Businessmirror september 14, 2017

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 336

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igher government spending and the surge in trade in the July-to-September period will allow Philippine economy to grow by as much as 7.5 percent this year, according to a local think tank. In its latest “Market Call” report, the Capital Markets Development Initiative (CMDI) of the First Metro Investment Corp. and University of

Asia and the Pacific said the GDP target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent remains attainable despite the weakness of the peso.

The CMDI also said the US Federal Reser ve may not raise interest rates in December, which will relieve some pressure on the

Aligning education with an uneven labor market

6.5% to 7.5%

Rene E. Ofreneo

laborem exercens

The GDP growth target of the government for 2017 peso toward October. “We believe that the NG’s [national government] promise to roll out big-ticket projects, coupled with improving domestic and external demand, should gear up to a faster economic expansion, such that the full-year target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent will easily be hit,” the report read. See “GDP goal,” A2

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GDP goal still within reach as growth engines rev up By Cai U. Ordinario

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he Philippine legislature has been debating “education reforms” for nearly three decades. In 1992 Congress came up with an Education Commission (Edcom) report, which detailed the weaknesses of the educational system in relation to the economic performance of the country. Among its major findings: limited access to education of a large part of the population; inadequate investments on the teachers and facilities of the primary educational institutions, which account for a low rate of functional literacy among the elementary and high-school graduates; and lack of curriculum upgrading, industry coordination and market focus in the case of both the tertiary and technical-vocational institutions, resulting in mismatches and poor placement records for graduates. Continued on A11

WHAT THE RICH WON’T TELL YOU O By Rachel Sherman

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES Trade Undersecretary for the Management Services Group Rowel S. Barba (right) receives a token of appreciation from Bretislav Skácel, leader of the Natureef delegation, during the Water and Energy Conference and Business Meeting held in a Makati City hotel. The conference focused on sustainable technologies and services for the water and energy sectors. NONIE REYES

DENR may arm forest-protection officers By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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he Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now looking at arming its more

than 2,000 forest-protection officers nationwide. Sources told the BusinessMirror that the idea was brought up by no less than Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, following the death of one of the agency’s

PESO exchange rates n US 50.8900

forest-protection officers in Palawan recently. Director Nonito M. Tamayo of the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau, when sought for comment, confirmed the report. See “DENR,” A2

ver lunch in a downtown restaurant, Beatrice, a New Yorker in her late 30s, told me about two decisions she and her husband were considering. They were thinking about where to buy a second home and whether their young children should go to private school. Then she made a confession: She took the price tags off her clothes so that her nanny would not see them. “I take the label off our $6 bread,” she said. She did this, she explained, because she was uncomfortable with the inequality between herself and her nanny, a Latina immigrant.

“The people I talked with never bragged about the price of something because it was high; instead, they enthusiastically recounted snagging bargains on baby strollers, buying clothes at Target and driving old cars.”

She had a household income of $250,000 and inherited wealth of several million dollars. Relative to the nanny, she told me, “The choices that I have are obscene. Six-dollar bread is obscene.” An interior designer I spoke with told me his wealthy clients also hid prices, saying that expensive

furniture and other items arrive at their houses “with big price tags on them” that “have to be removed, or Sharpied over, so the housekeepers and staff don’t see them.” These people agreed to meet with me as part of research I conducted on affluent and wealthy people’s consumption. I interviewed 50 parents with children at home, including 18 stay-at-home mothers. Highly educated, they worked or had worked in finance and related industries, or had inherited assets in the millions of dollars. Nearly all were in the top 1 percent or 2 percent in terms of income or wealth or both. Continued on A2

P5.5-T savings seen from energy-efficiency policy By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

s much as P5.5 trillion in electricity cost savings can be realized over the next 12 years from the proposed energyefficiency and conservation policy. Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Comm ittee

on Energy, said power consumers could collectively enjoy between P1.6 trillion to P5.5 trillion in savings from 2018 to 2030 because of reduced energy demand and consumption resulting from the efficient use of energy. “Energy-efficiency and conservation strategies will not only

achieve much-needed savings for the government, but can also significantly bring down the prices of electricity and give consumers extra money in their pockets to spend for other basic necessities,” Gatchalian told members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the

n japan 0.4620 n UK 67.6125 n HK 6.5150 n CHINA 7.7859 n singapore 37.7718 n australia 40.8036 n EU 60.9102 n SAUDI arabia 13.5703

Continued on A12

Source: BSP (13 September 2017 )

A2 Thursday, September 14, 2017

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WHAT THE RICH WON’T TELL YOU Continued from A1

They came from a variety of economic backgrounds, and about 80 percent were white. Ref lecting their concern with anonymity and my research protocol, I am using pseudonyms throughout this article. We often imagine that the wealthy are unconflicted about their advantages and, in fact, eager to display them. Since Thorstein Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption” more than a century ago, the rich have typically been represented as competing for status by showing off their wealth. Our current president is the conspicuous consumer in chief, the epitome of the rich person who displays his wealth in the glitziest way possible. Yet, we believe that wealthy people seek visibility because those we see are, by definition, visible. In contrast, the people I spoke with expressed a deep ambivalence about identifying as affluent. Rather than brag about their money or show it off, they kept quiet about their advantages. They described themselves as “normal” people who worked hard and spent prudently, distancing themselves from common stereotypes of the wealthy as ostentatious, selfish, snobby and entitled. Ultimately, their accounts illuminate a moral stigma of privilege. The ways these wealthy New Yorkers identify and avoid stigma matter not because we should feel sorry for uncomfortable rich people, but because they tell us something about how economic inequality is hidden, justified and maintained in American life. Keeping silent about social class, a norm that goes far beyond the affluent, can make Americans feel that class doesn’t, or shouldn’t, matter. And judging wealthy people on the basis of their individual behaviors—do they work hard enough, do they consume reasonably enough, do they give back enough—distracts us from other kinds of questions about the morality of vastly unequal distributions of wealth. To hide the price tags is not to hide the privilege; the nanny is no doubt aware of the class gap whether she knows the price of her employer’s bread. Instead, such moves help wealthy people manage their discomfort with inequality, which, in turn, makes that inequality impossible to talk honestly about—or to change. The stigma of wealth showed up in my interviews first in literal silences about

money. When I asked one very wealthy stayat-home mother what her family’s assets were, she was taken aback. “No one’s ever asked me that, honestly,” she said. “No one asks that question. It’s up there with, like, ‘Do you masturbate?’” A nother woman, speak ing of her wealth of over $50 million, which she and her husband generated through work in finance, and her home value of over $10 million, told me: “There’s nobody who knows how much we spend. You’re the only person I ever said those numbers to out loud.” She was so uncomfortable with having shared this information that she contacted me later the same day to confirm exactly how I was going to maintain her anonymity. Several women I talked with mentioned that they would not tell their husbands that they had spoken to me at all, saying, “He would kill me,” or “He’s more private.” These conflicts often extended to a deep discomfort with displaying wealth. Scott, who had inherited wealth of more than $50 million, told me he and his wife were ambivalent about the Manhattan apartment they had recently bought for over $4 million. Asked why, he responded: “Do we want to live in such a fancy place? Do we want to deal with the person coming in and being like, ‘Wow!’ That wears on you. We’re just not the type of people who wear it on our sleeve. We don’t want that ‘Wow.’” His wife, whom I interviewed separately, was so uneasy with the fact that they lived in a penthouse that she had asked the post office to change their mailing address so that it would include the floor number instead of “PH”, a term she found “elite and snobby”. My interviewees never talked about themselves as “rich” or “upper class”, often preferring terms like “comfortable” or “fortunate”. Some even identified as “middle class” or “in the middle”, typically comparing themselves with the super-wealthy, who are especially prominent in New York City, rather than to those with less. When I used the word “affluent” in an e-mail to a stay-at-home mom with a $2.5-million household income, a house in the Hamptons and a child in private school, she almost canceled the interview, she told me later. Real affluence, she said, belonged to her friends who traveled on a private plane. Others said affluence meant never having to worry about money, which many of them, especially those in single-earner families dependent on work in finance, said

they did, because earnings fluctuate and jobs are impermanent. American culture has long been marked by questions about the moral caliber of wealthy people. Capitalist entrepreneurs are often celebrated, but they are also represented as greedy and ruthless. Inheritors of fortunes, especially women, are portrayed as glamorous, but also as self-indulgent. The negative side of this portrayal may be more prominent in times of high inequality (think of the robber barons of the Gilded Age or the Gordon Gekko figures of the 1980s). In recent years, the Great Recession and Occupy Wall Street, which were in the background when I conducted these interviews, brought extreme income inequality onto the national stage again. The top 10 percent of earners now garner over 50 percent of income nationally, and the top 1 percent over 20 percent. It is not surprising, then, that the people I talked with wanted to distance themselves from the increasingly vilified category of the 1 percent. But their unease with acknowledging their privilege also grows out of a decades-long shift in the composition of the wealthy. During most of the 20th century, the upper class was a homogeneous community. Nearly all white and Protestant, the top families belonged to the same exclusive clubs, were listed in the Social Register, educated their children at the same elite institutions. This class has diversified, thanks largely to the opening of elite education to people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds starting after World War II, and to the more recent rise of astronomical compensation in finance. At the same time, the rise of finance and related fields means that many of the wealthiest are the “working rich”, not the “leisure class” Veblen described. The quasi-aristocracy of the WASP upper class has been replaced by a “meritocracy” of a more varied elite. Wealthy people must appear to be worthy of their privilege for that privilege to be seen as legitimate. Being worthy means working hard, as we might expect. But being worthy also means spending money wisely. In both these ways, my interviewees strove to be “normal”. Talia was a stay-at-home mom whose husband worked in finance and earned about $500,000 per year. They were combining two apartments in a renovation, and they rented a country home. “We have a pretty normal existence,” she told

me. When I asked what that meant, she responded: “I don’t know. Like, dinners at home with the family. The kids eat, we give them their bath, we read stories.” It wasn’t as if she was dining out at four-star restaurants every night, she said. “We walk to school every morning. And, you know, it’s fun. It’s a real neighborhood existence.” Scott and his wife had spent $600,000 in the year before our conversation. “We just can’t understand how we spent that much money,” he told me. “That’s kind of a little spousal joke. You know, like: ‘Hey. Do you feel like this is the $600,000 lifestyle? Whooo!’” Rather than living the high life that he imagined would carry such a price tag, he described himself as “frenetic”, asserting, “I’m running around, I’m making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Having money does not mean, in his view, that he is not ordinary. The people I talked with never bragged about the price of something because it was high; instead, they enthusiastically recounted snagging bargains on baby strollers, buying clothes at Target and driving old cars. They critiqued other wealthy people’s expenditures, especially ostentatious ones, such as giant McMansions or pricey resort vacations where workers, in one man’s sarcastic words, “massage your toes”. They worried about how to raise children who would themselves be “good people” rather than entitled brats. The context of New York City, especially its private schools, heightened their fear that their kids would never encounter the “real world”, or have “fluency outside the bubble”, in the words of one inheritor. Another woman told me about a child she knew of whose father had taken the family on a $10,000 vacation; afterward the child had said, “It was great, but next time we fly private like everyone else.” To be sure, these are New Yorkers with elite educations, and most are socially liberal. Wealthy people in other places or with other histories may feel more comfortable talking about their money and spending it in more obvious ways. And even the people I spoke with may be less reticent among their wealthy peers than they are in a formal interview. Nonetheless, their ambivalence about recognizing privilege suggests a deep tension at the heart of the idea of American dream. While pursuing wealth is unequivocally desirable, having wealth is not simple and straightforward. Our ideas about egalitarianism make even

GDP goal. . .

the beneficiaries of inequality uncomfortable with it. And it is hard to know what they, as individuals, can do to change things. In response to these tensions, silence allows for a kind of “see no evil, hear no evil ” stance. By not mentioning money, my interviewees follow a seemingly neutral social norm that frowns on such talk. But this norm is one of the ways in which privileged people can obscure both their advantages and their conf licts about these advantages. And, as they try to be “normal”, these wealthy and affluent people deflect the stigma of wealth. If they can see themselves as hard workers and reasonable consumers, they can belong symbolically to the broad and legitimate American “middle”, while remaining materially at the top. These efforts respond to widespread judgments of the individual behaviors of wealthy people as morally meritorious or not. Yet, what’s crucial to see is that such judgments distract us from any possibility of thinking about redistribution. When we evaluate people’s moral worth on the basis of where and how they live and work, we reinforce the idea that what matters is what people do, not what they have. With every such judgment, we reproduce a system in which being astronomically wealthy is acceptable as long as wealthy people are morally good. Calls from liberal and left social critics for advantaged people to recognize their privilege also underscores this emphasis on individual identities. For individual people to admit that they are privileged is not necessarily going to change an unequal system of accumulation and distribution of resources. Instead, we should talk not about the moral worth of individuals but about the moral worth of particular social arrangements. Is the society we want one in which it is acceptable for some people to have tens of millions or billions of dollars as long as they are hardworking, generous, not materialistic and down to earth? Or should there be some other moral rubric, that would strive for a society in which such high levels of inequality were morally unacceptable, regardless of how nice or moderate its beneficiaries are? The New York Times News Service

Rachel Sherman is an associate professor of sociology at the New School and the author of Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence, from which this essay is adapted.

Continued from A1

The CMDI expects the national government’s strong spending on infrastructure to continue in the second half of the year. The report noted that the recent double-digit growth in infrastructure spending in July, and the 17.6-percent increase in Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collections are “strong indicators” that public spending will continue to be robust. The think tank added imports are likely to post above 10-percent growth in the third quarter, while exports will also keep posting a double-digit growth in the coming months on the back of better US economic growth. “The US economy has shown robustness in GDP growth in the second quarter and strong gains in job creation in June to August, while the European Union, Japan, China and India keep on surprising in the upside,” the CMDI said. In the January-to-June period, the economy grew 6.4 percent, slower than the 7 percent posted in the same period a year ago. Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed public construction growing by 12 percent in the second quarter. This was significantly slower than the 33.5 percent recorded in the same period last year. In the first semester, public construction contracted by only 9 percent, compared to 34.9 percent recorded a year ago. Also, government final consumption expenditure posted a 7.1-percent growth, slower than the 13.5 percent posted last year.

DENR. . .

Continued from A1

“We are looking at arming our forest protectors after the death of one of our foresters in Palawan,” Tamayo told the BusinessMirror. He said the DENR will be discussing the matter in its next executive meeting led by Cimatu. “We will still have to talk about it.” Tamayo added in case the DENR decides to arm the DENR’s forest-protection officers, they will be made to undergo training and psychological evaluation. As to what kind of firearm or weapon, Tamayo said: “We still need to discuss it if we decide that they should be armed.” Tamayo added he is personally in favor of arming forest-protection officers for their own protection against lawless elements. He added that proper permit-to-carry firearms will have to be observed. “There are some areas that would really require forest-protection officers arming themselves because of the nature of their job,” he said. But Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, said arming forest rangers will not solve the issue of environmental protection, as their number is still inadequate compared to the vast area they need to protect. “What we need is more forest rangers; increase their salary and benefits. It is the task of the police to apprehend and arrest armed criminals or violators of environmental crimes. The courts should hasten the process of the prosecution of violators,” Bautista stressed. He also warned that armed forest rangers could be used by corporations, big landlords and corrupt politicians as a cover for their private security and paramilitaries to protect their destructive activities, like logging and mining. “Cimatu is a known proponent and implementer of Oplan Bantay Laya under [former President Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo. “This plan resulted in the increased number of paramilitaries and militarization of rural communities. This led to widespread human-rights violations, particularly in mining-affected areas,” he said.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, September 14, 2017 A3

House panel OKs impeachment complaint against Sereno

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas & Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

he House Committee on Justice on Wednesday found one of the impeachment complaints filed against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno as sufficient both in form and substance. In a committee hearing on Wednesday, a total of 30 lawmakers voted that the complaint filed by lawyer Larry Gadon was sufficient in form, while only four congressmen voted against it. Furthermore, about 30 congressmen stood in favor of the motion finding the complaint sufficient in substance, while four other lawmakers rejected the motion.

In a news statement, Sereno’s spokesman, Carlo Cruz, said the impeachment complaints are “designed to maximize the political spectacle, with the goal of eroding her credibility through innuendo and malicious allegations”. “This is detrimental to the independence of the judiciary upon whom all citizens rely to defend their rights and to check any abuse,” Cruz added.

‘Hearsay’

Democratic process

Reacting to the lawmakers’ vote, Sereno’s camp insisted that the impeachment complaints filed against her should be junked for being based merely on hearsay and for of lack of evidence.

House Justice Committee Chairman Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali said the impeachment proceedings were political in nature and the standard of individual appreciation of each committee member in determining

if the complaint’s sufficiency in substance was followed. “The impeachment process is a democratic one, and the will of the majority shall always prevail,” he added. “Impeachment is the most formidable weapon in the arsenal of democracy. We will not hesitate to wield this weapon if our democratic institutions are in danger,” Umali said. In determining sufficiency in form, the complaint filed by a citizen must be endorsed by an incumbent congressman and must also be verified. The aspect of verification requires that the complainant has personal knowledge or that the allegations made are supported by authenticated documents. The requirement of substance, on the other hand, is met if there is a recital of facts constituting of the offenses charged and determinative of the jurisdiction of the committee.

Awaiting transmission

However, Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna noted that the complaint by Gadon was insufficient in form, as the allegations made were based on news reports, which could be deduced as pure hearsay. Rep. Kaka J. Bag-ao of Dina-

Maring casualty count rises to 8 By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

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he death toll from tropical storm Maring rose to eight on Wednesday as disaster officials reported that most of the flooding in areas affected, particularly in Metro Manila and Region 4A, or Calabarzon, had already subsided. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), however, only confirmed five deaths as the storm, which already veered out of the country, induced heavy rains that flooded Metro Manila and nearby provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Batangas and Rizal provinces. “It is saddening that, while tropical storm Maring was not that strong, we have five confirmed fatalities,” NDRRMC Spokesman Romina Marasigan said. Among the fatalities listed by NDRRMC were Jude and Justine Pundal, aged 17 and 14, who both died in a landslide in Taytay, Rizal; 12-year-old Samantha Zamora, who drowned in Pasay City; and a 2-month-old baby who died after a riprap collapsed onto their home in Lucena City. Marasigan said the fifth fatality was

from Silang, Cavite. Not included in the NDRRMC list, however, was William Inalisan, 16, a resident of Saint Jude, Gawad Kalinga in San Isidro, Parañaque City, who reportedly drowned on Tuesday. The police also reported one fatality in Rizal town and another in Calamba City, both in Laguna. Marasigan said a total of 2,103 families, or 8,793 people, were affected by the storm in 109 barangays in Metro Manila and Calabarzon. Of the affected families, some 1,857 composed of 7,594 individuals have been transferred to 116 evacuation centers, while 96 families, or 389 persons, are being served outside evacuation centers. Marasigan also reported that nine houses were damaged in Silang, Cavite, three of which were totally destroyed. The NDRRMC said that of the 169 areas in Metro Manila and Calabarzon that were earlier reported flooded, 139 areas remain submerged in floodwaters. Laguna, which was among the hardest hit by flooding, has already declared a state of calamity.

Duterte blames CHR ‘bias’ for ₧1,000 2018 allocation

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or President Duterte, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) deserves the P1,000-budget allocation from the House of Representatives for its alleged bias against the government’s brutal war on drugs. In an interview with reporters on Tuesday night, the President said the CHR should have expected the outcome of its budget deliberation in the Lower House. He blamed CHR Chairman Jose Luis Martin C. Gascon for the drastic budget cut the agency suffered, saying, “he [Gascon] had it coming. Knowing Gascon’s pro-yellow leaning, he opens his mouth in a most inappropriate way…” Yellow is the color politically associated to the Liberal Party (LP). Gascon was appointed chairman of the CHR in 2015 by LP stalwart and former President Benigno S. Aquino III. Under Gascon, the CHR has criticized the war on drugs for allegedly tolerating police operatives to kill suspected drug criminals, instead of giving them due process.

Extrajudicial killings

Citing “concerns” over increasing incidents of extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration, senators moved to restore the full budget of the CHR that was slashed to P1,000 in the process of approving the House-version of the 2018 national budget. Sen. Francis G. Escudero, former

chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, vowed to enlist support of other senators to restore the 2018 budget allocation for the CHR when the Senate crafts its version of the annual money measure. Escudero asserted that “the CHR is a constitutional imperative and a necessity, however inconvenient it may be for some,” adding, “I will fight to restore its budget.” This even as the Senate Committee on Finance had also slashed to P678 million the CHR’s P749 million budget last year. “It is unacceptable to forever regard the CHR as a toothless tiger if it is a state policy to secure, protect and guarantee the dignity of its citizens and to ensure fulfillment of citizens’ human rights,” said Escudero, who had filed in 2007 a still unapproved bill to “strengthen CHR by providing an effective and expanded structural and functional organization”. Escudero stated that under Senate Bill 727, the CHR will be given prosecutorial powers over delineated forms of humanrights violations, which will aid the commission in ensuring effective and speedy resolution of all human-rights cases filed with the commission. He noted that the CHR, under its current mandate, is “neither a judicial nor a quasijudicial body and its jurisdiction is limited only to political and civil rights”. Elijah Felice Rosales, Butch Fernandez

gat Islands supported Zarate’s remark, adding that secondary sources will not constitute personal knowledge and are, therefore, considered hearsay. Gadon’s complaint alleged that Sereno committed a culpable violation of the Constitution when she failed to truthfully disclose her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. Sereno’s spokesman said the Chief Justice would address all the issues raised against her in the impeachment complaints in the answer that she would be filing. “The Office of the Chief Justice awaits the transmission of the complaints through official channels. She will avail herself of appropriate legal remedies, with the hope that the mechanisms of our democratic system will afford her a fair, transparent and just opportunity to be heard,” the statement read. He noted many of the allegations in the complaints are unsupported by evidence or rely mainly on hearsay consisting of newspaper clippings. “We maintain that, contrary to the findings of the House Committee on Justice, none of the allegations in the complaints is true. For this reason, we respectfully submit that the complaints cannot be considered suf-

ficient in both form and substance. None of the allegations rises to an impeachable offense,” Cruz said. The lawyer also noted the apparent double standard that lawmakers applied in Sereno’s case compared to similar previous proceedings. “We further understand that the determinations of the House Committee appear to be inconsistent with its findings and actions in similar proceedings in the past,” he added. He said this concern would also be raised in Sereno’s reply to the complaints. “We remain hopeful that our Congress will decide based on the merits of the case and affirm their commitment to our democracy over partisan or parochial interests. In the meantime, the Chief Justice continues to discharge her duties with fairness, integrity and humility,” Cruz said.

Junked

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Justice dismissed the impeachment complaint filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) against Sereno. About 28 lawmakers found the complaint insufficient in form, whi le only f ive cong ressmen deemed it sufficient. The complaint was filed by VACC President Dante

Jimenez, together with Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution President Eligio Mallari. “The complaint is deemed insufficient in form and, therefore, dismissed for the same reason,” Umali said. At least 16 lawmakers, including two deputy speakers, have endorsed the VACC impeachment complaint. The complainants sought the removal of Sereno on the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust. Based on the rules, the House Committee on Justice has to decide first if the impeachment complaint against Sereno and Bautista is sufficient in form and substance before endorsing it to the plenary. If the committee finds by a vote of the majority of all its members that a probable cause exists on the basis of the evidence adduced before the Committee, it shall submit with its report a resolution setting forth the Articles of Impeachment. Otherwise, the complaint shall be dismissed. Also, under the rule, a vote of at least one-third of all the members of the House is necessary for the approval of the resolution setting forth the Articles of Impeachment. If the resolution is approved by the required vote, it shall then be endorsed to the Senate.

Economy

A4 Thursday, September 14, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Poll shows ‘unyielding’ US confidence to PHL growth

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By Catherine N. Pillas

In the Philippines in particular, a key driver to expansion of existing operations of US businesses is found in its work force: A higher-than-average percentage (37 percent ) of businesses in the Philippines cite availability of trained personnel and efficient manpower as a foremost reason. However on US businesses’ sentiment to expand to another Asean country aside from their current location is tempered: Seventy-one percent plan to expand their business to another Asean country, lower than last year’s 76 percent. The Philippines was not cited among the more attractive future expansion areas of US businesses in the survey. As in recent years, the most common destinations for business expansion overseas were Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. As in previous years’ surveys, US companies cite corruption as their single greatest concern in the region (except in Brunei and Singapore), followed by laws and regulations that inhibit business expansion. The recently concluded 49th

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merican companies across the Asean remain confident in the region’s continued growth with majority of United States firms embarking on expansion in their initial location, including those in the Philippines, according to the Asean 50th anniversary edition of the 2018 Asean Business Outlook Survey jointly released by the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) and the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. The survey, which polled 317 senior executives representing US companies in all Asean countries, found 62 percent of companies plan to expand within their response location with a small proportion (3 percent) planning to contract. Thirty-four percent plan to retain the same level of operations. These numbers are virtually unchanged from 2016 when 63 percent of businesses planned to expand, 32 percent planned to remain the same, and 4 percent planned to contract. At least half of the businesses in each individual country, except for Cambodia, plan to expand their operations. Ranking among the highest percentages on expansion expectations are US firms in the Philippines. Seventy percent of American firms polled in the Philippines plan to expand, while 30 percent expressed the intent to retain operations.

AmCham Philippines Executive Director Ebb Hinchliffe said, “The 2017 survey results for the Philippines saw 70 percent of AmCham Philippines respondents planning to expand their operations in the Philippines. The optimism of AmCham companies, some of whom have been in the country for nearly a century, is based first and foremost on the high value they place on the local labor force, regarded as adequate, well-trained and low cost.” In Indonesia, the business-expansion expectations is at 73 percent of respondents, Vietnam’s is at 72 percent and 71 percent of US companies in Myanmar intends to expand. A set of factors can be credited to this confidence, chief among them belief in the growth of the domestic market, followed by general economic growth, then the rising consumer class.

Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting took some steps forward on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, but a portion of the Business Outlook Survey presents a reserved stance of US businesses on this trade pact, as it is still being negotiated. Responding to the question if they feel confident the RCEP will benefit their company in the absence of the Transpacific Partnership agreement, 48 percent of US firms in the Asean said they can’t be certain. In the Philippines specifically, 52 percent expressed uncertainty of the trade pact reducing tariff and nontariff barriers. Today Asean is the US fourthlargest trading partner and fourthlargest export market. The US is the largest single foreign direct investor in the Asean region, with over $306 billion in investment. American company sales in the Asean account for 10 percent of their total global sales and generate over 20 percent of the Asean’s total exports of goods and services.

The 2017 survey results for the Philippines saw 70 percent of AmCham Philippines respondents planning to expand their operations in the Philippines. The optimism of AmCham companies, some of whom have been in the country for nearly a century, is based first and foremost on the high value they place on the local labor force, regarded as adequate, well-trained and low cost.” —Hinchliffe

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New tack to boost regional trade, investment pushed By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

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HE Asean can boost intraregional trade and investment through the help of the region’s traditional leaders, according to an economist from the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (Eria). In a news statement released by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), Eria senior economist Ponciano Intal Jr. said this can be done by sultanates through spreading awareness about the Asean community. Data showed the business sector in the Philippines had the lowest appreciation of the benefits that come with its membership in the Asean. “Perhaps, the sultanates of Mindanao, Brunei [Darussalam], Malaysia and Indonesia can take the lead in creating certain agreements that support regional Asean communitybuilding,” Intal proposed. Other recommended strategies include holding cultural heritage activities that emphasize unity in diversity and increased use of traditional and social media. These can help encourage businesses to invest in the region, including the Philippines. PIDS Research Information Director Sheila Siar said that, currently, businessmen are wary of issues related to trade, investment and regulation in the region. Previous studies, Siar added, have identified these as nontariff barriers on trade activities in Asean countries, including the Philippines. Siar said corruption also remains a major issue in the Asean region. “The fact that corruption is the most pressing problem overall suggests that the respondents see corruption—and related governance problems—as a critical bottleneck to production efficiency, investment attractiveness, competitiveness and possibly even development,”said Lydia Ruddy, Eria Director of Communication. Moreover, the PIDS said the business sector reported moderate awareness of the Asean. Siar

said this was also found in other respondent groups, including those from the government, academe and civil society. In general, the PIDS added, these sectors registered moderate awareness of the Asean and moderate identification as Asean citizens. The PIDS blamed the low media coverage of the Asean, which also figured in other Asean member-states. In the case of Indonesia, Dr. A lexander Chandra, associate fellow of the Habibie Center in Jakarta, mentioned that the media only focuses on domestic or negative news. “Asean news is [considered] not controversial, hence ‘not sexy’ for media coverage,” Chandra said. Siar shared this in her presentation of the Philippine results of the study “W hat Does the Asean mean to Asean peoples?” during the Public Symposium on Building the Asean Socio-cultural Community held recently in Davao City. The symposium was organized by the PIDS and Jakarta-based Eria, in partnership with the Mindanao Development Authority and the Asean society.

Perhaps, the sultanates of Mindanao, Brunei [Darussalam], Malaysia and Indonesia can take the lead in creating certain agreements that support regional Asean communitybuilding.” —Intal

E-NGP gets lion’s Group tells senators: Don’t leave in DENR’s out tobacco in tax reform package share ₧27.1-B budget By Alladin S. Diega| Correspondent

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ealth groups belonging to the Sin Tax Coalition on Wednesday asked the Senate to augment revenues projected from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) currently being deliberated by the Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means by including tobacco tax in the reform proposal rather than taxing plastic bags. “Why use plastic tax to augment revenues from the TRAIN when it has not been proven to be a steady source of revenue that will fund the promised spending of this administration, particularly for health?” the group said in a news statement. According to the group, they had several dialogues with Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara last week to ask him to include tobacco tax in the TRAIN to complement revenues that will be raised for health and other social-protection measures for the poor. The senators seemed to be unwilling to touch on the tobaccotax issue, which, after only a year of passage, has resulted in huge budget for the Department of Health, and was respondible for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) much-improved finacial posture. “Tobacco tax will convert the TRAIN into tax reform that is overwhelmingly pro-poor and pro-health. For example, it can provide funds to hire and train more healthcare workers so that universal health-care can finally reach the poor, like how it financed the PhilHealth coverage of the poor and the senior citizens. Tobacco tax has also been proven to have direct health benefits, with the country seeing 4 million less smokers since the “sin” tax law was passed in 2012,” said Dr. Antonio Dans, University of the Philippines College of Medicine professor and one of the conveners of the Sin Tax Coalition. Jo-Ann Diosana, senior economist of fiscal policy-reform group, Action for Economic Reforms, said plastic tax will not be able to sustain the needed revenues, compared to the excise taxes on tobacco, fuel and automobiles in the TRAIN. “Plastic tax should not be used to dilute the package of reforms under the TRAIN. It will never match the revenue that reforms in the value-added tax and fuel tax can bring to fund the much-needed programs in infrastructure, health, education and social protection, including the cash transfers that will benefit the poor and the near poor,” Diosana said. Dans said their group does not question the senators’ efforts to be more creative in thinking of other measures to raise revenues in addition to fuel tax, but he said he finds it incomprehensible on why tobacco tax, which is a more urgent measure, is not included in a bill whose effect on the poor is strongly debated.

for next year

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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he House of Representatives has approved in the plenary the proposed P27.1-billion budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The budget is slightly higher, by 1.77 percent, from the current year’s budget of P26.6 billion. Crucial to the budget allocation is the proposed P7.1-billion budget for the implementation of the Enhanced-National Greening Program (E-NGP), which aims to continue the successful reforestation initiated by the Aquino administration from 2010 to 2016. In a news statement, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu expressed gratitude to the lawmakers for their continued support to the agency, as well as to Rep. Corazon Nunez-Malanyaon of the First District of Davao Oriental, for sponsoring the department’s budget at the plenary. Cimatu said the budget allocation would enable the department to give vital support to the goals of the 20172022 Philippine Development Plan that the government has adopted, as per Executive Order 21, issued by President Duterte on June 1. “With the budget, the DENR will work toward ensuring ecological integrity and improving the socioeconomic conditions of resource-based communities by sustaining biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystem services, improving environmental quality, and increasing the adaptive

Green harvest The defense-military establishment, supported by the Tarlac Heritage Foundation, celebrated the 11th Activation

Anniversary of the Mechanized Infantry Division of the Philippine Army at Camp O’Donell in Capas, Tarlac, on Tuesday with the harvesting of diverse variety of vegetables at the Hardin ng Lunas, with the theme “Team Armor: Kalasag ng Bayan, Kaagapay sa Kaunlaran.” Photo shows (from left) Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, commander of the Northern Luzon Command; Maj. Gen. Edgar Gonzales, commander of the Army’s Mechanized Infantry Division; Dra. Isa Cojuangco-Suntay, cofounder of Tarlac Heritage Foundation; Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Retired General Efren Abu and Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana. The garden’s produce benefits soldiers and their dependents, as well as community residents who buy the harvest at farm-gate price. Nonnie Reyes

capacity and resilience of ecosystems,” Cimatu said. B a sed on t he DEN R bud get , t he E - NGP get s t he l ion’s sh a re of P 7.1 bi l l ion , wh ic h see k s to

pl a nt some 198 mi l l ion seed l ings i n 210, 8 52 hec t a res. From 2016 up to June this year, the DENR has recorded a total of 303,188 hectares of new plantations under E-

NGP, generating some 1 million jobs in the process. The Duterte administration hopes to reforest some 1.2 million hectares, from 2017 to 2022.

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DA eyes changes in bird-flu protocol By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) is keen on amending its avian-influenza (AI) protocol to ensure that measures to manage bird-flu outbreaks will not cause poultry growers to incur losses.

A g r icu lture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA’s biosecurity experts are currently rev iew ing the A I protocol of South Korea and the European Union. Piñol noted the AI protocol of the EU and South Korea does not prescribe the set up of a 7-kilometer “buffer zone” to ground zero. “In European countries, they a lso do not have the 1-k i lo meter [quarantine zone]. Officials only depopulate farms that were directly affected by bird flu. They do not depopulate the area around the ground zero, they just monitor it,” he told reporters in an interview on Wednesday. “We are amending our AI protocol because the measures we im-

posed really had an adverse impact on poultry growers. We are considering their economic viability because the poultry industry really suffered due to the protocols we implemented,” Piñol added. The DA chief also noted that South Korea’s AI protocol prescribes the set up of a 500-meter quarantine zone. Piñol said, however, that he will let poultry growers and biosecurity experts decide on the changes that will be introduced in the country’s AI protocol. “I will have to defer to the decision of the stakeholders and our biosecurity experts. My only role here is just the implementer and not a decision-maker as far as biosecurity measures are concerned,” he said.

BLOOMBERG

Poultry growers, egg producers, and other industry stakeholders will convene and come up with a

position paper on the AI protocol before the end of the month, according to Piñol.

Following the confirmation of a bird-flu outbreak in Pampanga, the DA’s attached agency,

the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), established a 1-km quarantine zone and a 7-km buffer zone around ground zero. Fowls within the 1-km quarantine zone were culled to prevent the spread of the virus. A lso, shipments of dressed chicken and other poultry produc t s out s ide t he 7- k m bu f fer zone were proh ibited by the government while the depopulation of affected farms was ongoing. The United Broiler R aisers Associated (Ubra) is amenable to the idea of removing both the 1-km quarantine zone and 7-km buffer zone. “The Philippines [must] conform to international standards and practices. In other countries, only farms in ground zero were depopulated. We support that, especially since that is being done by the EU,” Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong told reporters in a separate interview. The government reviews its bird-flu protocol, titled “AI Protection Program: Manual of Procedures”, annually. The earlier version of the protocol had even prescribed a 10km quarantine zone, according to the BAI.

NIA to construct more Davao City aiming to become chocolate capital of PHL irrigation systems in 2018

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he Nat iona l Ir r igat ion Administration (NIA) will use its P40.8-billion budget for 2018 to fast-track the construction of dams and the rehabilitation of existing irrigation systems to expand the country’s rice-harvest areas. The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the P3.767trillion 2018 national budget, which included the allocation of the NIA. The NIA’s budget for next year is 6 percent higher than the P38.3 billion it received from the national government this year. NIA Administrator Ricardo R. Visaya said the bulk of its budget, or about P26.8 billion, will be used for the restoration, repair and rehabilitation of existing irrigation systems and construction and development of new irrigation systems. “The increase in the NIA’s budget will fund the construction of our dams. We still have about 40.68 percent to be developed and we would like to fast-track the development to help achieve rice self-sufficiency,” Visaya said

in a statement. He added the House of Represent at ives’ approva l of its 2018 budget will allow the NIA to implement larger-scale new projects, continuously conduct project feasibility studies and detailed engineering, provide adequate equipment support for operation and maintenance and protect watersheds of big irrigation systems. As of December 2016, the NIA said it has developed 1.85 million hectares of agricultural lands, equivalent to 59.32 percent of irrigation development. The approved P40.8-billion funding includes the P2.6-billion allocation for the implementation of the free irrigation in 2018, according to NIA Spokesman Pilipina Bermudez. Officials of the NIA will meet the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food chaired by Sen. Cynthia A. Villar for a Senate Committee Hearing on September 19. Visaya said he is hopeful that the budget approved by the House will also get the nod of the Senate. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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he local government of Davao City vowed to boost the competitiveness of cacao farmers in the area in its bid to position the city as the chocolate capital of the Philippines. The plan to help farmers in the city produce high-quality chocolates was revealed by Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio during her first “State of the City Address” on September 12. In her message, Duterte-Carpio highlighted the assistance from Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP), which has provided P9.05 million in assistance to the city’s cacao farmers. “[The project] will provide an opportunity for the small entrepreneurs, marginal farmers, upland farmers and indigenous people of Davao City to be players in the cacao and chocolate industry by producing globally competitive chocolates,” she said. Duterte-Carpio noted that the city is currently implementing the Cacao Production and Marketing of Dry Fermented Beans, a subproject under the PRDP’s Investment in Rural Enterprise and Agriculture and Fisheries Produc-

A cacao farmer belonging to the Subasta Integrated Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SIMPC) tends the drying of cacao beans, the source of world-renowned Davao dark chocolate. SIMPC has received assistance from the Department of Agriculture’s High Value Crops Development Program and recently from the Philippine Rural Development Project. Photo by Gian D. Enrique/PRDP

tivity with the Subasta Integrated Multi-Purpose Cooperative. The project has 16 cluster members from Calinan, Tugbok, Baguio and Marilog districts with a total of 227 recipients and inc ludes 97 members of the Indigenous Peoples group, she added.

Winter wheat moving again to Gulf Coast export facilities

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ICHI TA , K ansas— Hard red winter-wheat ex por ts are f low ing again from the Plains states to the battered Gulf Coast for shipment overseas. Grain export facilities along the Gulf coast suffered little damage from Hurricane Harvey, but t he ra i lroad trac k s that move wheat to them were more damaged by the storm, said Jay O’Neil, agricultural economist for the International Grains Program at Kansas State University. Most rail lines have since been inspected and repaired, he said. The storm caused about a fourday stoppage, depending on the port. Some terminals had wheat on hand ready to load onto ships, while others had to wait for rail cars to come in. Harvey struck Texas on Au-

gust 25 and heavy rain and flooding followed for days. The Agriculture Department reported on Monday that for the week ending September 7 zero wheat was inspected in southern Texas ports, while 82,474 metric tons were inspected at Mississippi River locations. “Harvey was a considerable disruption to grain exports, Irma not so much because we load grain out of Texas and New Orleans,” O’Neil said. The hurricane did not affect New Orleans ports, where grain mostly comes down the Mississippi River from Missouri and points east. But the Texas facilities where international exports are loaded onto ships receive their grain by rail from the major wheat-producing states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Other states, such as South

Dakota and Colorado, are also significant producers. This time of year is also particularly busy for hard red winter wheat exports because it is after that the US harvest. “We’ve gotten some orders recently...for some wheat to go overseas and it is just unfortunate timing because wheat is so cheap. It is very competitive right now across the world—and if the customers learn there will be a significant delay they may choose another option,” said Aaron Harries, marketing director for the industry group Kansas Wheat. Hard red winter wheat prices for export out of the Gulf coast are down about $100 a metric ton since 2012 to $180 a metric ton now, said Justin Gilpin, chief executive officer for Kansas Wheat. Cash prices for farmers are about $3.40 per bushel,

down $3 per bushel from 2012. Trains loaded with grain in the Midwest had to be held on track and couldn’t be moved to Texas until the railroads lifted their embargos, O’Neil said. The railroads — primarily the BNSF, Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern—had to access damage and make repairs to its bridges and tracks damaged by Harvey. L i m it e d r a i l s e r v i c e r e sumed last week, and service is now “pretty much full speed”, he said. “There was a lot of concern in our industry that both because of the considerable track damage and because of the employee situation it could have been longer potentially...everybody was pretty surprised at the resiliency of both elevators and employees,” O’Neil said. AP

DA-PRDP is a six-year national government platform for inclusive, value-chain oriented, and climate resilient agriculture and fisheries sector. “We envision a formidable agricultural sector that is not weather-dependent and is resilient to climate change. We

would like our farmers to become business-oriented partners. We want to see an end to the slavery of farmers by financiers,” Duterte-Carpio said. DA Davao Region Director Ricardo M. Oñate Jr. said cacao is one of the region’s champion commodity as the region supplies 80 percent of the country’s cacao production. “We have already extended numerous assistance to the cacao industry. Our partnership project with the city government in Subasta, Calinan, amounts to P26 million, including the equity share of the local government and the farmers associations,” said Oñate, who is also the PRDP Mindanao Director. “It will not be far-fetched that the city can become the Chocolate Capital of the Philippines because we have the potential to be one. For instance, our Davao-based chocolate producer—Ma lagos Chocolate—has received numerous recognition abroad for producing the world class dark chocolate,” City Planning and Development Office chief Ivan Cortez said in a separate interview. Sherwin B.

Manual/DA-PRDP

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Business

Thursday, September 14, 2017

TROs seen restraining P

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TheBroa

By Joel R. San Juan

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte assumed his post with a warning against the courts’ unwarranted issuance of injunction orders that tend to delay government projects. In his second State of the Nation Address in July, Duterte even wrongly called on the country’s Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) against the distribution of contraceptives provided under the Reproductive Health (RH) Law. It has been two years, according to Duterte, since the government purchased medicines for the law’s implementation. The country’s chief executive blamed the TRO for tying the hands of government in distributing the medicines. The medicines, he said, will expire this month and puts to waste P350 million worth of taxpayers’ money. These views of Duterte, a former prosecutor for Davao City, were clarified by no other than Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Sereno said the Court never issued a TRO against the implementation of the RH law but merely against two specific contraceptives regulated under the law: Implanon and Impanon NXT. She added that the lifting of the TRO against the two implants no longer depends on the Court but on the required certification from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA must in effect certify these contraceptives are not abortifacient. With regard to government projects, Duterte lamented that losing bidders would usually seek redress from the courts through a petition for a TRO or injunction. He said the latter has resulted in the delay of the implementation of these projects. “For the courts especially, I would like to address myself to the Court of Appeal[s], to the court and all the courts, do not make it a habit to issue injunctions, particularly on government projects. That would cause trouble between us,” Duterte said in one of his speeches. However, under Republic Act 8975, only the Supreme Court can issue injunctions on “national government infrastructure, engineering works and service contracts.”

TROs, telcos

JUST two months after the President assumed his post in June 2016, a TRO was issued by the Court of Appeals enjoining the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) from reviewing the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Globe Telecom Inc.’s P70-billion buyout deal of the telecommunications assets of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). The PCC, in its letters dated June 7 and June 17, 2016, ordered the preacquisition review and investigation of the acquisition made by PLDT and Globe of all the issuing and outstanding shares and assets of Vega Telecom Inc. (VTI), a subsidiary of SMC. Pursuant to the sale and purchase agreement executed on May 30, 2016, for an agreed purchase price of P52,080,764,982 under a deferred payment scheme (the sum of P26,040,382,490 was paid upon the execution of the contract, P13,020,191,246 to be paid on December 1, 2016, and P13,020,191,246 to be paid on May 30, 2017). Both listed firms PLDT and Globe purchased on an equal sharing or 50-50 basis the entire issued and outstanding shares of VTI’s stocks.

Thumbed down

THE CA also turned down the motion for reconsideration filed by the PCC seeking the lifting of the TRO in a resolution issued in March. Instead, the CA issued a gag order directing all the parties in the case to cease and desist from issuing public comments and statements that would violate the sub judice rule and subject them to indirect contempt of the court. It also directed the PCC to remove immediately from its website its Preliminary Statement of Concern (PSOC). The latter contained an initial finding that the deal “is likely to substantially prevent, restrict and lessen competition” within the telco industry. The PCC earlier claimed that the deal would likely discourage potential competition in retail mobile, reduce options for wholesale customers of mobile services and fixed broadband services and allow collusion between PLDT and Globe.

Risk increase

PRIOR to the gag order issued by the CA, the PCC earlier said the deal is too risky to be sealed. “This setup increases the risk associated with cartel-like behavior,” said the PCC, an independent, quasijudicial body formed to implement the Philippine Competition Act. Despite the impasse, Globe Telecom Head of Corporate Communications Yolly Crisanto assured that the company continues to find ways and means to improve its services. “We are on track in terms of our rollout commitment to the government. To date, we have more than 1,300 sites using the 700-megahertz (Mhz) spectrum, and our LTE deployment across the country has reached 4,800 sites,” Crisanto said. “As the leader in mobile, we will continue to advocate for first-world Internet experience in the Philippines.” She also appealed to the government to assist the telco industry in addressing issues that hamper the efficient delivery of its services. “Having said these, we call on the government to help the sector with regard to the permitting issues that continue to plague our industry.”

Supply options

ON February 21, 2016, the SC issued a TRO enjoining the implementation of the retail competition and open access (RCOA) policy implemented by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in the power industry through DOE Circular DC2015-06-0010, Series of 2015, and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Resolutions 5, 10, 11 and 28, Series of 2016. The TRO was issued based on the petition the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Ateneo de Manila University, San Beda College (Alabang) and mall owner Riverbanks Development Corp. questioning the constitutionality of the new DOE regulations requiring big power consumers to source their electricity supply from any of the 23 retail electricity suppliers (RES) designated by ERC. The PCCI argued that the RCOA has violated the basic constitutional right to freedom of choice of electricity consumers as it de-

prived them of the right to choose RES outside ERC’s listed firms. It stressed that the new regulations do not actually open the power industry nor do they create a fair competition. They explained that imposing mandatory contestability to electricity consumers would limit their choice of suppliers as it prohibits distribution utilities from participating in the contestable market even if the distribution utilities can offer the lowest price

to consumers. Petitioners also lamented that new regulations abandoned a previous policy allowing distribution utilities and their retail supply units from competing for large consumers in the contestable market. As a result, the new policy limited choices of large power consumers from the list of retail suppliers deemed qualified by the ERC. These arguments, however, were contradicted by various

stakeholders and consumer groups who claimed that the TRO would actually promote monopolization. Among these groups are the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (Nasecore), Action for Consumerism and Transparency in Nation Building (Action) and Bayan Muna (literally “country first”) Partylist Rep. Neri Colmenares. They argued that without RCOA, “certain industry players will be able to monopolize and

abuse the electricity market.” They insisted that the new DOE and ERC regulations are valid and reasonable regulatory measures geared toward the promotion of the purposes of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira), which is to promote true market competition and prevent harmful monopoly and market power abuse in the electric power industry. Bayan Muna, on the other hand, argued that delaying or stop-

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ping open access works in favor of big distributors such as Meralco, “who incidentally also owns power-generation companies,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi has noted that the TRO would have a big impact on the desire of the government to provide power consumers freedom of choice as to which power provider they prefer to deal with. “The spirit of the RCOA is giving the consumers the freedom of choice which would result

in higher productivity for them. And the power of choice can only be maximized when there is a level playing field for all suppliers,” Cusi earlier said. The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (Pippa) has also called for the SC to lift the TRO. The group insists that the RCOA is mandated by the Epira, but implemented only in 2013. The Pippa explained that the RCOA is aimed at institutionalizing competition in the supply

of electricity, allowing the electricity end-users to choose their suppliers based on low price and other factors. The TRO, it said, would effectively put on hold some aspects of the RCOA, specifically the timeline for lowering of thresholds. The RCOA allows electricity end-users with at least one megawatt of peak demand to choose their suppliers. End-users can choose between 23 retail electricity suppliers designated by the ERC.

It was supposed to take effect on February 26, but was derailed due to the issuance of the TRO by the SC.

Common station

MEANWHILE, it has been three years since the Supreme Court issued a TRO in connection with the construction of the common station interconnecting LRT Taft and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Edsa. The Court also directed the Regional Trial Court of Pasay City

to hear and resolve with dispatch the damage suit filed by SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) against the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) and the Department of Communications and Transportation (DOTC). The SC has refused to lift the TRO despite pleas from the LRTA and the DOTC, now called the Department of Transportation, or DOTr. The TRO specifically stopped the LRTA and DOTC from proceeding with the transfer of the com-

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mon station in front of SM City North Edsa to the new site in front of TriNoma Mall on North Avenue, Quezon City. In its petition, SM Prime assailed the decision of the DOTC and LRTA to build the common station interconnecting the LRT Taft, the Metro Rail Transit-Edsa and the forthcoming MRT 7 in front of the TriNoma Mall, which is being operated by the Ayala Group of Companies. The petition claimed that the move was in violation of a memorandum of agreement it signed with LRTA on September 28, 2009, to construct the same in front of SM City North Edsa. SMPHI and LRTA entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on September 28, 2009, for the construction of the common station in front of SM City North Edsa, Quezon City. On October 16, 2009, SMPHI paid and delivered to LRTA P200 million to help finance the cost of the construction of the common station. However, the DOTC, through its Special Bids and Awards Committee, subsequently declared the change of site of the common station’s location. The Court held that it “cannot turn a blind eye” to the serious implications of a change in the location of the common station. It added that “it is to the benefit of the common good that the issue of the legality and propriety of the transfer of the common station be threshed out in proper proceedings before work on the common station be allowed to commence as such work cannot be undone without great, perhaps even immeasurable, cost to the public.” It noted that the issue involved is a priority infrastructure project of the national government within the strategic framework of the transportation sector. The Court noted that petitioner SMPHI has shown that it had entered into a MOA with the LRTA wherein the primary consideration for petitioner’s grant to the government of P200 million as assistance in the construction of the common station was the previous official determination of the government agencies involved, the LRTA included, that the location of said common station shall be in front of the SM City North Edsa mall. It further noted that respondents LRTA and DOTC neither deny the existence of this MOA nor claim that the same has been terminated or rescinded, nor do they disclaim that the DOTC intends to transfer the site of the common station to the front of the TriNoma Mall. Under the MOA, among others, the common station “shall forever bear and include in its final name ‘SM North Edsa.’” Likewise, SM shall “be allowed to construct, maintain and operate a walkway/bridgeway on its own property, which shall interconnect the common station with the pertinent level of SM City North Edsa.” The parties initially carried out the construction design of the common station, including the bridgeway that will interconnect the common station and SM City North Edsa, and the government even started the bored piling works in front of SM. However, construction stopped with neither the LRTC nor the DOTC informing the SMPHI of the reasons for such action. SMPHI said its repeated requests for updates were ignored. The company said it later learned from news reports regarding DOTC’s plans to change the location of the common station. Following DOTC’s formal declaration of the change of site of the common station’s location, SMPHI instituted a civil action before the Pasay RTC and, later, sought a TRO with the High Court.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017 • Editor: Jun B. Vallecera

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Dominguez favors selling govt interest in MRT 3

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By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

f the decision was left entirely in the hands of the finance secretary, current portfolio holder Carlos G. Dominguez III on Wednesday said he would sell the government’s stake in the rickety claptrap known as the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3). He told financial reporters rider experience in those times when the public sector held sway at the 16.9-kilometer-long rail line had been anything but pleasant and that buying out the private equity holders to try to make amends to the hundreds of thousands of riders that use the line everyday does not seem the proper thing to do. “You know, that is certainly one option, but, if you look at the entire system, most of the other parts of the system are already privately owned. So, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense if we buy only one part of it while the rest is owned by people in the private sector. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to do that. It may look a little better if the old system is really operated by the private sector. “You’ve seen how the government operated it. It was not a sterling example of public service,” Dominguez said. Dominguez acknowledged the Department of Finance (DOF) even now aims to arrive at an agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on the prospective full privatization or, alternately, the reacquisition of the rail line spanning the length of Edsa from North Avenue to Taft Avenue in Pasay City. He said the DOF would defer to Transport ation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade on by the matter of the MRT 3, as that responsibility

falls mainly with the agency. “[This is] really under them. We are involved only because we own shares, and they owe us money through the bonds. Whatever the DOTr decides to do operationally will have effects on our financial position,” Dominguez said. In August, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan bared plans to buy out the MRT 3 from its owners, pointing out that the move will go a long way in terms of proper maintenance on railway assets. Companies who own MRT 3 stakes

include: Astoria Investments, Anglo Philippine Holdings, Railco Investments, Metro Global Holdings Corporation, and Sheridan LRT Holdings. The privately held MRT Corporation (MRTC) is signatory to the buildlease-transfer agreement with the MRT 3. “We are going to come up with a common decision. We had several meetings already with the DOTr, and we are moving toward coming to a common position. By the way, this does not [involve] Manny Pangilinan only. There are other parties involved here,” Dominguez said. The government has a 77-percent economic interest in MRTC through Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). On Monday the DBP said it was open to selling its interest in MRT 3. According to DBP President and CEO Cecilia Borromeo, unloading the bank’s MRT 3 interests is in its books. In July the MPIC, in partnership with Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Philippines Private Limited, formally submitted an unsolicited proposal. The MRT 3 is maintained by Busan Universal Rail Inc., while the system’s rail replacement is handled by the government.

Case clippings

By Justice S J Ranada Jr.

EMINENT DOMAIN–payment of interests The owner’s loss is not only his property but also its income-generating potential. Thus, when property is taken, full compensation for its value must immediately be paid to achieve a fair exchange for the property and the potential income lost. Thus, the rationale for imposing the interest is to compensate the landowner for the income he would have made had he been compensated at the time of taking. Transmission v. Oroville GR 223366 01 Aug 2017 Mendoza, J

Fewer takers at special BSP facilities

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he special deposit windows of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) failed to attract the full amount the monetary authorities had in mind for them. On Wednesday the BSP reported an undersubsciption in the facilities as banks and trust units weighed events from around the world and their impact on liquidity movements. Data show the seven-day term-deposit facility (TDF) on Wednesday as undersubscribed after last week’s oversubscription. The 28-day TDF similarly remained undersubscribed for six months in a row already. The amount offered for the seven-day TDF totaled only P37.83 billion, covering 94.6 percent of the P40 billion on this week. This was also lower compared to last week’s P42.92-billion tenders.

For the 28-day TDF, tenders aggregated only P101.44 billion or only 92.2 percent of the total P110-billion offering. Although this was an undersubscription, these were higher than last week’s tenders of only P84.42 billion. TDF rates rose during the week. The seven-day TDF rate increased, from 3.3334 percent last week to 3.3484 percent this week. The 28-day TDF rate rose to 3.495 percent, from 3.491 percent last week. Deputy BSP Governor for the monetary stability sector, Diwa C. Guinigundo, said while the shorter tenors were undersubscribed, market conditions remained “very fluid”. “I believe the market still prefers short tenors, although with the probability of a US Federal funds-rate increase dimin-

ishing this year, some segments may test longer than seven days. Once the [national government] issues bonds in a bigger way to support higher public spending on infrastructure, market appetite is bound to change,” Guinigundo added. “What is important at this point is that the interest-rate dynamics is broadly steady [and] interest-rate volatility remains manageable. [It] takes a longer time series to really establish a firmer trend,” he added. Just last month the BSP reduced the volume of its 28-day offering to address persistent undersubscription in the facility. The BSP scaled down the offering to P110 billion, from P140 billion. The tenor has consistently attracted below-target offers since the March 22 auction. Bianca Cuaresma

Associations and project management

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always relate project management to the engineering and construction industry, but can it be applied in the association world? This question came to mind when a member of our organization, the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), offered to coorganize a project-management seminar for fellow PCAAE members. I was glad we did run it last week as we got good kudos from all the attendees. A project is defined as a “temporary endeavor to create a unique product, service or result, with a definite beginning and end”. Associations do undertake “projects”—from membership recruitment, developing and running events, publishing newsletters and web-site design, among others. Project management involves planning, organizing, scheduling, leading, communicating and controlling work activities to achieve outcome within a certain time, budget and scope. Equipped with project management skills, an association executive can take advantage of the benefits it provides, such as improved alignment with organizational strategies, a much better project success rate, efficient and reliable operation, cost effectiveness, transparency and communication openness. The session speaker, William Boivin, who is a manager for society relations covering Asia Pacific of the Hong Kong-based CFA Institute, cited four key things as “to do” for associations when undertaking a project: n Prepare a project charter. This describes the purpose of the project, the com-

Changing the world, one act of kindness at a time

Association World Octavio Peralta position of a project team headed by a project manager (the focal person), responsibilities and scope of work and resources needed, including a budget. n Do a work breakdown structure (WBS) spreadsheet. This details the tasks, the responsible person, deadlines, status and remarks, as they fall due. n Make a communication plan. This elaborates on the communication type (e.g., meeting, status report), medium (e-mail, face-to-face, conference call), frequency, audience and deliverable(s). n Prepare a status report. This covers the progress of the implementation of the project. Boivin advises three “must-do” tasks in managing projects: n Assign a project manager—Every project must have a project manager, someone who builds the plan, coordinates activities and makes sure that communication is happening. n Hold weekly standup meetings— Ensure communication is flowing by holding weekly standup meetings on your proj-

ect. Have all responsible task holders meet for 15 minutes to discuss if everything is on track or if there are issues. n Use project-management tools— Start using a project charter and project plan templates for every project. If all in the organization uses these, then everyone understands a common language. Project management, as he puts it, is both an art and a science. The science comes with the planning and the art with the execution. One doesn’t work without the other. Most associations do project management “by ear” and on an ad hoc basis. It’s always tempting to speed through the planning phase and cut straight to the action. I think it’s time for associations to organize and document things so programs and activities are done well and can be referenced to in the future. In the end, after all, practice makes perfect. The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) and the CEO and founder of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE). PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 5 (AS5) on November 22 and 23, at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), which is expected to draw over 200 association professionals here and abroad. The two-day event is supported by ADFIAP, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS5.

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T Resorts World Manila on August 21, contemporary Filipino artists gathered to exhibit at least 20 paintings and artworks for the benefit of non-governmental organization Yes Pinoy Foundation Inc., led by celebrity actor and former National Youth Commission (NYC) Head Jose Sixto “Dingdong” Dantes III. Dantes, who champions disaster resilience initiatives at Yes Pinoy, beamed at his wife, actress Marian Rivera, exhibiting her art collaboration with artists Carlo Saavedra and Mark Padernal at the event. The flower painting took her three days to complete and it’s innate for Marian to put things together, Dantes shared. More than celebrating the work of the power couple alongside some contemporary local artists, the event, “I Am Super: An Art Exhibit for Resilience”, showcased the passion of Stan Miao, a 33-year-old Chinese entrepreneur who dreams of changing the world, one act of kindness at a time.

A better world through art

Miao founded Acts of Kindness (AOK) to help charities and nonprofits with limited or no marketing budgets. The art exhibit, for instance, was a venue to launch Yes Pinoy’s fund-raising web site and tap wider support. “It’s about enabling Yes Pinoy to have a global reach and receive donations from all over the world. You have Filipinos abroad who would love to help their homeland, and now have that easy access—at the click of a button—to donate to the foundation,” Miao said, citing that 50 percent of the proceeds will go to the participating artists while a significant portion will directly go to Yes Pinoy programs. Born in 1984 after the Cultural Revolution in China, Miao has a journey ignited by a single act of kindness: his father, a tour guide for the Terracotta Army, was sponsored a trip to the US after helping out a gay couple who fell ill during a tour. His knack for business came about almost naturally, but not without a string of challenges, including getting kicked out of college due to lack of interest. At 24, Miao returned to China and embarked on a period of self-rediscovery and ventures that ultimately led to AOK. His AOK Art Gallery is an online art gallery where artists from around the world can sell their artworks and see proceeds go toward the advocacy of their choice. This is a far cry from the typical model where half of the earnings go to the artist while half goes to the agent or the gallery—nothing left for charity. AOK, with its thriving lineup of passionate artists, earns through surplus gained by the auction format, or whatever is gained from selling more than the artwork’s indicated value.

Picture of a fulfilled artist

In Miao’s art-driven system at AOK, one wouldn’t witness the typical “starving artist” image, as it values artists first and foremost and seek to transform them into “superheroes” whose work fuels great social causes. One of them is 45-year old Benedict

Abigan, a Masbate native, who showcased his work along with other artists at the Yes Pinoy event. He has been engaged in painting, favoring abstract and the acrylic medium, since his elementary years. Abigan, whose paintings, such as “Infinite Prosperity” reflect a stark Buddhist influence, met Miao a year ago through Facebook and started to introduce his artist-friends to the AOK platform. “I’d say this decision to do things for a cause is deeply rooted in me, as well,” the father of six recalled. “While I was riding a jeepney at a time when I was still far from being established in my craft, I saw children out on the streets, soaked in rain and the cold. That picture has always stirred something inside me to use my skills for the greater good even as I manage to earn for my family.” At present, AOK has artists, such as Patrick Cabral and Albrecht Behmel, in its prestigious roster. It has catered to charities, such as the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), Smile Train and the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

Impact-driven

Miao said there’s no stopping AOK in its mission, having raised at least $11,000 for charity, so far. For its “I Am Super” online campaign for Yes Pinoy, the goal is to send this message across: be a noncape-wearing superhero for children by purchasing a Go Bag emergency-preparedness kit to protect Filipino children from disasters that frequently hit the climate-challenged nation. The bags, made of waterproof materials designed to protect children from torrential rains and even from the sun’s scorching rays, contains compartments for emergency survival items and basic school supplies. A dedicated microsite set up by AOK features a live countdown of the bags produced for the program, as well as acts as the fund basin for digital donations made via GoFundMe, DragonPay, iPay88 and similar methods. Miao and Dantes seek to collaborate further and bring AOK artists to war-torn Marawi City, where they can teach arts to affected children to get their minds off the horrors of the war and receive muchneeded assistance. “It will be part of [the children’s] psychosocial debriefing. They will be taught by artists and their output would be auctioned for the benefit of their own families,” explained Dantes, adding they are also eyeing a sweepstakes-type fundraising in the near future. “We respect traditional ways of raising charity funds but we believe those have to be mixed with innovative ideas,” he said. For Miao, founder of multiple businesses, author, and young dreamer, it’s about lending a hand to the world’s poor and disenfranchised by pooling the world’s kind souls together. “There’s never a shortage of fun and innovative ways to fund-raise for charities. At the end of the day, it boils down to resolve and passion to change things—and the world, while you’re at it.”

The World BusinessMirror

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Human-rights group blasts Israeli banks for settlement expansion

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ERUSALEM—Israeli banks are contributing to the proliferation of West Bank settlements by providing loans and mortgages for construction there, violating their human-rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday. The report said that Israeli law does not require banks to provide such services to the settlements, and urged them to distance themselves from such activities. It also urged the banks’ shareholders to “ensure that their business relationships do not contribute to or benefit from” humanrights violations. Human Rights Watch said the banks have helped the expansion of the West Bank settlements, which are now home to some 400,000 Israelis. Sari Bashi, the group’s Israel and Palestine advocacy director, said the banks should abide by the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights, a set of nonbinding guidelines meant to address and remedy abuses committed in business activity, or else face action by shareholders. “There are many, many steps banks can and should take to at the very least reduce their involvement in settlements, if not stop it entirely,” she said. “If they choose not to take steps, institutional investors who care about their own human-rights activity should take action.” Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel has since annexed east Jerusalem in a move that is not recognized internationally, and it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Most of the international community considers settlements illegal and an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state. Israel disputes this, saying the fate of the settlements must be resolved through negotiations with the Palestinians. Israel’s banks lend money to homebuyers, settlement councils or to companies carrying out construction in the West Bank. Most also have branches in settlements. Israeli law requires banks to accept settlers as customers, meaning they cannot refuse to open accounts for them. But a legal analysis by Human Rights Watch of Israeli banking laws concluded that banks are not obligated to provide financial backing for construction in the West Bank. While an antidiscrimination law prohibits refusal of service based on place of residence, the report said banks could cite other reasons for declining to provide loans, such as the construction’s implications for Palestinians’ human rights. The law also allows companies to decline to serve certain areas so long as they provide advance notice to customers. “It is Human Rights Watch’s assessment that banks can, under domestic law, avoid providing many services that support settlements and settlement activity, and that doing so is necessary to fulfill their human rights responsibilities,” the report said. The relevant laws have yet to be challenged in court, meaning the report offers only one interpretation of how they may be read. But the group presents a warning to Israel’s banking sector: Operating in the settlements risks inviting divestment from ethically minded shareholders. Bashi cited a 2016 move by the pension fund for the United Methodist Church that blocked five Israeli banks from its investment portfolio, saying they profit from rights abuses. The Association of Banks in Israel, an umbrella group, declined to comment on the report’s claims. Spokesman for Israel’s major banks either declined comment or referred queries to the banking association. Israel’s central bank had no immediate comment. Human Rights Watch said the five largest banks in Israel did not respond to questions about whether they adhere to the UN guiding principles. Four of the country’s biggest banks are members of the UN Global Compact, a group of companies that calls on its members to “make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.” Eugene Kontorovich, an international law expert at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conser vative think tank, disputed the report’s claim. He said that private co m p a n i e s a re n o t o b l i g e d u n d e r international law to restrict where they work even if others believe the settlements are illegal. He added companies are not necessarily violating human rights if they conduct business in an area where violations are said to occur. “Granting a mortgage is not a human rights violation,” he said. Settlements have grown rapidly over the decades, providing a lucrative market for bank loans and mortgages, and an incentive for the banks to continue to offer funding. AP

Thursday, September 14, 2017

A9

US Supreme Court allows Trump administration ban on most refugees

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ASHINGTON—The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to maintain its restrictive policy on refugees.

The justices on Tuesday agreed to an administration request to block a lower-court ruling that would have eased the refugee ban and allowed up to 24,000 refugees to enter the country before the end of October. The order was not the court’s last word on the travel policy that

President Donald J. Trump first rolled out in January. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on October 10 on the legality of the bans on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries and refugees anywhere in the world. It’s unclear, though, what will be left for the court to decide. The

90-day travel ban lapses in lateSeptember and the 120-day refugee ban will expire a month later. White House Spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday night: “We are pleased that the Supreme Court has allowed key components of the order to remain in effect. We will continue to vigorously defend the order leading up to next month’s oral argument in the Supreme Court.” T he administration has yet to say whether it w ill seek to renew t he ba ns, m a ke t hem permanent or expand the travel ban to other countries. Lower courts have ruled that the bans violate the Constitution and federal immigration law. The

high court has agreed to review those rulings. Its intervention so far has been to evaluate what parts of the policy can take effect in the meantime. The justices said in June that the administration could not enforce the bans against people who have a “bona fide” relationship with people or entities in the United States. The justices declined to define the required relationships more precisely. A panel of the San Franciscobased ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge’s order that would have allowed refugees to enter the US if a resettlement agency in the US had agreed to take them in.

The administration objected, saying the relationship between refugees and resettlement agencies shouldn’t count. The high court’s unsigned, one-sentence order agreed with the administration, at least for now. The appeals court also upheld another part of the judge’s ruling that applies to the ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Grandparents and cousins of people already in the US can’t be excluded from the country under the travel ban, as the Trump administration had wanted. The administration did not ask the Supreme Court to block that part of the ruling. AP

A man crosses the road with his bicycle in what was once a rebel-controlled area in Aleppo, Syria, on September 12. The recapture of eastern Aleppo in December 2016, one of the deadliest episodes of the Syrian civil war, was a landmark victory for Assad’s forces in the conflict, now in its seventh year, but it left the area in ruins. AP

Aleppo badly scarred by war, months after rebel defeat

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LEPPO, Syria—“A leppo is in my eyes,” says a billboard depicting President Bashar Assad looking out over two men and a boy repaving the main Saadallah al-Jabiri Square—once a front line in one of the deadliest episodes of the Syrian civil war. The recapture of eastern Aleppo in December 2016 was a landmark victory for Assad’s forces in the conflict, now in its seventh year, but it left the area in ruins. Eight months later, neighborhood after neighborhood in the formerly rebel-held sector still look like ghost towns. Only rarely is a family seen sitting on white plastic chairs outside the rubble. Life is slowly returning to the desolate streets where shop signs are covered with dust, where men hawk cigarettes on a street corner and teenagers sell bananas off a picnic table. Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says thousands of people have returned to their homes in Aleppo—once Syria’s largest city—from camps for the displaced. Russian troops mediating between the Syrian government and various opposition factions have helped. The task force’s chief in

the province, Maj. Gen. Igor Yemelyanov, said it has helped 3,500 people return to nearby villages. Although Syrian governmentcontrolled neighborhoods did not see the destruction and loss of life on a scale comparable to what eastern Aleppo endured, the seemingly quiet neighborhoods in the west also bear the scars of conflict.

Moscow intervention

THE third floor of a school in southwestern Aleppo still has no glass after its window was blown out when a missile landed in a classroom in November 2016. Two students were killed in the classroom, and four died in a playground under the windows, principal Nakhlya Deri told reporters on Tuesday during a visit arranged by the Russian Defense Ministry. Residents have been resilient throughout, Deri insisted, describing how the school kept operating. “After the attack, we closed down. On the following day, we cleared out the debris; and on the third day we started working,” she said. Even though the siege of Aleppo ended eight months ago, municipal services fully restored the electricity supply only last week, provincial Gov. Hamied Kenno said.

Most of the city’s power plants were in eastern Aleppo, which was captured by rebels in 2012 and suffered catastrophic destruction during the battle to recapture it. For weeks after the fighting ended, electricity was cut off across the entire city, even in governmentheld neighborhood. Moscow intervened in Syria two years ago to help Assad, its longtime ally. On Tuesday the Russia military said Syrian troops have liberated about 85 percent of the country’s territory from militants.

Civilians targeted

RUSSI A N war pl anes have changed the tide of the war, giving Syrian troops and allied forces an advantage over opposition fighters and militants from the Islamic State group. Speaking to reporters at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s Latakia province, Lt. Gen. Alexander Lapin said the Syrian government still must clear the militants from the remaining 15 percent—approximately 27,000 square kilometers. The Syrian troops, with strong support from Iranian-backed ground forces, have in recent weeks pushed the IS militants out of central Homs province, near the

border with Lebanon, and are now fighting them in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province in the east. Deir el-Zour is the last major IS holdout in Syria. Assad’s forces, backed by Russians air power, broke a nearly three-year-old siege on the provincial capital where troops had been encircled by the militants. Activists said civilians are bearing the brunt of the offensive amid the intense airstrikes, with IS using them as human shields. A recent overnight air strike hit displaced Syrians from Deir elZour on the western side of the Euphrates River, killing at least eight civilians. The Observatory and Omar Abu Laila, who runs a group that monitors developments in Deir el-Zour, said Russian air strikes were suspected. Russian officials have denied targeting civilians there.

‘Syrian Express’

RUSSIAN Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met on Tuesday with Assad in the capital of Damascus and discussed measures to eliminate IS, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Russia and Syria agreed in August 2015 for Moscow to deploy an air-force contingent and other

military assets at the Hemeimeem base, in the heartland of Assad’s Alawite religious minority. In a matter of weeks, Russia built up the base so it could host dozens of its warplanes. It delivered thousands of tons of military equipment and supplies by sea and cargo planes in an operation dubbed the “Syrian Express.” A month later, Russia announced the launch of its air campaign in Syria, its first military action outside its borders since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Senior Russian military officers and special forces were deployed alongside Syrian troops, providing training, planning offensives and coordinating air strikes. Russia has also deployed its latest weapons to the Syrian conflict, including state-of-the-art Kalibr cruise missiles launched by Russian strategic bombers, surface ships and submarines, most recently in Deir el-Zour province last week. Russia never said how many troops it sent, but turnout figures in voting from abroad in the 2016 parliamentary elections indicated Russian military personnel in Syria at the time likely exceeded 4,300. The Russian military said last week that 34 of its servicemen have been killed in Syria. AP

A10 Thursday, September 14, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion

BusinessMirror

editorial

You can help stop global warming

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limate change, also known as global warming, has been causing alarming events the world over, such as rising sea levels and destructive typhoons and hurricanes. Climaterelated extreme weather events are on the rise. In the Philippines, for example, we have seen the catastrophic effects of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), described as one of the most intense tropical cyclones. It is the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record, killing more than 6,000 people. Just recently, Americans came face to face with the dangers posed by climate change. A Bloomberg View article cited Hurricane Harvey as an example. Harvey was so destructive because it got slowed down over Houston. The storm was caught between two high-pressure blocking systems shortly after it made landfall in Texas. So, instead of rolling over the region, it got stuck for several days, dumping a year’s worth of rainfall in less than a week. Dr. Richard Allan, professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading, said the recent hurricanes that hit the US were made worse by climate change. In a news story published by The Telegraph, Allan said hurricanes, or tropical cyclones, require a set of atmospheric ingredients to form. Warm upper ocean water provides the most vital hurricane fodder—energy and water. But changes in wind and moisture with altitude are also key and the rotation of the Earth increasingly spins these storms up as they travel away from the equator. Especially strong seasonal warming this year combined with the other factors partly relating to natural ocean fluctuations have made conditions ripe for tropical cyclones to form in the Atlantic. Allan said: “While weather explains the formation and track of these tropical beasts, additional heating due to emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities will inevitably make them more deadly. Extra energy from warmer waters increases the intensity of the winds in the strongest cyclones while a warmer atmosphere is able to suck in greater quantities of moisture, which is dumped as more intense rainfall.” There’s an ongoing debate among scientists about the effects of humans on global climate and about what policies should be implemented to avoid possible undesirable effects of climate change. Mainstream scientific organizations worldwide concur with the assessment that most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is due to the humancaused increase in greenhouse-gas concentrations. However, there is also a small but vocal number of scientists in climate-related fields that disagree with such view. As climate experts continue their discourse, however, serious damage may result at some future date if steps are not taken to halt the trend of extreme weather events. What can we do to stop or slow down global warming? At times, when a problem is global in scale, it’s hard to believe that individual actions can make a difference. But even small acts can have big results. And since so many things affect our climate, there are things we can do to make a difference. We can start by using public transportation more often; by making our homes more energy efficient just by adding insulation or changing our light bulbs to LEDs; by helping promote renewable energy; by planting trees; and by putting the three Rs of sustainability into practice: Reduce, reuse and recycle. These are simple things we can do that can impact the big picture of climate change in the long run. Since 2005

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Political chaos turns to economic chaos John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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lmost two years ago in October 2015, the political and economic cycles changed. Prior to that, I wrote that what we would see and experience was a transition phase that would first lead to “political chaos” followed in two years by “economic chaos”.

When we think of chaos, we tend to get a picture of wild and unpredictable behavior like a mob rioting and looting in the streets or the turbulent howling winds of a typhoon. However, chaos can also mean a situation where there is a definite break from the status quo and things change. Think of a company that moves its core business in a different direction. San Miguel Corp. is no longer just the beer brewer that characterized its business for 100 years. On the global political scene, chaos has come just that way. The current presidents of both the Philippines and

the United States took their offices in unconventional ways, breaking the longstanding status quo of rising through the ranks of the national government. In Japan Prime Minister Shinzō Abe may fit the definition of a “traditional politician”. But his deep association to the group Nippon Kaigi is a strong move from the previous political climate. Nippon Kaigi is a strongly nationalistic organization that considers Japan a victim of World War II. The overwhelming majority of Abe’s Cabinet are also Nippon Kaigi loyalists. Chaos can also mean a situation

where there is not a strong focus, sort of like when you have a hundred things on your to-do list and cannot seem to prioritize them. It is this last type of chaos on the political front that will then lead to the economic crisis waiting down the road. The vote in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (Brexit) in June 2016 resulted in a majority of the voters in agreement. The UK has officially informed the EU and started the breakaway process. While there is still a great divide in both the public and with the politicians as to the wisdom of this decision, at this point, it is final. Yet, as recently as last week, the fight in parliament is not over. The gridlock of the critical decisions that need to be made in the next two years is still firmly in place. The US is facing the urgent need to make vital decisions on immigration reform, health-care reform and tax reform. Yet, the US Congress just took a prolonged summer recess despite having accomplished almost nothing in the previous six months on those issues. Everyone knows the “status quo” is not working, but the legislature is not willing to move to solutions.

In the Philippines the situation is almost the same. The 17th Congress has passed four major laws. These are the 2017 General Appropriations Act, or the national budget, the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections and the extension of the franchises of Smart Communications and GMA Network. Tax reform is still waiting. While time has been consumed by hearings and investigations of other important issues, the core work has not been done. Without going into a dozen other examples, the fact is that national governments all over the world are in political chaos. The political chaos we are seeing has always led to the next step—economic chaos. By the end of 2018, if not sooner, the cycles will have progressed to that point. Governments and their political leaders will be wishing that they had spent more time this year working toward a better economic future.

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

The nation’s security is dreadfully unsecured Cecilio T. Arillo

database

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N November 13, 2015, Republic Act 10697, otherwise known as the comprehensive Strategic Trade Management Act (STMA) became a law. Under its provisions, a permanent committee under the National Security Council (NSC) known as the NSC-Strategic Trade Management Committee (NSC-STM Com) was constituted. It is tasked as “the central authority on any and all matters relating to strategic trade management”, where most departments are mandated members. To highlight the body’s security functions, it was made as a supplement of the country’s highest security body, the NSC, under the Office of the President. To date, however, very few securityrelated activities can be attributed to this critical body aimed at addressing concerns of almost all aspects of security of the State and its four elements: People, the government, territory and sovereignty. “Imagine, if the siege of Marawi is to be the backdrop, it is not improbable that the country and all its inhabitants are going to be virtual sitting ducks many times over, until the government seriously considers the imperatives of national security and its various permutations into strategic plans and programs,” said lawyer Ramon Cuyco, a trade security expert and a retired Bureau of Customs (BOC) official. According to Cuyco, “National security must be immediately mainstreamed in all government agencies, and all Filipinos, leaders and ordinary citizens alike, must be ultra-watchful of their safety and security.” The State, in the STMA declaration of policy (Section 2), must be free, among others, from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in its territory,

consistent with the national interest; to fulfill its international commitments and obligations, including United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540; to take and enforce effective measures to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of WMDs and their means of delivery; and to maintain international peace and security and promote economic growth by facilitating trade and investment through the responsible management of strategic goods and the provision of related services. Consistent with its foreign policy and national-security interests, and in support of efforts to counter terrorism, control crime and safeguard public safety, the State shall manage the trade of strategic goods and provision of related services in accordance with international standards and best practices. In scope and coverage (Section 3), the law applies to: Any natural or juridical person operating within the Philippines who engages or intends to engage in the export of strategic goods from the Philippines, including designated special economic and freeport zones, the import of strategic goods into the Philippines; or the transit or transshipment of strategic goods through the territory of the Philippines

and the provision of related services; and all Filipino persons providing these services wherever located; and The reexport of strategic goods that have been imported from the Philippines to a foreign country, and the reassignment of strategic goods imported from the Philippines to a new end-user in the country of import subject to authorization under this Act. The law, (in Section 4), provides the National Strategic Goods List (NSGL), described with specificity, strategic goods that are subject to strict authorization. The NSGL shall be in conformity with international commitments and nonproliferation obligations pursuant to bilateral and multilateral treaties, international conventions and international nonproliferation regimes. The NSGL shall comprise three annexes: military goods (Annex 1), dualuse goods (Annex 2), and nationally controlled goods (Annex 3). Definition of Terms (Section 5) as used in this Act, include, among others: 1. Authorization: refers to an individual, global or general license issued by the Strategic Trade Management Office for the export, import, reexport, reassignment, transit, transshipment of strategic goods and provision of related services; 2. Carrier: refers to any vessel, train, vehicle, aircraft or other modes of transportation; 3. Document: refers to any record on paper, in electronic form, kept on any magnetic, optical, chemical or other medium; photograph map, plan, graph, picture or drawing or device; and 4. Dual-use goods: refer to items, software and technology which can be used for both civil and military end-use or in connection with development, production, handling, operation, maintenance, storage, detection, identification or dissemination of WMD or their means of delivery. These goods are listed in Annex 2 of the NSGL.

In the implementing structure and mechanism of the law, a permanent committee (central authority) under the NSC, to be known as the NSC-STM Com, is hereby constituted and deemed the central authority on any and all matters relating to strategic trade management with the following composition: (1) the executive secretary, as chairman; (2) the secretary of trade and industry, as vice chairman; and (3) the secretary of foreign affairs; (4) the secretary of justice; (5) the secretary of national defense; (6) the secretary of the interior and local government; (7) the secretary of finance; (8) the secretary of transportation; (9) the national security advisor; (10) the secretary of environment and natural resources; (11) the secretary of science and technology; (12) the secretary of agriculture; and (13) the secretary of health; as members. The Anti-Terrorism Council and Program Management Center shall serve as the secretariat. The members may designate a representative to the NSC-STM Com, who shall have a rank not lower than an Undersecretary. Five members of the NSCSTM Com shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The NSC-STM Com is to be complemented by the following support agencies and bureaus: The BOC; the Bureau of Animal Industry; the Food and Drug Administration; the Bureau of Quarantine; the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute; the Information and Communications Technology Office; the Armed Forces of the Philippines; the Philippine National Police; the Philippine Coast Guard; the Office of Transport Security; the National Bureau of Investigation; the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency; the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office; the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime; and such other offices, agencies or units as necessary.

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

Opinion

BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Democracy on the death throes Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

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budget of P1,000 for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for 2018. That’s how low the supposed honorable members of Congress have sunk just to appease the country’s No. 1 CHR hater, President Duterte. The justification given by House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez is so flimsy it smacks of outright bullying. He says the CHR was not doing its job. Duterte’s ascension to power last year already forewarned us of his autocratic ways. He is a man who doesn’t take into account other people’s wishes or opinions. To him, everything he does is right and justified, while anyone who goes against him is “stupid”, “a son of a bitch”, “a fool”, “gay” or simply “yellow”. Then President of the United States Barrack Obama, the Pope, the United Nations, the European Union and just about everyone who cautioned him about the dangers of his internationally unpopular war on drugs were called names, in the manner of a neighborhood drunkard. I and some of you also wonder why despite such vulgarity, his popularity ratings remain strongly in positive territory. His war on drugs, which international observers report have claimed more than 10,000 deaths (although government figures place them at just over 6,000), is the only way to go “to save my country” from being a narco state, Duterte often says with conviction. Such obsession makes it appear that the Philippines has no other problems but drugs. The tragic part is that only the poor and marginalized are being targeted. The recent killings of three boys who are just past or nearing puberty age have awakened a docile community to decry the almost daily carnage of mostly suspected drug users or couriers, while the drug lords remain scot-free and continue to laugh their way to the bank. I do not normally pay attention to what Sen. JV G. Ejercito says, but his recent pronouncement makes a lot of sense: “The campaign against illegal drugs should shift high gear by focusing on the sourced drug shipments—whether in raw or finished product forms—which from all indications come from China, and intercept them before reaching our shores…the drug war should not be confined in the country’s streets, by killing small narcotics retailers, pushers and drug addicts...this strategy will only pile up body bags.” In May of this year, some 605 kilograms of shabu worth P6.4 billion from Xiamen, China, sailed past the Bureau of Customs, prompting Congress to hold numerous investigations. In the Senate, Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV insinuated that Duterte’s son Paolo and son-inlaw Mans Carpio may be involved in drug smuggling, an allegation that the two vehemently denied. The shabu shipment is by far the biggest to be smuggled into the country under the Duterte administration. Through all these, the CHR under its mandate has never been remiss of its constitutional duties to call out the state actors whom it perceives to be violating the rights of those they are accusing of drug ties. True to form, Duterte was infuriated and even threatened to abolish the body that was formed under the 1987 Philippine Constitution. For repeatedly expressing concern over deaths linked to the drug war, explicitly those the CHR claimed were unjustified, Congress deemed it just right to clip its wings, “for not doing its job”. Acting on a motion by Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta of Saklolo At Gabay Ng Ina At Pamilya, 119

Mercy builds community Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

L

ast Sunday we reflected on the Christian community’s uncompromising stand against sin even as we were reminded of our responsibility to be there for one another. On the note that a caring community must be a praying community, we realize next that our readiness to forgive one another is necessary to build community (Matthew 18:21-35).

Seven times? congressmen favored giving the CHR a measly P1,000 budget for 2018. A mix of majority, minority and opposition members totaling 32 legislators voted against it. T he main arg ument being thrown by the government and its rabid followers against the CHR is the latter’s seeming soft treatment on criminals, but hard stance against the police force, which is in the forefront of Duterte’s drug war. These insinuations puzzle me, especially since most of our legislators are lawyers. These legislators are echoing the now-familiar refrain often mouthed by Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre, Solicitor General of the Philippines Jose C. Calida, chief of National Police Ronaldo “Bato” M. dela Rosa, among other government officials. Under its mandate, the CHR is dutybound to protect the citizens’ rights from abuses by the state, such as the (civilian) government, the police and military. It seeks to ensure that there will be no abuse or negligence on the part of the government in protecting and upholding the rights of all the citizens, especially those who are marginalized. Each branch of government has the load in upholding the rights and the needs of the citizenry. But in cases where the government itself violates or denies human rights, the CHR is authorized to act as the “conscience of the government”. In a widely circulated infographic posted on the social-media site Facebook, the CHR said: “If it is a civilian or private person who did the crime, such as killing or rape, it is the Philippine National Police [PNP] who has the duty and mandate to take action.” Simply put, the CHR is neither the police nor the protector of criminals. Along with other human rights advocates, the CHR is beeing demonized by the government for criticizing Duterte’s war on drugs. In a recent interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, CHR Commissioner Roberto Eugenio T. Cadiz lamented that one senator “even sent us a pile of cases challenging us to investigate carnappings and kidnappings”. If that senator fails to even grasp the CHR fundamental mandate, it is not surprising that many people now perceive most of our legislators as “imbeciles”. In the same interview, Cadiz explained that under traditional definitions, human-rights violations are committed by the state. “There’s another school of thought that violations can be committed even by nonstate actors, but in terms of operationalizing the concept, as far as the mandate of the CHR is concerned, most cases we are investigating involve alleged violations of the state.” The recent action of Congress, if not remedied by the Senate when it soon tackles the same budget issue, will definitely kill “the conscience of the government”. This is what Duterte wants, and our legislators are giving him just that, on a silver platter. Is there basis for the growing fear among those who oppose the extrajudicial killings being committed in the government’s war on drugs? Is our country on its way to becoming a necro state? For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com.

Hearing Jesus speak about the need of His disciples to be each other’s keepers as they live as community, Peter asks in connection with the incidence of sin in their midst how many times must he forgive his brother who sins against him? In answering his own question with the possibility of forgiving an erring brother up to seven times, Peter is actually being magnanimous because he is ready to forgive repeatedly. It is not a triple that he thought seven as a good number signifying fullness and completeness. We Filipinos traditionally count up

to only three when someone is doing something reprehensible. It is as if we are afraid to be interpreted as weak and unreasonable, if we go beyond three in our patience with others. Or we might be considered konsintidor (abettor) of the offender, if we are more forgiving. We set a limit to our compassion and mercy, lest we be abused. We seem easily determined by what others might think or do.

Seventy-seven times!

The reply of Jesus to Peter clarifies that among believers in God forgiveness should, indeed, be repeated again

Thursday, September 14, 2017 A11

and again, in fact, indefinitely and not pegged to a definite number of times. The language is clearly in reference to the boast of Lamech, Cain’s descendant, who claimed that “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:24). This Old Testament story of limitless revenge in blood for a wrong done to one is transformed by Jesus to a limitless mercy and forgiveness in love. The added parable illustrates exactly this point of unlimited mercy. The official in the story must have been a high officer in the court of a potentate with funds under his control, for him to have been able to abscond with such a huge sum of money: 10,000 talents (or $9,000,000 or almost P500,000,000). The debt owed by the unfaithful servant was simply impossible to repay in the economics of the time. Yet the king forgave him completely, when he begged for patience; the kindness of the master was poured without measure upon the unworthy thief. Yet the man turned out to be himself without compassion for another who owed him what in comparison was a measly sum of $15 or a little over P700. Though fully forgiven of his dishonesty and thievery, he was callous and merciless toward another who was also begging for some patience

and time in order to pay back his debt, apparently an honest debt. He was unable to recognize and respond to the same words and petition that he himself employed to beg for mercy from his master now that they were used to him by a fellow servant. Alálaong bagá, although we do not deserve it, we are forgiven by God totally and completely. However enormous our debts to God may be, His mercy is to all who call upon Him. It is beyond our capacity to repay the Almighty, yet He writes off everything upon our prayer for mercy. What we need is compassion for one another in imitation of our all compassionate God, as we try to live together in community or as a people by no means immune from sin and the many evils we are all prone to. Exacting justice by pound of flesh upon pound of flesh only leads to self-destruction until all be defleshed. Forgiving from the heart, as demanded by Jesus of his disciples, not just reacting to what others do, is acting according to our conscience shaped by the divine mercy.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

Aligning education with an uneven labor market Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS Continued from A1

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ne positive outcome from the foregoing Edcom report is the rising budgetary allocations for education through the years. However, a complex and confusing outcome is the legislated “trifocalization” of the educational system with the creation of the following agencies—Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda). Despite the foregoing reforms, problems in the basic, tertiary and technicalvocational education have persisted, foremost of which are issues related to the inclusion or exclusion of a large number of the unschooled members of society, the missing educational facilities and equipment/materials in poor urban and rural districts, and questions on the quality and relevance of course offerings in many educational institutions. In particular, the question on whether the educational system is able to 1) empower citizens with the knowledge and skills needed to survive and prosper in the 21st century, and 2) meet the development requirements of a country trying to catch up not only with the West but also with the frontrunners in Asia, such as Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore and Malaysia. Nonetheless, the government, under various administrations, keeps investing on education. Thus, the continuing rise in budgetary allocations for education due to expenditures on free basic education, training vouchers for Tesda-

accredited institutions, free tuition in state universities and colleges, more school buildings and better education facilities and equipment. However, the most significant measure was the institutionalization of the K to 12 Program, which divided the politicians, as well as teachers, parents and students, in 2014-2016. The process was difficult and complex because the proponents had to overcome complex transition challenges, such as the placement/displacement of some faculty at the senior high level and at the lower level of college, as well as orient/ reorient the parents, students and other stakeholders on how the program would be implemented. The main rationale given by the K to 12 proponents is that the reform aligns the country’s educational system with the world’s quality standards for basic education. Accordingly, it enhances the employability of the graduates, as well as their readiness to pursue higher education for those entering college.

Will the K to 12 Program deliver these promises? We shall know the concrete answers from those graduating in 2018 and thereafter. But one thing is clear: matching the K to 12 graduates with the labor market will not be easy and smooth. The high unemployment rates among high-school graduates are likely to persist before they are reduced. Job search for quality jobs is a long process and usually involves a succession of lowquality short-term job stints. For those in a hurry to get jobs, they are likely to end up either in the endo labor market or in the large unprotected informal sector. This brings us to a major challenge for education planners—how to design and develop the curriculum in relation to the requirements of a highly uneven and complex labor market. The senior high program supposedly provides the opportunity for senior high-school students to specialize in one of four tracks: academic, technical-vocational-livelihood, sports or the arts. The question: Is there a demand for those with specialization in the four tracks in the different regions of the country? The four tracks, especially the technical-vocational, may be good in Region 3 and Region 4, which has huge demand for those with skills in auto and electronics parts manufacture, as well as call center/business-process outsourcing (BPO) service work. But in the depressed Caraga region and war-torn Western Mindanao, how should the four tracks be shaped and be made relevant? The reality is that the labor market of a very uneven Philippines has become complex, as admitted by a recent study of the Asian Development Bank. It is made more complex by the overseas labor market and the coexistence of numerous segments of the economy and the labor market. In the past, economic planners simply reduced the development task for the country into a question of how

Pay up first! A real-property tax story Atty. Fermo B. Avila

Tax Law for Business

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N owner of a real property, or a person having interest therein, is liable for the payment of real-property taxes. While being an owner, or being a person having interest, he will receive an assessment from the assessment and treasury office of a city or municipality. He may, however, disagree or question such assessment if he finds that it was unreasonable, incorrect, or illegal. There are two situations when a taxpayer may question a real-property tax assessment: first, the taxpayer questions the reasonableness or correctness of the assessment; or, second, the taxpayer questions the legality or validity of the assessment. In the first situation, the taxpayer must first pay under protest the assessed tax. In the event that the protest is denied, or not acted upon within 60 days from filing, the taxpayer may then file

an appeal with the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA). The LBAA has 120 days from the date of receipt of such appeal to render a decision. When the taxpayer remains unsatisfied with the decision of the LBAA, the taxpayer may elevate the case to the Central Board of Assessment Appeals within 30 days from receipt of the adverse decision. If still aggrieved, the taxpayer may seek judicial intervention before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) En Banc.

As for the second situation, the taxpayer is assailing the authority and power of the assessor to impose the assessment. He may also assail, in such situation, the authority and power of the treasurer to collect the real property tax. Such questions involve questions of law, thus, the taxpayer may appeal directly to the proper regional trial court (RTC) and if unsatisfied, he may raise an appeal from the RTC’s decision to the Division of the CTA. So, if a taxpayer is assailing an assessment because of an exemption granted under a franchise and/or the Local Government Code (LGC), what is the remedy that he must avail himself? In a recent case, CTA EB 1392, promulgated on September 5, 2017, the CTA En Banc held that, if the owner or person having legal interest in a property is claiming exemption from payment of real-property tax allegedly provided under its franchise and Section 234(c) of the LGC of 1991, he must first pay under protest the questioned assessment as required under Section 252(a) of the LGC of 1991. The CTA En Banc held that “the payment of the tax under

to transform an inward-looking (ISI) or protectionist economy into an outwardlooking or export-oriented (EOI) one. The idea is that like the neighboring Asian tigers, such as Japan and South Korea, the Philippines would become a modern industrialized country exporting goods to the world. These countries invested a lot on the education and development of a skilled industrial work force. The problem is that the Philippine ISI-to-EOI transformation did not materialize. Instead, the country has become dependent on overseas Filipino remittances and earnings from the call center/BPO sector, while a large majority of the workers at home have become part of the huge informal sector and an “informalizing” formal labor market. How should education planning then be undertaken, especially at the basic education level? There are no easy answers. But one good practice being done all over the world is close and continuing consultation and coordination between and among government (both national and local), industry, civil society and academic institutions. Given the segmentation of the economy and the labor market at the national and regional/local levels, there is also clear need for such consultation-coordination be pursued on a sectoral and area basis because different regions have their priority development needs, which should be reflected in the educational plans and curricular changes of the regions. In this regard, we can all learn from Panglao, Bohol, a premier tourist destination. Panglao’s hotel and restaurant operators have opened their facilities as workplace classrooms for senior-high students. The point is that the education and human-resource development agenda for every region should be a product of multistakeholder consensus and should have the commitment of all the sectors.

the questioned assessment is mandatory to vest LBAA with jurisdiction to entertain the petition”. It will, therefore, be fatal for a taxpayer to protest a real property tax assessment, through a claim of a tax exemption, if he fails to pay the assessed real-property tax under protest, as such omission will warrant the dismissal of his case. Thus, while the taxpayer may have a valid ground for nonpayment of realproperty taxes, it must still comply with the proper procedures in assailing a real property assessment, otherwise, such assessment will become final and executory.

The author is a junior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global. The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at fermo.avila@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001 local 150.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Thursday, September 14, 2017

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ADB study shows only a third of Filipinos own a dwelling A

By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

newly released study of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed the inequality of land-ownership distribution in the Philippines, with only about a third of Filipinos owning the properties they live in and less than 10 percent having an agricultural land of their own, according to the results. While the focus of the study was on gender differences in the ownership of land and dwelling in the three countries, results showed

there were only marginal gender differences in land and dwelling ownership in the Philippines. “The likelihood of men own-

ing either dwelling or agricultural land is slightly higher than that of women. However, the differences observed from the survey data tend to be marginal,” the ADB told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail. The bank said that, for every 100 adult women in Cavite, there are about three women who reported that they own agricultural land. But for every 100 adult men in Cavite, there are nearly five men who reported they owned agricultural land. The pilot survey was conducted in three countries—the Philippines, Georgia and Mongolia. The city of Cavite represented the Philippines in the study. Data also showed that, among survey respondents who reported that they own agricultural land, 29.6 percent of male agricultural landowners reported that they acquired the land by purchasing it.

For both men and women in Cavite, land is more likely to be inherited while the dwelling is more likely to be purchased.”—ADB

The ADB added that around 31.4 percent of female agricultural landowners reported that they purchased the land. “Given that Cavite is largely urbanized, it is not surprising that survey results show fewer individuals [men or women] own any agricultural land. What is more striking is that only a third of either men or women have

reported as owning the dwelling,” the ADB said. In terms of method of ownership, the ADB noted that owning land and other properties are steeped in culture and tradition. There are even countries that place restrictions on women’s landownership, particularly in terms of inheritance. The Manila-based multilateral agency said, in some societies, it was more common for men to inherit property than women. This makes women more likely to purchase property from the market. However, in Cavite, the ADB found that acquiring property was not linked to the gender of the owner and on norms, but with the type of property. “What is interesting in Cavite is that how a property is acquired by an individual seems to depend more on the type of property than

Fortune Life honors 16 teachers, administrators By Kathryn Jose

@kathryntjose

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ortune Life Insurance Inc. (Fortune Life) on Tuesday honored 16 public-school teachers and administrators in celebration of the seventh year of its advocacy of promoting the value of hard work and discipline. The insurance firm, together with the Department of Education (DepEd) and Marylindbert International, presented three awards for teachers and their supervisors. Through its annual “The Value of Hard Work and Discipline” Awards, Fortune Life conferred the Teacher Award, which grants P25,000, or scholarships to five recipients; the Superintendent Award, which gives P40,000 to another five supervisors or administrators; and the Honorable Mention Award, which gives plaques of recognition to six teachers and school superiors. The Teacher Award winners this year were Aileen Royo-Apostol of Santo Niño SPED Center in Tacloban City; Allan M. de los Reyes of District ALS Center in Minalin, Pampanga; Ma. Regaele A. Olarte of Muntinlupa National High School of Muntinlupa; Vladimir B. Paraiso of F. Benitez Elementary School in Manila; and Ma. Lourdes C. Valondo of Dr. Felipe de Jesus National High School in Bulacan. The Superintendent Award winners were Mina Gracia L. Acosta from division of Bulacan; Dr. Leila P. Areola, CESO VI, from division of Ilocos Norte; Dr. Wilfredo L. Cabral, Ceso V, from division of Manila; and Dr. Roberto Santos Jr., Ceso VI from division of Tarlac. The honorable mention awardees were Dr. Christopher Diaz from division

Fortune Life Insurance Inc. honored 16 public-school teachers and administrators on Tuesday through its “The Value of Hard Work and Discipline” awards held at the Department of Education offices in Pasig City. Gracing the awarding ceremonies were (from left) Benjamin Ramos, Assitant Secretary Frederick M. Alegre of the Department of Tourism, Undersecretary Lorna Dino of the Department of Education, Dr. Wilfredo L. Cabral, awardee from division of Manila; Fortune Life President D. Arnold A.Cabangon, D. Edgard A.Cabangon, Joanna and Cecilia Cabangon and Sharon Tan. of Rizal; Rhina L. Silva from division of Batangas City; and Dr. Leonardo Zapanta, Ceso VI, from division of Pampanga. Also awarded were Dr. Jesus C. Insilada of Alcarde Gustilo Memorial National High School in Iloilo; Rene Rose M. Labasan, PhD, San Juan Elementary School in Nueva Ecija; and Roderick L. Labay of Apnagan Elementary School in Oriental Mindoro. Fortune Life hopes the incentives will further energize and in-

spire teachers and their supervisors in expanding the knowledge and values of students nationwide toward social development. “I believe that what we do is more important than giving books as we build the backbone for profound learning. Passion and integrity are the values we pass on toward the path of social responsibility. We initially aimed to reach 1 million publicschool students thinking that it was a

lofty goal. Seven years after, we have reached 3.5 million students. We have handed out 795 workbooks and 17,700 teaching guides to over 2,000 public schools nationwide. As each year passes we’re helping more teachers and students to be empowered and financially literate,” Fortune Life President D. Arnold A. Cabangon said. With the success of the awards, whose nominees increased to 300 from 3,000 entries this year, the insurance

firm plans to extend the recognitions to private-school teachers and administrators. Fortune Life also aims to distribute workbooks and teaching guides to the private sector next year. “This has been an institutionalized program by Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones, so we’ll continue doing this. Next school year, we’ll include private schools and also give them the workbooks. We want to also recognize the hard work from privateschool teachers who attend the department’s life coach seminar every week,” Marylindbert International Vice President Jonathan G. Pauig said. The additional award for the private sector will also evaluate the application of the lessons offered by the department’s weekly life coach seminars that discuss new trends in teaching and learning, especially K to 12, share teachers’ experiences, education on financial literacy by Fortune Life, and will include personality development and grooming by hairstylist Rene Salud. The lack of funds for teachers and students has subjected some teachers to physical hardship. Roderick Labay, who teaches tribes in Oriental Mindoro, needs to walk 17 kilometers for four to six hours holding a basket filled with onions and canned sardines to share with his students during lunch break. He also built three schools out of bamboo for some groups among his 234 students in the province. “I believe that creativity and resourcefulness are important to be able to teach students. The award is an inspiration to me to teach better, and a reminder that in everything we do, we should strive for excellence,” he said.

₧5.5-T savings seen from energy-efficiency policy Continued from A1

Philippines. The cost of power in the country remains expensive. As such, Gatchalian strongly urged the government “to rethink and overhaul its energy source priorities and look into energy efficiency and conservation” to bring down the cost of electricity. “Experts have been busy finding additional and alternative sources of energy to ensure a stable power supply in the three major islands of our country. What we need to do now is to refocus and seriously look into

energy-efficiency and conservation as a more effective strategy,” he added, as he pressed anew for the establishment of a comprehensive energy efficiency and conservation policy framework to secure viable and affordable power nationwide. Gatchalian said energy efficiency can lead to a total of P1.6 trillion in savings from 2018 to 2030, or an average of P126.4 billion annually, if the Philippines becomes half as energy efficient as Germany, which is among the world’s top energy-efficient countries. On the other hand, savings

can go as high as P5.5 trillion, or P420 billion yearly, if the Philippines fully meets the German efficiency standard. These savings would stem from lower electricity demand under the proposed national energyefficiency and consumption policy—down to 22,589 megawatts (MW), or even 10,836 MW, at 50-percent and 100-percent Germany-like efficiency, respectively. The lawmaker said this would result in actual electricity consumption of as low as 454 kilowatt hours per capita by 2030, less than half of the projected

per-capita consumption mark under existing efficiency standards. Lower power demand would then result in avoided additional generation capacity, estimated at 5,771 MW from 2018 to 2030 in the 50-percent German energyefficiency scenario, and 17,524 MW at 100 percent. Aside from electricity cost savings, Gatchalian said energy efficiency would also result in reduced dependency on foreign coal, avoiding as much as 290.2 million metric tons of imports over the 12-year period. This would result in average annual savings of $392

million to $1.3 billion between 2018 to 2030 at the 50-percent and 100-percent efficiency standard, respectively. Gatchalian acknowledged that the government needs to shell out funding for the development and utilization of energy-efficient technologies and structures. Assuming that the average cost of energy efficiency in the Philippines is similar to the United States, Gatchalian said the total cost from 2018 to 2030 will reach P419.9 billion at a 50-percent efficient scenario, or P1.39 trillion to be as efficient as Germany.

on the sex of the owner. For both men and women in Cavite, land is more likely to be inherited while the dwelling is more likely to be purchased,” the ADB said. There were only 1,536 households surveyed in the Philippines. A maximum of three adults 18 years old or above were interviewed in each sampled household. The total respondents interv iewed were 3,456 in Cav ite. Around 46.4 percent were male and 53.6 percent were female. The majority, or 67.7 percent, of the respondents were married, while some 11.5 percent were widowed and separated, and 20.8 percent were never married. Nearly half, or 46.4 percent, completed secondary education; 36.4 percent completed tertiary level or higher; and 17.2 percent finished primary education or lower.

P1.2T worth of projects Ok’d since June 2016

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he Duterte administration has already approved over a trillion peso worth of projects since assuming office, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a statement, the Neda said since he assumed office in June 2016, the President has approved a total of P1.2 trillion worth of projects, excluding the cost for the Tawi-Tawi bridges. In the last Neda Board meeting on Tuesday evening alone, the President approved P386.248 billion worth of new infrastructure projects. “The approval and eventual completion of these projects will pave the way for us to achieve our mid-term and longterm goals as a country and a nation,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said. On Tuesday the largest project approved by the Neda Board was the P355.588-billion Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP). The MMSP will run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to FTI in Taguig and terminate at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City. It will be financed through official development assistance from Japan and will begin construction early next year. “The MMSP’s first phase will significantly improve Metro Manila’s transportation system, air quality and productivity, thereby reducing the P2.4-billion economic loss the country incurs daily due to heavy traffic,” Pernia said. Also approved were the P21.19-billion Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project; P5.97-billion Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantaleon Bridges Construction Project; and P3.5-billion Lower Agno River Irrigation System Improvement Project. The Neda Board also approved the Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility of the Department of Finance. The project will directly support the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation in accelerating the approval process and ensure timely, high-quality project procurement. The Neda Board also approved the changes to previously approved projects, such as the Philippine National RailwaySouth Line and the increase in cost of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit. Also OKd were the implementation of a build-transfer scheme for the construction of the Clark Intetrnational Airport expansion and the extension of the loan validity for the Road Improvement and Institutional Development Project of the DPWH to December 30, 2019.

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