conceded traffic congestion in Metro Manila will continue to persist in the coming months, as there is an imbalance between supply of the roads and the number of cars in the metropolis.

Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Anneli R. Lontoc said the transport agency found that there were just too many cars in Metro Manila, and the figures just continue to increase.

Likewise, the pace by which vehicle sales growth outpaces the expansion of roads in Metro Manila.

“Edsa can accommodate 6,000 vehicles per direction per hour. But as of July, it accommodates 7,500 vehicles per direction per hour. And, per month, there are about 56,000 more vehicles added to the current ones, according to industry data.

This means that Edsa is 35 percent over capacity already,” she said.

This also means the composition of the total number of vehicles in Metro Manila is 70 percent private cars and 30 percent public transport.

This, Lontoc said, is an infrastructure problem, which, according to Tugade can only be mitigated in a hundred days through management.

Together with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), the transport department formed the Interagency Council on Traffic.

So far, the body was able to apprehend more than 171,550 violators, and has towed 4,844 illegally parked vehicles. It has also identified 10 chokepoints along Edsa and has equipped each area with tow trucks and traffic personnel.

But the number of traffic enforcers were not enough. There are about 2,600 enforcers from the MMDA and the HPG. But only 200 of them are properly trained.

“We actually need 13,700 to cover Metro Manila in three shifts,” HPG Acting Director Antonio N. Gardiola said.

Tugade added: “We have to increase our enforcers. We are now looking for volunteer groups to help us with the traffic flow, but they will not apprehend. We are also studying if we can outsource to add more enforcers.”

The interagency body also sought the cooperation of the Metro Manila Council for traffic management.

“Our plan is to unify all cities, plus the synchronization of traffic-management tools, like traffic signals,” MMDA Chairman Thomas M. Orbos said.

Wednesday saw the council approving the no-window on coding days along Edsa and C5.

This will help mitigate traffic congestion as the Christmas season draws near. This means that the said arteries will have 18-percent to 20-percent less vehicles per day.

Aside from these, the transport agency was also able to increase the validity of drivers license from three years to five years, deployed new point-to-point nonstop bus services, and limit the number of transport network vehicles plying the roads.

“We want people to shift to public transport, but to do this, other infrastructure should have to be put in place. What we can do now is to manage the traffic flow,” Lontoc said.

To do this, there must be more roads and better rail services.

Issues in the railway sector were also re-

drive a negative outlook for the shipping industry over the next 12 to 18 months.

“The industry is further imperiled by record-low freight rates. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index—a measure that reflects the movement of freight rates across the export market—dropped to a record-low since it was first introduced in 1998,” it added.

“The industry must undergo significant changes to address its underlying problems, otherwise the scale of Hanjin’s bankruptcy may be the first of many more to come in the industry,” the report read.

duced during the first 100 days, starting with the finalization of the common station.

All parties in late September agreed to putting up the common station in one location — in the middle of the two contending malls in North Edsa. This jumpstarts the construction of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7, which will be connected to the common alignment.

“We have also improved the capacity of the MRT Line 3, but not at the point were we wanted it to be. We have reduced the headway from five minutes to four-and-a-half minutes, and have received 28 new cars from manufacturer Dalian,” Transportation Undersecretary for Rails and Tollways Noel Eli B. Kintanar added.

Tod ay a n average of 17.25 t ra ins operate, at the MRT 3, the most congested and problematic overhead railway system in the Philippines.

The transport chief earlier promised to end the first 100 days with 20 trains operating at the system, which now runs at an average speed of 50 kilometers per hour (kph) from 40 kph.

“Admittedly, we still have some reliability problem. We hit an average of 38 disruptions per month, but this actually came down from 46 disruptions in June,” Kintanar added. “If you look at the trend, we’re hoping that we can further reduce the number of stoppages.”

The trains form Dalian, China, will be deployed by the first quarter of 2017.

Likewise, the operations of all overhead railway systems have been extended 10:30 p.m. to serve passengers working at night.

Aside from all these, the transport agency was able to augment the capacity of the Philippine National Railways. From only five trains in June, the system now runs with seven trains per day. A pilot program for the reintroduction of the morning and night services to Calamba, Laguna, was also implemented.

The maritime sector, Undersecretary Felipe A. Judan said, ended the first 100 days with marked improvemetns, starting from streamlined process to reduced corruption.

“We incorporated and integrated the electronic system into the system of having applications. We also removed corruption in the system,” he said. “It is important for us to streamline the processes because in the whole world, there a lot of Filipino seafarers.

One out of four is a Filipino.”

The Philippine Coast Guard also intensified its campaign against pollution. During the three-month period, the agency detained 10 vessels as a result of “random intensified safety and pollution prevention inspection.”

The office of Judan also completed the survey of existing roll-on, roll-off (Roro) facilities in the Philippines, determining needed i mproveme nt s to accom mod ate ne w generation vessels.

“We will connect the internal Roro routes.

We will call that the Central Spine Roro project. The next stage is the interconnection of the Philippines to Asean, which wil start next year,” he said.

The transport sector might have seen improvements in the first 100 days, but for Tugade, the Filipino people deserve better.

Critical to this, he said, is that the agency has started to do things — has started implementing what President Duterte promised during his campaign: radical change.

“What is important as this time is we have started to do things,” he said.

Based on a list provided by the agency, here are the next projects that take centerstage in the coming days: ■ Rationalization of bus routes ■ Mindanao Rail ■ Bust Rapid Transit ■ Creation of more walkways ■ LTO to require emission testing machine ■ Procure security solutions in all transport hubs ■ Night rating of airports ■ Clark-Subic cargo rail ■ Manila-Clark rail project ■ Purchase MRT 3 signaling system and power supply. Lorenz S. Marasigan

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Miss Universe. . .

Continued from A1

of IMG and MUO, would be pulling out the Miss Universe pageant from the Philippines, ostensibly due to President Duterte’s remarks, which compared his war on drug pushers and addicts to Adolf Hitler’s killing of 6 million Jews in World War II. Ari Emanuel, brother to Chicago Mayor and former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, is a cofounder of WME, and of Jewish heritage. As per reports, the WME official was offended by Mr. Duterte’s anti-Semitic remarks. WME has been contacted for comment, but has yet to respond to said report.

Asked if IMG officials expressed concern over those anti-Semitic remarks, de Castro said: “They were aware of it, but, at the same time, very happy that President Duterte was man enough to apologize for his statement.”

Last Tuesday Duterte visited the Beit Yaacov Synagogue, the only synagogue in the Philippines, to personally apologize for his offensive remarks, as the Jewish community was gathered to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, their NewYear.

The Israeli government, through its Ambassador to Manila Effie Ben Matityau, has accepted Duterte’s apology. Meanwhile, the DOT officials on Wednesday, signed an agreement with representatives of Spain’s Foro de Debate and Arum Estrategias de Internacionalización, for the holding of Madrid Fusión Manila next year.

For its third edition, the event will be held from April 6 to 8 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, and will carry the theme, “Towards a Sustainable Gastronomic Planet,” DOT Director for the Market Development Group Verna Buensuceso said.

Foreign chefs that have been confirmed to attend MFM 2017 are Rodrigo de la Calle, Jordi Roca and Alejandra Rivas (Spain); Kamilla Seidler and Michaelangelo Cestari (Bolivia); and Regis Marcon (France) and Hertog Jan (Belgium).

“This is just a partial list. The others are still for confirmation,”she said, when asked if Anthony Bourdain, who Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo wanted to invite, would be attending the event.

Madrid Fusión Manila is the only Asian edition of the popular Spainbased international gastronomic event. It aims to market the Philippines as the center of gastronomy in Asia, by gathering acclaimed chefs from all over the world in a three-day series of lectures and presentations attended by culinary students, local chefs and culinary workers.

Foro de Debate is an organization that oversees Madrid Fusion in Spain, which has been the most important international gastronomic event on progressive haute cuisine in the country for more than 12 years. Lourdes Plana, represented the organization in last week’s MOA signing with Arum and the DOT. Arum, represented by Iñigo Cañedo and Mielle Esteban Powel, is a consulting company in Spain that specializes in the international trade of food and beverage products.

Teo and Undersecretary for Tourism Development Benito Bengzon Jr. signed on behalf of the Philippines.

‘Hot’ money. . .

Continued from A1

In end-September, the local currency hit several seven-year-lows after its continuous streak of losses during the period. Traders and analysts attributed this weakness to the president’s aggressive statements against state allies, as well as concerns arising from unexplained killings in the country. Foreign developments, such as the uncertainty in the timing of the United States Federal Reserve’s resumption of its track to more normalized interest rates, were also part of the reasons behind the peso’s weakness.

“Foreign-investor sentiment can be fickle, but sound economic fundamentals stay the course, especially when policies designed to unlock a country’s potential continue to be implemented,” ANZ said citing their retained growth forecast of the Philippines saying they see “no reason to change their assessment.”

ANZ’s forecast of the Philippine economy’s growth has been raised just last month from 6.1 percent to 6.4 percent for 2016 and from 5.8 percent to 6 percent in 2017.

Bianca Cuaresma

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

Urban-poor group asks Duterte to stop evictions

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

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NE hundred days after President Duterte took office, the urban poor still face evictions and have to pay an arm and a leg to amortize so-called affordable housing built by private corporations.

In a statement, the urban-poor group Kalipunan Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) said while it recognizes Duterte’s positive and populist pronouncements, he has yet to address attacks against urban-poor communities nationwide.

Every day, urban-poor Filipinos face threats of unjust evictions and demolitions without relocation. This threat has been the result of the conspiracy of government officials, corporations and private claimants.

This is done legally and with relative ease, and the poor eventually end up with little in life and a lot lesser in law. In fact, demolitions have been increasing in the first months of Duterte’s term. We urge the President to take a direct hand in protecting our communities and developing them instead of letting them be torn down,” Kadamay National Chairman Gloria Arellano told Duterte.

“Without regular jobs and a substantial national minimum wage, poor Filipinos in the cities will have no chance of improving their lives,” she warned.

From July until mid-September, a total of 4,209 families in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been affected by demolitions, much higher than the number of affected families in previous months.

From January to June, 23,256 fa mi l ies have been af fected, Arellano said.

She said Barangay Culiat in Que-

zon City was cleared of its residents only on September 30, adding 84 families to the number of homeless people, as no relocation site for them was prepared, contrary to the declaration of Duterte that under his administration, demolition without relocation is taboo.

Arellano argued that “those who violate the rights and well-being of the urban poor by dismantling their communities and increasing the number of the homeless must be punished. This will set an example and a strong message that another route toward development should be followed. This route should involve better wages and job opportunities, more industries to accommodate millions of the hungry and jobless. Poor Filipinos are not begging for reforms but urging the government to simply do its duty to protect every Filipino citizen from the ravages of misery and squalor.”

The Kadamay leader also reiterated her criticism of the antidrug war.

“Weeding out of poverty that makes communities vulnerable to the drug menace is the solution, not killings by men in uniform or by vigilantes. It’s not a question of socioeconomic reforms versus the antidrug campaign, it’s about the two of them going hand in hand as a better alternative to state-sponsored violence,” Arellano pointed out.

“Dapat ugatin ang problema ng kahirapan sa bansa. Hindi naman kamalasan o katamaran ang nagdulot nito. May mga mahihirap dahil pinahirapan sila sa mahabang panahon. May pagkakataon ang gobyerno na tumugon sa mamamayan sa nagaganap na peace talks. Umaasa kaming magkasundo ang dalawang panig para sa makabuluhang reporma para sa mahihirap,” Arellano also said.

Recto warns against potential backlash from Duterte’s shifting foreign policy

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By Butch Fernandez

In an interview, Recto asserted the need for the Palace to clarify the issue.

“What is his [Duterte] pivot all about, even to Russia or China, in case he goes through with it?” Recto asked, adding: “One, this is for

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III (second from right) and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia (third from right) lead the panel on Building for the Future of Shared Prosperity in the forum Economic Outlook for the Philippines: A Discussion with the Philippine Economic Team, held at the International Finance Corp. in Washington, D.C. Dominguez and Pernia laid down the Duterte administration’s 10-point economic agenda that aims on scaling up inclusive growth.

Joining them on the panel are (from left) Vivek Pathak, director for East Asia and the Pacific of the International Finance Corporation; Amy Searight, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategicand International Studies; Thomas O’Flynn, CFO of The AES Corp. and Moderator Tom Nagorski of the Asia Society.

By Lenie Lectura

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@rectomercene

HE Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan, has announced that starting on October 7, Philippine passport holders who wish to travel to Taiwan are now eligible to apply for an e-visa (online visa).

This simplified policy will facilitate the processing of the visa and save applicant’s time, traffic hassle and economic cost, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) in the Philippines said.

“The applicant doesn’t need to physically appear in their office,” it added.

Philippine passport holders who intend to visit Taiwan can apply for the e-visa (with the required nonrefundable fee by credit-card payment). When an e-visa application has been approved, applicants are required to present the print-out of e-visa at the immigration checkpoint for verification upon arrival in Taiwan. An e-visa will be valid for three months upon approval with duration of stay up to 30 days.

The e-visa policy will be put on a trial basis for one year, Teco said.

Visitors may still file for their visa application at Teco in the Philippines.

Since September 1, Taiwan has eased its visafree requirements for Filipinos who possess one of the following documents issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom and the United States: (1) a valid resident or permanent resident card; (2) a valid entry visa (electronic visa included); or (3) a resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan.

Successful applicants are qualified to apply for Republic of China (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate, which allows multiple entries to Taiwan valid for three months with every stay up to 30 days.

“Through the implementation of these two visa relaxing measures launched by Taiwan to the Philippine nationals, it is expected that it will greatly enhance the convenience of traveling between Manila and Taipei, and further promote bilateral economic, cultural and other exchanges between the two countries,” Teco said, advising applicants or interested parties to visit their web site.

@butchfBM

ENATE Minority Leader Ralph G. Recto has warned against the potential backlash all Filipinos will pay owing to President Duterte’s shifting foreign policy.

Pinoys may now NGCP urges customers to join ILP apply for Taiwan visa online T

By Recto L. Mercene

Sunday, October 9, 2016 A3

@llectura

O help ease load requirements of the grid during high-demand times, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) is encouraging its directly connected customers to participate in its Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

The ILP is a demand side management scheme set by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to help ease the impact of tight supply during yellow- and red-alert periods.

Energy Secretary Alfonso E. Cusi has directed NGCP to pursue its ILP to address the recent spate of power deficiencies.

The ILP rules of the ERC apply “to all distribution utilities [DUs] and their respective participating captive customer within their franchise area, to all DUs that entered into a tripartite ILP agreement with a retail electricity supplier [RES] and its participating contestable customers, and NGCP that entered into an ILP agreement with a participating directly connected customer.”

Under this program, NGCP’s DCC may voluntarily enter into an agreement, where they may be requested to run backup generators to partially decrease or completely cease drawing power from the grid in times of an electricity supply shortage.

This will provide all grid-connected consumers with a more stable supply of electricity. Conversely, participating DCCs will be compensated for the internally generated power by NGCP through a formula provided by the ERC. When consumers, such as large malls, industrial plants and economic zones use nongrid sources of electricity, NGCP is able to minimize or prevent manual power curtailment or load dropping when there is not enough power in the system, specifically when the system net operating reserve is less than 350 megawatts. Imminent power shortages will temporarily be addressed. “Theoretically, any consumer connected to the grid who also has a backup generation unit is a potential ILP supplier,” NGCP said in a statement.

The program was initially developed in 2010 by the ERC for implementation by DUs in the Visayas and Mindanao to address the imminent power shortage in those areas.

In 2014 the ERC also allowed Manila Electric Co. to implement the same program within its franchise area. The program was further extended to other DUs, ecozones and NGCP’s DCCs in 2015.

The recent series of unplanned shutdowns this year of several power plants or generators, which were the direct cause of the power deficiency, gave reason to put the ILP in play. “We want to make sure that power supply remains stable and reliable, most especially when supply is critical.

Right now, the best and quickest way to do this is to work hand in hand with our partners, and fully implement the ILP,” NGCP said.

sure, the statements made by the President, all of us will be made to pay for it. We will all pay the price for this.”

Asked how this will come about, Recto cited, for instance the weakening peso-dollar exchange rate en-

suing soon after Duterte signalled a sudden shift in the government's foreign policy toward longtime allies, seen to result in “political risk” as well, that could backfire on the Philippine economy.

“Halimbawa, iyong piso, humihina na nga, hindi ba? Mayroon ngayong nagsasabi na puwedeng pumalo sa P50 to $1, may political risk. At ang political risk na iyan, tatamaan ang ekonomiya natin for sure. May implication lahat iyan, he said.

Recto added that he is preparing a resolution asking the Senate to “seek clarity from the Executive Branch of where our foreign policy is headed.”

Recto also cited possible politi-

cal risk that could affect the country’s credit rating. “So today, that has been echoed also by Fitch, if I’m not mistaken, I read an article earlier [on that], as well.”

He, likewise, took note of predictions on possible weakening of the peso exchange rate, likely to reach P50-$1.

“But, like I said, eventually, we Filipinos will pay the price for this. I don’t think it is proper for the president to make offensive remarks to the president of the United States,” Recto said. “The way I look at it, that is not right; and who will pay for that mistake?

The Filipino people will pay for it because he [Duterte] is speaking for all Filipinos.”

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, October 9, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Wage and fiscal policies for economic recovery

By Anis Chowdhury & Jomo Kwame Sundaram Inter Press Service

S

YDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR—The new United States census data released in late September show that 3.5 million people in the US climbed out of poverty, as the tepid economic recovery continues. Employers are finally creating more jobs and paying higher wages than seven years after the Great Recession started, following the 2008 financial crisis.

This progress, while modest, debunks the claims of those who predicted a dire outcome following the increase in the legislated US minimum wage, especially without a robust recovery. The data show large employment and wage gains, particularly for the lower end of the jobs spectrum.

Raising the legal minimum-wage and other government programs, such as social security, earned income-tax credit and food stamps, have not only kept tens of millions from sinking into poverty. They also aided economic recovery by supporting household expenditure and, hence, aggregate demand, enabling a 1.2-percentage-point decline in the poverty rate, the largest annual drop since 1999.

Every major demographic group benefited from the stronger economy and an expanding job market. Wage increases were stronger at the bottom than in the middle. The poverty rate fell in 23 states, and stayed flat in the rest, not getting worse in any.

So, what is the lesson? Addressing poverty, inequality and economic recession needs progressive countercyclical macroeconomic policies, with wage and social protection programs.

Meanwhile, the recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) “Interim Economic Outlook” worries that the world economy remains stuck in a low-growth trap, with poor growth expectations depressing trade, investment, productivity and wages. It estimates that the “potential” growth rate per person for its 35 member-countries has halved to 1 percent a year. It also warns that “exceptionally low and negative interest rates” are distorting financial markets—including share and housing price bubbles—and creating risks of future crises.

Hence, the OECD recommends switching the current policy stance from its sole dependence on expansionary monetary policy to fiscal stimulus. It also recognizes that fiscal stimuli always work better when countries act in concert, rather than in a “beggar thy neighbor” fashion.

This has long been the message from the United Nations since the crisis began, especially after Group-of-20 countries prematurely switched to fiscal consolidation following the 2010 Toronto Summit. The UN also consistently argued that fiscal and structural measures are needed to boost demand and raise productive capacity.

Ensuring growth is likely to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio in the short term, by adding more to nominal GDP than to public debt. Thus, when fiscal measures raise output, a temporary debt-financed expansion need not increase debt ratios in the longer term. UN tax and spending policy advice favors more growth by improving infrastructure spending, social protection and progressive tax incidence. Better labor market programs benefit both short-term demand, longer-term supply and inclusive growth.

Khazanah Research Institute’s recent second “State of Malaysian Households” report, based on the 2014 Household Expenditure Survey by the Department of Statistics, suggests a significant increase in household income of the “bottom 40 percent” from RM1761 in 2012 to RM2296 in 2014.

While partly attributable to higher commodity prices before the commodity price slump from late 2014, this impressive increase was probably also due to implementation of the 2012 minimum-wage law from 2013.

Protect your amazing brain

I

SPENT my weekend reading and digesting a very interesting and fascinating book, Magnificent Mind At Any Age, published in 2008 by Three Rivers Press, New York, and written

by Dr. Daniel G. Amen, a well-known neuroscientist, psychiatrist and brain-imaging expert.

Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Anis Chowdhury is visiting fellow of Crawford School of Public Policy in Australian National University, and held various senior United Nations positions in New York and Bangkok. Jomo Kwame Sundaram was UN assistant secretary-general for economic development.

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In brief, let me share it with you: “The brain,” Amen said, “is the organ of loving, learning, behaving, intelligence, personality, character, belief and knowing, and the information in it travels at the speed of 268 miles per hour, unless, of course, you are drunk, which really slows things down.”

The brain, he explained, is also the most complicated thing in the universe with an estimated 100 billion nerve cells, with more connections in it than there are stars in the universe, consisting of only about 2 percent of your body’s weight and uses about 25 percent of the calories you consume.

“If you take a piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand, it contains a hundred thousand neurons and a billion connections all communicating with one another. If you are not thoughtful, the brain loses an average of 85,000 brain cells a day, or one per second,” Amen said.

Inside your skull with many ridges, the brain is comprised of 80-percent water and is the consistency of soft butter or custard, somewhere between egg whites and Jell-O. In Another Day in the Frontal Lobe, neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik, “describes the brain like tofu, the soft kind, which when caught in suction during surgery slurps into the tube.”

These ridges damage the brain

during trauma, “so why would you ever let a child hit a soccer ball with their heads, play tackle football [even with helmets], skateboard, or snowboard or ski without helmets?”

“The brain loves physical activity and it is better to think about safer brain sports, such as tennis, table tennis, track and field [although not pole vaulting], and basketball,” Amen said.

A 2007 study by John Adams and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine found that hitting a soccer ball with one’s head may be linked to long-term brain injury and memory problems later in life. Researchers found evidence of reduced gray matter in the brains of male college soccer players, compared with young men who had never played.

The single most important thing Amen learned from looking at tens of thousands of scans is that mild traumatic brain injuries change people’s whole lives (by damaging their brain) and no one knows it.

“The brain-injured person often suffers from emotional, behavioral, or cognitive problems that may lead him to a psychiatrist or psychologist, who typically never looks at the brain. Problems that are physically based are often considered psychological. If you never look at the brain, you will likely miss what many researchers have called the silent epidemic. There are 2 million reported new brain-injury cases every year, and millions of others that go unnoticed,” Amen explained.

“When I first started the imaging work, I saw a lot of brain injury

patterns on scans. When I asked patients about a history of head injuries they denied them. When I pressed, a whole new world opened up. I found out that people often forgot significant injuries. I had to ask them three, four, even 10 times.

Many people forget or they did not realize that they have had a serious brain injury. You would be amazed by how many people after repeatedly saying no to this question suddenly get an ‘aha’ look on their face and say, ‘Why, yes, I fell out of a secondstory window at age 7,’” he said.

“Or they tell us they went through the windshield of a car headfirst, had concussions playing football or soccer, or fell down a flight of stairs. Not all brain injuries, even serious ones, will cause damage—there is an interaction between genetic vulnerability and trauma. Moreover, the brain is buffered by the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes it. Still, damage can occur more than most know,” Amen revealed. Many of the troubled people they see at the Amen Clinics have had a brain injury (or two or three), and damaging your brain may limit or impair your ability to be successful in any area of your life, he said.

“People who have experienced head injuries have a higher incidence of drug abuse, alcoholism, mood problems, divorce, domestic violence, arrests, financial problems and every other type of trouble that leads to failure,” the expert concluded.

So, protect your soft brain and be the best!

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com

Israel awaits Obama’s parting gift W

By Eli Lake | Bloomberg View

HEN Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected last year, the White House threatened to reconsider long-standing US policy to veto United Nation (UN) Security Council resolutions on Israel’s presence in the West Bank.

At issue was a last-minute interview in which Netanyahu said there would be no Palestinian state as long as he was prime minister. He took back that statement after the election. Nonetheless, the White House directed policy-makers to draw up a set of options for how Obama could “preserve the two-state solution,” according to one US official privy to the process.

So far, nothing has come of Obama’s threat. Indeed, last month, Obama signed an agreement with Israel to extend the US subsidy of its military for another 10 years. In foreign policy, Obama is focused on the collapse of US policy in Syria, which has become an even greater humanitarian emergency in the last month with the Russian and Iranian-led siege of Aleppo. Politically,

the White House is working to elect Hillary Clinton as Obama’s successor.

Yet, with a little more than three months left of his presidency, Israeli officials privately say they worry Obama intends to try to level the playing field between the Palestinians and Israelis before he leaves office. The threat of a last-minute speech, executive order, or UN action has stirred some of Israel’s friends

in Washington. Last month, for example, 88 senators signed a letter to Obama urging him to restate “longstanding US policy” to veto one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the UN. The Obama administration has not made such a statement. This week, however, White House Spokesman Joshua Earnest “strongly condemned” Israel’s approval of 98 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Shilo. A CBS correspondent noted that this phrasing is “usually reserved” for terrorist attacks.

The US has opposed Israeli settlement construction in the land it won in the 1967 war since the 1970s.

Under Obama, however, the public denunciations of Israeli settlements have often been delivered at the highest levels of the government and in particularly harsh language.

So far, though, Obama has not sanctioned Israel for settlements, preferring instead to censure. This is where the options from 2015 could

come into play. US officials who have been briefed on them tell me they run from the substantive to the symbolic.

On the milder end would be a speech Obama would deliver outlining his parameters for a two-state solution. This approach is similar to a speech Bill Clinton gave at the end of his presidency that laid out such parameters. In Obama’s case, the speech could disclose the concessions Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were willing to make in negotiations that fell apart in 2014.

The options also include tougher measures, such as support for a new UN Security Council resolution that would supersede UN Security Council resolution 242, which was drafted in 1967. That calls on Israel to withdraw from the territory it won in the Six Day War, but calls on that territory to be returned to Israel’s neighbors, not an independent Palestinian state.

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, October 9, 2016 A5

Wartime allies deserve visas A

By Trudy Rubin | The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS Forum

MID all the ugly, anti-immigration talk this election season, at least one category of immigrants should be sacrosanct: Those who helped the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan at great risk to their lives.

Yet, all too often we’ve failed these Iraqis and Afghans, exposing them and their families to brutal retaliation. Read what’s happening to the family of Wisam Albaiedhani, who worked as a translator for US forces, and you’ll see what I mean. Wisam and his brother Khalid were students in Baghdad when the United States invaded Iraq. Khalid also worked as an interpreter for the US Army; both brothers accompanied their units on risky patrols.

When US troops withdrew, the Shiite Jaish Mahdi militia shot Khalid in the arm and face for the “crime” of working with Americans (he still has muscle damage). They sent Wisam a bullet wrapped in a message that read: “This is for your heart.”

The good news: Both brothers

made it to the United States via special immigrant visas issued to Iraqis who worked for US forces or government officials. (However, this program set up so many bureaucratic hurdles—endless paperwork, several years of interviews and security checks—that many desperate Iraqi and Afghan interpreters got left behind.) But, as Wisam told me by phone from Worcester, Massachusetts, where he works in a credit union, the brothers feared for their family members in Baghdad.

Jaish Mahdi militiamen have long memories and are still seeking revenge. So the brothers applied for visas to bring their father and younger siblings, as provided by US law. The family went through five years—yes, five years—of paperwork, interviews and multiple security checks. In mid-August, the family was finally informed by US Embassy officials that all were cleared to emigrate to the United States, on a flight departing on August 31.

Wisam’s 65-year-old dad Mohammed sold the family house, car and possessions, and packed up to fly to Jordan and on to America. Then on

August 30, Mohammed received a call from the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan, saying, “Sorry, your tickets have been cancelled and you have to stay in place until further notice.”

There was a new security check. No explanation of what this meant, no way to respond, no date of travel.

Maybe weeks, maybe never.

Wisam’s family is now marooned in Baghdad, living with relatives.

“This doesn’t make sense to us,” Wisam says. “We are good citizens, did everything legally. My brother and I have applied for citizenship.

We are very loyal to this country. We are hard workers. “The only thing we ask for is to help our family. They lost everything. We have no clue where this will end.”

Wisam’s family is caught up in a Kafka-esque process that has trapped many other Iraqis and Afghans who worked for Americans.

One major reason the process drags on for years: There are too few interviewers available to handle the caseload of applicants. There is a backlog of 51,000 Iraqi applicants, including family members, awaiting their first interview; there are only

15 staffers available at any one time to conduct these interviews. So the backlog barely budges.

Even after that hurdle is crossed, the applicants face years-long, multiple security checks (yes, there already is “extreme vetting”). These checks are opaque and there is no appeal, so similar names or false information can derail legitimate applicants. As Wisam has learned, there is no way to find out what has gone wrong. This particularly upsets Peter Farley, who volunteered to fight in Iraq because he felt it was his patriotic duty, and wound up training Iraqi military police; Wisam was his interpreter and accompanied him on patrols.

“Absolutely, Wisam and his brother risked their lives every day,” says Farley, who now works for Veterans Affairs in Rhode Island. “We don’t really recognize the sacrifices Iraqis who supported us have made.”

Of Wisam’s family, Farley asks: “Where do they go? His service has put a mark on them. To throw them back into the middle of Baghdad... they are going to be exposed. I am scared for them. And nobody knows

why they are being held up.” I can’t help thinking of what must be going through the minds of Wisam’s father and 9-year-old sister, who are now living in limbo. “It breaks my heart for people to look the other way,” Farley told me.

Indeed, it’s long past time for politicians who claim to be patriots to focus on the visa process for Iraqis and Afghans who helped us. It’s long past time to finally provide adequate resources and coherence to the program. And—this is a must—we must extend and expand the special immigrant visa program for Afghans, which expires this month.

“This is important for our own security,” said Sen. Robert Casey, Democratic-Pennsylvania, who is cosponsoring legislation to do just that. “If we’re going to ask people to help us in the future, they won’t do it if we haven’t met our commitments.

It’s an American value to uphold our moral obligation.”

We also have a moral obligation to rescue Wisam’s family from limbo.

They’ve sacrificed more than most of us for our country. This is the least we can do in return.

First Lady’s garden will prove hard to uproot M

ICHELLE Obama has spent a long time building a “kitchen garden” for the White House, intended as an example to the nation of local eating and healthy food.

Now that she’s leaving the White House, she doesn’t want to see it wither away.

Bloomberg View

By Megan McArdle

Obama on Wednesday afternoon will formally unveil a much bigger version of the garden that uses cement, stone and steel to make it a more permanent fixture on the South Lawn. The updates are seen not just as preserving Obama’s garden—recognized globally as a symbol of local food—but also as a way to dissuade, say, a President Donald Trump from scrapping it the way Ronald Reagan tore out Jimmy Carter’s solar panels after he moved into the White House.

A truly dedicated antigarden fanatic could, of course, just call in the bulldozers. But this will make it more difficult, expensive and noticeable to do so. By itself, this is a mildly amusing instance of a political figure trying to reach into the future and prop up her own legacy.

But it’s actually an example of a much bigger political phenomenon, one that matters a great deal for both our political system and our economy.

Take the Social Security System.

There’s no particular reason to fund it the way we do—with a flat payroll tax on a certain amount of income. It would be just as economically efficient, and perhaps more so, to fund it out of regular tax revenue, instead of weirdly bifurcating the personal income tax into two components. It would also arguably be fairer to pay a single, flat benefit to everyone, instead of tying the benefit to wages. Until very recently, no one

drawing Social Security payments had put more into the system than they were taking out, so what was the argument for giving people more benefits simply because they’d been richer when they were working?

That argument can be summed up by a remark attributed to FDR: “With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social-security program.

Those taxes aren’t a matter of economics, they’re straight politics.”

Politicians, you see, face a problem.

They can pass all the splendid programs they want, but there’s always a risk that some future politician will come along and unpass them. Bureaucrats have a similar issue: spend a long career crafting careful rules, and see your successor undo them. So they tend to have a preference for programs that create what’s called “lock-in,” making them politically expensive to undo.

The easiest way to get lock-in is to create a class of beneficiaries who obtain a very large and easily quantifiable benefit from your program. A tax break that is worth $3 apiece to every voter in America has very low lock-in. A tax break that hands $3 million apiece to 15 beneficiaries, each of whom regards that as a large sum of money worth fighting for, ironically has more lock-in than the more widespread but smaller-benefit program, because those 15 people will organize and fight tooth and nail to preserve it, and the costs are spread very thin over a very large group of taxpayers who will not organize to fight them.

And a program that constitutes a significant fraction of the annual income of a large class of people with a

lot of time to politically organize, all of whom believe that this is not a welfare benefit, but something they have earned through a lifetime of contributions into the system…well, there’s a reason that Social Security reform is called the “third rail of American politics”: touch it, Mr. Politician, and you die.

The problem with lock-in is that it reduces the ability of future politicians to respond to future crises and future needs that earlier generations might not have imagined. Over time, the number of locked-in programs increases to consume more and more of the federal budget, most of which ends up immune to cuts or even reform.

The other problem is that a lockedin program that doesn’t work right can create disaster.

Obamacare is a good example of a program with substantial lock-in. It is not very popular, and it has created large problems in the market for individual health-insurance policies. And yet, it is also firmly locked in place, because its design centers around four components, all of which depend on each other to work properly: n Guaranteed issue: Insurers cannot turn patients away n Community rating: Insurers cannot charge sick patients more money n Mandate: People have to be insured, or pay a penalty n Subsidies: People who can’t afford policies get subsidies The first two policies are broadly politically popular, and because the topic of health insurance is very emotional, they are very hard to repeal once you’ve got them. Subsidies are, as with most

subsidies, popular with folks who get them and unpopular with folks who don’t. The mandate is hated by basically everyone except health-care wonks.

This creates a bit of a problem for would-be reformers on both sides. No one wants to increase the mandate, which is probably the most important step toward fixing the current problems with Obamacare. Subsidies—which means more taxpayer cash spent on an unpopular program—will be more popular, but not much. On the other side of the aisle, “repeal and replace” is out of the question, because the two most popular parts of the program are also the ones that will systematically destroy the market unless they’re attached to the unpopular parts.

So where do we go from here? As I wrote the other day, that’s hard to see.

We’re locked into a program that doesn’t work, and no one seems to have the key.

If a program is bad enough, it will— eventually—unlock itself. States have experimented before with guaranteed issue and community rating, without a mandate and subsidies to offset them.

Predictably, this started those markets off on the dread death spiral. That has been rectified by Obamacare, which has been a big net improvement for individual markets in states like New Jersey and New York. (A weak mandate is better than none.) In Washington State, however, the reckoning came too soon for Obamacare to help. Instead, after the last insurer exited the market, the state ended up dramatically weakening the guaranteed issue, allowing insurers to wait up to nine months to cover people with preexisting conditions.

If your program reaches the point

where no one is able to benefit from it, then it’s pretty easy to reform. You can imagine a similar situation with Obamacare.

Republicans may yet be able to repeal and replace: All they have to do is wait until it is virtually impossible to buy an individual policy in the US. It’s not easy to undo any policy that serves powerful interests or has popular support, even one as small as a kitchen garden. But one approach is to wait until it no longer serves powerful interests or has popular support—when the program is entirely taken over by weeds.

Without community rating, guaranteed issue is meaningless, because the insurer can just say: “Sure, I’ll sell you a policy. Ten million dollars a month.”

Without a mandate, guaranteed issue and community rating will destroy the insurance markets, because people will wait to buy insurance until they get sick, and consequently, the price of the insurance will skyrocket to the point where no one wants to buy it. Without the subsidies, you can’t have a mandate, because you end up penalizing folks who are already too poor to buy insurance— and without a mandate, the subsidies are hard to sustain, because guaranteed issue and community rating keep pushing up the cost of insurance.

Historical experience suggests that it has to be pretty bad. States like New York and New Jersey kept the provisions, sometimes with minor modifications, even as the number of insured people plunged. (Between 1994 and 2009, the number of people on the individual market in New York State declined by 96 percent.)

Connecting people in Asia Pacific via broadband B

By Dr. Shamshad Akhtar | Inter Press Service

ANGKOK—Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have been instrumental in shaping and leading socioeconomic transformations across Asia and the Pacific. One key to this transformation is the technology bundled around the Internet of Things (IoT), which enables billions of devices and appliances to connect over the Internet for more accurate, real-time data collection and analysis in an unparalleled scale.

For instance, through Internet-connected sensors attached to equipment, facilities and infrastructure, early-on maintenance alarms can be raised for potential problems, such as defects or wear and tear, thereby potentially saving the lives of those using them.

Another example is devices on farms that remotely monitor soil conditions, weather and pesticide use for more rapid and better-informed decision-making.

Despite an increasing spotlight on the transformative capabilities of newer technologies, such as the IoT, the

Asia-Pacific region, nevertheless, still suffers from a lack of ICT connectivity, and the digital divide in our region continues to be one of the largest in the world.

As a powerful tool with the potential to address development challenges, ICT has the potential to foster equality and inclusiveness in our region. Recognizing this, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) acknowledge ICT as a development enabler and the foundational infrastructure for achieving sustainable development. In this context, enhancing access to affordable, reliable, resilient and robust broadband connectivity must be seen as a prerequisite for accelerated and inclusive development in the Asia-Pacific region.

A fundamental challenge related to new business opportunities and innovations that IoT and other ICT advancements generate is how to best connect those who are still unconnected, so that they too can reap the benefits of these advances. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the

Pacific (Escap) underscored the need to address this challenge in a recent report, entitled the State of ICT in Asia and the Pacific 2016: Uncovering the Widening Broadband Divide. The report highlighted the alarming disparity in broadband connectivity within Asia Pacific, with high-income countries experiencing a higher growth rate of broadband penetration relative to other countries.

Twenty countries in the region have only 2 percent of fixed broadband subscription per 100 inhabitants, while ICT champions, such as the Republic of Korea, enjoy over 40-percent broadband penetration. Further emphasizing regional disparities, 75 percent of fixed broadband subscriptions were registered in North and North-East Asia, mainly in the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Japan. Broadband connectivity, especially reliable, affordable and resilient fixed broadband infrastructure, is a critical foundation which supports various applications and

initiatives that are essential for the achievement of the SDGs, ranging from traffic and transport management, smart power management, trade facilitation, disaster management and financial inclusion, to name only a few. ICT is not only a growth sector, which creates value-added services, products and employment opportunities, but it also acts as a development enabler which can accelerate efforts toward the implementation of the SDGs. While success stories in e-commerce abound, such as China’s Alibaba, less is known about the use of ICT for socioeconomic benefits, such as mobile money in Pakistan and the Philippines, where salaries and remittances are sent over mobile phones. Farmers and rural residents increasingly use the Internet, allowing them to gain unparalleled access to information and knowledge and helping to further develop multiple sectors, such as agriculture, education and health. ICT also plays a crucial role in disaster management. When a disaster

strikes, it is the telecommunications infrastructure which provides the platform to communicate with those in need of help and collect and analyze data on losses and damage to facilitate disaster response and reconstruction.

Moreover, ICT can facilitate social integration of marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, by providing them with more effective means to communicate and engage in a wider variety of socioeconomic activities. At the same time, however, the region needs a development pathway to the digital economy and future prosperity for inclusive and sustainable development.

While significant efforts have gone toward expanding broadband connectivity at national and subnational levels, the Internet is inherently regional, as well as global, therefore, affordable and reliable connectivity to regional and global telecommunications networks are indispensable for narrowing the digital divide through better connectivity.

A6 Sunday, October 9, 2016

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

PSA signs new deal with computer firm despite derogatory COA report

T

By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

HE September 30 signing of the P1.59-billion computerization contract by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) with Unisys was apparently undertaken without taking into consideration the derogatory reports of the Commission on Audit (COA) on the operations of Unisys.

Unisys is a United States company majority owned by Borroughs Corp. It is based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) also gave the green light for the deal despite the COA findings in October 2005 and in 2015, as well as criticisms lodged by some lawmakers, including PDP-Laban Rep. Joey S. Salceda of Albay.

The latest audit noted that, while Unisys was supposed to establish Serbilis Centers for the Civil Registry System-Informa-

tion Technology Project Phase 1 (CRS-ITP1) as early as 2000, the fact is that the fund for this purpose was actually collected by the Census Provident Fund Inc. (CPFI), which takes charge of the offline processing of requests for documents under the Branch Request Entry System (BREQ ) that assesses clients P40 per request on top of the official fee by the defunct National Statistics Office (now PSA).

Of the P40, a total of 32.5 percent goes for the building fund and 40 percent to the outlet, or Serbilis

Center, with the PSA only retaining 5 percent, or P2, per request.

The CRS-ITP1 is supposed to showcase the efficiency of the Unisys system and improve the income-generating capacity of the PSA, but the COA found out that P98,193,058.12 was not deposited with the General Fund for 2015, but, instead, used for various expenses.

Unisys also enjoyed multiple extensions of its contract that started on March 22, 2000, but extended by the Neda-Investment Coordinating Council in April 2012, with the latest extension covering September 1, 2015, to March 4, 2017.

The COA expressed surprise why the PSA had been keeping funds and why it justified the failure of Unisys to build 65 Serbilis Center.

“The authority [PSA] commented that the agency’s share of the CPFI was already remitted to the Bureau of Treasury, which we have validated. However, the building fund is still with CPFI. The management plans to seek authority from the Department of Budget and Management [DBM] to use it for the construction of the regional building. The authority [PSA] also communicated that there was approval by the higher authority of

the noncompliance of the operation of 85 Serbilis outlets, however, we are still waiting for the copy,” the COA said.

This strange reply tends to show that there was official acknowledgment of the failure of Unisys to fulfill its obligations under the contract, which a “higher authority,” heretofore unnamed, permitted.

In its latest audit, the COA recommended that the PSA eventually operate the system since it is user-friendly and no special knowledge is require to manage the computer system.

The audit agency added: “In the meantime that the service provider [SP] operates the system, impose sanctions on the noncompliance of the requirement on the transfer of the system operation to the PSA.” Two other recommendations were made by the COA: “Demand from the SP the operation of the additional 44 Serbilis Outlets nationwide as required in the contract; and secure authority from the DBM to hire information technology [IT] manpower to eventually manage and maintain the IT project, if warranted.”

The Neda approved the new project in July 2015.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Electric co-op starts operation of picohydro-power system

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

HE Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Soleco) has started commercial operation of its picohydro powergeneration system, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) announced.

The NEA oversees the operation of all electric cooperatives (EC) in the country.

Considered the first of its kind in the Philippines, the Soleco picohydro power-generation system utilizes tailwater from the Hanabian minihydro power plant and generates power up to 600 watts with maximum water flow velocity of 4.6 meters per second.

Using the mechanism of a waterwheel, the picohydro system has an engineered suspension system for easy mounting, making it one of the most adaptable small-scale renewable-energy (RE) technologies to environmental changes.

Soleco General Manager Engr.

Jonathan Empeño said the system is already synchronized to the grid, allowing the EC to sell generated power at a blended generation cost.

He said the approximate cost of picohydro system below 5 kilowatt hour is $8,500 per kilowatt (kW), while cost for 5 kW and above is estimated at $5,500 per kW. Cost includes engineering design, construction, equipment installation and commissioning.

For project installation, Soleco

has partnered with Helios Altas and DA Green Power Consultancy, which also undertook development of project feasibility studies.

Regino Galindes, chief operating officer of DA Green Power Consultancy, said the picohydro power-generation system poses minimal modifications to existing water systems as it uses a modular and scalable energy device that can easily harness power from running water in rivers, irrigation canals and base of dams.

He added that it only took two days to install the Soleco picohydropower system and it can easily be dismounted if there are warnings of flood or typhoon.

To keep the picohydro facilities in check, a remote monitoring device was, likewise, installed in the system to prompt data and important alerts to the central control system.

NEA Officer in Charge Sonia San Diego said, “We laud the initiatives of Soleco and other electric cooperatives in jump-starting the deployment of renewable technologies in the country. This is consistent with the policy direction of the national government to tap renewables and increase its share in the energy mix.”

“As an agency committed to the protection of environment, NEA, together with its partner-ECs, is pushing the frontiers in RE project development to help position the Philippines as a world leader in the use of renewables,” she added.

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao • mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

UST dominates beach volleyball

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Sunday, October 9, 2016 A7

BOLTS’ X-FACTOR

Meralco’s Jimmy Alapag (right), here being harassed

by Ginebra’s Sol Mercado, hits a huge three-point shot for the Bolts in Game One. NONOY LACZA

NIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) moved closer in achieving its first-ever championship double in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines beach volleyball tournament after winning the Season 79 Finals opener against traditional rival Far Eastern University (FEU) on Saturday at the Sands SM by the Bay. Cherry Rondina and Jem Gutierrez extended the Tigresses’ unbeaten run to eight after coasting to a 21-17, 21-9 win over the Lady Tamaraws pair of Bernadeth Pons and Kyla Atienza to take a 1-0 series lead.

UST also stayed perfect in eight men’s contests, as KR Guzman and Anthony Arbasto downed Jude Garcia and cramp-stricken Jeremiah Barrica of FEU, 21-13, 21-11, for a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three series.

The Tigresses hope to annex their fourth title with another win in Game Two at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday at the same Pasay venue. UST is currently tied with Adamson for the most number of women’s titles with three.

The Growling Tigers seek to secure their third crown with another victory in Game Two scheduled at 9 a.m. UST has two men’s championships behind FEU and National University’s (NU) three.

Game Three, if necessary, will be played at around midday on Sunday.

It was the first-ever women’s title round showdown between the Tigresses and the Lady Tamaraws, with the Tigers and the Tamaraws are meeting for the championship for the fifth time, but the first since 2011.

FEU earlier dethroned De La Salle’s Kim Fajardo and Tin Tiamzon, 21-17, 21-15, in a playoff for the last Finals berth. The Lady Spikers, who beat the Lady Tamaraws, 21-15, 19-21, 15-12, on Saturday to force a rubber match, finish the season in third place.

FEU overcame University of the Philippines’s twice-to-beat edge in the semifinals, as Barrica and Garcia defeated Alfred Valbuena and Wendel Miguel, 22-20, 21-18, in the first match, and 22-20, 18-21, 16-14, in the decider.

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By Joel Orellana

ARANGAY Ginebra San Miguel Head Coach Tim Cone was right. Meralco’s Jimmy Alapag will be the X-factor in their best-of-seven championship series of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup. The former Gilas Pilipinas team captain delivered the clutch three in the Bolts’ 114-109 overtime win in Game One on Friday, giving the franchise a historic win.

The 38-year old veteran guard teamed up with Allen Durham in the pivotal fourth quarter and the extra inning in beating the Kings for the first time this season.

And Meralco mentor Norman Black is no longer surprised with Alapag’s clutch performance in Game One. “He’s [Alapag] really a force for us in the end-game. He stepped up and helped us tonight,” said Black, who drew 13 markers from Alapag, who came back from retirement to join the underachieving Bolts this season. “Jimmy always provides leadership for us, teaching the young guys the winning attitude and he knows how it feels to be like in this situation. That’s why we’re managing his minutes well so that he’ll be fresh in the end-game,” he added.

Alapag’s three-pointer gave Meralco a 101-100 lead with 33.4 ticks left in regulation. It was a shot that not only tied Allan Caidic in the all-time three-point shots made of 1,242, but also broke the back of the Kings who were about to clinch in Game One if the 5-foot-9 guard missed that shot. But Black admitted Durham’s

CRUZ HEADS CAST OF LEAN PBA HOPEFULS

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ARL Bryan Cruz, a part of the Gilas cadet team that competed in the recent International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Challenge in Iran, led a host of early applicants for the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Rookie Draft slated on October 30.

Mapua’s Joseph Eriobu and Jessie Saitanan; Saint Clare College’s Raymond Jamito and Jayson Ibay; University of the East’s Jairold Flores and

ALYSA SALEN

NU cagebelles sweep 1st round

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ITLEHOLDER National University (NU) completed a first-round sweep and stretched its winning streak to 39 with a 103-49 dismantling of University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Saturday in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season79 women’s basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Afril Bernardino flirted with a rare quadruple double, with 22 points, 11 steals, 10 assists and seven boards, to help the Lady Bulldogs stay unbeaten.

Gemma Miranda actually led NU with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Ria Nabalan (12), Jack Animam (11) and Je-anne Camelo (11) also scored in twin digits.

Far Eastern University downed University of the Philippines, 56-52, in the other match to cap the first round.

The Lady Tamaraws tied the Tigresses and last season’s runner-up Ateneo from fifth to seventh places at 2-5, while the Lady Maroons fell in last spot with a 1-6 record.

University of the East’s Alvin Pasaol (center) soars for a lay-up against Santo Tomas’s Jon Sheriff (left) and William Afoakwah. ALYSA SALEN

NIVERSITY of the East (UE) notched its second straight win against its first-round nemesis University of Santo Tomas (UST), 71-61, in Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Red Warriors’ defense forced the Growling Tigers to commit 32 turnovers that they translated to 26 points to come away with a convincing win and avenge their 87-88 loss in the first round.

Mark Olayon was the only UE player to hit double figures with 14 points, but five other players scored six or more for the Red Warriors, who led from the get go and tied their victims at 2-6 win-loss mark.

“We know how important this game for us. That win against Adamson, we picked it up from there.

Hopefully, this will be a start for us,” said UE Head Coach Derrick Pumaren, who wards started the tournament with six straight losses.

“I told the boys to come out and jump the gun on them dahil galing sila [UST] sa UST. Their morale is down and we took advantage of that,” Pumaren added.

The Red Warriors erected an early 23-13 lead after the first period and padded their margin to 41-27 at halftime. UE was never threatened since then although the Growling Tigers cut their big lead to 59-69, but Olayon’s floater in the ensuing play sealed the victory for the

Red Warriors. “I think we’re starting to show our true worth. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I hope we can continue to play with confidence to be able to play with our true potential,” Pumaren said.

Louie Vigil led all scorers with 21 points, but he had 10 of the team’s 32 errors in the game. William Afoakwah and Jeepy Faundo each had 10 markers for Head Coach Boy Sablan. Afoakwah also had 21 rebounds. Renz Subido, who erupted for 26 points in their first meeting, was limited to just three markers in 13 minutes on one-of-four shooting from the field.

In the second game, University of the Philippines (UP) shocked Ateneo de Manila, 56-52, to snap its 14-game losing streak to the Blue Eagles dating back 2009.

Gelo Vito drilled a huge three-pointer at the left corner to give the Fighting Maroons a 54-50 lead then Jett Manuel sank two clutch free throws with 7.2 ticks left as UP joined UE and UST in the team standings with 2-6 slate. “Credit to the players. They really showed great determination especially in the end game,” said Fighting Maroons Head Coach Bo Perasol, who drew a team-high 15 points from Manuel. John Wong and Ikeh Chibueze each had 10 markers for Ateneo, which dropped to 4-4. Joel Orellana

SELMAR DENIES LUCENA CITY SWEEP IN CEBUANA TENNIS

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domination by winning the girls’ 14-under class—5-2, 6-2 over Julia Ignacio—and 16-under group—6-0, 6-1 over Lila Salvacion. Alcala narrowly missed a third title after she bowed earlier to Ignacio in the 12-under finals, 2-6, 3-6.

“Again, I am happy to see unfamiliar names in this leg, as it shows that there are, indeed, potentials in the provinces as long as you give them the opportunity to show their skills,” Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO and Philippine Tennis Association Chairman Jean Henri Lhuillier said.

The other winners from the host city were Kaye Alcala in the girls’ 18-under group, RJ Virrey in the boys’ 18 under and 16 under, and Prince Patrick Salvacion in the unisex 10-under.

Alcala beat Tayabas’s Maylina Borbor, 6-3, 6-2; Virrey defeated Ranz Javier, 6-3, 6-4, in the 18 under and Jay Papa, 6-3, 6-4, in the 16 under, and Salvacion downed Angeline Alcala, 4-0, 5-3. The series foes to Dumalag in Capiz next weekend.

CENTRAL PHILIPPINE UNIVERSITY BAGS 2 GOLD MEDALS

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ENTRAL Philippine University (CPU) bagged two gold medals in the recent Smart-MVP Sports Foundation National Inter-School Taekwondo Championships at the SM Seaside Mall in Cebu City.

Jim Marshall Simpas beat Mapúa’s Paulo Cipriano in men’s lightweight category, while RJ Bless Joy Mallorca toppled University of Cebu’s Ma. Carmela Coran in the finweight-flyweight group to produce CPU’s two gold medals.

It was the first time that the interschool competition was staged outside Metro Manila.

Erwin Duran; and 10 others have also made themselves available for the draft exercise ahead of the application deadline at 5 p.m. on October 14.

The top pick in the 2016 Draft belongs to the Blackwater Elite.

Phoenix Petroleum is No. 2 with the draft rights the team earned from a previous trade deal with Star.

Third is Barangay Ginebra (from Phoenix), followed

by Mahindra, Star (from GlobalPort), San Miguel Beer (from NLEX), Meralco, NLEX (from TNT KaTropa), Rain or Shine, Ginebra, Alaska and Phoenix (from San Miguel) to round out the first round.

RED WARRIORS ON A ROLL; U.P. WINS Sluggish Azkals bow to Bahrain U in friendly match

University of Santo Tomas’s Cherry Rondina (top) scores against Bernadeth Pons of Far Eastern University.

ACOOR City’s Rainier Angelo Selmar prevented a sweep by host Lucena City in the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tennis Championship Series leg.

Lucena City bets won seven of the nine categories, but Selmar snatched two titles to hoist his city’s flag in the grassroots tournament.

Selmar captured the boys’ 12-under crown after beating local bet Luis Salvacio, 6-4, 4-6, 12-10, and added the 14-under title also at Salvacion’s expense, 6-3, 6-3, in the finals of the tournament that has Dunlop as official ball.

Angelica Alcala led Lucena City’s

long-game brilliance in Game One put them in the thick of things, as the Meralco import outplayed his counterpart Justin Brownlee in the series opener. Durham had 46 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in an almost no-relied job, while Brownlee struggled with his game and was held down to just 17 markers on 7-of-18 shooting the field.

“Our offense started with him. He’s the driving force for us,” Black said. “When we saw the opportunity to win Game One, I decided not to rest him [Durham] in the second half.”

Of course, there were other heroes for the Bolts in Game One, like Reynel Hugnatan, Anjo Caram and Chris Newsome, who tallied a near triple-double performance of 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Black’s main adjustment for Game Two on Sunday, also at the Big Dome at 6:30 p.m., is their defense on LA Tenorio, who had a career-high of 36 points, 20 in the first half.

“We had a tough time in LA [Tenorio]. Why LA scored 20 in the first half? That’s something we need to answer in Game Two,” Black said. “It’s back to the drawing board for us.”

Ginebra had a shot to steal Game One but the tip in of rookie Scottie Thompson rimmed out. Japeth Aguilar also had a rough game for the Kings on Friday, finishing with just six points on one-of-five shooting from the floor.

“We’re certainly disappointed with our play in Game One, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime, but we’re not discourage,” Cone said.

“It seemed the five game series with San Miguel took a toll on us and we just wore down as the game progressed. We feel we have a lot moreto show in Game Two,” he added.

Also winning gold medals in girls’ novice in the grade school division were Alea Sedulo,University of Cebu, Group 00; Krysta Bautista, LCC Wolfhound, Group 0; Bleant Abesamis, Liberta ES, Group 1; Rainiel Mitz Taga-an, Saint Bernadette College, Group 2; Trisha Yangoren, ETSC-3, Group 3; and Jasmin Grace, Lalantacon, PL Valenzuela, Group 4.

In the girls’ advance division , the winners were Rihanna Basibas, Colegio de Santo Niño, Group 00, 0; Ma. Keren Kiele Teves, Saint Louise School, Group 1; Dexie Leen Chavez, Cadiz West ES, Group 2; Leigh Andre Rodriguez, Christian

Venture Academy, Group 3; Elisha Venice Aguilar, Ateneo de Iloilo, Group 4; Marielle Gen Bautista, Siliman U, Group 5; and Mervonne Shayn Nicor, Group 6.

Topping their groups in the boys’ novice were Matthew Carl Dacer, Saint Anne Learning Center, Group 00; Zach Olivo, Saint Scholastica’s, Group 0; Martin Arch Louis Gabriel, PLV, Group 1; Zion Cruz, PL Valenzuela, Group 2; James Lobaton, Murcia ES, Group 3; Saldy Jan de Asis, Saint Bernadette, Group 4; and Riele Cuyos, Adonaiasian Academy, Group 5-6.

Kevin Ingreso (right) of Philippine Azkals and Sayed Dhiya Saeed Shubbar of Bahrain battle for possession during their friendly game at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. ALYSA SALEN

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tired, sluggish Philippine Azkals showed up on Friday night in their friendly game against Bahrain at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

And the result was not surprising, a 3-1 drubbing from the visiting nation.

The Philippine men’s football team started its preparation for the Asian Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup started not the way Head Coach Thomas Dooley wanted.

“Obviously, the result was disappointing, of course, we’d like to win the game but you can see that the players were mentally and physically tired,” Dooley said after the match.

“We made so many mistakes, especially in the end. The players came too late because we’re mentally tired,” Dooley added.

The Azkals played sluggishly, especially in the first half, as they failed to match the speed of the Bahrainis, who banked to the two goals of skipper Mohamed Khabir.

Khabir opened the scoring at the fourth-minute mark and double his score at 46th minute.

Mike Ott, a new recruit in the squad, was the lone bright spot for the Azkals on Friday night after scoring at 49th-minute mark, converting on the cross from Martin Steuble to give the home team something to celebrate and trim the lead to 1-2.

The Azkals had several chances to tie the game, but the Bahrainis sealed the win after Marzooq Alromaihi scored at the stoppage time.

“The players are normally good enough when you’re mentally tired. They are a good team too, but in the second half, we played much better and we had a goal and more opportunities,” Dooley said. “But it wasn’t a game for that we could actually turn.”

“They [young players] all did well. What really went well was when Mike [Ott] scored the goal and showed that he is a good addition to our team,” he added.

Dooley was visibly frustrated with the outcome, especially that the AFF Suzuki Cup group stage, slated from November 19 to 25 at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan, is just months away.

The Azkals will have another friendly match this time against North Korea on Monday also at the Rizal Memorial venue. Lance Agcaoili

Sports

A8 | S

unday, October 9, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

BusinessMirror

LADY MAROONS WIN

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NIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) overpowered Philippine Coast Guard, 25-10, 25-19, 25-15, on Saturday to post its first win in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13-Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Diana Carlos uncorked a match-high 19 points, including 14 on spikes and two on blocks, to help propel the Lady Maroons to their first triumph in two outings in this league using Accel as its official outfitter and Mikasa as official ball.

The win made up for UP’s flat performance last time when it fell to an Alyssa Valdez-led Bureau of Customs, 23-25, 18-25, 22-25, last Monday that quashed the confidence the former gained by placing third in the Collegiate Conference last month.

“This is morale-boosting for us,” said Carlos. The Lady Dolphins fell to their third straight defeat.

Earlier, Instituto Estetico Manila (IEM) turned back Champion Supra, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10, to even its card to 1-1 in the Spikers Turf Season 2 Reinforced Conference.

Jason Canlas and Edan Canlas took charge in the decider as the Phoenix Volley Masters broke loose from a tight duel that featured eighth deadlocks, seizing a 14-9 lead en route to victory.

It was a big bounce-back win for IEM, which dropped its opening day match to

Petron’s Serena Warner (left) and Aiza Pontillas (center) try to block the spike of Chlodia Cortez of Generika. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

TORNADOES WALLOP CARGO MOVERS

D University of the Philippines’s Diana Mae Carlos (18) challenges the defense of Sheila Marie Cecilio (2), Nichaella Caraan (10) and Grenlen Malapit (11) of Coast Guard. NONOY LACZA

defending champion Cignal TV with the high-leaping 5-9 Jason Canlas, coming off as a replacement for the injured Jerome Sarmiento, unleashing a kill into the center court after an off-the-block hit by Champion Supra’s Joven Camaganakan to close out the thrilling match marked by 18 ties.

Three other IEM players turned in doubledigit scores with Michael Zamore scoring 12 points, and Edan Canlas and newcomer Daryl Valenzuela chipping in 11 hits each.

The win thus IEM in fourth spot in the six-team field jointly led by Cignal, Open Conference titlist Philippine Air Force and Philippine Army with 1-0 cards.

Champion Surplus, parading seven players from De La Salle University and the core of the disbanded Santa Elena Construction, is at 0-1, followed by 100 PLUS at 0-2.

Camaganakan topscored for Champion Supra with 16 points, while Ace Mandani had 13 markers, and Berlin Paglinawan and Green Spiker Arjay Onia chipped in 10 hits apiece.

EFENDING champion Foton opened its title retention bid on a high note with a vengeful 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 victory over the depleted F2 Logistics, in straight sets at the start of the 2016 Asics Philippine Superliga (PSL) Grand Prix presented by PLDT Home Ultera on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

The Tornadoes, who lost to the Cargo Movers in the finals of the previous tournament, had an easy outing as F2 Logistics played with only one import in Sydney Kemper and missed the services of Ara Galang, who underwent a minor operation on her right knee.

Foton American imports Ariel Usher and reigning Grand Prix Most Valuable Player Lindsay Stalzer, who were with the team since their 2016 Asian Volleyball Confederation Asian Women’s Club Championship campaign last month, provided the punishing blows to lead their squad in its first win.

Usher led the charge with 20 points

highlighted by 19 spikes, while Stalzer, 13 attacks, a pair of service aces and a block for 16 points, including seven digs and six excellent receptions. Jaja Santiago also stood out adding nine points.

“This result, 3-0, is okay, but for my opinion, this is not maximum for my team. This is only 50 percent to 60 percent,” said Foton Head Coach Moro Branislav, a seasoned Serbian mentor who will also call the shots for the PSL-F2 Logistics Manila in the the 2016 International Volleyball Federation Women’s Club World Championship.

“But I respect F2 Logistics, they are good, too, even they only played with one domestic player. This is just the first match,” Branislav added.

Kemper was limited to seven points as Aby Maraño stepped up for the Cargo Movers with 12 points in a losing cause, while skipper Cha Cruz and Majoy Baron added nine and eight markers, respectively.

Their second import Hailey Dora Spelman,

the American reinforcement of Altay VC, is expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday.

In the first game, Petron jump-started its campaign with a rousing 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 win over Generika behind the solid games from its imports.

The Tri-Activ Spikers played like a well-oiled machine, dismantling the Life Savers in just 71 minutes. American import Stephanie Niemer topped all scorers on her debut finishing with 18 points on 15 spikes, three blocks and three service aces, including six digs to lead the way for Petron. Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and new skipper Frances Molina chipped in 10 hits each, while the team’s other reinforcement from United States, Serena Warner added nine points.

“We’re happy that everybody performed well today. Hopefully, we could maintain this kind of performance and keep on improving because it’s a long way to go for this conference,” said Petron new Head Coach Shaq Delos Santos, who replaced George Pascua. Lance Agcaoili