Businessmirror october 29, 2016

“I promise God to...not express slang, cuss words and everything. So you guys hear me right always because [a] promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people.”—President Duterte, who said, in a flight home while everyone was sound asleep, that he heard a voice that said, “If you don’t stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now.” “And I said, ‘Who is this?’ So, of course, ‘it’s God,’” he said. AP

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“Seriously, is there anyone more inspiring than Michelle Obama?”— Hillary Clinton, in a joint appearance with Michelle Obama on the campaign trail. Mrs. Obama declared the feeling mutual. She referred to Clinton as “my girl,” and offered reassurance that her testimony for Clinton is both personal and political. AP

The Japanese comedian behind the viral hit “PPAP” said on Friday he is astonished by the global success of his “pen-pineapple-apple-pen” song. Pikotaro, as he is known, debuted a two-minute “long” version of the 45-second song and answered a wide range of questions at a Tokyo news conference, from the song’s origin to whether the Japanese prime minister has called him. AP

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Saturday, October 29, 2016 Vol. 12 No. 17

PHL asks SoKor to defer new banana-import rules

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

BORN IN SHANGHAI, JULIE TONG FINDS HER HOME IN PHL

In a letter addressed to South Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) Minister Sohn Mungi, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol requested the retention of status quo on its maximum residue limit (MRL) import-tolerance (IT) measures, while waiting for the final results

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he Department of Agriculture (DA) has formally asked South Korea to delay its implementation of more stringent importation measures on tropical fruits for at least six months, or until the necessary tests on chemicals that can be used are completed.

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of some chemicals still being evaluated by the MFDS. “We are writing to you in concern with the implementation of the first phase of Positive List System [PLS]. The first phase involves standards of tropical fruits and Continued on A2

F $80.99M The value of Philippine banana exports to South Korea last year

or all the divisions among world powers, one concern unites Russia and the United States, India and Pakistan, North Korea and Israel at the United Nations (UN): keeping their nuclear weapons.

Those nuclear-armed states and the three others—China, France and the United Kingdom—worked to head off a resolution calling for a global conference to establish a binding “legal process” to ban the manufacture, possession, stockpiling and use of the weapons.

The nonbinding resolution passed on Thursday in a 123-38 vote, with 16 abstentions. Opposing its call for a nuclear-free world is awkward for world leaders, and none more so than US President Barack Obama. He’s preparing to leave office seven years after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in large part for what the award panel called his “vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.”

See “Nuclear-armed,” A2

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CAB eyes approval of Vanilla Air’s Cebu-Narita flights

Young Pinoys go full circle,build eco-friendly business

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

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MILLENNIALS

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MAJOR REFRESH Philip W. Schiller, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing, speaks about the Touch Bar during an announcement of new products on Thursday in Cupertino, California. Story on C3. AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Duterte says God told him to stop cursing

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he foul-mouthed Philippine President, who once called the pope a “son of a bitch” and told US President Barack Obama to “go to hell,” said he has promised God he won’t spew expletives again.

President Duterte’s profanities have become his trademark, especially when threatening to kill drug dealers as part of his war on illegal drugs that has left thousands dead

PESO exchange rates n US 48.5150

since he took office at the end of June.

Duterte made the stunning pledge on arrival in his southern hometown of Davao City late Thursday from a trip to Japan.

While flying home, Duterte said he was looking at the sky while everyone was sound asleep, some snoring, and he heard a voice that said “if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now.”

See “Duterte,” A2

DUTERTE: “So you guys hear me right always because [a] promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people.”

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) has promised to facilitate the approval of flights between the Philippines and Japan for Vanilla Air Inc., the low-cost carrier owned by All Nippon Airways (Ana).

This developed as the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) confirmed that it has a pending application from Vanilla Air to fly to Cebu. CAB Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla told the BusinessMirror: “Yes, Vanilla Air has a pending application for a foreign carriers air permit [FCAP] with the CAB. Hearing on the application was held last October 26.

The application will be taken up by the board in its meeting in November.”

In a news statement, the DOT said Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo met with officials of Vanilla Air, who confirmed that the carrier would fly between Narita and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. If approved

by Philippine aviation officials, the route will be between Tokyo and Cebu, the first of such outside-Manila flights for a Japanese carrier. The proposed roundtrip flight will be operated once daily. The carrier is currently promoting the route with a fare of ¥14,890 (P6,850), one way.

“We are elated over Vanilla Air’s report that all seats on the Narita-Cebu flight are all sold out, long even before its scheduled launch on Christmas Day,” Teo said. “The entry of this first Japanese airline to provide nonstop service to Cebu is a welcome development, since it has been branded as the ‘vacation destination’ of Japanese tourists.”

She added that the new route “fulfills President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s vision to bring economic growth and development to the Visayas by establishing Cebu as a major international gateway,” she told Vanilla Air President Katsuya Goto, durContinued on A2

n japan 0.4608 n UK 59.0136 n HK 6.2560 n CHINA 7.1546 n singapore 34.7903 n australia 36.8132 n EU 52.8814 n SAUDI arabia 12.9366

Source: BSP (28 October 2016 )

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A2 Saturday, October 29, 2016

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PHL asks SoKor to defer new banana-import rules Continued from A1

nuts. The applications for Import Tolerances (IT) of different tropical fruits are still being evaluated, including that of banana, one of our major exports,” the letter said, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.

“In this connection, we would like to request that Codex MRL be retained until such evaluation is finished and a new one is released, in particular for banana /Chlorpyrifos -2 ppm and banana/thiophanate methyl -0.2 ppm and banana/buprofezin -0.3 ppm,” the letter added.

South Korea is currently in the process of replacing its IT measures on tropical fruits to a more stringent one. The East Asian nation has decided to adopt a PLS as an IT measure and do away with the conventional standards on MRL. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines MRL as the maximum concentration of a pesticide residue legally permitted in food commodities and animal feeds.

The MRL standards are guided by the Codex alimentarius, or more commonly known as the “food code”, which details specific limits for every chemical compound found in pesticides known and used in the global market. The food code, which is reviewed annually to adapt according to market need, is a global standards set and assessed by the FAO and the World Health Organization to ensure food safety.

The transition from Codex to PLS would

mean that South Korea will only keep its own MRL standards, while any chemical ingredient that is not registered and recognized by the MFDS would automatically be assigned an MRL of 0.01 ppm.

This means that any produce that has a pesticide residue exceeding 0.01 ppm will not be allowed to enter the Korean market starting January 01, 2017.

Currently, Seoul’s MRL for Chlorpyrifos and Buprofezin are at 2.0 ppm and 0.3 ppm, which are based on the Codex, according to MFDS data. Chlorpyrifos and Buprofezin are included in the number of chemical compounds that would be assigned an MRL of 0.01 ppm starting next year.

“We take note of the results of the experiments conducted by Dole Philippines Inc. [Dole] on the comparative use of chlorpyrifos, buprofezin and bifenthrin,” the letter said, referring to the attached laboratory findings conducted

by Dole on Chlorpyrifos and Buprofezin.

“The table shows the residue levels detected upon analysis of samples are above the default limit of 0.01 ppm, with the exception of those using bifenthrin, whose propose IT is 0.1 ppm,” the letter added.

According to Dole documents attached to the DA’s letter to MFDS, Chlorpyrifos and Buprofezin are strong chemicals used by banana growers against mealybugs and scale insects.

Dole findings showed that at present, banana growers use Chlorpyrifos at a ppm level ranging from 0.03 to 0.22, depending on the materials being applied with, while Buprofezin

has a 0.02-ppm MRL on average usage.

“The average consumption of tropical fruits in Korea is 40 grams per day and the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of Chlorpyrifos and Thiophanate methyl are 0.01 milligrams/kilograms bw, and 0.08 mg/kg bw, respectively,” the letter said.

“Therefore, we can assume that the consumption of even two pieces of a 50 grams banana per day would still be safe,” the letter added. The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an attached agency of the DA, said the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) is lobbying that South Korea retain the status quo on the MRL of the said chemicals until the MFDS final evaluation results come out.

“They [PBGEA] want to maintain the current 2 parts per million MRL standard on Chlorpyrifos until the MFDS release its results on the said chemical,” BPI Plant Product Safety Services Division Officer in Charge Maria Lourdes de Mata told the BusinessMirror, adding that the results will only be released

by MFDS by mid-2017.

“The late application for the IT of Chlorpyrifos caused the delayed results from the MFDS, and MFDS chemical evaluation usually takes almost a year,” de Mata said.

Earlier, PBGEA President Alexander N. Valoria told the BusinessMirror that Chlorpyrifos is the single most important chemical, as far as the banana industry is concerned, among the remaining chemicals awaiting decision from MFDS.

According to the MFDS web site, the IT application for Chorpyrifos in bananas was only applied on May 27 by a certain Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd. The MFDS noted on its web site that it may take until October 27, 2017, for them to complete the evaluation of the said chemical compound. The MFDS application records on its web site also showed that Chlorpyrifos was the last chemical to be applied for testing for the banana commodity.

Meanwhile, the MFDS web site showed that there is no existing IT application for Buprofezin. When Seoul decided to adopt PLS, MFDS announced that exporters could apply for the establishment of new MRLs, or a change of MRL for particular chemical compounds found in pesticides used in their respective agriculture sectors.

For toxicity-data testing, Seoul charges a fee of 30 million won (equivalent to P1.31 million) for the establishment of MRL, while an exemption or change of MRL would cost 10 million won (P436,000).

As for residual-data testing of chemical compounds, the South Korean government charges 5 million won (P218,000). MFDS would release the new and specific MRL results for chemical compounds applied for change or exemption of MRL after 210 days. MFDS said it would take at least a year for the establishment of an MRL for unrecognized chemicals.

Meanwhile, several (World Trade Organization) WTO member-countries—including the United States and European Union—have already expressed concerns regarding South

CAB eyes approval of Vanilla Air’s Cebu-Narita flights Continued from A1

ing their meeting on the sidelines of Duterte’s recent working visit in Tokyo.

Tourism Undersecretary for Tourism Development Planning Benito Bengzon Jr., who sits as vice chairman of the CAB on behalf of Teo, assured Katsuya that he will help expedite the approval of Vanilla Air’s FACP, which is required of all international air carriers planning to operate a new route in a foreign country.

An attached agency of the Department of Transportation, the CAB is mandated by law “to regulate the economic aspect of air transportation, and shall have the general supervision, control and jurisdiction over air carriers, general sales agents, cargo sales agents and air freight forwarders, as well as their property, property rights, equipment, facilities and franchises.”

If it secures the FACP, Vanilla Air will be the third carrier to operate the Narita-Cebu route after Philippine flag carriers Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific Airways. PAL flies the

route twice a day, seven days a week, while Cebu Pacific, four times a week.

The DOT chief, likewise, urged Vanilla Air to explore the possibility of flying further on to Davao from its Narita-Cebu route. “With Davao considered as little Tokyo, Vanilla Air is assured that consumer interest in said destination would be huge,”said Teo, who hails from Davao.

The DOT has committed to support Vanilla Air’s market launch of the Narita-Cebu route at the Shinjuku train station, which is known as the busiest terminal in Tokyo. During the event, the DOT will have the opportunity to also promote Cebu as the favorite vacation spot for Japanese travelers to the Philippines.

Thereafter, the DOT Tokyo Office will host a familiarization trip for to Cebu in February 2017 for Japanese media and travel bloggers.

During his meeting with Teo, Katsuya expressed high hopes that Vanilla Air would reach an 80-percent passenger load factor for the Narita-Cebu flights, due to the ease by which group tours are put together, as well as the availability of Internet promotions that push the sale of the route.

When AirAsia divested from AirAsia, Japan, the low-cost carrier became wholly owned by Ana and was rebranded into Vanilla Air. After years of losses, the carrier finally eked a profit in fiscal year ending March 2016. This enabled Vanilla Air to push its expansion plans and today flies to Amami, Okinawa,

Osaka, Sapporo, in Japan; Taipei; Ho Chi Minh; Kaoshiung; and Hong Kong. It currently has a fleet of nine Airbus 320-200s, which seats 180 passengers per plane.

The DOT also said it bagged two significant investment pledges from key Japanese constr uction and proper t y development companies. These potential investors are looking at putting up industrial parks, retirement and shared communities, condominiums and mixed-use properties in various places in the Philippines. The agency, however, did not identify the companies and the exact locations of these investment areas.

Bengzon, along with Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority COO lawyer Guiller Asido, and Philippine Tourism Attache to Tokyo Gwendolyn Batoon helped woo these investors, after highlighting the “ease of doing business” in the Philippines, as well as the fiscal incentives available for foreign businessmen.

The tourism officials promoted Palawan, Bataan and Davao as alternative areas for foreign investments.

Teo recently met with the influential Japan Association of Travel Agencies, which had promised to market other Philippines destinations to their member- clients. The DOT hopes Japanese visitor arrivals would surpass the South Koreans by refocusing its marketing on niche markets such as female travelers, or joshi tabi. See “Japanese group to market more PHL destinations,” in the BusinessMirror, October 28, 2016.

Last year 495,662 Japanese tourists arrived in the Philippines, up 6.9 percent from the arrivals in 2014. The Japanese spent P12.2 billion in 2015, up 14.2 percent, from the P10.68 billion they spent in 2014.

Korea’s change in IT measures, citing discrepancies between the WTO’s Sanitary Phytosaniary legislation, multilateral provisions and international standards.

“Several members encouraged Korea to continue harmonizing its industrial standards with international ones,” Irene B. K. Young, chairman of WTO Trade Review Policy Board (TRPB), said in the latest report of WTO-TRPB on the review of South Korea’s trade policies. “They urged Korea to work constructively with all stakeholders in order to minimize potential disruptions to trade,” Young added. Earlier, PBGEA warned that Seoul’s implementation of an MRL of 0.01 ppm on fruit imports could cause Philippine exporters to incur huge losses.

“Once [the new] MRL is implemented next year, there are no ifs and buts about it. That’s why it’s important for the government to understand the urgency of the matter,” Valoria said. The Philippines accounts for more than 90 percent of bananas being imported by South Korea annually. Local exporters shipped a total of 93,386 metric tons (MT) of bananas to South Korea valued at $47.70 million in the first half of 2016, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In 2015 South Korea imported a total of 212,083 MT of Philippine bananas amounting to $80.99 million in 2015, PSA data showed.

The PSA said South Korea accounted for 12.31 percent of total banana exports, making it the third-biggest buyer of Philippine bananas last year.

Nuclear-armed. . .

The US would refuse to participate in the negotiations over a nuclear ban if it passes, Robert Wood, the US special representative to the UN’s Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, said on October 14.

“How can a state that relies on nuclear weapons for its security possibly join a negotiation meant to stigmatize and eliminate them,” Wood said in an address at the UN. Because nuclear weapons play a role in maintaining peace and stability in some parts of the world, a “ban treaty runs the risk of undermining regional security,” he said.

Echoing that view, Matthew Rowland, the UK’s representative to the disarmament conference, said that same day that his country’s nuclear deterrence must be maintained “for the foreseeable future” because of the “risk that states might use their nuclear capability to threaten us, try to constrain our decisionmaking in a crisis or sponsor nuclear terrorism.”

After international efforts to ban the use of biological and chemical weapons, land mines and cluster bombs, arms control advocates say it’s time to deal with nuclear bombs as the remaining weapons of mass destruction that aren’t prohibited. Sponsors of the resolution include Austria, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa.

“Given the tremendous humanitarian

Duterte. . .

Continued from A1

consequences of any nuclear explosion, we have to take action,” Thomas Hajnoczi, Austria’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said in an interview. “Nuclear weapons states always say it’s too early for such a treaty but we think time is right to create legal norms to ban weapons of mass destruction.”

The initiative comes 70 years after a resolution was adopted in 1946 establishing a commission to make proposals for “the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.” It also comes a year after the formal adoption of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program that was negotiated by some of the same nations opposing the new resolution.

In 2011, Obama negotiated a nuclear treaty with Russia requiring each country to reduce its arsenal to 1,550 operational warheads, and that accord remains intact. But amid worsening relations between the Cold War rivals, the Pentagon plans to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize its air-land-sea triad of nuclear weapons. And Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended a nuclear nonproliferation treaty and vowed to develop new arms systems to neutralize the US’s missile defense shield, which he sees as a breach of the nuclear balance. Bloomberg News

Continued from A1

“And I said, ‘Who is this?’ So, of course, ‘it’s God,’” he said.

“So, I promise God to...not express slang, cuss words and everything. So you guys hear me right always because [a] promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people.”

Duterte’s vow was met with applause, but he cautioned: “Don’t clap too much or else this may get derailed.”

He shocked the dominant Roman Catholics last year when he fired an expletive while expressing his disgust over a monstrous traffic jam that trapped him while Pope Francis was visiting Manila. “I wanted to call. ‘Pope, you son of a bitch, go home.’ Don’t visit here anymore,” he told a mob of supporters, some of whom laughed.

He later apologized after Filipino bishops expressed shock and outrage.

It’s not certain if the 71-year-old President, who has been compared to US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump because of his brash language, can keep his promise. Duterte has made a similar pledge in June when it became evident that he had won the May 9 presidential elections overwhelmingly on a pledge to end crimes, especially illegal drugs and corruption.

He said then he was enjoying his last moments as a “rude person” because “when I become president, when I take my oath of office...that will be a different story. There will be a metamorphosis.”

It didn’t take long for Duterte to break the promise.

He has repeatedly leveled SOB-laced tirades against Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a few outspoken opposition politicians and human-rights advocates, while heaping praises on Chinese and Russian leaders.

There were no expletives in his late Thursday speech, but Duterte still sounded mean toward critics.

When asked for his message for a Filipino beauty queen who won the recent Miss International pageant, Duterte said he was proud. “Many Filipinas are beautiful, but all of you there in the human-rights commission are ugly.”

Asked if the days of his cursing the US and the EU are over, Duterte didn’t answer clearly.

“I do not want anybody reading my mind because I couldn’t make a smart move anymore. But it’s all calibrated, it’s all about timing,” Duterte said. AP

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briefs end of ‘endo’ lauded DAVAO CITY—President Duterte has lauded the efforts of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that led to the regularization of more than 16,000 workers in the private sector.

Speaking before the nation upon his arrival on Thursday night at the Davao International Airport from a three-day state visit to Japan, Duterte particularly cited the leadership of Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III for instituting necessary steps to end endo or end of contract.

The DOLE previously reported the regularization of more than 16,000 contractual workers that represent around 15 percent of the total number of contractual workers in the country being employed by private and business firms.

The agency also recognized the willingness of private and business firms to comply with the end of endo policy of the government as one of the factors that led to the regularization of said number of contractual workers. It may be recalled that Bello declared the end of endo. saying that such practice is already “a thing of the past” when the DOLE reaffirmed on October 24 the regularization of 16,183 contractual workers. PNA

CSC boosts smoke-free drive The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has expressed support to President Duterte’s plan to sign an executive order (EO) that will ban tobacco smoking in all public places. Through the EO, Filipinos can expect a nationwide smoking ban akin to Davao City’s 100percent smoke-free policy.

The CSC has been a staunch supporter of tobacco-control policies that aim to eliminate cigarette smoking in the workplace and to prevent tobacco companies from interfering with policy-making in the public sector. It issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 17, Series of 2009, or the Smoking Prohibition Based on 100 percent Smoke-Free Policy which prohibits smoking in or on the premises, buildings, and grounds of government agencies providing health, education and/ or social welfare and development services, such as hospitals, health centers, schools, universities and colleges among others. Designated smoking areas are also not allowed.

The CSC has also partnered with the Department of Health in the promulgation of Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) 2010-01 on the “Protection of the Bureaucracy Against Tobacco Industry Intervention”.

JMC 2010-01 provides specific guidelines for the bureaucracy’s interactions with the tobacco industry, particularly in prohibiting government officials and employees from doing unnecessary interaction with the tobacco industry.

Prohibited acts include providing preferential treatment, such as receipt of incentives, and soliciting or accepting any donation or favor from the tobacco industry in connection with any operation or transaction of the agency.

Tesda head hails ‘new’ foreign policy

THE Tesda director general, Secretary Guiling Mamondiong, has expressed his support for the independent foreign policy of President Duterte.

Mamondiong said Duterte’s decision to adopt an independent foreign policy will earn the respect of other countries.

“We are a sovereign nation of more than 100 million, so the world must respect our decision and treat us equal to other powerful nations,” the Tesda chief said.

Mamondiong added that, with Duterte’s decision, the Philippines would also seek stronger ties with other nations, which would empower interests at the national, regional and global levels.

Declaring an independent foreign policy would further the country’s aspirations for true sovereignty, one that is impervious to external pressures. Mamondiong, however, said this cannot be achieved overnight but would take long-term and concerted efforts from all Filipinos.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Economy BusinessMirror

Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon • Saturday, October 29, 2016 A3

Philippines ratifies WTO trade facilitation agreement–DTI Salalima $23T DICT’s reassures support

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By Catherine N. Pillas

c_pillas29

he Philippines has completed its ratification of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), and sees reduced trade costs from the agreement that will benefit small and medium enterprises (SMEs) most.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) made this announcement on Friday, reporting that the Philippines’s Instrument of Acceptance has been forwarded to the WTO through the Philippine Permanent Mission to the WTO in Geneva. The approval was lauded by Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, who said that the ratification will result in substantial trade flows.

The instrument of acceptance means a WTO member has formally accepted the Protocol of Amendment, which inserts the TFA into the WTO’s founding agreement, thus, institutionalizing the TFA. The DTI, in the past, has estimated the TFA to result to 25 percent to 30 percent cost reduction for traders due to the expected reduction of red tape measures and nontariff barriers.

This is a boon for micro and small traders in the country.

“The Philippines finds great value on the implementation of the TFA— not just for the big businesses—but also for local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the prospects of lowering trade costs and streamlining border procedures, which will enable them to participate more actively in international trade,” Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said in a news statement.

The TFA contains a list of tradefacilitation commitments that WTO members must commit to once they’ve agreed to be party to the agreement.

LOPEZ

The agreement also contains provisions on technical assistance and capacity building, which are also included to help developing countries implement the agreement.

The Philippines, being a developing country, has applied for “special and differential treatment,” essentially allowing it to delay the implementation of each provision of the text according to their needs.

These commitments are divided into Category A, B and C, with A being measures that the Philippines can implement by the time the agreement enters into force.

Category B allows for more time after a determined transitional period following the agreement’s entry into force, while C contains the provisions that the country will implement on a future date after a transitional period.

For the TFA to come into

UNDP lauds budget increase for DepEd

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

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he Philippines cannot afford to fall short of its commitment to address education gaps, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In a report, the UNDP said the country’s young population makes it imperative for the government to address its education challenges head on.

The country’s commitment to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on education by 2030 also highlights the importance of addressing education gaps.

“Given high ratios of children and youth—one-third of the population is under age 15—the Philippines cannot afford to fall short on education.

While it attained the MDG [Millennium Development Goal] target on primary enrollment, only 64 percent of adults have some secondary education, and the quality of education is still a major challenge,” the UNDP stated.

The UNDP, however, pointed out that efforts to increase the country’s budget for the Department of Education (DepEd) to P461 billion in 2016 from P386 billion is a step toward the right direction.

The DepEd has the highest allocation under the 2016 national budget, which reached a total of P3 trillion. Over 37 percent of this budget was allocated for social services. The UNDP has also extended development finance to the Philippines worth $600,000. This was part of the $60.6 million worth total project cost for the financing agreement

UNDP has with the DepEd. “UNDP also provides expertise in the complicated logistics of delivering procured items to approximately 5,000 points across the Philippine archipelago,” UNDP added.

UNDP said domestic public finance accounts for 44 percent of the total and domestic private finance an estimated 45 percent of resources overall are allocated for the SDGs. While international public finance, particularly official development assistance (ODA), accounted for 13.5 percent of the total financial inflows in the region in 1990, it fell to 3.4 percent in 2012.

As a result, countries are designing new financing strategies that mobilize contributions from a wide range of sources, including private sector.

“Domestic sources of finance are emerging as a key driving force for sustainable development in Asia Pacific,” said Haoliang Xu, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP director for Asia and the Pacific. “These new sources of finance allow us to expand the existing development cooperation and partnership.”

The volume of UNDP’s government cofinanced portfolio in Asia Pacific is now at $116 million. Currently, UNDP and governments have cofinancing agreements in 14 countries, including the Philippines.

However, ODA continues to be significant, particularly in small-island developing states. In Kiribati and Solomon Islands, ODA accounts for over 30 percent of total financing, in Tuvalu it accounts for more than half.

The WTO’s projected increase to total world trade from the current estimate of $22 trillion

force, two-thirds of the WTO membership must ratify the agreement by submitting its “instrument of acceptance” to the WTO, and only then will it apply but only to those who have agreed to it.

The TFA is significant as it can reduce trade costs and enhance trade flows between countries. The WTO estimates that the TFA could increase total world trade to $23 trillion, from the current estimate of $22 trillion.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that reduction in trade costs could range from 11.7 percent to 15.1 percent for lower-middle income countries, such as the Philippines.

Traders incur high costs of doing business due to vast amounts of “red tape”, absence of an automated system, and lack of coordination between traders and customs agencies.

The TFA is the first multilateral trade agreement to be concluded since the establishment of the WTO in 1995.

The Philippines is the 95th WTO member to accept the TFA.

for BPO industry

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he Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) has assured the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry of its cooperation and support, as the Duterte administration pursues its vision of an independent foreign policy for the country.

In a news statement, the DICT reiterated that it will pursue efforts to promote the Philippines as an investment destination for BPO companies.

“To the BPO industry, the Philippine government envisions a developed nation that will be dubbed as a “world-class ICT services provider. Together, we will work on this,” Information Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima said in the statement.

“Contracts that have been enforced and still existing shall be respected and will continue until their full implementation,” he added.

The department supports President Duterte’s decision to pursue a “separate” foreign policy from the United States.

“Our President is correct when he stated that we are separating from the US. The Philippines is separate and distinct from... the US, with [its] own foreign policy and international alignment.

This has been avowed way back when we declared our country’s independence,” according to the DICT chief.

Salalima appealed to the major players in the BPO sector for the collaboration and partnership in its goal to develop an ITenabled workforce, expand the reach of Internet, provide access and services to the citizens and enhance IT service management.

“Your presence, your collaboration, unending support and partnership will play an important role to reach these objectives. Let us remain steadfast in reaching these goals,” he said. PNA

A4 Saturday, October 29, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Lessons from Pentagon’s shameful bonus clawback

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he United States military has always prided itself on taking care of its own. But for 10,000 members of the California National Guard who are being made to repay their reenlistment bonuses, that tradition rings hollow.

Needing forces for the Iraq and Afghan wars over the last decade, the guard took part in a nationwide effort to retain troops by offering bonuses of $15,000 or more. The program was supposed to be only for specialists in high demand, but the California Guard mistakenly extended the payments to basically anybody.

After the Pentagon caught the error, California officials began demanding payback of bonuses and college loans, sometimes with interest.

After the Los Angeles Times exposed this last weekend, lawmakers in Congress and California, as well as high-ranking military officials, cried foul. The California Guard insisted it had no legal recourse to forgive the loans, until Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter intervened on Wednesday, suspending all collections efforts. That’s a good start, but Congress or the Pentagon should also forgive the debts—and make whole those who have begun paying back the bonuses, many of whom have had to sell their cars or take out second mortgages.

This is not the only recent scandal involving military bonuses. In the late 2000s, the National Guard began paying some members $8,500 for every new enlistee they recruited. The program became rife with fraud, ultimately costing taxpayers about $100 million and resulting in more than 100 prosecutions in several states.

And in 2014, when members of the Pentagon’s bomb-disposal team were ordered to repay up to $100,000 in undue bonuses, one of the men involved killed himself with his service revolver.

These shameful episodes raise larger questions: Why does the military give out bonuses in the first place? Is there a better way to reward valuable service?

Back when foreign wars were placing great stress on the military’s manpower, widespread recruitment and retention bonuses were understandable.

But by 2011, the Pentagon had accumulated more than 60 types of special pay, totaling more than $1 billion a year. Now that all services are trimming uniformed personnel—the Army has eliminated 80,000 positions since 2012 and has put 40,000 more on the chopping block—the bonus programs should be pared, then focused more tightly on the skills most in need.

Consider that today’s recruits are eligible for up to $40,000 in cash bonuses.

That’s a lot of money to spend on mostly young people with no actual military experience who may turn out to be duds in basic training. Instead, the Pentagon should emphasize retaining members at the end of their first or second enlistments, after they’ve served for six to 12 years. By then, it’s clear what they’re capable of and how much potential they have.

And the bonus money should be paid mainly to people with expertise that’s considered critical: fluency in Chinese or Arabic, for example, or training in technology, engineering, health care or nuclear weapons. Bonuses could also be used to lure private-sector professionals to join up. A military that can spend more than $10 billion on a lumbering new aircraft carrier can certainly afford to keep people in hard-to-fill jobs. Bonuses are actually cheaper than pay raises, because they don’t compound every year.

All branches face increasing challenges to reenlistment. After the long wars, many service members are fatigued and want to spend more time with their families. Increasingly, those with skills valued in the private sector, including pilots, are opting out. And since last year, when the military decided to phase out its tradition that one had to serve 20 years to get a pension in favor of a 401(k)-style system that rewards those with less time served, it’s more attractive than ever to leave the military in midcareer.

Carter did the right thing in halting the California clawbacks. His successor should recognize the need to reform the entire bonus system. Bloomberg Editorial

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The winds of war are blowing John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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ar can be great for a nation. Facing a common enemy, citizens, for the most part, bond together, putting aside regional and political differences. The government can more easily stifle any opposition in the name of patriotism. An edgy confidence strikes the populace, as they do not want to go into a war thinking they are going to lose. Defense and related manufacturing companies are winners, as well as their shareholders.

The big loser is the country’s economy.

While initially there may be an economic boost if there is not too much destruction, war is a bad economic bet. The “experts” get all excited when a Philippine national election comes around, touting the economic benefits of campaign spending. It is all nonsense. According to the research of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, presidential and vice-presidential candidates spent P6.7 billion on

preelection period campaign ads. A boost for the economy?

The Mall of Asia, by comparison, cost P6.5 billion to construct in 2006 and is still pumping economic growth. Where is all the “sustainable development” from the 2016 election spending?

Regardless of how bad war is for the people, aside from the death and destruction, the warmongers are on the move. The only calm place on earth right now is Southeast Asia.

While there are no “wars” in South

America, Venezuela is experiencing huge and violent protests against the government. Brazil may not yet be a failed state but it does have a failed government with even the members of the current administration who ousted the prior government facing trials for corruption.

Turf wars and religious-fueled insurgencies are tearing Africa apart. Absolutely nothing positive can be said about North Africa or the Middle East. But the most dangerous warmongering is found in Europe from all those First World countries.

Russia moved into and “invaded” Syria on the exact date of the turning on the Economic Confidence Model of trust in government to the private sector. The new “Cold War” started in 2014 with sanctions placed on Russia by the United States and Europe. The year 2014 coincides perfectly with the cycles of the “Wheeler Index of War” by historian Robert Wheeler at the University of Kansas.

Europe and the US have built up their military forces on Russia’s border, the largest since World War II, with four battle groups led by the US, Germany, Britain and Canada

New York is too crowded for Airbnb

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By Justin Fox | Bloomberg View

irbnb Inc. is all about progress and efficiency and winwin economic outcomes, right? Underused real estate is transformed into lodging for visitors. The owners of the real-estate gain, the visitors gain, the local economy gains and Airbnb’s shareholders gain.

Sure, hotel owners and employees have some reason to gripe as they lose business to largely unregulated competitors. But hey, isn’t it progress when people develop new, technologyenabled ways to connect supply and demand and ensure quality, without relying on big institutions and clunky bureaucracy? Plus, in a city, such as New York, where the average hotel room costs $300 a night and hotel rooms are being converted into luxury condominiums, there is a chronic need for more-affordable lodging.

It seems to follow, then, that the New York state legislation penalizing those who advertise whole apartments for short-term rentals—signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week—is a terrible step backward.

And yeah, it definitely is a step backward. It’s also bit draconian. But it may not be terrible.

I should admit that, while I more or less believe everything I wrote in the first two paragraphs, I deliberately put it in over-the-top SiliconValley-utopian terms. Still, I really do think enabling people to rent out their dwellings when they’re not in them is a positive thing. There just happen to be two major complications

in New York City. One is that most New Yorkers live in buildings with lots of other New Yorkers; the other is that New York doesn’t have enough apartments for the people who want to live here, let alone visitors.

First, the part about people living in buildings with other people: Of the 3.1 million occupied housing units that the Census Bureau counted in New York City in 2014, 73 percent were in buildings of three units or more, and 56 percent in buildings of 10 units or more. Renting out an apartment to someone on Airbnb means allowing a stranger into the building— which apartment-dwellers generally aren’t willing to put up with unless that stranger comes bearing dinner.

In a small building, it’s easy enough to envision an Airbnb host making arrangements with the neighbors; in a big or even a medium-size one, it’s hard to see how that could ever work. I live in a 50-unit cooperative apartment building (like a condo, but with more meetings), and we banned Airbnb and similar short-term rentals a while ago. And though I guess there’s something to be said for letting this be determined on a building-bybuilding basis, there’s also something

to be said for creating a citywide norm so buildings aren’t constantly having to enforce their rules.

Then there’s New York’s chronic shortage of affordable housing.

Somebody who puts their apartment on Airbnb for a few weeks when they’re out of town is not reducing the housing supply; somebody who rents their apartment full-time on Airbnb is. The big question is, which of these is typical?

When Airbnb releases data it tends to focus on the characteristics of the hosts—most of them in New York aren’t rich, most of them rent out their homes or apartments only occasionally, etc. But if you measure things by current listings, as Brooklyn software developer Murray Cox does on his Inside Airbnb site, 57.6 percent in New York are for spaces that are available more than 60 days a year, with an average availability of 157.5 days a year. Meanwhile, a study by commercial brokerage CBRE estimated that 29 percent of Airbnb revenue in New York comes from hosts renting multiple units. That’s a lot less than the 62 percent of revenue in Miami and 59 percent in Las Vegas, but it still indicates that a significant part of the business comes from professional hosts as opposed to people with occasionally vacant apartments.

Now, one could respond that property owners should be able to do what they want with their property. But most New Yorkers are renters (I would guess that many or even most New York Airbnb hosts are, too, although

to go to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, and forces ranging from armored infantry to drones. The battle groups will be backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato) 40,000-strong rapidreaction force.

Russia just unveiled its SS-18 multiwarhead nuclear missile, nicknamed “Satan-2” by Nato, the most powerful nuclear missile ever and equipped with new stealth technology. Meanwhile, over the last years, Russia has expanded its nuclear fallout shelter facilities to the point that the entire 12 million population of Moscow can be protected.

Times before and during great economic distress bring warmongers to the front of the political line.

The worse the future economic outlook appears, the greater the influence and stronger the actions of the warmongers. The winds of war are blowing harder every day.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

I couldn’t find any data on that), and rents in New York are heavily regulated. On balance, that regulation surely reduces housing supply and may increase overall housing costs, but it exists and isn’t going away, and lawmakers are understandably opposed to allowing a gaping loophole that mainly benefits one company.

Is there a middle ground? There already is for those who want to rent out just part of an apartment. Such “hosted” rentals are legal in New York, and in the past have accounted for about a quarter of Airbnb’s listings in the city.

(That’s currently up to 47 percent by Inside Airbnb’s calculation, presumably because the new law has scared others into taking listings down.)

Perhaps, someday, there could be a further compromise in which Airbnb agrees to limit hosts to less than 60 days a year, and New York relaxes its ban somewhat.

It may be, though, that Airbnb is just too dependent on year-round hosts to countenance that. Writes Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank in New York of mostly conservative leanings: Airbnb is stuck with an impossible problem. The face it presents to the world—the face of a person with a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn who loves renting out her extra bedroom for fun and profit—is not what garnered it a $30-billion valuation.

But the company’s most economically efficient business—serving as a massscale warehouse for entire apartments in dense cities—is illegal.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Brainstorming in public

Radio Veritas is Manuel L. Quezon Gawad Parangal awardee

Jemain Tinio Diaz de Rivera

Forward Moving

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or the past few months, Filipinos have been exposed to presidential statements that put the entire country into a mental exercise, commonly known in the business community as brainstorming.

Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara told the public to be “less emotional” and “more objective” when taking in the President’s pronouncements. He said foreign policy is determined by existing laws and not by the President’s speeches.

An example of this is President Duterte’s recent statement about the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) with the United States. The senator said the President was just probably “thinking aloud”.

Others also believe that the President might be brainstorming in public.

Brainstorming is pondering over of ideas by an individual or a group to devise or find a solution to a problem.

It is easy to see that brainstorming is vital to the success of a business or community.

People associate brainstorming with new product ideas or marketing campaigns, but it can also be used for tasks dealing with internal procedures, organizational structure, etc. Here are three reasons people brainstorm: n It is the best way to find out how people feel or what they think about a product, idea, policy or service. n It encourages a wider audience to think critically about current issues or future goals. n Instead of one person feeling the pressure to come up with an idea, brainstorming allows a group to share the load of innovation, and encourages the team to work together respectfully and responsibly, to develop ideas and create viable solutions to problems.

To create a culture of brainstorming, the person or group should avoid judging ideas immediately, encourage a few wild ideas, think of ideas as building blocks that can be combined and integrated. If the country is, indeed, brainstorming in public, then we all, including the President, should avoid judging ideas immediately, encourage one or two creative thoughts, think of combining a few ideas together.

Brainstorming in public is wonderful only if we can successfully control the elements, specifically the participants and observers who influence the outcome. This is the reason brainstorming is part of the planning or research-and-development (R&D) process. It is done before a project or product is launched or presented to a target audience, the public. The Philippine public hopes for a better quality of life, a government that will protect Filipinos all over the world and defend its territory. nnn

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) issued a statement regarding concerns raised by investors because of statements made by the President.

The next four paragraph were provided by Ibpap.

Brainstorming in public is wonderful only if we can successfully control the elements, specifically the participants and observers who influence the outcome. This is the reason brainstorming is part of the planning or research-anddevelopment process.

“We continue to monitor the developments, given President Duterte’s recent pronouncements regarding Philippine military and economic ties with the United States.

As in the past, Ibpap sought clarity on government’s position on the matter and secured an official statement from Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima of the Department of Information and Communications Technology [DICT], to wit: “All business investments, contracts and commitments, local and international, in the country will be honored by the Philippine government, consistent with the nonimpairment and due process clauses in the Philippine Constitution and existing laws of the land. This pledge has been made and the President is sincere on this pronouncement and he will be true to his words.”

We also would like to relay a statement by Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez during an interview with CNN Philippines in Beijing on October 21 where he said, “In terms of economic [ties], we are not stopping trade, investment with America…. The President specifically mentioned his desire to strengthen further the ties with China and the Asean region, which we have been trading with for centuries. But we definitely won’t stop the trade and investment activities with the West, specifically the US.” Ibpap has formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our industry’s concerns with the government. nnn

ON Friday the information technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) industry’s Roadmap 2022 was successfully presented to government and the public. Over 4.5 million Filipinos directly and indirectly employed by the industry are looking forward to see how industry leaders and the government can work together and possibly provide them with career opportunities that will outmatch opportunities in foreign countries.

By 2022, the local IT-BPM industry has opportunity to generate 1.8 million jobs, 73 percent of which are mid to high value, and more than 500,000 jobs forecast to come from outside the National Capital Region.

The industry also has the potential to generate $40 billion in revenue and increase its global market share to 15 percent.

Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

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e, at Radio Veritas, are grateful to the local government of Quezon City for recognizing the stations as one of the Most Outstanding Institutions for 2016.

The station was recognized for being the voice of truth and the herald of Filipino freedom during the Edsa People Power Revolution.

“Radio Veritas did more than broadcast programs to promote its religious message. While it served God, it served people and communities, as well, providing them with a moral compass with which to lead good, productive lives. Its role in strengthening the spirit of the forces of freedom in Edsa 1986 will forever be a historic highlight of its achievements, but it has also gone on to adapt to the age of the Internet. Today Radio Veritas supports

E

Supervision, which includes regulators from around the world, wants to firm up the rules that tell banks how to comply. Europe’s governments aren’t happy.

The hardest thing about regulating capital is measuring risk, because the riskier a bank’s investments, the more capital it needs.

Banks disagree on how to judge the hazards: When presented with the same assets, they come up with different answers. And the temptation to underestimate risk, which would allow them to economize on capital,

developmental concerns, as well, through programs on health, community development, science and technology, women and youth, the family, folklore, history and related subjects,” an excerpt from the citation of the award said.

Started in 2002, the Quezon City government has been paying tribute to outstanding individuals and institutions that have contributed not only to the city’s development and reputation but also have served as inspiration to the country, as well, through the yearly conferment of its highest award of honor and recognition, the Manuel

L. Quezon Gawad Parangal.

Named after the city’s founding father, the award also aims to continue the tradition of accomplishment and excellence that Manuel L. Quezon exemplified when he envisioned the city. The station has been recognized by different institutions for its persistence in fulfilling its mission of spreading the truth and new evangelization through its radio programs.

R adio Veritas received the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Golden Dove Award for Best Radio Public Service announcement in April. The station was also a recipient of the first Kaisa ng Bayan Award by the Jesuit sociopolitical group Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan during their 30th anniversary celebration on February 24.

Trinity University of Asia also chose Veritas 846 as the winner of the Trinitian Award for Values-Oriented Radio Station for the 2016 Platinum Stallion Media Awards.

Meanwhile, the news program “Veritas Pilipinas” won the Hildegarde Award under the Broadcast Journalism—Radio category

from Saint Scholastica’s College Manila’s10th Hildegarde Awards for Women in Media and Communication.

In 1986 it was through Radio Veritas where Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin made the call to the people to converge in Edsa to prevent the bloodshed, and ushered in the four-day bloodless revolution known, as Edsa 1 People Power Revolution.

That same year, Radio Veritas received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Board of Trustees recognized Radio Veritas’s crucial role in using the truth to depose an oppressive and corrupt regime and restore the Filipino faith in the electoral process.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www. caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@ gmail.com.

Four steps to save American politics

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onald Trump has taken a battering ram to longstanding political norms—the unwritten conventions that make governance possible. But even before he decided to run for president, those norms were under assault. Immediately after the election, one of the most pressing questions will be how to restore them.

To answer that question, let’s assume what philosophers call a “veil of ignorance”. If we didn’t know whether the president would be Democratic or Republican—if it could turn out to be Clinton or Trump—what are the minimal norms on which we might agree? Here are four suggestions.

1: Civility now. You can speak about members of the opposing party with respect, or you can treat them with contempt. You can attack their motivations or accuse them of betraying their country, or you can argue that their proposals are unlikely to achieve legitimate goals. For all their differences, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz (both likely to be highly influential in 2017) sometimes practice Manichean politics: In their worlds, decent, ordinary people are struggling against a self-interested and dishonest elite.

Enough of that. It’s ugly, unproductive and (usually) wrong. Right after the election, the losing and winning candidates should strike notes of humility and grace, and Democratic and Republican leaders should join them.

2: Compromise, early and often.

On some issues, Republicans and Democrats disagree so sharply that compromise is nearly impossible.

Republicans are not going to support a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gases, and Democrats won’t support a 1,000-mile wall on the border with Mexico.

Nonetheless, 2017 could be the year of splitting differences. On gun control, for example, Clinton has a number of ideas, such as forbidding the sale of guns to people on the terrorist watch list, that many Republicans could accept. On border security,

This is no way to mend Europe’s banks

urope urgently needs to repair a banking system that’s weighing on the region’s economy. Governments say they understand, but they still aren’t taking the task seriously.

The issue is global standards for capital—the bedrock financing that makes banks capable of absorbing losses without going bust. Lack of capital in 2008 turned financial setbacks into a full-scale crisis.

Regulators agreed on tougher capital standards back in 2010; now, the Basel Committee on Banking

Saturday, October 29, 2016 A5

is always present.

Regulators, therefore, want to give banks less leeway in making this judgment. Ideas include bounds on the so-called risk weights that banks apply to their assets. Other proposals include a standardized method for calculating operational risk—the likelihood of running into legal troubles, such as those that recently sent Deutsche Bank shares plummeting. The aim is to put these changes in place by the end of the year.

This prospect has caused an

Trump has several proposals that Democrats should be able to support, including increased funding of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and stronger steps to ensure detention and deportation of illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes. Clinton, Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan all favor an expansion of the earned income-tax credit, and while their approaches differ, there should be room for a deal.

3: Identify a set of attractive proposals from “the other side,” and champion them. With a compromise, one party yields to another; it gives something up. But there is an even more appealing possibility, which is to find domains in which the two parties agree with one another, and no one has to yield a thing.

There is no question that Republicans (including Trump) have some proposals that Democrats already embrace, and that Democrats (including Clinton) have some proposals that Republicans might like.

Trump favors greater infrastructure spending—significantly more, in fact, than Clinton does. Clinton wants to make life much easier for small businesses, for example by reducing occupational licensing requirements (long a Republican pet peeve) and rethinking regulations that hold them back.

There are many opportunities here. Whoever is elected, a productive step would be for the presidentelect and members of her or his party to endorse and highlight reforms that the other party has favored.

Steps of this kind would help break a terrible tendency in recent years, which is to evaluate proposals not in terms of their substance

uproar in Europe, home to some of the world’s largest and most thinly capitalized financial institutions.

Executives argue the changes come at a time when banks are already struggling to turn a profit.

Policy-makers—including German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble—say the rules must not affect the region’s banks disproportionately. Some have suggested that the European Union should ignore them, undermining the Basel process for cooperating on financial regulation.

TRUMP and Clinton

or on their merits, but by simply rejecting whatever the opposing party embraces.

4: Ease up on the process for confirming executive-branch nominees.

This is more important than it may seem, because the current system, in which nominations are held up for months or even years, discourages good people from entering public service, wastes time and money, creates acrimony, and makes it much harder for government to serve the American people, even on the most routine matters.

Within broad limits, the president should be allowed to select his own employees. Whether it’s the attorney general, the secretary of agriculture or an assistant secretary in the Department of Treasury, the Senate should generally confirm presidential nominees so long as they meet standards of competence and probity. One reason is that executive officials work under the president and the White House. Even if they have embraced controversial positions in the past, they are hardly free agents.

It follows that conservative senators should not oppose nominees because they have quite liberal views and that liberal senators should support nominees who are quite conservative. It also follows—and this is

exceedingly important—that very liberal senators, such as Sanders, should not cause problems for Clinton nominees who are definitely to their right (even if they have worked on Wall Street). So too, very conservative senators (such as Cruz) should be willing to vote in favor of Trump nominees who are definitely to their left.

Sure, some views are beyond the pale. Senators need not support a nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency who pledges to repeal the Clean Air Act—or who thinks that by 2020, all cars should have to be electric. But it just isn’t appropriate for executive branch nominees to be held up merely because senators disagree with them— and much less because they had some tax problem, or supported a controversial idea or organization, a decade ago.

The biggest obstacle to this fourpart plan is simple: political self-interest. Concerned about reelection, interest-group reactions, the media or fund-raising, many legislators have found it in their interest to refuse to cooperate with members of the opposing party—or to treat them as enemies in some kind of war, in which the whole point is to defeat and humiliate them.

This reluctance is ill-advised.

The new rules won’t affect banks that are already judging their risks cautiously, as regulators intended.

And they’ll give banks that have weighed their risks more optimistically clearer guidance on what they need to do.

Regardless of how one measures risk, Europe’s banks still need more capital. Their failure to recognize losses and raise equity has left them with too many bad loans, and unable to invest in growth. Far from retreating on the new rules, officials

in Basel should press for a higher minimum requirement for capital as a percentage of total (as opposed to risk-weighted) assets. This so-called leverage ratio is easier to calculate and tests resilience in unexpected situations, where assets once deemed safe turn out to be risky.

That makes it a useful backstop for the risk-weighted approach.

For years, Europe’s leaders have chosen to coddle an ailing banking system, rather than face up to its problems and fix them. This needs to change. Bloomberg View

The Nation BusinessMirror

A6 Saturday, October 29, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Maguindanao mayor killed in drugs raid

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By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

TOWN mayor in Maguindanao, who was earlier tagged by President Duterte as among the local chief executives involved in illegal-drugs business, was killed along with his nine companions following a shootout with policemen on Friday in North Cotabato.

Supt. Romeo Galgo, spokesman for the Central Mindanao police, said Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, and his companions, most of them his bodyguards, were killed after they shot it out with a joint team of the National Police Anti-Illegal

Drugs Group (AIDG) and Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) 12.

Dimaukom is a member of the Liberal Party, whose presidential candidate, former Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II, lost to Duterte of the ruling PDP-Laban.

The firefight occurred at around

4:30 a.m. on Friday on the national highway at Barangay Old Bulatukan, Makilala, North Cotabato.

Dimaukom was among those earlier named by Duterte on his first list of personalities involved in illegal drugs. The mayor later showed up in the National Police general headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, and denied any involvement in the drugs trade before Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, National Police chief.

In his report sent to Camp Crame, Galgo said the joint team of AIDG personnel and RPSB 12 established a checkpoint at Barangay Old Bulatukan after receiving information that Dimaukom and his group will transport illegal drugs into the Maguindanao and Cotabato areas.

He said the operating team coordinated with the Makilala police for the operations.

Galgo said Dimaukom and his companions engaged the police-

men in a gun battle upon reaching the checkpoint put up by the police team.

“The suspects are heavily armed and fired upon the law enforcers, which prompted them to fire back,” Galgo said.

He said Dimaukom and the nine others were even taken to the Makilala Specialist Hospital but were declared dead on arrival by emergency-room physicians.

Meanwhile, the National Police spokesman, Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos, said the “Oplan Double Barrel Alpha” is already in full swing, as at least 254 operations have already been conducted as of Friday.

In the operations, 11 drug personalities were killed, while 376 others were arrested.

“Oplan Double Barrel Alpha” replaced the original antidrugs campaign “Double Barrel” as the police moved to cover other areas in the ongoing anti-illegal-drugs drive.

Senate set to review Duterte’s joint patrol plan with Japan

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATORS are poised to review President Duterte’s reported plan to allow Japanese naval forces to conduct joint patrols in Philippine territorial waters to determine if the agreement should be submitted for Senate ratification.

Speaking to reporters before flying home from Japan on Thursday night, Duterte disclosed that top Japanese leaders he met during his State visit agreed to deploy naval assets for joint patrols with the Philippine Navy.

Duterte confirmed that he discussed the planned Philippines-Japan joint patrols with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but

gave no further details.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III, however, invoked the 1987 Constitution, which provides that no foreign troops, bases or facilities shall be allowed in any part of Philippine territory except under a treaty duly ratified by the Senate.

“Because of existing constitutional prohibitions, the only way to enter into such an agreement involving military actions with Japan or any other country, for that matter, is to frame a treaty and seek the approval of the Senate,” Sotto, who also chairs the Senate Rules Committee, told the BusinessMirror.

However, Sen. Richard J. Gordon said that, while the Senate is well within its oversight power to review the naval arrangement with Japan,

MMDA to implement 4-point plan to ease traffic next week

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correpondent

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TARTING next week, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will implement the traffic regulations the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (IACT) issued in a bid to reduce the expected traffic congestion this Christmas season.

These are: n Moratorium on all excavations or diggings on all national and city roads starting on the midnight of November 1 up to the midnight of January 9, 2017; n Ban on weekday mall sales starting from November 1 up to January 9, 2017. In addition, shopping malls shall adjust their operating hours from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the same period. n Mall deliveries during nighttime only from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. only, starting from November 1 to January 9, 2017. Deliveries of perishable goods, such as food and ice cream, are exempted. n Expanded Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), or number coding scheme, and “No Window Hours” starting on November 2.

“These traffic-alleviating measures are intended to facilitate the free flow of motorists and Christmas shoppers even before December,” MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos said.

I-ACT said the early implementation of these measures would offset the usual 20-percent increase in traffic volume every Christmas season because of the influx of people and vehicles from nearby provinces, such as Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan and Central Luzon.

Meanwhile, as part of its efforts to ease traffic, the MMDA confirmed its partnership with Waze through the latter’s Connected Citizens Program, a two-way data exchange program with governments worldwide.

Orbos said the agency will share with Waze data on traffic-congested areas, road accidents, floods and road closures so the public will be given the best possible route real time.

“They [motorists] can now better decide on what roads to traverse to get to their destination, as they can avoid areas that are heavily congested.”

“This is a win-win partnership. The MMDA’s data will contribute to better routes and Waze data will give the MMDA wider incident coverage and public outreach, which we can study to improve our traffic management today and in the long term,” MMDA Assistant General Manager for Operations Julia Nebrija said.

The MMDA is the first government agency to partner with Waze.

DUTERTE

he does not see it going through the requirement of Senate ratification before it could be enforced.

“It is not a basing arrangement,” Gordon said, adding: “It is just part of the exercise of police power by the State to protect our country

from foreign intrusion and piracy.”

In the wake of increasing Chinese intrusions at the West Philippine Sea, Gordon asserted, “it is inherent in a nation to have security arrangements with other countries to protect our borders and prevent piracy.”

He added that the Constitution’s requirement for Senate ratification of foreign troop presence in in any part of Philippine territory “applies to stationing of troops.”

Still, he supported Sotto’s suggestion for the Senate to conduct hearings to review the joint Philippines-Japan patrol arrangements forged by Duterte with Japan’s leaders.

“We can ask questions during the the Senate hearings, find out what it means to us,” Gordon added.

Marcos assails Comelec for ‘brazen defiance’ of SC

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MOCKERY of the judicial process and a travesty of electoral reforms.

This was how the camp of former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. described the stripping activity conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on vote-counting machines (VCMs), blatantly defying the order of the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to preserve and safeguard all election materials and equipment used in the May elections.

This developed as some 150 supposedly unused VCMs were found to have installed with corrupted SD cards during the 14-hour stripping activity conducted by the Comelec at its warehouse in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.

In proceeding with its plan to strip supposedly unused VCMs in view of their release to Smartmatic-TIM, Jose Amor Amorado, counsel for Marcos, said the poll body disregarded the Precautionary Protective Order (PPO) issued by the PET to preserve all election materials used in the past elections. He also questioned the apparent haste to conduct the stripping of the VCMs by the Comelec, Smartmatic and the camp of former Liberal Party Rep. Maria Leonor G. Robredo of Camarines Sur as they carried out the activity until 12 midnight on Wednesday.

“This is a mockery of the judicial process which is tantamount to contempt of court and a travesty of electoral reforms because we are fighting for truth and clean and credible elections. There was undue haste seen as erasing possible evidence. We find it extremely incredible why the Comelec could openly defy such a lawful order of the highest court of the land just to accommodate Smartmatic and appeared to be on a rush to turn over the VCMs to Smartmatic,” Amorado said.

The Comelec earlier decided to grant the request of Smartmatic to recall 1,365 VCMs, which it unilaterally declared to have neither been deployed and/or unused in the May elections.

Marcos did not participate in the stripping activity, maintaining that any move to transfer or deal with any election material or equipment must have the approval of the PET as it has sole and exclusive jurisdiction over his election protest.

The stripping activity started at around10:30 a.m., which was participated in by representatives from Robredo, Sen. Leila M. de Lima and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino.

Smartmatic’s Ellie Moreno was, likewise, present.

All boxes with complete parts and empty SD cards were repacked and set for the scheduled turnover to Smartmatic. Those with broken seals or with SD cards found to have data or were corrupted were segregated for safekeeping by the Comelec.

Comelec Executive Director Jose Tolentino earlier said the SD cards will not be turned over to Smartmatic.

During the stripping activity, at least 150 boxes were segregated because of defects in the seals and presence of data in the SD cards. Some VCMs had missing SD cards, at least 1,255 VCMs were cleared and were expected to be turned over to Smartmatic on Wednesday. The next stripping activity for the remaining VCMs will be on November 2. Later in the afternoon, tension occurred between the camps of Robredo and Tolentino when the latter refused to take part in the activity beyond the initially scheduled 5 p.m. deadline. However, Robredo’s lawyer, Beng Sardillo, insisted that work be continued until 12 midnight to enable them to finish all the 1,356 VCMs. When Tolentino’s lawyer, Ben Mabulac, strongly opposed the motion since most of their supervisors were college students and needed to go home at the allotted time, Sardillo suggested that they all leave the warehouse and just let the Comelec and Smartmatic do the stripping activity to enable them to finish all VCMs in one day.

This was again strongly opposed by Mabulac saying her suggestion is highly irregular.

After the issue was settled, Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim called on them to proceed with the stripping until 12 midnight to “maximize the time.”

Amorado said the presence of corrupted SD cards, when they are supposedly not have been deployed or used, is proof that the Comelec should not have decided to release the VCMs in the first place.

“Prudence would have dictated the Comelec to wait for the PET resolution on our motion, but they did the exact opposite and even conducted the stripping activity in haste with so many violations and irregularities. We really find it highly irregular, if not criminal,” Amorado stated. Joel R. San Juan

ERC lauds Meralco move to register as retail supplier

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HE Energ y Regulator y Commission (ERC) hailed the recent pronouncement by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) that it will apply for the registration of an affiliated company as a retail electricity supplier (RES), in accordance with the government’s retail competition and open access (RCOA) policy in the power sector.

ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar said Meralco’s move “underscores the power firm’s unwavering commitment to its customers and to the transformation of the electricity market in line with the spirit of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act [Epira].”

The registration of an affiliate distribution utility is a feature of the RCOA implementing rules issued earlier by the ERC. The rules provide that no entity may supply power to the so-called contestable market without an RES license issued by the ERC. The rules also provide that existing local distribution utilities, like Meralco, may no longer supply electricity to end-users in this market unless this is done in their capacity as “suppliers of last resort” or by creating an affiliate with a dulyissued RES license.

T he “contestable market” consists of customers within a certain level of electricity consumption and which are allowed to select their own power supplier. The ERC has also directed the inclusion of customers with average monthly peak demand of 1 megawatt into the contestable market by the December 26 this year.

Meanwhile, customers with monthly peak demand of 750 kilowatts will be included in this category by June 16, 2017.

Salazar said the ERC is now reviewing the timeline to give ex isting power distr ibutors enough window to conform to the requirement.

The ERC policy, in effect, further expands the number of power customers who will benefit from the freedom to choose their RES. This also boosts the competition among RES in the power sector and which is seen as favorable to lowering the prices of electricity.

The Supreme Court (SC) earlier affirmed ERC’s RCOA guidelines. On October 10 the Court slapped a temporary restraining order (TRO) against an earlier injunction issued by the Regional Trial Court in City. The RTC in Pasig City order halted the implementation of the RCOA guidelines by the ERC. Salazar said: “Meralco has once again displayed its tradition as a trailblazer in the country’s power industry when it took the step to back the implementation of this particular feature of RCOA.” He earlier expressed confidence that the power-distribution sector will give its full support to the SC resolution backing the RCOA rules.

Salazar said the ERC has already approved a total of 23 applications for RES license.

Salazar added that Meralco’s move “hastens the journey of RCOA, which is designed to eventually reach the household level.”

“The goal here is to keep expanding the segment of the total market where retail electricity suppliers compete,” Salazar explained. “The 1-MW market is just our starting point, and we aim to eventually include even the large residential customers in the near future,” he added. Lenie Lectura

DENR chief issues appeal for garbage-free ‘Undas’

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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S the nation observes All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez appealed to the public to be mindful of the environment when they visit the graves of their departed loved ones.

Lopez said it is about time Filipinos learn to observe a garbagefree Undas, noting that the huge volume of garbage collected during cleanup activities in cemeteries year in, year out is a sad footnote to an otherwise beautiful Filipino tradition.

“It exacts a major toll on the environment and public health,” she said.

An estimated 30,000 tons of garbage is collected every day nationwide, with 8,000 tons collected in Metro Manila alone.

The volume shoots up during public holidays.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, some 140 truckloads of garbage are usually collected from various cemeteries in the metropolis on November 1 and 2.

She said the public should take the occasion as an opportunity to show environmental responsibility and refrain from activities that would degrade the proper way to remember the dead.

“Beyond flowers and candles that punctuate our beautiful tradition of Undas, this occasion demands that we also practice envi-

ronmental responsibility in honoring the memory of our dearly departed,” Lopez pointed out.

Lopez also reiterated the call of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for everyone to practice Claygo, which stands for Clean As You Go, and use reusable or recyclable food containers.

“Please make an effort to throw trash in bins coded to segregate them accordingly,” Lopez said, urging cemetery visitors to, as much as possible, bring their own garbage bags and take their own trash home.

“Our dearly departed deserve our prayers and respect, not trash.

Let us honor them by keeping their resting place garbage-free,” she said.

At the same time, Lopez called on the public to be mindful of their civic duty to follow the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

“The law must be followed more out of good environmental citizenship, rather than out of fear of its punitive provisions,” Lopez stressed.

Under the law, a person caught littering shall be fined between P300 and P1,000, or made to render community service.

Lopez also advised the public to take public transportation or share a ride to the cemetery during Undas.

“Carpooling or taking public transportation can create carbon savings. Whenever applicable, use bicycle or walk to your destination,” she added.

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

SPORTS PLUS

Skate Project unfurls in Baler CONVERSE Philippines holds the third leg of its CONS Skate Project in Baler, Aurora, on Saturday in the top sporting apparel’s continuing effort to help promote the growth of skateboarding in the country.

Converse CONS Philippines skate influencers CL Paje and Jundin Santos will grace the event to guide the Baler skate aspirants the basic skate tricks.

Also on tap is a basic photography workshop, courtesy of skater magazine, Blunt.

Baler Mayor Nelianto Bihasa will also be on hand to grace the event and officially accept the turning over of the skater ramps.

The event is set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Baler Municipal Hall’s Plaza.

The Baler leg comes on the heels of the successful staging of the Manila and Baguio stages of the CONS Project, a communitybased venture aimed at inspiring the next generation through music, art and skateboarding.

Filipino masters vying in worlds BOUYED by the unprecedented success of the Philippine Masters athletics team in the recent 19th Asia Masters Athletics held in Singapore in May, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has thrown its full support to the National Masters and Seniors Athletics Association of the Philippines in fielding select athletes to the 22nd World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, Australia.

A seven-person team will represent the Philippines in the biennial championships, which started on Wednesday and ends on November 26.

Filipina javelin throw icon Erlinda Lavandia will try to regain the gold medal she won in the 2013 Porto Alegre (Brazil) edition on Wednesday, according to Philippine team manager Edward Kho. Danilo Fresnido, current national team coach, competed on Friday in the men’s M40 category.

Also on the team are Emerson Obiena, national coach and father of top Southeast Asian Games pole vaulter EJ Obiena, threetime Olympian Marestella Torres-Sunang and veteran marathoner Lorna Vejano.

The team is supported by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Petron.

Network seals deal with NBA THE National Basketball Association (NBA) and ABS-CBN Corp., official NBA broadcaster in the Philippines, recently announced a partnership to operate the NBA.com/ Philippines, the league’s official digital destination in the country.

The online destination, hosted on the ABS-CBN Sports portal (sports.abs-cbn.com/ nba), will provide Filipino fans access to daily video highlights, game recaps, scores and stats, among others.

The mobile optimized digital destination will also provide localized content, including analysis by local celebrities and sports personalities, as well as special features focusing on the NBA’s influence on Philippine lifestyle and culture.

“ABS-CBN Corp. is the ideal partner to help grow our digital presence in the Philippines,” NBA Philippines Managing Director Carlo Singson said. “NBA.com/ Philippines reflects our commitment to engaging our passionate fanbase through digital and mobile with relevant stories and localized content, ensuring that basketball fans across the country will stay up-to-date on all things NBA.”

Boxing fights air live on TFC

THE Filipino Channel (TFC) and Top Rank Inc. will beam live in the Middle East the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas fight, dubbed “The Legend Vs. The Champ,” from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on November 6.

Also to be aired will be world bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr.’s fight against undefeated Jesse Magdaleno in the same card. The fight will air starting at 4 a.m. in Saudi Arabia and 5 a.m. in Dubai, live (with replays) via TFC.tv. PPV subscription is at SAR and AED 80. It is also available via OSN, ELife and Mozaic TV powered by Ooredoo.

Saturday, October 29, 2016 A7

VIRTUAL SEMIS CLASH

Opstal

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OCARI Sweat and BaliPure clash in a potential semifinal matchup, while Bureau of Customs also gears up for the Final Four against Air Force in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference on Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Although guaranteed of berths in the next round, the Lady Warriors and Purest Water Defenders are still expected to pour it all in the 4 p.m. encounter with a crack at No. 1, at stake in the penultimate eliminations play date of the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Carrying identical 4-1 win-loss records, Pocari and BaliPure could still wind up at the top with leader University of Santo Tomas (UST) a shade ahead at 5-1.

Customs, on the other hand, is fancied to get past ousted Air Force at 6 p.m. and close out its campaign in the league backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter at 5-2.

The Transformers-Jet Spikers clash will be shown live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 17 or 23 and via streaming on www.sports. abs-cbn.com and via streaming on www.v-league.ph, according to the organizing Sports Vision. The Pocari-BaliPure duel, however, will be aired on a delayed basis.

Instituto Estetico Manila and Army, meanwhile, duel at 10:30 a.m., while Cignal and 100 Plus tangle at 12:30 p.m. in the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Third Conference.

The semifinals ranking remains unclear, with the winner in the Pocari-BaliPure duel joining UST at No. 1. A Pocari victory will set the stage for a slam-bang final eliminations match between the Lady Warriors and Tigresses on Wednesday.

One streak will actually be snapped in the Pocari-BaliPure clash with both teams racking up four straight victories each after dropping their respective opening game assignments.

“We just want to try to win as many games as we can going to the semis and maybe gain some momentum,” said Pocari Coach Rommel Abella, whose wards also toppled the Water Defenders in the semifinals of the Open Conference early this year before beating the Air Force Jet Spikers in the finals to claim the crown on their very first stint in the country’s premier women’s volley league.

Imports Breanna Lee and Kay Kacsits of Pocari gear up for a showdown with BaliPure reinforcements Katherine Morrell and Kaylee Manns, with locals of both squads also expected to play a key role in this crucial matchup. Lance Agcaoili

Fuel Masters eyeing Wright

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Katharine Morrell and the Purest Water Defenders »takeIMPORT on the Lady Warriors. NONOY LACZA

LEGAL BATTLE LOOMS A

LEGAL battle looms as Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Jose Cojuangco Jr. came under fire following the disqualification of boxing chief Ricky Vargas on attendance issues.

Chito Salud, the former Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner and now a legal counsel for the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) which Vargas heads, said they intend to seek clarification over a provision in the POC Charter that

bars members from running as president or chairman “because they did not regularly attend the POC General Assembly.”

“I have never imagined sports to be embroiled in so much politics. Our athletes are sacrificing everything for the country. How can they achieve their goals if they disqualified Vargas, who presents himself as a leader with a vision,” Salud said.

Article 7 of Section 11 of the POC Charter stressed on an “active member” being eligible to run for the top 2 posts in the body. The POC elections committee rendered Vargas, and cycling president Abraham Tolentino, who is running for chairman,

as “nonactive members” for missing most of the general assembly.

“Active membership is not physical appearance in the general assembly. And physical appearance or attendance does not necessarily translate to active membership.

So the interpretation is simply arbitrary and simplistic,” Salud said. “Others are saying that the only reason behind it is to exclude or eliminate any potential candidates from running against the current administration.”

Salud slammed the POC for denying Vargas due process before deciding on his disqualification.

“Give the democratic process a chance.

Give our athletes and our NSAs [national sports associations] the opportunity to choose, a fresh voice and a fresh face with new ideas. They are saying that many NSAs are supporting them, but how about the others who are clamoring for change,” Salud said.

The POC elections are set on November 25.

This marks the second time inside two decades that a POC president is under fire.

Cristy Ramos was ousted by disgruntled NSAs through a special elections ordered by the International Olympic Committee only halfway through her four-year team in 1999.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Shawn Rhoden Classic gets going at SMX

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HE country’s top bodybuilders, physique, fitness, figure and bikini contenders face off in the Shawn Rhoden Classic Philippines on Saturday with various titles at stake at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Categories on tap are the men’s Bodybuilding, with the field vying in the below 65 kg, 65-70 kg, 75-80 kg, above 80 kg, novice and masters; men’s PhysiqueOverall, which features the novice, short and tall categories; Classic Bodybuilding Open;

Women’s Figure Open; and Women’s Bikini Overall, which features short and tall events.

The prejudging will be held at 11 a.m. with the finals set at 5 p.m.

Rhoden and International Federation of Body Building and Fitness Pro Bikini champion Janet Layug will grace the event.

SRC Philippines is a franchise under Shawn “Flexatron” Rhoden, one of the top global names in bodybuilding. Rhoden began his endeavor in 1992, when he met with former Mr. Universe Yohnnie Shambourger who provided Shawn with superb blocks in bodybuilding. From then on, Shawn has become one of the most sculpted, muscular physiques today that he placed second in the recently concluded 2016 Olympia.

SHAWN “FLEXATRON” RHODEN flaunts his awesome form during Friday’s launch of the Shawn Rhoden Classic Philippines at the Gold’s Gym at Blueway Walk in Pasay City.

MANDANAS LEADS BY ONE STROKE

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NICETO MANDANAS leaned on a birdie-eagle feat from No. 13 to hold off Jets Sajulga and cling to a one-stroke lead with a 70, but Harmie Constantino all but wrapped the women’s crown with a huge 10-shot lead despite a 75 in the second round of the National Golf Association of the Philippines Northern Luzon Regional Golf Championship at the Beverly Place Golf Club in Pampanga on Friday.

Mandanas, who went 2-up over Aidric Chan and Richnell Albano with an opening 72, appeared headed for a meltdown with a two-over card after 10 holes. But he birdied the 13th, gunned down an eagle on the par-5 14th then settled for pars the rest of the way to stay on top at 142.

Sajulga, who started the day at fourth with a 75, put on a fiery birdie-birdie windup to highlight a 34-34 card as he closed in on Mandanas at 143. But Oh Sang Jin also sizzled at the back of the short, par 34-37 layout, firing a 33 for the tournament-best 66 and a 144, making it a three-way battle for the crown in the 54-hole championship sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation,

Smart, PLDT and MPIC. Chan slipped to fourth with a 72 but still remained in the hunt at 146, while Albano faltered with a 75 and tumbled tow fifth at 149.

But while the front-runners used the backside to sustain their respective title drives, Rupert Zaragosa struggled in the last nine holes, limping with a 41 and bowing out of contention at 151 in a tie with Jolo Magcalayo, who carded a 75.

THAI’S CHAMP Thailand’s Saruttaya Ngam-

usawan (second from right) holds her trophy as she poses with (from left) Royal Northwoods Operations manager Ireneo Marcelo, low amateur Hwang Minjeong of Korea and International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Public Relations head Narlene Soriano after winning the ICTSI Royal Northwoods Ladies Challenge at Royal Northwoods Golf Club in San Rafael, Bulacan, on Thursday.

HOENIX Head Coach Ariel Vanguardia did not hide his disappointment over the two-day Draft Day Combine for rookie aspirants of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Their target, Arnold Van Opstal, was ill and failed to showcase his talent, leaving the Fuel Masters coaching staff clueless on what the 6-foot-7 center could bring to the table.

“We were not able to see Van Opstal in the Draft Combine. The management really wanted him,” Vanguardia told the BusinessMirror on Thursday. Phoenix holds the second overall pick in Sunday’s Rookie Draft slated at Robinsons Place Manila.

The 24-year-old Van Opstal had the flu and, although he showed up at the Draft Combine, he did not participate in any of the events, including the minitournament.

Vanguardia said the Fuel Masters are really in need of a big man who could be provide a defensive presence. Currently, Vanguardia has 41-year-old Mick Pennisi, Norbert Torres and Prince Caperal rotating at center spot.

Now, Vanguardia is looking at FilipinoCanadian Matthew Wright or Jio Jalalon as their second selection for the special draft for Gilas cadets.

The BusinessMirror learned that the Fuel Masters selected Wright during the PBA Board meeting on Thursday, where the 12 teams bared their choice for the special draft. Wright played under Vanguardia at the Wesports Malaysia Dragons in the Asean Basketball League.

Blackwater holds the first pick in the special and regular drafts and Head Coach Leo Isaac said they will select Mac Belo. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel will pick third and according to reports, Coach Tim Cone will tab Kevin Ferrer.

Mahindra will pick fourth and acting Head Coach Chris Gavina is impressed with Russel Escoto. Star will select next and new mentor Chito Victoler is reportedly interested on Jalalon.

The remaining draft order has San Miguel Beer picking sixth, Meralco seventh, NLEX eighth, Rain or Shine ninth, Ginebra 10th, Alaska 11th and Phoenix 12th. Joel Orellana

Arcilla favored in San Carlos

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OHNNY ARCILLA is brimming with confidence as he gears up for another crack at the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Open crown starting on Monday for the Pintaflores Festival at the Sakata Tennis Club in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

The Davis Cup veteran won the Olivarez Cup men’s Open crown in August, ruled the Tuna Festival Open in General Santos City in September then dominated the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo last week, lining him up for another shot at a sweep of the five premier titles on the PPS-PEPP calendar for the second straight year.

The last PPS-PEPP Open tilt is the Dagitab Festival in Naga City, Cebu, from December 18 to 22.

But a slew of rivals are out to stop the many-time PCA Open champion, including Olivarez Cup finalist PJ Tierro and Leander Lazaro, whom Arcilla repulsed in General Santos. Also in the fold are Vicente Anasta, Leander Lazaro, Fritz Verdad, Marc Reyes, Arvin Ruel and Roel Capangpangan.

“This is a great two weeks of tennis and we’re inviting all tennis aficionados and fans to watch the Pintaflores Tennis Festival, which features not just the country’s top and upcoming junior players but also the elite,” said San Carlos City Mayor Gerardo Valmayor Jr., who also cited the all-out support of local organizer Councilor Criston Carmona and the local government of San Carlos.

Focus will also be on the women’s side with Clarice Patrimonio and Khim Iglupas tipped to slug it out again for the coveted crown after splitting the two Open diadems in the circuit sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

“We’re expecting a battle royale in both sides of the Open division and these elite players will continue to inspire the young ones and fruther boost the development of the sport,” Palawan Pawnshop President and CEO Bobby Castro said.

Iglupas swept Patrimonio in the Olivarez Cup finals but the latter struck back in the Tuna Festival Open, hacking out a three-set win and making next week’s Pintaflores Open truly an event to watch.

Sports BusinessMirror

THE Chicago Cubs players work out in the outfield during batting practice for Friday’s Game Three. AP

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aturday, October 29, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

It’s the first World Series game at Wrigley since Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg helped the Detroit Tigers to a 9-3 victory in Game Seven on October 10, 1945.

WRIGLEY LIGHTS UP C

By Jay Cohen

The Associated Press

HICAGO—Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber was followed by cameras and cell phones. The giant video screen in left field flashed “World Series.”

Nothing like the last time a World Series game was played at Wrigley Field 71 years ago.

The World Series returns to one of baseball’s iconic ballparks on Friday, when the Cubs and Indians face off in Game Three after splitting the first two nights in chilly Cleveland. It’s the first World Series game at Wrigley since Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg helped the Detroit Tigers to a 9-3 victory in Game Seven on October 10, 1945.

The expectation is, well, even more bedlam than usual. The Cubs, seeking their first championship in 108 years, played in front of packed, frenzied crowds for much of the season, and even the Indians are looking forward to the scene.

“Tomorrow’s going to be unbelievable,” Cleveland slugger Mike Napoli said. “I watched when they clinched to go to the World Series and how crazy it was and seeing the fans in the streets where they had to have police escorts.

You could just see the crowd just part ways.

“So it’s going to be fun. It’s something that I wanted to be a part of, and thought that it would be an unbelievable World Series,” he said. It’s been pretty great so far, and it’s only getting started.

Corey Kluber pitched the Indians to a 6-0 win on Tuesday, striking out nine in a dazzling

performance. After Josh Tomlin makes his third playoff start in the Wrigley opener, Kluber looms over Game Four on Saturday night on short rest.

The Cubs returned to Chicago on a high after working over Cleveland’s pitching staff in a 5-1 victory on Wednesday night. Trevor Bauer lasted just 3 2/3 innings, beginning a parade to the mound that included six relievers and a total of 196 pitches.

“That was the plan, to get at least one over there and bring it back home,” second baseman Javier Baez said. “Everybody is excited to be here in Chicago. Everybody has been waiting for this moment.”

Schwarber, the Cubs’ 23-year-old catcher/ outfielder, will be relegated to pinch-hitting moments for the next three games after doctors said it was too soon after major left-knee surgery

to risk putting him in the outfield.

The move takes one of Chicago’s best bats out of the lineup after a surprising return by the slugger for the Series.

“We’re going to respect the doctors,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. “They’re the professionals here and move forward. Kyle understands that. He wants to play, he’s the ultimate gamer, but he understands that the doctor’s judgment has to rule the day in this case.”

Schwarber was ruled out for the year after he tore two knee ligaments in an outfield collision with Dexter Fowler in Chicago’s third game of the season. But he had an encouraging checkup with Dr. Daniel Cooper on October 17 in Dallas, clearing the way for a short stay in the Arizona Fall League before serving as the designated hitter in Cleveland.

ROUSING DEBUT

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HICAGO—Dwyane Wade scored 22 points in a triumphant Chicago debut, Jimmy Butler had 24 and the Bulls won their National Basketball Association (NBA) season opener, beating the Boston Celtics, 105-99, on Thursday night.

Wade nailed a “3” from the corner in the final minute to make it a five-point game. Taj Gibson added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the new-look Bulls got off to a winning start after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2008.

Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 25 points. Avery Bradley had 16, and Jae Crowder 14 points, but the Celtics came up short after opening with a win over Brooklyn the previous night.

The Bulls remade their roster in the off-season, jettisoning one hometown superstar and welcoming another when they traded Derrick Rose to New York and signed Wade to a two-year deal worth about $47 million in a move that stunned Miami.

The three-time NBA champion and 12-time All-Star is off to a good start with the Bulls after 13 seasons with the Heat.

Wade hit four of six three-pointers in this game after making just seven all of last season.

In Thursday’s other games, Atlanta beat Washington, 114-99, San Antonio downed Sacramento, 102- 94, and the LA Clippers defeated Portland, 114-106.

In Atlanta Dwight Howard dominated the boards in his Atlanta debut, Paul Millsap scored 28 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. ignited the new-look Hawks in a victory over Washington.

Howard grabbed 19 rebounds to go along with 11 points, just what the Hawks expected from their new center, and it certainly wasn’t unusual for three-time All-Star Millsap to lead the way in scoring.

But Hardaway’s performance was totally unexpected given the way he struggled in his first season with the Hawks, when he was largely confined to the bench and even forced to spend time in the D-League.

He scored 21 points, matching his high in an Atlanta uniform, and broke open a close game with back-to-back threepointers in the fourth. The Hawks, who led only 81-80 heading to the final period, outscored the Wizards, 33-19, over the final 12 minutes. AP DWYANE WADE gestures after «scoring his first basket as a Chicago Bull on Thursday. AP