Businessmirror october 10, 2016

“I thought supporting the nominee was the best thing for our country and our party. Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible, respectable Republican to lead the ticket.”—Alabama Rep. Martha Roby, calling on Trump to quit the race altogether after he was caught on tape bragging about predatory advances on women. AP

“When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p___. You can do anything.”—Donald Trump recorded on tape, bragging about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous. AP

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“We pray for his family.”—Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, after canceling a Wisconsin appearance scheduled with House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, both of whom had condemned Trump’s remarks the day before, but stopped short of withdrawing support altogether. AP

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Monday, October 10, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 366

‘Economic managers reject ₧125 wage hike’

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By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

he country’s economic managers are opposed to proposals to implement a P125 across-the-board wage increase for workers in the private sector, according to a high-ranking government official.

INSIDE

The additional cost that will be incurred by firms if the wage hike is approved

The government official said economic managers are concerned about the impact of the wage hike on small and medium enterprises See “Wage hike,” A4

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Why are Republicans dropping Trump now?

PERSPECTIVE

₧166B

DU30’s first 100 days: Citizens note changes e4

Refugees Can Bolster a Region’s Economy

monday morning

Achieving better quality of life through PPPs: The metrics PPP Lead Alberto C. Agra Conclusion

P

UBLIC-PRIVATE partnerships (PPPs) are generally welfare-driven, in terms of content and process. Thus, because of PPPs, people’s lives must become better socially, economically, environmentally and politically. Change must be for the better. Quality of life must be enhanced. People must become happier.

Continued on A14

HOUSE VOWS APPROVAL OF TAX-EXEMPTION BILL

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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e1

AP PHOTO

WOODS SET TO RETURN AT SAFETY OPEN

By Rizal Raoul Reyes Contributor

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sports

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

c1

Part One

RESIDENT Duterte was catapulted into power as many of the 16 million Filipino voters searched for leaders they deemed decisive.

Two entrepreneurs interviewed by the BusinessMiror expressed a great degree of satisfaction on the

PESO exchange rates n US 48.2370

work done by the Duterte administration during its first 100 days.

William Camu, 55, a stall holder in Santa Ana market, is all praises on the anti-illegal-drugs campaign of the administration.

“I think and believe that the campaign against illegal drugs is the most important achievement of the President during his first 100 days in office,” Camu told the BusinessMirror.

He noted the campaign would enable the average Filipino to feel safer and more secure while he or she pursue his or her daily activities.

“With his no-nonsense campaign against illegal drugs, [Mr.] Duterte has given law and order back to the streets,” Camu said. “Right now, we can say that our son, daughter, brother, sister, wife, husband are safer to move around.”

Continued on A2

@joveemarie

HE leadership of the House of Representatives has vowed to exempt workers earning P25,000 monthly, or P300,000 annually, and below from personal income tax (PIT).

Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez said, “The lower house will deliver President Duterte’s commitment that workers earning P25,000 and below should be tax-exempted.”

But Mr. Duterte’s commitment to increase the bracket of workers paying PIT runs counter to the proposal of the Department of Finance (DOF).

The DOF proposal seeks to exempt from PIT only workers with a monthly salary of P20,833, or P250,000 annually.

But Rep. Dakila Carlo E. Cua of Quirino believes the issue will be resolved in a meeting between the lower house and the DOF. “We are set to meet DOF officials soon,” said Cua, who

is also chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Despite conflicting views between the lawmakers and the DOF, Cua said his committee is eyeing to pass the bill lowering PIT and its offsetting measures

by December. Cua also believes the bill would be approved during a plenary session in January next year.

He earlier said the House of Representatives will just make an “improvement” on the DOF proposal, instead of a rejection of the finance department’s proposed comprehensive taxreform package.

Cua added that one of the “improvements” the lower chamber will apply on the DOF proposal is the inclusion of a provision on tax-collection efficiency of revenue-generating agencies.

“One of the tax-collection efficiency measures we are eyeing is the improvement of our point-of-sale system,” he said. Cua pointed as example commercial establishments in See “Tax exemption,” 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 )

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A2 Monday, October 10, 2016

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DU30’s first 100 days: Citizens note changes Continued from A1

However, he also acknowledged the President is able to start a war on drugs because of “reforms” in the country’s police enforcement system. As far as governance is concerned, Camu said he personally experienced changes when he recently renewed his marriage license in San Pablo, Laguna.

Before, I used to see employees behind their desk applying make up and lipstick hours before lunch break or before 4 p.m., he explained. Camu said last week he was surprised to see employees paying attention to him and his request.

“When I requested the employee to process it on the same day, she said it can be done,” he said. “I was able to pick it up at 4 p.m. on the same day without giving a tip [or

Tax exemption. . .

countries like Singapore that are “directly connected to the revenuecollection agencies.”

“This [system] makes tax administration more efficient in these countries,” Cua said. “The country’s big business establishments are not connected, at least in real time, to revenue-collection agencies. Currently they implement manual uploading. That is something that we can do better.”

shelling out cash] for a snack.”

Business as usual

FOR Testech Inc. President and COO Elmer Lapeña, however, it was business as usual as there were no adverse impacts or negative results coming out of the transition to the new administration.

“But this is [still] a very positive outcome as there were many predictions of turmoil or disruptions, perhaps, to dissuade people from voting for Duterte,” Lapeña said in a recent interview via e-mail with the BusinessMirror.

He believes a lot of people around the country remained optimistic mainly because they felt safer, even at night. “Even many taxi drivers I’ve asked said they feel more secure when they are driving taxis at night,” Lapeña said.

Furthermore, he said foreign

Continued from A1

The lower chamber wants this plan to be included as offsetting measures to cover up for the estimated P159 billion in foregone revenues from the planned PIT rates, instead of removing the VAT exemptions for senior citizens and persons with disabilities as the DOF wants.

Under the DOF proposal, only workers earning not over P250,000 annually should be exempted from PIT.

businessmen who complained about Mr. Duterte’s iron-fist policy and lack of flair are the same people who praised Duterte on his no-nonsense policies against drugs and corruption as being good for the country.

Contrary to the perceptions and analyses of some sectors, Lapeña said the country “will continue toward its growth path, which is beneficial to the business community.”

“Again, there were fears of disruption and adverse impacts, but none of these have happened. So we are thankful that our clients’ businesses continue to flourish in the new administration,” he explained. “We can still expect more changes to come, as the country has to make some adjustments to improve the business climate.”

A LTHOUGH there were talks

of auditing labor practices in relation to end-of-contract arrangements, Lapeña said introduction of changes to policies have yet to be finalized and announced. Overall, Lapeña noted the business sector is confident the Duterte administration will implement pol icies t hat w i l l benefit employees.

Moreover, he said, entrepreneurs are optimistic they will be allowed to continue to operate in a viable manner that is competitive against industries in neighboring economies to ensure continued economic growth in the country.

“A well-balanced, fair and winwin situation can be realized by putting all these into consideration. Once the industries are no longer viable and they are forced to seek countries with more favorable conditions, business will suf-

fer and, ultimately, the country’s growth will likewise suffer,” Lapeña said. “Knowing that the administration is deeply concerned with worker’s welfare is a good sign that the administration will do whatever it can to prevent legitimate and compliant businesses from closure.”

“After all, the government has struggled through the years to attract more foreign and local investments and it should continue to do whatever is needed to retain these investments that drive economic growth and development,” he added.

In general, Lapeña said he believes the business sector is supportive of Mr. Duterte’s peace-andorder campaign “because it enables business to thrive.”

This is complemented by the depreciation of the peso against the

US dollar that provides a big advantage to dollar-based revenues, according to him. However, some of these changes are mainly influenced by external factors.

To improve the overall business climate, a lot of business infrastructure still needs to be improved and developed, Lapeña said, citing Internet speed, voice communications quality, traffic, government services. Many of these have to be enhanced to make the flow of goods and services faster and more efficient.

The government must also provide more online services because this will help address the traffic situation and improve productivity as well, said Lapeña, who is also COO of Testech, one of the country’s leading visual inspection firm to the electronics and semiconductor industry. To be continued

In the current setup, those earning P10,000 or less per month pay a 5-percent income tax, while those with yearly earnings of P500,000 and above pay a 32-percent income tax.

However, the DOF bill will expand the VAT base by reducing the coverage of its exemptions, including privileges granted for senior citizens and PWDs, and through adjustment of excise taxes imposed on petroleum products.

Likewise, the DOF proposes to restructure the excise tax on au-

tomobiles except for buses, trucks, cargo vans, jeeps, jeepney substitutes and special purpose vehicles to cover losses in tax revenues.

The bill also seeks to repeal Section 4 of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (Esca) of 2010, as well as Sections 32-A and 33-A of the Magna Carta for PWDs. Section 4 of the Esca provides VAT exemption for medicines, professional fees of attending physicians in all private hospitals, land mass transit, airfare, seafare, and utilization of services in

hotels, admission fees in theater and cinema houses and funeral and burial services for the death of senior citizens.

Sections 32-A and Section 32-B of the Magna Carta for PWDs provide for a 20-percent discount and exemption from VAT, if applicable, on certain goods and services as tax incentives to a family of a PWD. In a radio interview, Cua admitted the government has been losing at least P10 billion in revenues due to alleged abuses in the

implementation of VAT exemption for senior citizens.

“It [the tax-exemption bill] has to be a nonemotional decision,” he said. “It has to be a decision based on research.”

But Cua has said the lower chamber would most likely retain and not remove VAT exemptions for senior citizens and PWDs. “The Speaker has made it clear: it is not possible to remove [VAT exemptions for senior citizens and PWDs] and, of course, we’ll stand by him,” the lawmaker added.

Still for finalization

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www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, October 10, 2016 A3

Tourism destinations have now become ‘hives of commerce’ T

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@Pulitika2010 Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) pointed to the transformative nature of tourism, developing many sites and destinations into business centers, in both the provinces and the Metro area, as well.

Speaking on behalf of President Duterte who was invited as the keynote speaker at the First World Travel Expo 2016 last Friday, Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo said this transformative nature is also evident in travel fairs, which are no longer just occasions to push tour packages.

“With entrepreneurs showcasing their products and their

crafts, tourism is converging beautifully with trade and industry,” she said, after cutting the ribbon to launch the three-day travel expo, which closed on Sunday. “The entry of this segment into this arena is a major proof of tourism’s potential to transform destinations into hives of commerce and trade; of the sector’s ability to create and sustain

livelihood and employment directly and through its related services,” the DOT chief said.

The number of people directly employed in the tourism industry reached 5 million in 2015. The Philippine Statistics Authority said tourism accounts for one in every 10 jobs in the economy, or a 12.7-percent share to total employment.

Teo also noted the growing number of travel fairs in the country, which have helped boost domestic tourism. “Tourism is transforming the world into one big marketplace.

Gone are the days when all you can attend in one year is just one or two travel fairs organized by travel and tour operators to attract more tourists. For the past two years, it seems we have travel fairs almost monthly, organized by various interest groups, yet the number of people attending these events are swelling.”

She added: “The most gratifying result is a growing appetite for

travel, especially for the domestic market. It is also most interesting to note that in travel marts, we do not only see tour operators and travel agents; we see airlines, hotels and resorts, and we see local government units promoting their destinations aggressively.”

She said the DOT is ready to accept the challenge to fan the travel flame further by synergizing the regional tourism efforts into one cohesive tourism program for the country “that will connect the destination dots from end to end—from Batanes all the way to Jolo.”

The tourism secretary said this goal will be accomplished with the DOT “providing the needed structural mechanisms to enable provinces to link as clusters and tourism circuits, so that we are able to include as many of our provinces as possible in tour packages.”

In addition, the agency will also create “thematic activity trails” that will appeal to every kind of traveler,

so they can indulge in their favorite pursuits in niche destinations.

“In a nutshell, the Department of Tourism is ready to partner with you by providing you with enhanced destinations to market, by introducing new segments that will tickle the fancy of both existing and new markets, by creating new niches that will increase our ‘sales’ inventory of tourism sights,” Teo said. “We are very happy that our strategic directions will have a partner in implementation. Travel fairs and expos, such as the one you are launching today, will give us the much-needed distribution channels with which we can launch and relaunch tourism destinations, connect buyers and sellers, create networks and linkages and provide an outlet for tourism trade.”

The further development of the country’s tourism industry already has all the necessary conditions in place, boding its eventual success. She pointed to factors, like affordable air travel, cheaper

accommodations with the AirBnb model, that “is disrupting the hospitality industry,” and the ability of social media to level the playing field in marketing, that benefit both big and small players.

“We are, indeed, in a ‘travel revolution’ as your theme aptly describes,” the tourism official said.

“The number of new players coming into the industry has expanded the depth and breadth of tourism and is making this industry a strong economic force.”

Teo extolled the industry players to embrace the changes and disruptions “as the new normal.” These serve to challenge the industry to constantly offer the best products and surpass these.

“I am confident we have the creative and innovative spirit to keep on making the best better, because that is the only option in a tight and crowded market full of competitors waiting to take your place in the line,” she said.

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A4 Monday, October 10, 2016

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CA junks appeal on MRT 3 tax ruling ₧1B T

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has junked the appeal of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)—precursor of today’s Department of Transportation—and the Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) to reverse its decision denying their bid to regain control of portions of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3), which was seized by the Makati City government for failure to pay more than P1 billion worth of property taxes from 2000 to 2004.

The worth of property taxes the Metro Rail Transit Corp. owes the Makati City government

It can be recalled that the CA’s 10th Division, through Associate Justice Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles, dismissed in October 2015 the petition filed by the DOTC and MRTC seeking the reversal of

the ruling issued by the Regional Trial Court in Makati City on September 20, 2010, on the ground of lack of jurisdiction.

The RTC in Makati City, in the said decision, junked the DOTC and MRTC’s complaint for nullification of real-property tax assessment and warrant of levy issued by the Makati City government.

The CA held that under Republic Act (RA) 9282, or the law expanding the jurisdiction of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), the latter is a coequal body of the CA, which has jurisdiction over decisions, orders and resolutions of the RTC in local tax cases, which includes real-property taxes.

In its motion for reconsideration

(MR) of the CA decision, the DOTC argued that the CA has no jurisdiction over the case.

Considering that the subject matter of the case is real-property tax, the DOTC said the CA should have proceeded with the resolution of the case on the merits, as real-property tax is within the ambit of a national tax, with the local government units only given an autonomy to appraise, assess, collect and administer in their respective localities.

On the other hand, MRTC also shared the same position saying that the real-property tax is not a local tax, thus, the CA has jurisdiction to resolve their petition

Duterte to issue executive order on RH law implementation–Neda

By Cai U. Ordinario

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@cuo_bm

he Duterte administration will be preparing an executive order (EO) to fully implement the country’s responsible parenthood and reproductive health (RPRH) law, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Ernesto M. Pernia recently told reporters that the EO has already been prepared by the Department of Health (DOH).

Part of the RPRH is the distribution and use of contraceptives.

However, a temporary restraining order (TRO) has been issued against the government’s distribution of Implanon, an injectible contraceptive.

“If we cannot implement the RH law fully, that will be problematic.

To be able to achieve the 17-percent poverty incidence by the end of the term of this President, it will have to be a combination of strong economic growth, lots of jobs, complemented by the full implementation of the RH law so that the poor are able to limit and/or space their child bearing,” Pernia said.

Pernia added that limiting the number of children to three per family is the desire of many Filipino

couples. This also helps keep them from poverty.

Apart from limiting the number of children, generating sufficient jobs is another way the government wants to decrease poverty.

The high number of new entrants and the scores of unemployed Filipinos will require hitting a higher job-generation target.

Pernia said generating around 2 million jobs a year may be needed to provide jobs for unemployed Filipinos and fresh graduates joining the labor force.

In previous administrations, the government has set a target of 1 million jobs a year. However, the target has not been met by the past

two administrations.

“I think we should generate 2 million to mop up the unemployed and those who are incoming into the labor force,” Pernia said. “That’s just in the top of my head, not yet in PDP [Philippine Development Plan].”

Earlier, Pernia said that, while the economy grew 43 percent, the country’s poverty incidence only declined by 2.3 percentage points between 2006 and 2015.

Neda Deputy Director General Rosemarie G. Edillon said poverty rate in 2015 would have been lower by 2.7 percentage points if food prices only posted an annual average of 3 percent between 2012 and 2015.

Dat a f rom t he Ph i l ippine

Statistics Authority showed poverty incidence among Filipinos in the first semester of 2015 at 26.3 percent, slightly lower than the 27.9 percent recorded a year ago.

Pernia said economic growth did not reach regions such as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. He added that food prices, particularly rice, increased by almost 30 percent between 2009 and 2015.

Former Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said high rice prices was among the main reasons the country’s poverty-incidence rate in the first semester of 2015 increased to 26.3 percent.

on its merits.

In junking their MR, the CA said that, based on Section 7 of RA 9282, the CTA’s jurisdiction covers decisions, orders, or resolutions of the RTCs in local tax cases.

“Indeed, the CTA, sitting as division, has jurisdiction to review on appeal the decisions, rulings and resolutions of the RTC over local tax cases, which includes real-property taxes,” the CA said.

“We see no reason for us to deviate from our ruling dismissing the instant appeal for want of jurisdiction,” it added.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Mariflor Puzalan Castillo and Florito Macalino.

Wage hike. . .

Continued from A1

(SMEs) and the country’s competitiveness. “Yes, economic managers did not approve of the across-theboard wage hike. We signed a position paper [against the proposal],” the government executive privy to the matter told the BusinessMirror.

Earlier, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) said businesses in the formal sector will incur an additional cost of P166 billion annually should the P125 wage hike be formally proposed via legislation.

Ecop said it arrived an estimate of P166 billion by multiplying the total number of employed workers

by P125, then added the other costs incurred by employers, such as bonuses and gratuities, payments in kind, housing, social expenditures and other indirect costs.

The group used the 2014 Philippine Statistics Authority data, which indicated that 7 million wage and salary workers are employed by 946,988 registered establishments in the formal sector.

Ninety-nine percent of businesses in the formal sector are comprised of micro and small businesses, or enterprises which employ less than 10 and 100 workers, respectively. These businesses have assets amounting to less than P15 million.

Micro and small businesses are expected to bear the brunt of higher salaries for workers in the private sector.

Ecop warned that any changes in the cost of labor could affect businesses and the decision of workers to enter the labor market.

The group said this could impact commodity prices and, eventually, economic growth.

Implementing the P125 acrossthe-board wage hike will cut the country’s GDP by 1 percentage point to 5.5 percent, from the projected 6.5 percent next year.

“This could also result in the unemployment loss of thousands, and bring full-year unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in 2017,” Ecop’s position paper read.

Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the P125 across-the-board wage hike is not an “official proposal” but a “personal position” of Labor Undersecretary Joel B. Maglunsod, a former militant labor group leader and Anakpawis party-list representative.

Even so, the DOLE said it remains “open” to the idea of increasing workers’ salary but not necessarily the P125 being pushed by labor groups.

Last month Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III directed all Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board to conduct nationwide consultations on legislative measures for increasing the salary of workers in the private sector by P125.

In a statement, Bello said “all workers, regardless of whether they are agricultural or nonagricultural, deserve equal treatment under the law.”

AseanMonday BusinessMirror

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Monday, October 10, 2016 A5

Deestone Group affirms 7B-baht blueprint

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hai tire maker Deestone Group remains committed to investing 7 billion baht under a three-year business plan through 2017, citing strong demand in both domestic and overseas markets.

Suwicha Vongsariyavanich, managing director, said the company has spent 3.5 billion baht since April 2015 to raise production at its fourth plant making vehicle tires in Nakhon Pathom’s Bang Lane district. Capacity was increased to 10.5 million tires, from 5.5 million.

The remaining 3.5 billion baht will be slated for 2017, possibly to expand its production of tires for vehicles and big trucks.

“Despite the country’s overall bearish new car sales over the past few years, domestic demand for replacement tires is still healthy driven by rising vehicle numbers every year,” he said.

The Yingluck Shinawatra administration’s first-time car buyer pro-

gram drove overall car sales up by 80.6 percent in 2012 to 1.44 million, 1.23 million of which were bought under the scheme.

Sales dropped to 1.33 million units in 2013, fell again to 881,832 in 2014 and declined to only 799,592 in 2015.

The Thai market for vehicle tires totals about 12 million units per year, while Deestone controls a 12percent market share.

It is anticipated over the next few years the market will see an average of 5-percent to 10-percent growth potential from 50 billion baht now.

Founded in 1982, Deestone supplies vehicle tires, tubes and specialized tires for all market segments.

In 1994, with the establishment of

Deestone International Co., the company diversified into bicycle, scooter and special industrial tires and inner tube manufacturing for export.

Some 60 percent of Deestone Group products are destined for export markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Deestone is a major Thai tire manufacturer, running five plants and subsidiaries in Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom with total investment of 6.5 billion baht.

It has 10,000 employees and 600 dealers nationwide.

The company just commenced operation of its fifth plant a couple of years ago, making truck tyres in Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom.

The 3.5-billion-baht factory won Board of Investment privileges to manufacture 1 million tires a year using 1,000 employees. Deestone has combined annual production of 10.5 million vehicles tires, 1 million truck tires, 12 million bicycle tires and 6 million motorcycle tires.

Suwicha said though the economy in certain Asean countries remains fragile, the company believes the overall international market for replacement tires still remains vibrant. TNS

Photo taken from the web site of Deestone Group

Saudi Arabia, Singapore to boost cooperation in education R IYADH—Saudi Arabia and Singapore have identified education and health as potential areas of cooperation.

“Top Saudi officials will be traveling to Singapore, an island city-state in Southeast Asia, in the near future to explore possibilities to work closely in these sectors,” Singapore Ambassador Lawrence Anderson said here on Saturday.

Anderson, who was speaking on the occasion of Singapore’s national day, said, “Singapore has a lot to offer to the Kingdom within the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030. With 2017 marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations, there is a great interest to further strengthen Singapore-Saudi ties through various commercial opportunities presented by the Vision 2030 reforms.”

Singapore has “one of the most successful health care systems in the world, in terms of both efficiency in financing, and the results achieved in community health outcomes. Since the 1990s in the field of education, Singapore has consistently been among the top-performing countries.” To this end, the diplomat noted that efforts will be made to develop modalities to enhance bilateral relations under the new cooperation plan,

especially in learning “ best practices” in health and education.

The envoy further pointed out that “science, technology, IT, training and skills development are other potential areas in which the two countries can further cooperate.”

Refering to commercial relations, Anderson said that Saudi Arabia has been Singapore’s second-largest trading partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade reaching $10 billion last year. “At the end of 2015, the total number of Saudi companies with their presence in Singapore increased to 45 from 20 in 2006,” he noted.

The envoy, who on Friday night hosted a reception for Singaporeans based in Riyadh, said that “the national day event organized by the embassy was a way of bringing the community together.”

Framing his speech under the three themes of “Remembrance, Rejoicing, and Thankfulness,” Anderson said that Singapore was entering a new era with the passing of its first generation of leaders like former President S.R. Nathan and founding father PM Lee Kuan Yew, who had led the country for decades to prosperity.

Anderson reminded the community of the valuable lessons of loyalty, hard work, honesty and respect for family, neighbors and friends, that these pioneer leaders espoused.

CP chairman: Tech key for global race

D

hanin Chearavanont, chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group (CP), the country’s leading agro-industrial conglomerate, has suggested that governments and businesses in Asean rely more on technology to compete globally.

“The world is changing,” Dhanin told the Nikkei Asia 300 Global Business Forum. “Industry will gear toward the Industry 4.0 era. It’s an opportunity for Asean countries to transform ourselves.

It’s necessary to use advanced technology, even in developing countries.”

Business leaders must be responsive to technological changes, he said. For example, the automotive industry is now working around the clock on electric vehicles and driverless cars, often with the use of robots to replace human labor.

CP is gearing toward this trend by building its factory without human labor, or using just a few workers in Europe and working on biotechnology with several universities to invent quality products, he detailed.

“We’re not worried about global food shortages, but we have concerns that the food supply will be in surplus,” Dhanin said.

Industry 4.0 has presented CP with opportunities in Asean, especially as the government has also revised laws and increased incentives to attract foreign investors bearing technological advantage.

Dhanin said Japan makes substantial technological developments, and it can become the world’s largest economy one day if

Japanese business leaders take more investment risks to support its expansion.

Although CP stresses technological development, people are also an important factor to support the growth of businesses in the long term, he continued.

The group built its training center for leadership to develop human resources and cash in on the rapid change of technology.

Knowledge from former General Electric Chief Executive Jack Welch will be applied for the betterment its top executives.

“For CP, nothing is more important than human resources, if we can’t develop enough people, we won’t be able to expand.

Don’t worry about unemployment from robots replacing humans, as humans will work in areas robots cannot perform in,” Dhanin said.

With an interest in Japanese technological developments, Dhanin meets with executives of Itochu Group, a leading Japanese conglomerate, every three months to exchange business views and explore new opportunities together.

With perspectives from its worldwide network, Itochu provides fresh examples for CP. “Itochu thinks differently from other Japanese companies, and working with it will help us hone leadership,” Dhanin said. “At CP, we are daring enough to allow our executives to face investment risks, and lose one or 10 billion baht. However, executives also have to solve the problem and bring back in the amount they lose.” TNS

On the theme of “rejoicing,” Anderson spoke about how Singaporeans collectively cheered on their athletes Joseph Schooling and Yip Pin Xiu who won gold medals in swimming at this year’s summer Olympics and Paralympics, respectively.

He highlighted the challenges that Singapore will have to face in the new era of dis-

ruptive technology, economic uncertainty, and the threats posed by terrorism.

He emphasized that the most important criteria to Singapore’s continued success was the importance of preserving its hard-fought unity as a multiracial and multireligious country. “If we can all pull together as one united people, regardless

of race, language or religion, then we can truly look forward to the future with confidence,” Anderson said.

The city-state today is considered a barometer of global economic health owing to its high dependence on external trade. Its foreign trade and capital flows is 407.9 percent of its GDP. TNS

A6 Monday, October 10, 2016 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

The World BusinessMirror

Billionaire vows to press on

Republicans to Trump: Quit

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets supporters outside his Trump Tower building in New York on Saturday. AP/Ezra Kaplan

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EW YORK—A defiant Donald Trump insisted on Saturday he would “never” abandon his White House bid, rejecting a growing backlash from Republican leaders nationwide who disavowed the GOP’s presidential nominee after he was caught on tape bragging about predatory advances on women.

Trump’s own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, declared he could neither condone nor defend Trump’s remarks in a 2005 videotape that sparked panic inside Trump Tower and throughout the Republican Party with early voting already under way exactly one month before Election Day. “We pray for his family,” Pence said in a statement, after canceling a Wisconsin appearance scheduled with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, both of whom had condemned Trump’s remarks the day before, but stopped short of withdrawing support altogether.

The furor places enormous pressure on Trump to try to tamp down a crisis sure to spill into Sunday night’s

presidential debate.

But even as the fallout deepened fractures in a party already torn about Trump, many remained loyal to the political outsider.

Wisconsin voter Jean Stanley donned a shirt proclaiming “Wisconsin Women Love Trump” and called Ryan a “traitor” for denouncing the presidential contender’s comments.

“He’s a real human,” Stanley said of the New York businessman, surrounded by Trump supporters at the Wisconsin rally where he was set to appear before the videotape emerged.

Ryan and Priebus did not join a chorus of GOP officeholders from Utah to Alabama to New Hampshire who decided the former reality television star’s bombshell was too much to take.

More than a dozen Republicans— senators, congressmen and sitting governors—announced on Saturday they would not vote for Trump.

Among them was the party’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who had stood by Trump even after the billionaire questioned whether the former POW should be considered a war hero because he got “captured.”

“He was not my choice, but as a past nominee, I thought it important I respect the fact that Donald Trump won a majority of the delegates by the rules our party set,” McCain said in a statement. But given Trump’s “behavior this week,” McCain said, it is “impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.”

Many went farther and called on Trump to quit the race altogether.

“I thought suppor ting the nominee was the best thing for our country and our party,” Alabama Rep. Martha Roby said in a statement. “Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible, respectable Republican to lead the ticket.”

Republican leaders have scheduled a Monday morning conference call for House GOP lawmakers, who are out of town for Congress’s election recess. The e-mail obtained by The Associated Press (AP) doesn’t

specify the topic for the 11 a.m. EDT call, but rank-and-file lawmakers believe it’s about Trump. Such calls are rare and usually held to discuss important matters.

His party in chaos, Trump spent on Saturday with a close circle of advisers in his campaign’s midtown Manhattan headquarters. Among them: former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said calls for Trump to bow out are simply the “wishful thinking of the Clinton campaign and those people who have opposed him for a long time.”

Most of Trump’s staff and network of supporters were left in the dark about the fast-moving developments. Conference calls were canceled and prominent supporters were given no guidance about how to respond to the explosive development, according to a person close to the Trump operation. The person insisted on anonymity, lacking the authority to discuss internal campaign matters publicly.

Trump addressed the dire situation on Saturday with a light-hearted tweet: “Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!”

He later tweeted he would not yield the GOP nomination under any circumstances: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly—I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN!” The political firestorm was

sparked by a 2005 video obtained and released on Friday by The Washington Post and NBC News.

In the video, Trump, who was married to his current wife at the time, is heard describing attempts to have sex with a married woman.

He also brags about women letting him kiss them and grab their genitals because he is famous.

“When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump says in the video. He adds seconds later: “Grab them by the p----. You can do anything.” He said of his impulse to kiss beautiful women: “I don’t even wait.”

In a video statement released by his campaign after midnight early Saturday morning, Trump said, “I was wrong and I apologize.” But also dismissed the revelations as “nothing more than a distraction” from a decade ago.

Foreshadowing a likely attack in Sunday’s debate, he also suggested that rival Hillary Clinton has committed greater sins against women.

“I’ve said some foolish things,” Trump said. “But there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.”

While still publicly backing Trump, the Republican National Committee is considering how to move forward.

One possibility: redirecting its expansive political operation away from Trump and toward helping vulnerable Senate and House candidates. Such a move would leave Trump with virtually no political infrastructure in swing states to identify his supporters and ensure they vote.

“We are working to evaluate the appropriate messaging going forward,” RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer said.

Election law experts suggest it would be logistically impossible to replace Trump on the ballot altogether, with early voting under way in some states and overseas ballots already distributed to military servicemen and others.

Ryan fund-raising chief Spencer Zwick, however, said he’s been fielding calls from donors who “want help putting money together to fund a new person to be the GOP nominee.”

Zwick told the AP that a writein or “sticker campaign” relying on social media could “actually work.”

While there has never been a winning write-in campaign in a US presidential contest, such an effort could make it harder for Trump to win. AP

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Florida got through Matthew with preparedness

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t’s a message South Florida heard loud and clear. Hurricane Matthew is big, bad and deadly. Gov. Rick Scott didn’t hold back. In no uncertain terms, he let Floridians know “this storm will kill you.”

Matthew spared South Florida, but it proved to be a good test run for longtime residents and newcomers to Florida.

On one hand, the threat of a monster storm was a wake-up call for the region, which hasn’t suffered serious damage from a hurricane since Wilma in 2005. On the other hand, it drew concern that some people might become complacent after escaping yet another hurricane.

The hurricane season doesn’t end until November 30, and the public shouldn’t let its guard down, emergency managers say.

Even though Matthew slid by, officials said they weren’t crying wolf.

Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker said she wouldn’t have done anything differently.

“We understand we were spared,” she said. “In the future, do not become complacent.”

With nearly three decades of experience owning Epic Surf Shop near the Delray Beach oceanfront, Walter Soltess said he might think differently about hurricanes than many in the area.

Matthew might have made it even worse, Soltess said. “The folks who hadn’t experienced [hurricanes] and saw what happened, they may take the next one lightly.”

Some locals may think news organizations were “too rambunctious” in their coverage of Matthew, he said, but it’s worth it to take storms seriously. “I’d rather err on the side of caution,” Soltess said.

If the storm had moved just 40 miles farther to the west, lives could have been lost, said Bill Johnson, who heads emergency management for Palm Beach County.

A powerful Category 4 hurricane just off the coast is a situation that causes Johnson to lose sleep at night. “This was a monster storm,” he said. “My job is to protect 1.4 million people. I did it.”

Initially, Johnson said he feared not enough people heeded orders to evacuate because of low shelter numbers, but on Friday, he said reports indicated that many people chose to stay farther inland with friends or family instead of going to shelters.

Nearly 8,000 people sought refuge in 15 shelters in Palm Beach County.

About 150,00 people living in mobile homes and barrier islands were ordered to evacuate. TNS

Aid convoys arrive as Haiti gauges full extent of disaster J 350,000

EREMIE, Haiti—A small airstrip at the edge of the town hums with activity. Aid convoys are arriving from the capital, now that some roads washed out

by Hurricane Matthew have been cleared. A barge carrying food and water is moored offshore of this coastal town.

An international response to the staggering blow delivered by Matthew to southwestern Haiti was finally getting under way on Saturday, even as authorities were still trying to gauge the full extent of the death and destruction.

“It’s beginning to pick up now,” said Stephane Rolland, a regional coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross, as workers unloaded blankets, soap, bleach and other critical items in Jeremie.

There are clearly limits, though, including the fact that the airstrip in Jeremie is unable to accommo-

The estimated number of people who need assistance

date large cargo planes, and only operates in the daytime.

Many of the villages in the southwestern peninsula are difficult to reach. And people are growing increasingly desperate after losing everything when the storm ripped through the area on Tuesday.

One woman stared with outstretched arms as a UN convoy drove through town. “I am hungry. I hope they can help,” said Fabienne Charles, explaining that she would normally be working as a market vendor, but lost her supplies in the storm.

The precise death toll from the storm remained uncertain.

Residents wait on the shore as a boat with water and food from the “Mission of Hope” charity arrives after Hurricane Matthew swept through Jeremie, Haiti, on Saturday.

Jeremie appears to be the epicenter of the country’s growing humanitarian crisis in the wake of the storm. AP/Dieu Nalio Chery

Guillaume Silvera, a senior official with the Civil Protection Agency in the Grand-Anse Department, which is on the tip of the southern peninsula and includes the city of Jeremie, said they had confirmed 522 deaths, not including anyone in several remote communities that they have yet to reach because of collapsed roads and bridges.

“We think the numbers will have to go up,” Silvera said.

Civil Protection headquarters in Port-au-Prince, meanwhile, said on Saturday their official count for the whole country was 336, which included 191 deaths in Grand-Anse.

Death tol ls are f requent ly difficult to tabulate in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster in any country, though it is particularly difficult in remote and mountainous southwest Haiti. AP

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Monday, October 10, 2016 A7

UK biz urges May to avoid losing EU access after Brexit China hits European import duties on steel

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EIJING—China has accused the European Union (EU) of hurting competition by imposing antidumping duties on Chinese steel, ratcheting up growing global tensions over a flood of low-cost Chinese exports.

The EU duties announced on Friday are the latest in a series of measures taken by Europe, the United States and other trading partners in response to what they say are improperly low prices for Chinese steel. They complain the flood of Chinese exports is depressing global prices, hurting foreign competitors and wiping out jobs.

A Commerce Ministry statement said Chinese steel exports could not affect prices because they account for just 5 percent of the European market.

“Rashly taking such wrong

5%

The volume of Chinese steel exports to Europe

steps as trade protection and restricting fair market competition is not the right direction for development of the European Union steel industry,” said the statement, dated Saturday.

The latest EU duties apply to hot-rolled steel, which is used in construction, shipbuilding and pipe-

lines, and heavy steel plates used in construction and manufacturing of earth movers and other heavy equipment. The charges range from 65.1 percent to 73.7 percent for heavy plates and 13.2 percent to 22.6 percent for hot-rolled steel.

Steel is one of a series of Chinese industries in which production grew rapidly over the past decade until supply exceeded demand, depressing prices and leaving a backlog of unsold goods.

Beijing has ordered state banks to lend to support steel exports, which has fueled complaints it is selling at prices below market levels in violation of its trading commitments.

The United States earlier imposed antidumping duties of up to 522 percent on Chinese steel imports to offset what regulators said are improper subsidies to producers. AP

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NITED Kingdom business leaders voiced concern after Prime Minister Theresa May set as a priority curbing migration into Britain over guaranteeing trade access after leaving the European Union (EU).

In a letter signed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and other trade groups, representatives of the country’s private sector pleaded with the government to be included in the process to formulate Britain’s negotiating position in talks with the EU. May, at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this week, said immigration curbs are coming—a demand many European leaders see as incompatible with continued UK access to the

single market.

Amid increasing likelihood of a “hard Brexit”—a departure from the EU without a trade agreement in place—the pound as of Friday fell 4.2 percent for the week, the most since June 24, when the Brexit referendum results were announced.

In the letter posted on Saturday on the CBI web site, the groups call for any agreement to include access to the EU’s single market for UK businesses, as well as “uninterrupted” access for Britain’s financial-services sector.

‘Lasting damage’

Absent a preferential arrangement, the worst-case scenario would be leaving the EU and using the World Trade Organization’s rules in commercial dealings.

“Every credible study that has been conducted has shown that this WTO option would do serious and lasting damage to the UK economy and those of our trading partners,” according to the letter.

The groups urge May’s government to rule out the WTO option under any circumstances.

Calling for more involvement in decisions around Brexit, the business leaders asked that companies be consulted to ensure economic implications are considered. With serious doubt that negotiations would be completed within the two years allowed once formal talks begin, they also urge the government to secure a transitional period that can damp the blow of abrupt changes to their trade environment. Bloomberg News

Distributors make more money by using potent chemicals in drugs

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HANGHAI—This summer, carfentanil—one of the most potent opioids on the planet— hit the streets of North America.

Many users who thought they were taking heroin actually injected or snorted a substance that has, until recently, been viewed as a chemical weapon. First responders pumped hundreds of dying, bluish people full of the antidote naloxone to try

to make them breathe again.

Legally used as a tranquilizer for large animals like bears and elephants, carfentanil is so potent that an amount smaller than a poppy seed can kill a person. How such a toxic substance made its way into global narcotics supply chains is a matter of economics, and desperation.

Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, a related drug

that increasingly has been mixed into narcotics such as heroin. But carfentanil is only slightly more expensive than fentanyl, and it can be cut into much larger volumes, creating stronger, cheaper highs.

“There’s an advantage to the drug distributor: They make more money,” said Russell Baer, a special agent at the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. Ad-

dicts, meanwhile, “want the best high at the cheapest price and they’re willing to take whatever risks are involved,” he said.

Carfentanil is typically sold as a powder. Mixing it poorly into other drugs can create lethal hot spots of concentrated carfentanil, presenting enormous risks for users.

Those concerned include drug users themselves. In online fo-

rums, much of the talk is about carfentanil as a threat, not a means to an epic high.

One user was so distressed when he received a package labeled carfentanil—a free sample from his supplier—that he asked for advice on Reddit on how to dispose of it safely. He worried that flushing it down the toilet “carried the risk of harming wildlife down the line.”

“Honestly,” wrote another, “the only use I could think of would be to kill people.”

“Dealers are just starting to learn how to volumetrically dose these fentanyl POISON bags, but killing us in the process. We are their guinea pigs,” wrote a third.

None of the posters responded to requests by The Associated Press for further comment. AP

A8 Monday, October 10, 2016

The World BusinessMirror

Unicef: End ‘dire’ situation in Aleppo

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EIRUT—The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in Sy r ia called on Saturday for an end to the violence that has beset northern Aleppo, causing “dire” humanitarian and psychological impacts on both sides of the divided city.

UN agencies are on “standby” to deliver needed assistance, Hanaa Singer of the UN’s children agency told The Associated Press.

With the key powers deeply divided, the UN Security Council on Saturday once again failed to agree on the course of action in war-ravaged Aleppo, and Syria in general. Russia vetoed a resolution drafted by France demanding an immediate halt to the bombing of Aleppo. A resolution put forward by Russia that called for a separation of moderate and extremist forces in Syria, but making no mention of a bombing halt in Aleppo failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required for passage.

Also on Saturday, Syrian state media and a Syria monitoring group said pro-government troops advanced in a northern district of eastern Aleppo, wrestling control from rebel fighters in their latest push into the besieged area.

Singer said conditions in besieged Aleppo are “terribly dire,” with hospitals hit, doctors overwhelmed and over 100 children killed in bombings since September 19.

Conditions for thousands of dis-

placed in the government-held part of the city are also deteriorating, with some of them being displaced for up to six times in the last three years, she said.

Singer returned earlier this week from a weeklong trip to the government-held part of Aleppo, where she was visiting thousands of displaced Syrians. Most are crammed in makeshift shelters, mosques, parks and churches, after recently fleeing clashes on the frontline between rebels and pro-government forces.

In one case, a mother so desperate from the continuous displacement, stabbed her baby girl thinking she will save her the misery of living on handouts and without a home, Singer said.

Describing the dramatic situation for thousands of families living in shelters in government-controlled Aleppo, Singer said: “These [are] the horrors in western Aleppo. God knows what is happening, [in the case of] mental health or the psychological situation on the eastern [rebel-held] side.”

Western Aleppo, controlled by the government, is separated from eastern rebel-held Aleppo by a few meters, sometimes by a single plastic sheet or pockmarked building.

An estimated 275,000 people are living in the rebel-held part of Aleppo, with no international aid reaching the area since the first week of July. AP

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West, Russia rival Syria resolutions defeated at UN

A destroyed ambulance is seen outside the Syrian Civil Defense main center, after air strikes in Ansari neighborhood in the rebelheld part of eastern Aleppo, Syria, on September 23. Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP

UNITED NATIONS—Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated in the UN Security Council on Saturday, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and leaving the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.

Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to the bombing campaign that the Syrian government and Russia are carrying out against rebel-held districts in Aleppo.

The rival Russian draft, which made no mention of a bombing halt, was rejected because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for approval by the 15-member council.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current rotating council president, said before the votes that members were engaging in “one of the strangest spectacles” in the Security Council, because they were meeting knowing that neither resolution would be adopted.

“This waste of time is inadmissible,” he said.

The votes reflected the deep divisions in the UN's most powerful body, which is charged with ensuring international peace and security, but has totally failed to take action to end the more than five-year Syrian conflict, which has killed over 300,000 people and displaced millions.

The French-backed resolution received 11 “yes” votes, two “no” votes

300,000 The number of Syrians killed in the five-year conflict which also displaced millions

from Russia and Venezuela, and abstentions from China and Angola.

The Russian resolution received four “yes” votes, nine “no” votes, and two abstentions.

It was the fifth veto by Russia of a Western-backed resolution aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.

When Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari started speaking after the votes, a number of ambassadors walked out, including the representatives of Britain, France, Ukraine and the United States.

French Foreign Minister JeanMarc Ayrault, who addressed the session before the vote on the French resolution, warned that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools—“and has nothing to do with combatting

terrorism,” as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ’s government and its close ally Russia contend.

“It is the annihilation of Aleppo,” he said, declaring that the continued bombing will leave the city in ruins, a place where citizens will be left to their “executioners.”

He compared Aleppo’s likely fate to Guernica during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Srebrenica during the Bosnian war and the Chechen capital Grozny, which was pummeled by the Russian army in the mid-1990s.

Russia’s Churkin said the demand for a bombing halt in Aleppo was “not fleshed out” and would affect the government-controlled western part of the city, as well as the rebelheld east.

He said the French resolution’s adoption would have been the first where the Security Council decided on a course of action for a permanent council member without prior agreement—meaning that Russia would have been required to stop all flights and bombing of Aleppo.

Churkin noted that activity in Aleppo had gone down on Friday and “we hope this is a trend that will continue.”

Until Friday afternoon, the French resolution was the only one before the council. But Russia unexpectedly introduced a rival resolution in a bid take some attention off its expected veto.

After the council rejected the Russian draft, Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft addressed Churkin directly saying: “A lonely veto and then just four votes in favor of your text—a double humiliation.”

“This text was a cynical attempt to divert attention from your veto today that once again denied any hope to the people of Aleppo,” Rycroft said.

“It’s a sham, just as Russia’s hollow commitment to a political process in Syria is a sham.”

US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman followed up, saying Russia and Syria will undoubtedly claim that any devastation in Aleppo that “they are raining down is directed at terrorists,” not at the civilian buildings they are clearly striking.

“What Russia wants is for there to be more talk while they seek to take the city by brutal force,” Pressman said. “What we want is less talk and more action for them to stop the slaughter.”

Russia’s Churkin said he wouldn’t react to the “provocative rhetoric” from the US and Britain. AP

Yemen: Over 140 killed in Saudi-led air strike

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ANAA, Yemen—A Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a funeral hall packed with thousands of mourners in Yemen’s capital on Saturday, killing over 140 people and wounding more than 525 in one of the deadliest single attacks of the country’s civil war, a UN official said.

Saudi Arabia announced early on Sunday it would launch an investigation into “reports about the regrettable and painful bombing” in Sanaa, without immediately acknowledging that its coalition battling rebels in Yemen is the only force with air power in the conflict.

It is the latest in a string of bombings by the coalition that have struck hospitals, markets and other places civilians congregate.

“The place has been turned into a lake of blood,” said one rescuer, Murad Tawfiq.

Yemeni officials said the dead and wounded included military and security officials from the ranks of the Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and their allies, loy-

alists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saturday’s funeral was held for Sheikh Ali al-Rawishan, the father of Galal al-Rawishan, the interior minister in the rebel-led government. Among those killed was Maj. Gen. Abdul-Qader Hilal, head of the capital’s local council, officials said, while Galal Al-Rishwan was seriously wounded.

In the aftermath of the strike, hundreds of body parts were found strewn in and outside the hall. Rescuers collected them in sacks. The strike left the building little more than a shell, with most of its walls and roof gone.

Cars parked outside were mangled by the blast.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ spokesman in Sanaa, denounced the air strike as the latest act of “genocide” by the Saudi-led coalition.

“The silence of the United Nations and the international community is the munition of the murderers,” he said. “Those murderers will not escape divine justice.”

In a statement early on Sunday,

Saudi Arabia said an investigation would be launched into the strike.

Previous investigations by the Saudis have blamed Houthi or rebel forces for gathering near the sites of their attacks.

“The coalition supporting the legitimate government in Yemen has announced that it is aware of reports about the regrettable and painful bombing of the Great Hall in Sanaa today, which led to the killing and injuring of casualties, as reported,” the statement read.

It added: “The coalition confirms that its troops have clear instructions not to target populated area and to avoid civilians.”

Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said in a statement that the humanitarian community in the country is “shocked and outraged” by the airstrikes. He condemned the “horrific attack” and reminded all parties to the conflict “that under international humanitarian law, they are obliged to protect civilians and civilian infrastructures.” He called for an immediate investigation into the incident. AP

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US: Rules on Iran don’t ease sanctions

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A S H I N G T O N —T h e Obama administration said on Saturday its new guidance for foreign companies doing business with Iran doesn’t ease remaining sanctions on the country. Some sanctions experts argued that the revised language has that effect.

T he Trea su r y Depa r t ment said an update to its regulations published late on Friday merely clarified what is and isn’t allowed since last year’s landmark nuclear deal that gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its atomic program.

The Treasur y said the new “Frequently Asked Questions” section of its Iran sanctions regulations was issued in response to concerns from foreign businesses uncertain about what transactions may still be prohibited by nonnuclear sanctions.

“Yesterday’s update was intended to clarify the scope of sanctions lifting under the [nuclear deal] and the sanctions that remain in place, and does not represent additional sanctions relief,” the Treasury said.

However, the clarifications make explicit that some previously prohibited dollar transactions with Iran by offshore banks are now allowed as long as they do not enter the US financial system.

And they remove what had been seen as a blanket ban on foreign

transactions with Iranian firms controlled by a person who remains subject to US nonnuclear sanctions.

Despite the nuclear agreement, the US maintains sanctions on Iran and certain Iranian companies and people. They are known as “specially designated nationals,” or SDNs, for a variety of reasons, including its ballistic missile program, human-rights record and support for groups the US deems to be terrorist organizations.

The new Treasury language says foreign transactions with nonsanctioned entities that are nonetheless “minority owned” or “controlled in whole or in part by an Iranian or Iran-related person on the SDN list” are “not necessarily sanctionable” under US regulations.

The Treasury and some sanctions lawyers maintained that the new guidance doesn’t reflect any change in policy or a loosening of sanctions.

But others, notably critics of the nuclear deal, said the clarifications effectively ease the sanctions by encouraging foreign firms to pursue deals with Iran, in particular with Iranian companies affiliated with designated terrorists or terrorist groups, like elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The net result of the clarifications, they said, was that more money will flow into Iran and to designated terrorists. AP

Monday, October 10, 2016 A9

Global elites step up defense of openness as populism rises

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lobal policy-makers are stepping up their resolve to combat an isolationist backlash that threatens to undermine years of opening borders to trade and investment.

“The global economy has benefited tremendously from globalization and technological change,” the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) s top advisory panel said in a communiqué released on Saturday after meeting in Washington. “However, the outlook is increasingly threatened by inward-looking policies, including protectionism and stalled reforms.”

Flagging public support for globalization has been a prominent topic of discussion this week among finance chiefs and central bankers convening in the US capital for the IMF and World Bank’s annual meetings.

The IMF warned in its latest economic outlook that rising political tensions over open markets and free trade could undermine a recovery already lacking a growth engine.

This week’s sharp drop in the British pound heightened concerns about the ongoing fallout from June’s decision by UK voters to leave the European Union.

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump—whose campaign was roiled on Friday by the release of a video that includes him discussing groping women—has promised to impose tariffs on countries, such as China. Both he and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, oppose a trade pact with Pacific Rim nations signed by President Barack Obama, but not yet approved

by Congress.

Globalization’s defenders

The defense of economic openness has been an increasing hallmark of international gatherings this year, most recently expressed at the Group-of-20 leaders’ summit in Hangzhou, China, last month.

Saturday’s International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) statement makes the case for globalization more strident than the final communiqué in Hangzhou, which said nations would “work harder to build an open world economy,

reject protectionism, promote global trade and investment.”

In a rebuke to those advocating a turn away from trade, the members of the IMF panel redoubled their commitment to “maintain economic openness and reinvigorate global trade as a critical means to boost global growth.”

“We commit to design and implement policies to address the concerns of those who have been left behind and to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from globalization and technological change,” according to the statement by the IMFC, a panel of 24 members that advises the IMF’s board of governors on policy issues. It includes representatives from the US, China, Japan and Germany.

Mexico’s central bank governor, Agustin Carstens, chairs the panel.

He said committee members discussed trade in a comprehensive manner, addressing not only the decline in trade growth globally but also the recent imposition of new trade barriers.

Some of the protectionist measures are the “result of some members of the populations in different countries feeling that they have been left behind,” he said at a press briefing.

Tepid growth

The global recovery remains slow

and uneven, with growth expected to pick up only slightly next year, mostly on account of emerging markets, the panel said. Persistently low growth has exposed “underlying structural weaknesses, and risks further dampening potential growth and prospects for inclusiveness.”

IMF nations reiterated their commitment to use all policy tools— including monetary policy and fiscal policy, as well as structural reforms—to boost growth. They also restated their pledge to refrain from competitive devaluations of their exchange rates.

Monetary policy should remain loose in advanced economies where inflation is still below target and output gaps remain negative, keeping in mind central banks’ mandates, the committee said.

All countries should use fiscal policy flexibly and make tax policy and public spending more growthfriendly, and structural reforms are key to raising potential growth and must be reinvigorated, the panel said.

“We certainly have decided to come out more loudly to say ‘Central bankers can’t be the only game in town. Let’s get on with it, and see some action from the other authorities,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters. Bloomberg News

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BusinessMirror

Monday, October 10, 2016

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Walking on Cloud 9 in Siargao Island

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Story & Photos by Bernard L. Supetran

loud 9 is many things to many people. To romantics, it is an ethereal out-of-this-world emotional journey.

To those with sweet tooth, it is the popular chewy chocolate bar that can keep your glucose level high till you get the next meal. But for surfing buffs, it could be no other than the famed surf spot on Siargao Island in the country’s southeastern Pacific seaboard. So-called because foreign surfers subsisted on the candy bar when the obscure surf spot was yet a best-kept secret in the 1980s. Today riding the 16-foot waves is much like walking on Cloud 9 because of the heavenly feeling it brings.

Situated in General Luna town in Surigao del Norte, Cloud 9 is the country’s proverbial Holy Land, or Mecca if you may, where every trueblue surfer must visit as a religious obligation. In 2012 it was listed as No. 8 in the World’s Top 50 Best Surf Spots by CNNGo, the travel news web site of the Cable News Network.

“This dramatic and powerful reef break, which crashes onto shallow razor-sharp coral, offers right and left death rides to those who dare.

Those who do will experience a slice of paradise, or magic mushroom- like hallucinations, as the wave wraps over them like a Cornish pastyshaped cocoon of water. Don’t slip, or your skin and bones will be ripped to shreds by the ocean bed,” writes Jade Bremmer in CNNGo. This quaint surf spot became a battleground once more as the world’s top wave riders squared off in the the recent 22nd Siargao International Surfing Cup. Presented by the Department of Tourism (DOT), in partnership with the municipality of General Luna, the province of Surigao del Norte and House of Representatives-Congressional Office, and copresented by Siargao Bleu

Resort & Spa, and Silangan Mining Corp., the tourney is the country’s most-awaited surfing event which has a total pot of $ 50,000.

This year’s competition is part of the Qualifying Series 1500, the second-level competition run by World Surf League (WSL), the sport’s global governing body.

Sixteen-year-old international surfing sensation Sandon Whittaker of Australia pulled off an upset over defending champion John Mark Tokong and West Sumbawa Pro 2016 top winner Philmar Alipayo, who settled for second place.

He gained 1,500 points to move up in the international rankings en route to the top level competition— the Championship Tour.

Sanctioned by the WSL and the Asian Surfing Championships (ASC), the tourney drew a 64-man field from Australia, the United States, Hawaii, Brazil, Indonesia, France, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Israel and New Zealand. Also supported by Globe, Kudosurf, Nature’s Spring and the Siargao Tourism Development Council (STDC), the sporting event featured fringe events and was capped by the Go Surf Music Festival during the awarding ceremonies.

STDC President Melot AbejoSaminsky said this year’s surfing series is special because of Siargao’s hosting of the swimwear competition of the Miss Universe pageant in January 2017. She added that their group, which is the umbrella organization of stakeholders on the island, is taking a more proactive stance in promoting sustainable tourism in partnership with the DOT and local authorities.

Abejo-Saminsky, who is also pres-

Siargao Cup defending champion John Mark Tokong

Cloud 9 boardwalk in Siargao

Magpupungko Rock in Pilar Siargao Island

The serene flat waters surrounding Naked island.

ident of the posh Siargao Bleu Resort & Spa, enthused that those who like a less heart-pounding activities can walk on their own Cloud 9 in Siargao’s sprawling playground.

Among these, she said, are island-hopping around General Luna’s string of islets and fine sand beaches, such as Naked, Guyam and Daku. You can paddle in its flat waters aboard a kayak or on top of a stand-up paddle board.

You can also cruise around del Carmen’s 4,000-hectare mangrove forest, the country’s biggest. The municipal government has put in place the Mangrove Protection and Information Center, which includes a well-trained tour-guiding system

to provide visitors a deeper appreciation of the importance of the coastal and marine ecosystems.

Tucked in the interior is Sugba Cove, a lagoon with crystalline seawater and sandy bottom, which shuts you out from the outside world.

Magpupungko Rock in Pilar town is a tourism icons and, perhaps, the only one of its kind in the archipelago. A natural clear seawater pool is formed at low tide, which is ideal for rock diving, snorkeling and free diving.

Elsewhere, you can frolic in the powdery beaches of the bucolic towns of San Isidro, Santa Monica, Padre Burgos and Dapa. And if you haven’t had enough of Siargao’s wa-

Grand Philippine tour with Phitex 2016

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elegates from 35 countries were given an opportunity to experience what the Philippines has to offer in a series of fun and exciting tours. Organized by the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), these tours were conducted as part of the annual travel trade event, the Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) 2016.

During the tours, delegates from Denmark, Russia, Germany, China, the United States and Brazil toured around Metro Manila. They visited the historical walled city of Intramuros, Unesco World Heritage site San Agustin Church, San Agustin Museum, and enjoyed a brief cultural show at Casa Manila.

The group also inspected the city’s established, emerging and newly opened luxury hotels and properties, including Manila Hotel, New World Hotel, Makati Shangri-La Hotel, Fairmont Hotel, Marco Polo Ortigas, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila and Conrad Manila, among others.

The delegates also visited Ilocos’ interesting blend of Spanish and local culture; discovered exotic and breathtaking sceneries in Southern Luzon; and rode a boat to visit the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan, recently hailed as the Best Island in the World.

They also had a taste of the unique spicy cuisine of Bicol; took selfies with the tarsiers and visited the Chocolate Hills in Bohol; feasted on lechon and toured historical landmarks in Cebu; and experienced nature, culture and adventure in Davao.

“I have heard a lot of beautiful things about the Philippines and I’m

Delegates strike a pose at the UNESCO World Heritage site San Agustin Church

so excited to experience it myself,” Chris Minoletti from the US shared.

“Every region in this country has its own unique destinations, which I know will attract a lot of travelers.”

According to Australian delegate Roselyn Ranse, “The market for the Philippines has dramatically increased. It’s new, exotic and an exciting destination because there is so much to do and so much to see.

After experiencing it, people just want to come back.”

“TPB has organized the tours because there is no better way to market the Philippines than to let these delegates experience it first-hand,” said Phitex Deputy Secretary-General Susana J. Del Mundo said.

Now on its 15th year, Phitex continues to further strengthen the tourism industry in the country by promoting the best of the

The author doing stand-up paddling at Sugba Cove

International surfing sensation Sandra Whittaker shows top form.

Cruising the sand dunes on ATVs at Ilocos Norte

Philippines worldwide.

Led by Philippine Airlines as its official flag carrier, and Marriott Hotel Manila, Phitex 2016 is also supported by TTG Asia as the official media partner, Manila Bulletin and Philippine Daily Inquirer. Other sponsors include Resorts World Manila, Diamond Hotel, Tourism Infra-

structure Enterprise Zone Authority, Duty Free Philippines, Philippines Craft Distillers, Marco Polo Manila, Seda Bonifacio Global City, Bellevue Resort, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Fairmont Makati, Makati Shangri-La Hotel, Radisson Blu Cebu, Park inn

by Radisson, Plaza del Norte and The Mind Museum.

Pan de surf for sale in Gen. Luna

terworld, you can cross over to the neighboring Bucas Grande Island in Socorro, which is an equally exciting walk on Cloud 9.

Getting there

Fly to Cebu and catch a connecting Cebu Pacific flight to Siargao.

A cheaper alternative is to take the first trip to Butuan City, catch a van to Surigao City and take a mid-day boat trip to Dapa Port in Siargao. On the back, take an early morning PQL boat trip bound for Surigao City via Dapa Port. From Surigao, you can fly directly to Manila via Pal Express.

Where to stay and eat

The Triple-A Balinese-themed Siar-

gao Bleu Resort & Spa boasts of wellappointed rooms, which will be the home of the Miss Universe contestants. It also has a full-service restaurant, the biggest swimming in the island, and serves as a one-stop shop for tour services and recreational activities. You can also go glamping and pitch tent by the Pacific shores.

Budget travelers can hit the sack at the home-grown boutique Abukay Resort, which embraces social tourism and environmentally friendly practices.

For night outs of music and favorite spirit, check out Ocean 101, Nine Bar, Dajon Restaurant Bar and Grill, La Luna Island Bar, The Pub and Siargao Bleu’s Bleu Bar.

Atop confab tackles tourism accessibility

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he country’s gains in the domestic tourism industry takes center stage once again as the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (Atop) held its 17th National Convention at the Royce Hotel and Casino in Clark Special Economic Zone, Pampanga, from October 4 to 7.

Based on the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) thrust of providing accessibility for all to tourist facilities, products, especially to persons with disability (PWDs), the three-day meet gathered under the theme “Tourism for All: Promoting Universal Accessibility” Atop, the national group of local tourism officers, was formed in 2000 to promote the culture of tourism in the community level.

The confab kicked off on October 4 with the Mekeni Malaus ka Pampanga welcome dinner hosted by Gov. Lilia G. Pineda.

Sen. Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay, chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism, talked about the “Legislative Programs and Agenda on Philippine Tourism” in her keynote speech. For her part, Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, author of the Farm Tourism Act of 2016, discussed the salient features of the newly enacted law, while Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez tackled environmental tourism in relation to the World Tourism Day theme.

The gathering also recognized the Best Tourism Event, Best Tourism Week Celebration of Local Government Units and the Most Outstanding Tourism Officer during the Pearl Awards gala dinner hosted by the De-

partment of Tourism (DOT)-Region 3 and the Tourism Promotions Board.

Tourism Secretar y Corazon Wanda Corazon T. Teo delivered her message through Undersecretary Alma Jimenez that underscored the Duterte administration’s tourism thrust in line with its 10-point agenda.

Atop National President Alphonsus Tesoro said the convention focused on the local application of the UNWTO’s declaration on universal tourism, which was also adopted by the DOT. He noted that local government units (LGUs) are in the forefront in making tourism accessible to all, especially to PWDs, elderly, women and children, and disadvantaged sectors, by putting in place relevant legislation and guidelines.

The annual meet also featured talks on best tourism practices, particularly the environment-friendly programs. Mabalacat City Mayor Marino Morales also hosted a dinner at the Clarkfield Parade Grounds.

As part of its immersion program, the delegates toured Pampanga’s farm tourism spots, ecotourism sites, museums, heritage spots, adventure parks, creative industries, tourism-related enterprises and well-loved spots for the province’s cuisine.

The LGUs of the municipalities of Apalit, Arayat, Bacolor, Candaba, Guagua, Lubao, Macabebe, Magalang, Masantol, Mexico, Minalin, Porac, San Luis, San Simon, Sasmuan, Santa Ana, Santa Rita, Santo Tomas, City of San Fernando and Angeles City hosted the community immersion activities.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, October 10, 2016 A11

Escuela Taller: Taking ownership of our heritage

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evellin is a Spanish word that means fortification or defense.

Revellin de Recoletos is literally a buttress to protect the Church of the Recollects in Intramuros. Tenacious moss that runs along the ancient walls adds patina, lending character and beauty to the façade.

Since 2009, the Escuela Taller sits there quietly, as if waiting for a hundred years. Meanwhile, the occupants of the escuela (school) work incessantly. Every stone set, every metal cut, every wood polished is a step toward a mission.

Preserving living culture by restoring built heritage

Most of our physical heritage, or what we call built heritage, structures of more than 50 years, is not

merely for exhibition. They are a part of our lives. The churches, the bridges, even the forts. They are a part of the living culture, where faith and the Filipino way of life blend.

The escuela started with a walkway in Intramuros, sections of the old city wall, then the renovation of the loggia of Casa Manila. They have come a long way after those projects. Take, for example, the Baroque-style Malate Church.

The Escuela Taller de Filipinas Fundacion Inc. (ETFFI), in collaboration with the Ayala Foundation, has taken on the reconstruction of the exterior of the treasured 400-year-old church.

The first phase took around five years to finish. Now the second phase is under way, which is the restoration of the church interior.

Another ongoing project is the San Agustin Church in Intramuros. The choir loft and the ceiling above it are being renovated as we speak.

Underprivileged scholars of Taller

Mentors train apprentices on grill work

Escuela Taller teaches scholars from indigent families

In the taller, students learn traditional and modern methods in metal works.

Classroom work for supplemental studies

Who are these gallant defenders of our heritage who painstakingly assume the responsibility?

Many of them are still in their teens. They are the scholars of Escuela Taller, boys and girls between 18 and 25 years old. They come from indigent families, borne into poverty and living in the most humble homes. So humble that the escuela has to pick them up by a van to make sure that they come to school.

They are also given an allowance to tide them over.

“Because these scholars are indigents, mostly unemployed or underemployed, most did not reach college,” said Architect Jeffrey Cobilla, head of the technical team of ETFFI. “The idea is to help them with their livelihood by providing them skills related to construction and heritage conservation so that they can have job opportunities.”

It is hard for the students to make a choice between the immediate needs of the family, like having food on the table, and training in the program. That’s

why they are taught practical skills, like electrical installation and plumbing, so that there is a promise of work after their term in escuela.

Workshops for life

Inside the taller (workshop), a scaffolding greets you. This is a mock-up for the apprentices, for the job entails walking on railings that allow only footholds, and being able to shake the fear of heights is one of the lessons to be learned.

These baby steps lead them to the challenge that, in their lifetime, may come only once, the chance to be part of Philippine history.

The students learn the traditional, as well as modern, methods of construction. Courses in plumbing, carpentry and woodworks, decorative painting and finishing, masonr y, electrical installation and metalworks are studied and applied in their onthe-job undertakings.

Masonry takes a big chunk of the jobs. Most of the fortification needed is brickwork and plasterwork.

“In restoration, there are so many arc hitect ura l concer ns that cannot be taught in a year,” Cobilla said. So the “ learning by doing” concept is applied, a more pragmatic approach wherein a mentor (a graduate of Escuela) trains an apprentice on site.

Teacher and student work together in finishing the task. As what Cobilla emphasizes, the escuela aims “to train people so that we can address heritage conservation and underemployment of the youth.”

For enrichment, they also study courses like values formation for

character development; culture and heritage to help them realize the significance of their work; and measured drawings to help them understand plans and illustrations, which are usually in Spanish.

Undertakings beyond Metro Manila

According to Cobilla, a satellite office in Dauis, Bohol, was st a r ted when Esc ue l a Ta l ler graduates repaired the watch tower of Dauis Church. In 2013 the tower was destroyed by an earthquake. This satellite office on the island of Bohol is the first branch outside of Metro Manila being developed. Many of the remaining ancient buildings are in the provinces. Scholars from far-flung areas that have tangible heritage sites are sent to Escuela Taller to learn skills that may save the edifices from further damage. They come from provinces as far as Vigan and Batanes.

“Feelers from provinces are being sent to ETFFI to set up a taller. One of the problems is there are few practitioners in the field of heritage conservation,” Cobilla explained.

This summer of 2016, ETFFI completed the repair of the façade of San Pablo Cathedral in Laguna.

The belfry was identified as also in need of repair but would be dealt with in the near future.

Manaoag Church officials and ETFFI are undergoing the usual process of research and documentation to start conservation.

Tanza Church is another coming project and also “pretty much in the bag”. ETFFI has met with the parish priest and other officials to begin documentation.

Support

ETFFI is a nonprofit government body that is supported by Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Intramuros Administration, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development(DSWD).

A lt hou g h t he e s c u el a h a s funding from different institutions, self-sufficiency is still an objective in the future. “We can get support in many different forms. We get grants from AECID and the NCC A. In the foundation, we are looking for self-sustainability. We are coming up with different schemes wherein we can earn, but these profits are for the operation and the scholars, because this is a nonprof it organization,” Cobilla explained.

That’s why they find arrangements to generate revenue that will enable them to sustain the projects and the students, as well.

O u r her it a ge con nec t s u s to t he pa st. No m at ter how c o n f l i c t i n g o u r s e nt i m e nt s a re, t he pa st h a s lef t u s w it h t a ng ible wea lt h in abund a nce.

T he g reat ness of m a n h a s a lw ay s been bec au se of h i s abi lit y to su r v ive, a s he h a nd s dow n h i s legac y to t he ne x t generat ion. I n E sc ue l a , he i s g iven a f ig ht i ng c h a nce.

Escuela Taller is on Revellin de Recoletos Victoria Street Intramuros, Manila. For your support, contact Escuela Taller at (02)527-6623, or e-mail etffi@ yahoo.com.ph.

Tourism stakeholders gather to promote Rizal province

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Story & photos

by Carlo J. Molina Jr.

he National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas) Rizal Chapter spearheaded the 2016 Rizal Tourism Summit, a cooperative effort of tourism stakeholders and government entities to further boost local tourism of Rizal and draw an influx of both local and foreign visitors in the province.

Naitas Rizal President Ferdinand Cruz said in an interview the two-day summit within the province is a joint assembly of tourism trustees from Rizal and other parts of the country to strengthen the partnership between the private sector and

local government units (LGUs) and other instrumentalities.

“We gather tourism stakeholders in the province of Rizal together with the members of the organization with the main objective of conceptualizing strategies in promotion of a more dynamic tourism business in the province,” Cruz added.

Also, Calabarzon Tourism Regional Director Rebecca Labit, representing Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, stressed on her speech in front of nearly 75 travel agencies officials and tourists that the summit is a strong indicator of a thriving organization that aims to sustain “tourism as the people’s business”.

The regional director also noted that

21.6 million people visited Region 4A, making it the top region in the country for same - day tour arrivals in 2015.

Labit also stressed the need to increase accommodation facilities to encourage the visitors’ longer stay in the region.

“As for Calabarzon, I am happy to announce that we still hold the throne as the top region for day-tour arrivals, with total of 21.6 million visitors in 2015. We were visited by 21.6 million and counting.

This is your baseline figure.... We are not satisfied with the figures, because I am referring to same-day tour only. We wish that they stay longer in their destination,” Labit added.

Rizal Vice Gov. Reynaldo San Juan also

said the event is a collective endeavor to attract visitors and investors, endorsing Rizal not only in the region but in the entire country. He added, “It is about tapping the potential of the province and an attempt to attract them to visit not only once but also having them return the soonest.”

The camp tour included in their itineraries visits to Haranah Eco Park, Regina Rica, Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Pililla Windmills in Pililla, Saint Jerome Parish in Morong, Thunderbird Resorts and Casinos in Bingangonan, AngonoBinangonan Petrogylps Museum, Our lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Hinulagang Taktak and Loreland Farm and Resort in Antipolo City.

On-the-spot cook-off promotes traditional meals

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REGINA Rica

Hinilugang Taktak

alayang Kusina and Minerva’s Picnic Garden took the concept of back-to-basics cooking, where the participants prepared their meals according to the traditional Filipino way. The contest challenged a group of culinary experts, home cooks and students to an on-the-spot cook-off, as they prepared their own dishes literally made from scratch. The back-tobasics competition involved cooking a pot of rice, creating their versions of adobo, cooking an egg and preparing a threecourse Filipino meal.

The participants were tested not only

for their cooking techniques but also for resourcefulness while cooking under time pressure. They went around Minerva’s Picnic Garden to catch chicken, pick spices and gather vegetables from the farm, and then cook these over a wooden fire.

This event was made possible with the help of sponsors Hunt’s Pork and Beans, Hunt’s Sauces, Baguio Oil, Mamasitas and Lactel. Media partners for the exciting Filipino cuisine challenge were Cook Magazine, the B usiness M irror, Health and Fitness, Wish 107.5, Reach Magazine, Philippines Graphic and UNTV.

Science Monday

A12 Monday, October 10, 2016

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

‘Science makes policy out of bricks, not straw’

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UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia— Given the enormity of the challenges confronting humanity, the world’s investment in science, technology and innovation is woefully inadequate.

That was a key message by Ban Ki-moon in a summary report of the United Nations (UN) SecretaryGeneral’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)—a group of two dozen scientists from around the world who met with Ban for one final meeting in New York before he steps down on December 31.

In 2014 we had been asked to take stock of global challenges and provide recommendations related to science, technology and innovation (STI) that would enlighten the work and decisions of the UN.

And, at the end of our mission, the SAB’s labeled science an essential component—in many cases the bedrock—of an effective strategy for policy and decision-making that deserves to be valued more highly and used effectively at all levels and at three crucial phases: understanding the problems, formulating policies and ensuring that those policies are implemented effectively. “Science,” the report says, “makes policy out of brick, not straw.”

Science is, indeed, a “game changer,” a good example being

faster-than-expected improvements in the efficiency of solar panels and wind turbines, raising the hope that the world can reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, thanks to scientists and engineers.

However, to become the game changer it could be in dealing with nearly all of the most pressing global challenges, science requires more resources.

In fact, all nations must invest more in science technology and innovation. Sadly, today just 12 cou nt r ies—Aust r i a, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Qatar, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States—dedicate t he prev iously recommended benchmark of 2.5 percent or more of their GDP to research and development.

This simply is not enough, given the literally vital interests at stake. We have called on all countries, even the poorest, to invest at least 1 percent of their

GDP on research. And the most advanced countries should spend at least 3percent.

2.5% The recommended benchmark percentage of countries’ GDP which they should invest to research and development

Reinforcing science education, most especially in developing countries, and improving girls’ access to science courses, must also be part of the effort.

To ensure a continuing f low of creative scientists, countr ies should strongly promote education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

for all children beginning at an early age.

Meanwhile, science shou ld be accorded greater weight in politica l decision-ma k ing. To quote t he repor t: “Decisions are often ta ken in response to short-term economic and politica l interests, rather than the long-ter m interests of people and the planet.”

Illustrating the point well: almost 25 years passed between the scientific community sounding its first alarm about climate change and the world’s adoption, in December 2015, of the Paris Agreement on that subject.

Enabling fair access to and the effective worldwide use of data has emerged as a new area in which the UN can play an important role.

The burgeoning f low of scientific data—the data revolution—has great potential for good if its availability, management, use and growth are handled effectively. The UN and its

agencies can facilitate the gathering of all types of data while overseeing both quality and access. In its report, the SAB also calls for international collaborative projects in this area. One other point worth underlining: Science has value beyond issues that are essentially “scientific.”

To quote the report: “When tensions arise among nations, their leaders can respond far better if they understand and agree upon the scientific evidence for the root causes of those tensions.”

Our report was presented to Ban

by Irina Bokova, director general of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, who chaired the SHB. It is hoped that whoever this year earns the trust of UN membernations and assumes the mantle of secretary general will promote the messages of this report internationally and help ensure that they’re accorded the importance they deserve. IPS

Aviation climate deal a win for airlines, less for Earth

source of low-carbon development financing,” said Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund.

The agreement, brokered by t he U N ’s Inter nat iona l Civ i l Aviation Organization, capped more than six years of negotiations. As with any global deal, there were compromises.

Brazil, for example, criticized the proposal for months, saying it would unfairly penalize developing nations for increasing their air traffic. Hours before the deadline, Brazil struck a deal with the US, adding language that may make carbon credits from Brazilian companies eligible for sale as offsets to airlines. In the end, Brazil supported the accord.

A United Nations accord requires airlines to compensate for emissions growth by funding environmental initiatives. Bloomberg News

T

he United Nations (UN) accord reached on Thursday to clean up pollution from international aviation may cost airlines as much as $23.9 billion annually by 2035. The companies see it as a victory.

The landmark deal brokered in Montreal creates a global system requiring airlines to compensate for emissions growth after 2020 by funding environmental initiatives.

That spares carriers from exactly what they had pushed to avoid: a patchwork of regional environmental regulations that probably would have been even more costly.

The accord is less of a win for the planet, at least in the eyes of environmentalists. The deal is voluntary for countries during the first six years. It covers only international flights, not domestic.

Rather than forcing emission cuts, it allows airlines to increase pollution in exchange for buying credits that support renewableenergy development, forest preservation and other environmental efforts. And while costs will run

into the billions, the price per flight will be low enough that it may not impact airfares.

“This agreement is a timid step in the right direction when we need to be sprinting,” Greenpeace UK Chief Scientist Doug Parr said. “The aviation industry has managed to get away for years with doing nothing about its growing carbon-emission problem, and now it’s giving itself even more years to do very little.”

First-ever

Exhaust from international flights accounts for about 2 percent of global greenhouse gases and is expected to triple by 2050.

Airlines were left out of the Paris climate accord because of the challenge of divvying up responsibility for global routes.

The deal reached in Montreal is the first international framework to regulate emissions from a single industry. Not all environmentalists are bemoaning the accord. At least 65 nations have agreed to join during the voluntary phases, including the US, China and

Europe. That’s enough to cover about 83 percent of international air traffic responsible for 65 percent of the industry’s emissions.

The Environmental Defense Fund estimates the accord’s impact will be the equivalent of removing about 35 million cars from roads each year.

Green financing

Other winners in the deal include the clean-energy industry and companies that develop projects to reduce greenhouse gases flowing into the atmosphere.

Requiring airlines to buy carbon offsets to compensate for their increased emissions may open up billions in financing for solar farms, reforestation projects and programs to cut industrial gases.

The UN’s aviation agency estimates that by 2025, airlines will spend $1.5 billion to $6.2 billion on credits backing such projects annually. By 2035, they will spend $5.3 billion to $23.9 billion.

“It could mean a significant

Opposition

Russia and India also opposed the deal. Unlike Brazil, they did not find common ground with nations on the other side of the table. Both countries appear to have walked away largely empty handed.

Last, the European Union (EU) claimed victory in the accord. The EU pushed emissions to the top of the aviation agenda in 2012, after saying it would require airlines to buy carbon permits for all flights in and out of the region.

T h at t r i g ge re d a n out c r y from China, Eg y pt, Brazil and other nations that argued the measure was beyond the EU’s aut hor it y. Eu rope ag reed to suspend the program and allow the international communit y to negotiate an international deal. Then Europe pushed hard to make it happen.

“European solidarity, perseverance and its ambitious climate agenda have delivered,” EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said on Friday. “Not just for Europe but for the entire world.” Bloomberg News

Shell boosts science, engineering education in PHL

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hell and the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) recently conducted the third Shell-PhilDev Leadership Camp at the Shell Training Center in Pililla, Rizal.

In 2013 She l l est abl i shed a sc hol a rsh ip prog ra m w it h PhilDev, a nonprofit organization that aims to create long-term economic growth in the Philippines through education, innovation and entrepreneurship.

As one of Shell’s innovative methods in espousing sustainable development in the country, the program has given Filipino youth an opportunity to pursue studies in science and engineering,

providing them with the capacity to innovate and create technologies that can compete in the global markets and spur economic growth for the country.

Unlike other scholarships, the Shell-PhilDev partnership does not only focus on education, but on personal development, as well. The annual leadership camp serves as an avenue for the scholars to know themselves more, learn things outside the classroom and get together in camaraderie.

The scholars from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao spanning batches 2014 to 2016 were welcomed with motivational words by PhilDev Executive Vice Chairman

Jones Castro. He also expressed gratitude to Shell as PhilDev’s partner in promoting growth, and love of self, family, community and country.

“We admire Shell for its future energy visions, its drive in developing new energy sources and its resolve in addressing the energy challenge. For over a century of successful operations in the country, Shell has shown that it is not just growing its business to gain profits, but plays an active role in empowering its millions of beneficiaries and communities all over the country to become productive and sustainable,” Castro said.

Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc.

Executive Director Edgar Veron Cruz, meanwhile, gave an informative presentation about the organization, its programs and their respective beneficiaries. “At this stage, it’s important that you’re focused on your studies, not because of the scholarship alone, but because it’s all about your future,” he urged the participants.

The Shell scholars underwent the Leadership Enhancement and Attitude Development workshop, which consists of three days of intensive and learning-packed sessions that seek to prepare them in dealing with challenges as they continue their journey to realize their dreams.

Enjoying coffee, painting by unknown artist, at Pera Museum in Turkey. Wikimedia Commons

Could caffeine help prevent dementia?

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I LWA U K E E — A n e w study suggests a significant relationship between caffeine and dementia prevention, though it stops short of establishing cause and effect.

T he st udy, publ ished in T he Journals of Gerontolog y, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, found higher caffeine intake in women age 65 and older was associated with reduced odds of developing dementia or cognitive impairment.

Among the 6,467 women in the study, self-reported caffeine consumption of more than 261 milligrams of caffeine was associated with a 36-percent reduction in the risk of dementia over 10 years of follow-up. That level is equivalent to two to three 8-ounce cups of coffee per day, five to six 8-ounce cups of black tea, or seven to eight 12-ounce cans of cola.

“While we can’t make a direct link between higher caffeine consumption and lower incidence of cognitive impairment and dementia, with further study, we can better quantify its relationship with cognitive health outcomes,” said Ira Driscoll, the study’s lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“Research on this topic will be beneficial not only from a preventative standpoint but also to better understand the underlying mechanisms and their involvement in dementia and cognitive impairment,” she said. Researchers know that caffeine binds to preexisting adenosine receptors in the brain, so the findings point to a potential mechanism worth further exploring to determine a causative effect, Driscoll told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“The mounting evidence of caffeine consumption as a potentially protective factor against cognitive impairment is exciting, given that caffeine is also an easily modifiable dietary factor” with few risk factors, Driscoll said.

The study was unique because researchers had an unprecedented opportunity to examine over time the relationships between caffeine intake and dementia incidence in a large group of women who consumed different amounts of caffeine, according to Driscoll.

The findings come from participants in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Driscoll and her research colleagues used data from 6,467 postmenopausal women age 65 and older who reported some level of caffeine consumption.

Intake was estimated from questions about coffee, tea and cola beverage intake, including frequency and serving size. In 10 years or less of follow-up with annual assessments of cognitive function, 388 of these women received a diagnosis of probable dementia or some form of global cognitive impairment.

Those who consumed above the median amount of caffeine for this group (with an average intake of 261 milligram per day) were diagnosed at a lower rate than those who fell below the median (with an average intake of 64 mg per day).

The researchers adjusted for risk factors, such as hormone therapy, age, race, education, body mass index, sleep quality, depression, hypertension, prior cardiovascular disease, diabetes, smoking and alcohol consumption. TNS

Green Monday BusinessMirror

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

BusinessMirror

Monday, October 10, 2016 A13

Environmental crimes could face ICC

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NITED NATIONS—The International Criminal Court (ICC) will pay more attention to crimes of environmental destruction and land-grabs, according to a new policy paper published by the court.

This may see business executives and government officials in cahoots to exploit natural resources prosecuted for crimes that displace millions.

Some 38.9 billion hectares—an area the size of Germany—has been leased to investors in resource-rich but cash-poor countries since 2000, Alice Harrison, director of Communications at Global Witness, told Inter Press Service (IPS).

“It is an important acknowledgement that crimes against humanity are not exclusively perpetrated by warlords in so-called failed states; they can also be linked back to company directors in our financial capitals,” she said.

The ICC has been criticized since it was set up in 2002 for convicting too few people and being too expensive. African leaders have also accused the courts of unfairly targeting their continent.

According to the policy paper, the court will pay special attention to crimes committed in light of “the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land ” in the selection of cases.

The proposal does not increase the Hague-based court’s mandate, established by the Rome Statute in 1998 to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

T his has been hai led as a landmark shift in international criminal law that could reshape the way business is done in poorer countries. Global Witness have said that it shows the ICC adapting to the “modern dynamics of conf lict,” to violations and displacements which happen in times of peace.

T here are hopes t hat t his change in policy signals good news for hundreds of thousands of victims of land-grabbing in Cambodia, 10 of whom are represented by international criminal

770K

The estimated number of people who have been affected by land-grabs in Cambodia since 2000

law firm Global Diligence Llp., and whose case is currently under review at the ICC. “The government talks about poverty reduction, but what they are really trying to do is to get rid of the poor. They destroy us by taking our forested land, 70 percent of the population has to disappear, so that 30 percent can live on. Under Pol Pot we died quickly, but we kept our forests.

Under the democratic system it is a slow, protracted death.

There will be violence, because we do not want to die,” a Cambodian victim of land-grabbing recounts.

Speaking to IPS, Richard Rogers, who lodged the case with the ICC, said this is an indication that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda “has accepted the argument of Global Diligence and others that the systemic crimes committed under the guise of ‘development’ are no less damaging to victims than many wartime atrocities—forced population displacement destroys entire communities and leads to massive suffering.”

“I feel very confident that the ICC prosecutor will soon move forward with the case that I filed relating to the land-grabbing and forcible evictions in Cambodia,” he said. “That case is a perfect test case for the new policy.”

But Senior Appeals Counsel at the ICC Helen Brady has disputed any connection between the two

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

situations, saying that the Cambodian victims’ case and the policy document are “two completely separate things. We wrote a policy, and separately, we have under analysis in our office a preliminary investigation going into the Cambodian [case],” she told IPS. Brady, who also chaired the working group that came up with the policy document, said the court’s policy on the selection of individual cases, which takes place after the decision to commence a full investigation into an overall series of crimes, is a distinct issue from whether the court decides to formally declare a preliminary examination into the Cambodian victims’ case, which will be determined by different means laid out in a policy document published in November 2013.

In fact, this earlier document already determines that cases where there is “social, economic and environmental damage inflicted on the affected communities” will be given

special attention. Yet, it is clear that the recent announcement describes these kinds of environmental crime in more detail, even specifically mentioning “land-grabbing” in its introduction. Paying heed to other major watchwords of supranational judicial bodies, it also refers to the increased vulnerability of victims instilled by terror, and of the trafficking of arms and persons.

Perhaps, this isn’t the watershed moment environmental activists have been campaigning for, but it remains a promising step toward accountability for the victims of environmental crimes. “I think it’s highly important and it’s not just symbolic—it means something,” the ICC ’s Helen Brady said.

L ega l e x per ts have played down the significance of the shift since the ICC’s mandate has not changed, with some saying this looks more like an attempt for the ICC to work with national judicial authorities in helping

them to prosecute crimes of this kind, provided for in the paper’s seventh clause.

As it stands, the ICC can only prosecute Rome Statute crimes if the perpetrator comes from one of the 124 countries that have ratified its statute, or if the UN refers a case. Three of the five members of the UN Security Council—the US, Russia and China—have not ratified the court’s statute and can veto crimes referred to it.

Nevertheless, as Rogers argues, should the Cambodian victims see a fair hearing, prosecution for environmental crimes would be entering new waters: “the impact of the new ICC focus can be enormous. Those who commit land grabbing and related crimes have a lot to lose—they tend to be government ministers and businessmen with reputations to protect. Therefore, they are far more likely to change their behavior than regular war criminals,” Rogers said.

In Cambodia 10 percent of the country’s land has already b e e n c a r v e d u p a mo n g 2 3 0 companies. There are estimates that 770,000 people have been affected by land-grabs in Cambodia since 2000, or 6 percent of Cambodia’s total population.

“Chasing communities off their land and trashing the environment has become a common and accepted way of doing business,” Harrison said.

“More than three people a week—ordinar y citizens—are murdered for defending their land, forests and rivers against destructive industries like mining, logging and agribusiness. These numbers are increasing. In 2015 we documented 185 deaths—by far the highest annual death toll on record.”

Women are disproportionately targeted in these killings, which brought greater attention after Honduran activist Berta Caceres’s high-profile murder in March. IPS

Large MPAs set in Palawan to rebuild fish stocks

A

Rex Group, first publishing house to go solar The Rex Group of Cos.

and solar solutions provider Greenheat Corp. recently launched the 178.5-kilowatt peak solar rooftop of the publishing company. Inspecting the 595-photovoltaic module solar-power plant are Rex Chairman and President Atty. Dominador D. Buhain (right) and Greenheat Director Glenn Tong (second from right) with (from left) J&J Properties and Trading Corp. Managing Director Roger John Y. Fontelera and Rex Printing COO Don Timothy I. Buhain. Nonoy Lacza

Clarification Greenheat Corp. would like to clarify its oversight in the figure that appeared in the story “Saint Scholastica’s

Academy Marikina now a solar school” published on BusinessMirror’s Green page on October 3, 3016.

The school’s actual savings in its electricity bill is between

P180,000 to P200,000 every month, or close to P2.5 million every year, not P19 million as it earlier indicated.

Our publicist takes responsibility for this unintentional error.

w h o p p i n g 1,013,340 hec tares covering both the coastal and offshore waters of Cagayancillo, plus 80,000 hectares of Aborlan in the Philippine province of Palawan were recently declared as marine-protected areas (MPAs).

This is part of a two-country initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Fondation Segré to rebuild the fish stocks of the Coral Triangle by changing the way people view protected areas. MPAs are portions of the sea which are protected by law. According to MPAtlas, the Philippines hosts 1,557—more than any in Southeast Asia.

Established largely through local government initiatives and administered by coastal communities, these undersea enclaves provide vital safe havens for marine life, while also attracting droves of tourists.

Sadly, many MPAs are plagued by a lack of funding. Perhaps, just over 100 MPAs are properly administered. Many are negatively viewed by coastal people as deterrents to their ability to fish in front of their homes.

This is because most MPAs have been designed to protect marine biodiversity rather than to replenish fish stocks and support local economies. “Fishermen were initially concerned that they would no longer be allowed to fish,” Aborlan Barangay Captain Zabalo recalls. “But proper zoning allocated areas for fishing.”

Over the past decade, WWF has been trying to put people’s needs first by focusing on the value of MPAs to maximize fisheries production instead of merely protecting biodiversity. So effective has the move been

The waters of the Philippines are some of the most productive in the Coral Triangle. Shown is a large school of trevally in Cagayancillo, which also covers the famed atolls of Tubbataha in Palawan. Toppx2/WWF

that the people of Cagayancillo clamored to have their waters protected because they benefited from the bounty of the nearby Tubbataha Reefs plus their own marine conservation efforts in Cagayancillo. “ S i n ce WW F i nt ro d u ce d m a r i n e conservation in early 2000, we have been vigilant. The reefs sustain our need for food and income. For years, we have had an abundant fish supply. I really believe some of them come from Tubbataha, especially the big ones,” Cagayancillo-based conservationist Nison Abados said. Though composed of both offshore and coastal zones, Cagayancillo is now the largest MPA in the country—due mostly to an ordinance under Republic Act 7611. Collaborative management is the key to effective and sustainably funded MPAs. Roles, responsibilities and benefits

are shared between national and local authorities, communities, the private sector and other resource users. Realizing that sustainability means business viability, the initiative works with the local seafood and tourism sectors to finance and manage MPAs and sustainable fishing initiatives.

“The ease and speed by which Aborlan protected its waters was due to a three-year initiative by local provincial, municipal and village governments, the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, Western Philippines University and WWF,” WWF-Philippines President and CEO Joel Palma said. The move heavily involves local fishermen and communities in the management of marine resources by helping them gain exclusive rights to fisheries located in or near MPAs and by working with them to improve the health and productivity of their fisheries.

A14 Monday, October 10, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Gaining a new Filipino identity?

T

he recent and ongoing controversy about President Duterte’s statements of anger and rejection toward the world community, in general, and the United States, in particular, has also created healthy discussions.

There are those who are absolutely convinced that the Philippines’s vital interests cannot be served without a very close relationship with the US. They correctly point out the amount of economic, military and humanitarian assistance the Philippines receives from the US, the United Nations and other Western nations.

Additionally, the argument is put forward that no nation can successfully poke a finger in the eye of the international community without serious negative consequences. This is the age not only of economic globalization, but also of alliances that are necessary to survive and thrive in a changing and habitually dangerous environment.

Filipinos are typically loyal and steadfast to their provincial roots. A person’s province may hold the family heritage but goes even deeper. Many nations have the same situation, as regions are separated by language, as well as social behavior, customs and even cuisine. But the situation may be aggravated here in the Philippines for having had not just one but two colonial masters.

Intellectually, we probably should use all the numbers to decide whether the Philippines should seek alliances other than the US, which countries those associations should be with, and how far we might move from the US. But this has gone beyond the brain and has moved to the heart, and that is a good development.

There has been a problem identifying with “the Philippines”.

We shout “Pacquiao, Pacquiao” at the championship fight, while the opponent’s supporters are yelling “Mexico, Mexico”. About the only time we do call out “Philippines” is at the beauty pageant.

That may be because the contestants look almost all the same, following the international standards of beauty with varying shades of brown.

In our opinion, President Duterte has tapped into the national identity in a way that has been lacking in the past. This is not some sort of superficial and arrogant nationalism. This is about pride of nation and feeling part of the nation.

We experienced and saw the reaction of Filipinos to the movie Heneral Luna last year. This year we cheered at Jaclyn Jose winning best actress—the first Filipino—at the Cannes Film Festival. Filipinos were proud—and angry—when the arbitration decision against China came out, knowing that we were right on an international stage. No longer did size, economics, or history matter or keep the Philippines rightful claims from being recognized by the world.

Moving beyond simplistic politics—at least for the vast majority—President Duterte’s “I am a Filipino and I love my country” has touched Filipinos in a way that has not been done in recent memory. If we are going to succeed as a nation, we must first be a nation in heart and not just on paper.

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T. Anthony C. Cabangon

T

he National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) reported that inflation accelerated last month (September) to 2.3 percent, from 1.8 percent in August.

According to the report, this was caused by the faster increase in the prices of food and nonfood items.

Because of the tropical cyclones that affected our country recently, even prices of food were affected, driving food inflation to 3.1 percent in September versus 2.5 percent in August.

I mentioned in my last column that the Philippines imports some of its rice requirements from Vietnam, and by the end of October, 250,000 metric tons of rice from Thailand and Vietnam will be arriving. This will, at least, ensure that rice prices will remain the same.

Nonfood inf lation also increased by 1.5 percent in September this year, from 1.1 percent in August. This happened because there were price increases in all major nonfood items, like housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and transportation.

Neda Officer in Charge Rosema-

rie G. Edillon assures us, however, that inflation will “remain low and stable for the rest of the year.” She cited four reasons for this positive outlook: the continuous expansion of the domestic economy; solid private household consumption and investment; a buoyant business and consumer sentiment; and adequate credit and domestic liquidity.

That is no reason to rest on our laurels, because the risk of La Niña developing in the last quarter of the year is still there. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the risk was at 41 percent in September and October, and still at 40 percent in November and December.

The Neda continues to urge key people in the government to

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Neda Officer in charge Rosemarie G. Edillon assures us that inflation will “remain low and stable for the rest of the year.” She cited four reasons for this positive outlook: the continuous expansion of the domestic economy; solid private household consumption and investment; a buoyant business and consumer sentiment; and adequate credit and domestic liquidity. keep on strengthening the agricultural sector to make it more resilient in the face of a potential food crisis. nnn

In the meantime, there is research conducted recently by a risk management, insurance brokerage and advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. According to its study, salaried workers in the Philippines will most likely have to make do with smaller disposable incomes in the coming year, as wage increases will be small and will be outpaced by higher inflation.

The “downward pressure” on salary is not only being seen in the Philippines; it is, in fact, a regional trend, as employers try to keep their costs down in the midst of slow economic growth.

Armed with information like this, it is helpful for Filipinos, especially the breadwinners, to brace for what’s ahead. Knowing full well the economic trends locally and internationally, it would be wise to build up more on personal savings and investments.

Among the 22 Asia Pacific markets covered in the Willis Towers Watson report, only six are expected to see higher base salary increases in real terms in 2017: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The highest salary increases in 2017 will be in Pakistan, 10.2 percent, Bangladesh, 10 percent; and India, 10 percent.

In East Asia and Southeast Asia, before inflation is factored in, Vietnam will see the highest base salary increase at 9.6 percent. Indonesia comes second with 9 percent, and China at 7 percent. Japan will have the smallest increase at 2.3 percent only.

Hong Kong’s salary increases in real terms are seen at 1.7 percent (because of high inflation forecast), while Singapore’s is at 3.2 percent (with only a 0.8-percent projected inflation).

Achieving better quality of life through PPPs

By Alberto Agra

PPP Lead

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

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The trends in inflation and salaries

Continued from A1 If better quality of life is the goal of public-private partnerships (PPPs), how can this be measured?

There are six possible metrics.

(1) SWDI-DSWD. The Social Welfare and Development Indicators (SWDIs) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) can be used to determine the level of well-being of a family, which serves as the basis for the planning of possible interventions, like PPP, and to monitor activities, accomplishments and improvements in the family after the provision of an intervention. The SWDI measures two levels of well-being, i.e., economic sufficiency and social adequacy. Family income and access to water are just some of the indicators.

(2) KPIs. The “ better” and “more” are measured by the accomplishment of the purpose set by the agreement. The PPP contract must stipulate the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and targets of the project, where parties to the contract must be bound by. There are operational, financial, relational, environmental and social KPIs. Lowering of nonrevenue water, delivery of market stalls and housing units within a certain timeframe are examples of KPIs. (3) CBMS. While KPIs are project-specific and SWDIs are focused on the well-being of families, data must also be generated at particular communities relative to the impact of PPP projects. The Communitybased Monitoring System (CBMS) can be this system. CBMS is an organized process of data collection and processing at the local level and

The PPP project itself, aside from promoting the general welfare, must also promote and not infringe upon human rights.

Human-rights due diligence must be conducted to ascertain if human rights will be violated by a PPP project. The Human Rights Impact Assessment can be such a tool. Gender and environmental justice must be at the forefront. of integration of data in local planning, program implementation and impact-monitoring. CBMS’s core indicators are health, nutrition, housing, water and sanitation, education, income, employment and peace and order.

(4) HRIA. The PPP project itself, aside from promoting the general welfare, must also promote and not infringe upon human rights.

Human-rights due diligence must be conducted to ascertain if human rights will be violated by a PPP proj-

ect. The Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) can be such a tool.

Gender and environmental justice must be at the forefront.

(5) MCC-ERR. The Millennium Challenge Corp.’s Economic Rate of Return provides a comparison of the costs and benefits of a public investment. This measures the expected increases in household incomes or the value-added of individual firms and the likely economic impact of the proposed investment or PPP. (6) CSO participation. Another level of SWDI, KPI or HRIA would be political participation. Aside from being beneficiaries, civil-society organizations (CSOs) and the people they represent must be part of the process and not be treated as fencesitters. Aside from the participation of the private-sector proponent, a party to the PPP, CSOs must be guaranteed their meaningful involvement in the whole spectrum of the PPP cycle, from PPP framework development, project identification, PSP selection, regulation, monitoring and evaluation.

With these metrics, this columnist hopes that better quality of life will not remain an empty promise or a parenthood statement.

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Compromise

Does technology trigger deflation?

BusinessMirror

Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

legally speaking

I

N my July 11 column, I discussed about the long-stalled construction of the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) common station. The project would have been completed by the end of 2010 were it not for the sudden decision of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), which took over the implementation of the said project from Light Rail Transit Authority, to transfer the location of the common station from the original plan in front of SM North Edsa Annex to the nearby TriNoma shopping mall. As discussed, this move constrained SM Prime Holdings (SM), which already gave the government P200 million for the implementation of the project, to sue the government for breach of contract and to ask for a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court. Thus, the project, which would have served the million commuters using the LRT 1 and the MRT 3 every day, failed to materialize.

However, on September 28, the DOTr, SM and Ayala Land Inc., which owns TriNoma, formally signed an agreement promising to resolve this long-running issue. Based on the agreement, the parties agreed to construct the common station “in the vicinity of Edsa and North Avenue,” or in between SM and TriNoma. Noteworthy, however, that the agreement did not state the definite date when the construction of the common station will begin.

Moreover, the party that shall shoulder the additional expense concomitant to the relocation of the common station was also not stated.

While the aforesaid development will finally put an end to the legal battle between the DOTr and the two business giants, the commuting public is apparently quite apprehensive about the effect of transferring the location of the common station. The DOTr earlier executed a memorandum of agreement with SM to construct the common station right in front of SM North Edsa Annex pursu-

ant to a study showing that it is the most ideal location to build the common station. Based on the original plan, the common station will systematically link in one location the MRT 3, LRT 1 and, eventually, the MRT 7, such that commuters will only need to walk a short distance within the same station to transfer from one line to another. However, this idea will not be feasible if the common station will be constructed in between SM and TriNoma. The connecting lines cannot be housed under one roof, such that commuters will need to walk around 150 meters, if they will pass the Atrium, and around 200 meters, if they will take the secondary route, before they can transfer from one line to another. With this, the purpose of having a common station appears to be defeated.

While the impasse over the said project might, indeed, end, the question of who will benefit the most in the proposed new location of the common station is something to watch out for.

Seven things to know about the pound’s depreciation

By Mohamed A. El-Erian Bloomberg View

A

lthough the last leg in the pound’s downward trajectory occurred suddenly and included a brief “flash crash” on Friday, the drivers of the decline have been long in the making, and the implications have yet to play out.

Here are seven things to know about the pound’s present and future: 1. After holding relatively steadily around $1.30—following an initial steep drop caused by the surprise outcome of the June 23 Brexit referendum—the pound depreciated this week to around $1.24. The process has been volatile, including the twominute flash crash, which took the currency to $1.18 in Asian trading.

2. The immediate cause of the depreciation was the indication by Prime Minister Theresa May on October 5 that her government would favor a “hard” exit from the European Union (EU). This dashed hopes, including mine, that calmer heads would prevail and that the United Kingdom and its trading partners would pursue a softer departure that maintains much of the free trade and financial arrangements.

3. The free-floating currency’s depreciation was a logical response, given the addition of such structural uncertainty to the trading relations of the UK, which was already running a current-account deficit. After all, the UK has one of the more open economies, closely integrated with the rest of Europe on both the current and capital accounts of the balance of payments. Dismantling such long-standing links inevitably threatens trade and growth.

4. There are hopes that the depreciation will soften the contractionary blow to the economy—by encouraging exports, higher import-

substitution production, larger tourist receipts and greater capital inflows. This is why the stock market is responding favorably—when measured in local currency—particularly the more outward-oriented index.

5. Relying on exchange-rate depreciation is not without risk. Some of the desired economic responses may be stymied, or at least delayed, by the unusual uncertainty facing the structural future of the UK economy.

There will also be price pass-through effects that threaten higher inflation and complicate the Bank of England’s policy management. And if a hard Brexit pushes the economy into recession, UK policy-makers will be faced with one of the hardest challenges: navigating stagflation.

6. The political dimensions of the pound’s depreciation are also worth monitoring. In the short term, they could include a renewed perception that financial developments are again favoring “international elites” at the expense of less fortunate segments of the population that have to deal with an inflationary threat. The positive responses of the stock market favor the better-off, who account for a disproportionate share of equity holdings. These developments are taking place even as the government is ramping up populist rhetoric in an effort to draw political support away from both the Labour Party and UKIP. 7. The rest of Europe should not take much comfort from any of this.

The pound’s depreciation will be yet another headwind for economies that are already coping with economic and financial challenges.

There is one simple conclusion: If both the UK government and its EU partners insist on a hard Brexit, the pound could be in for further volatility and weakness; and the impact on the rest of Europe will not be favorable.

Paul Donovan

A

s we stand on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution, the technological change can seem daunting; self-driving cars, intelligent machines and robots everywhere. There is an idea that global inflation rates will collapse as new technology increases efficiency and lowers costs.

The Apple iPhone 7, in short, could cause global deflation.

This idea is wrong. It is based on confusion between the price of a single item and the prices of the multiple things that form inflation. If the price of one thing is changing, that tells us something is happening in the market for that thing; that the efficiency of supply has changed as a result of technology, for instance. Policy-makers should not normally worry about a price change in a single market. If the prices of multiple things in the economy are changing, that tells us something is happening in the wider economy. That is inflation or deflation, and that matters to policy-makers.

There are three reasons investors should not expect deflation

to be the automatic consequence of technology.

The first reason is history. The technological change of each of the previous industrial revolutions was accompanied by high inflation and hyperinflation somewhere. The first industrial revolution (late-1700s and early-1800s) saw high inflation in the United Kingdom, the cradle of the revolution. France had hyperinflation.

The second industrial revolution (late-1800s and early-1900s) saw hyperinflation in North America, France (again) and several other European economies. The third industrial revolution (1970s) was marked by hyperinflation in South America and near hyperinflation

Monday, October 10, 2016 A15

in the UK and Japan. The deflationary technology story clearly has not worked in the past.

The second reason is the difference between relative and general price changes. Technology may lower the relative price of some goods and services, but that tells us nothing about what is happening with the price of other goods and services. With populations aging in many countries in Asia and Europe, what is going to be the more important part of consumer spending in the future—the latest smartphone, or medical care? Falling smartphone prices tell us nothing about the price of health care.

The salary of a nurse is likely to be more important to future inflation than is the price of the latest smartphone, however matte the black of the smartphone’s casing.

The final reason is demand patterns will shift, with price implications. If technology lowers the price of some goods and services, the relevant economic question is what happens with the increase in real disposable income? If consumers spend less on a smartphone, they have more money to spend on other things. If demand for other things increases, what happens to the price of those things? One macro example of this is the role of China in the world economy in

recent years. China’s increased involvement in the global economy has raised global inflation—China increased the supply of certain low-cost products, lowering their global price (just as technology might do); China also increased its demand for commodities at the same time, raising their global price. The net result was China’s increased global engagement raised global inflation.

If technology increases the efficiency of some things, it should lower the relative price of those things when their prices are compared to less technology intensive things. This tells us nothing about the general price level in the economy. Inflation can go up or down with an industrial revolution—indeed, hyperinf lation is very possible in an industrial revolution. The iPhone 7 tells us nothing about the future course of global inflation; only an economist can do that.

Paul Donovan’s latest book The Truth About Inflation was published by Routledge in April 2015.

Visit www.ubs.com/pauldonovan for more research.

Paul’s commentaries in the UBS series of documentaries on Nobel Laureates in economics is available at www.ubs.com/nobel

The anti-age discrimination in employment law Razzel Ann Vergara

A

DEBIT CREDIT

ge discrimination is one of the great tragedies of modern life. Whether deliberate or unintentional, it pervades society and becomes a hindrance to any person in realizing his potential, and creates substantial cost to individuals, employers and the economy.

While most recruitment strategies often implicitly favor younger workers, there are employers who still hire workers based on the requirements of their companies without regard to age. We do not need to worry anymore, because age will no longer be a factor in hiring employees, now that a new legislative measure to eliminate age discrimination in the workplace has lapsed into law on July 21, 2016.

This is now known as Republic Act 10911—the Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act. It is an act prohibiting discrimination against any individual in employment on account of age and providing the penalties for such prohibited acts.

This law seeks to promote equal employment opportunities for everyone by mandating employers to hire their employees and workers based on their abilities, knowledge, skills and qualifications, rather than their age and prohibiting arbitrary age limitations in employment. It also promotes the right of all employees and workers, regardless of age, to be treated equally in

terms of compensation, benefits, promotion, training and other employment opportunities. The law covers all employees, job applicants and workers, and all employers, labor contractors or subcontractors, labor organizations and publishers.

All employers are now prohibited to print or publish in any form of media, including the Internet, any notice of advertisement relating to employment suggesting preferences, limitations, specifications and discrimination based on age. They are also prohibited to require the declaration of age or birth date during the application process, and decline any employment application because of an individual’s age, discriminate any individual in terms of compensation, terms and conditions or privileges of employment on account of age. Moreover, it is unlawful for them to deny any employee’s or worker’s promotion or opportunity for training because of age, forcibly lay off an employee or worker because of old age or impose an early retirement

on the basis of an employee’s or worker’s age.

All labor contractors or subcontractors are prohibited to refuse for employment or discriminate against any individual because of such person’s age.

All publishers are prohibited to print or publish any notice of advertisement relating to employment suggesting preferences, limitations, specifications and discrimination based on age.

However, it shall not be unlawful for an employer to set age limitations in employment if age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary in the normal operation of a particular business or where the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age; or if the intent is to observe the terms of a bona fide seniority system that is not indicated to evade the purpose of this Act; or the intent is to observe the terms of a bona fide employee retirement or a voluntary early retirement plan (in accordance with the Labor Code and other related laws).

The penalties for violation of this act shall be P50,000 but not more than P500,000, or imprisonment of not less than three months but not more than two years, or both, at the discretion of the court. If the offense is committed by a corporation, trust, firm, partnership or association or other entity, the penalty shall be imposed upon the guilty officer or officers of such.

Although the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) is yet to be crafted by the secretary of

Redefining school security

By Cherry Ramos Matas

T

he recent incident in Cagayan de Oro City,where a 15-year-old high-school student stabbed to death his teacher who forbid the use of cell phones inside the classroom, should serve as a wake-up call for school authorities and all teachers around the country.

The incident tells us that school kids, and even teachers, are no longer safe inside their classrooms. Stricter school-security measures are needed, along with well-spelled student guidelines prohibiting the use of mobile phones while classes are ongoing.

Certainly, putting up closed-circuit television cameras in school premises could help prevent this kind of sense-

less loss of life of a teacher.

For this reason, the Department of Education (DepEd) has enjoined schools, families and communities to work together and help children to become emotionally, mentally and socially well-adjusted. Education Secretary Leonor Magtulis Briones said, “Keeping our schools safe is a collective responsibility of our lawenforcement agencies, our local governments, our communities and the department. Perhaps, it is also high time that the mental health needs of both our teachers and students were given attention.”

Parents, for their part, play an important role in molding their kids to become respectful, God-fearing, lawabiding youths. Instilling in them the

core values of a responsible citizen, including moral and spiritual values, while they are young, is crucial in nurturing a responsible child.

While we are discussing individual security in school premises, another issue worth looking into is food poisoning in schools, where thousands of students become victims annually all over the country. Food poisoning comes in various forms and shapes, and school authorities should be on the lookout for what our children are eating and buying around the school premises.

While the DepEd is implementing and promoting healthy snacks in school canteens, the culprits are those enterprising owners of sari-sari stores and ambulant vendors who

labor and employment within 90 days from effectivity of the law, all employers, labor contractors and subcontractors, labor organizations and publishers are called on to abide by this law. It is expected to bring a positive development for the labor sector. Hiring not-soyoung employees means gaining their extensive work experience, skills, knowledge and commitment, which could be put to good use in helping businesses grow.

While discriminating younger employees may lose the potential to mold and keep valuable employees for the years to come.

While it is difficult to quantify, it will clearly have an economic impact in terms of productivity. It will likely create a positive environment in the workplace. Workers will likely be more interested in increasing their productivity. In addition, there will be a significant increase in income and consumption, along with the purchasing power of society as a whole.

Razzel Ann Vergara is a graduate of BSA at Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Lopez, Quezon, Batch 2014 and passed the CPA Licensure Examination in October 2014. She is currently specializing in accounting for construction projects and taxation and is connected with Vinhar Construction and Marketing.

This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general.

These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com

sell unbranded and cheap imported candies and junk foods just outside our school gates. These “unsafe” candies and junk foods—some of which are packaged to look like medicines— attract unsuspecting youngsters.

School authorities and barangay officials should partner and work together in this task of guarding our youth from the menace of unsafe foods peddled in our school premises. We can’t emphasize enough that it is everybody’s responsibility to keep our schools safe and peaceful, conducive to teaching and learning.

Let’s all help keep our schools free of crime and violence.

The author is Teacher 3 at Tucalana Elementary School in Lallo, Cagayan.