Businessmirror september 16, 2016

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Friday, September 16, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 342

FOREIGN CHAMBERS SAY COURT SHOULD CONSIDER WIDER PUBLIC INTEREST

JFC hits CA decision on Globe-PLDT deal

F

INSIDE

By Catherine N. Pillas

@c_pillas29

oreign businessmen in the Philippines on Thursday said they would like the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to continue its review of the PLDT-Globe deal on the acquisition of San Miguel Corp.’s telecommunication assets.

Continued on A2

Eight things I learned from a successful Ford scholar

It is unfortunate that the CA decision talks only of the rights of PLDT and Globe and their falling stock prices.” —JFC

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Duterte OKs ₧171-B projects in his first Neda Board meeting

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

he Duterte administration made good use of its first National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board meeting on Thursday, approving some P171.14 billion worth of infrastructure projects and revising rules to speed up the approval process.

The amount covered nine projects, with the bulk of the cost going to the P74.6-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) upgrade, a public-private partnership (PPP) project of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Manila International Airport Authority.

“Once implemented and completed, these approved projects will help attain our medium- and long-term development goals of making the agricultural sector competitive; improving mobility by making our transport system safer and more efficient; increasing disaster resiliency; and improving health services,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

The list of projects also includes the P37.8-billion Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit-Edsa of the DOTr; the P23.5-billion See “Projects,” A2

Motoring

E1

Velodyne LiDAR gears up for the autonomous revolution

STATE WORKERS CAN NOW ‘TXTMED’ Vincent Patrick Guerrero (from left), general manager of Ritemed; Liduvino S. Geron, senior vice

Motoring

E2

president and Branch Banking Sector head of Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank); Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, Smart and Voyager Innovations; Cecilia C. Borromeo, executive vice president and officer in charge of Landbank; Clinton Campos Hess, president and CEO of United Laboratories Inc. (Unilab); Orlando B. Vea, president and CEO of Voyager Innovations; Jose Maria Ochave, senior vice president of Unilab; and Lito Villanueva, managing director of FINTQ and Voyager Innovations, celebrate the signing of a new partnership that will enable over 700,000 eligible government employees to order and purchase quality and affordable medicines through mobile phones without any outright payment. Dubbed as Tamang Alaga TXTMed, the program expands the coverage of pioneering and award-winning Landbank’s Mobile Loan Saver through the platform of FINTQ, the financial technology unit of PLDT’s digital arm Voyager Innovations. Stephanie Tumampos

Duterte’s tilt toward China upsets US strategy in Asia

CX-3 unveiled

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Motoring

E2-e3

ust when some of China’s neighbors were seeking to curtail its expansionism, along came President Duterte.

In less than three months on the job, the 71-year-old Philippine leader has used expletives in talking about US President Barack Obama and vowed to end cooperation with the US military in both fighting terrorism and patrolling the disputed South China Sea. He’s moved to boost economic

PESO exchange rates n US 47.5430

and defense ties with China and Russia.

While Mr. Duterte is unpredictable —one day calling China “generous” and the next threatening a “bloody” war if Beijing attacked —his behavior has undermined US efforts to rally nations from Japan to Vietnam to Australia to stand up to China’s military assertiveness.

In doing so, he risks shifting from the 1951 Philippine-US

BAJA: “Let’s not be naïve about this, there’s no other country that will benefit from our differences with the US and our other allies but China.”

See “Duterte,” A2

n japan 0.4643 n UK 62.9327 n HK 6.1285 n CHINA 7.1174 n singapore 34.8735 n australia 35.4956 n EU 53.4906 n SAUDI arabia 12.6795

Source: BSP (15 September 2016 )

News BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, September 16, 2016

JFC hits CA decision on Globe-PLDT deal Continued from A1

In a statement, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) voiced its concern over the Court of Appeals (CA) decision to grant PLDT’s petition to stop PCC from reviewing the deal.

“It is unfortunate that the CA decision talks only of the rights of PLDT and Globe and their falling stock prices, but misses how the transaction affects the wider public interest,” the JFC said.

Foreign businessmen belonging to the JFC said that, since the announcement of the mega-deal, they have raised the possibility of its “anti-competitiveness.”

With the CA’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction to PLDT, “the hope for any new players has been frustrated, if not completely shattered.”

JFC echoed the previous findings of PCC, which showed that the P70-billion deal “potentially forecloses the entry of a new player and eliminates competition in the industry.”

“Given these preliminary findings, the JFC believes that a review by the PCC of the acquisition is necessary in order to ensure that the market remains open for new entrants, whether direct competitors of PLDT and Globe, or niche players,“ the JFC said.

“We are asking for the PCC to be allowed to exercise its legal mandate and

Projects. . .

Continued from A1

Metro Manila Flood Management Project, Phase I of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH); and the P10.2-billion Inclusive Partnership for Agricultural Competitiveness of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The other approved projects are the P8-billion Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the PCG Phase II of the DOTr and Philippine Coast Guard; P4.8-billion Increase in Passen-

ensure that this business deal does not foreclose competition,” it added.

The JFC made the statement after the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said it would appeal the appellate court’s decision to halt the PCC’s review.

On behalf of the PCC, the OSG appealed a CA order that, government lawyers said, favored telecommunication companies (telcos).

The OSG has filed a motion for reconsideration before the CA, countering the court’s order to side with the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and halt the PCC’s review of the P70-billion telco-acquisition deal.

According to documents, the OSG found the CA “seriously erred” in granting the preliminary injunction to PLDT on August 30, on the grounds that the telco does not have “a clear legal right requiring protection by an injunctive relief.”

“The petitioner does not have a clear legal right requiring protection by an injunctive relief, considering that it failed to prove any vested right or any clear and unmistakable legal right to a ‘deemed approved’ status of the acquisition,” according to the documents. The OSG underscored the PCC’s mandate to review all competition-related cases, contrary to the CA’s finding in August that its review is “in violation of petitioner’s supposed right to be accorded ‘safe harbor’

or protection from challenger.”

Moreover, according to documents, the CA was found to have, “likewise, erred in not balancing the paramount public interest represented by the respondent as against the mere private interest of petitioner.”

The OSG is appealing for the CA to reverse and set aside its earlier resolution backing PLDT’s plea to halt the review and lift the writ of preliminary injunction.

The CA, on August 30, granted the petition of PLDT for a preliminary injunction against the PCC’s review of the joint acquisition by PLDT and Globe Telecom Inc. of telco assets held by conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

The CA previously thumbed down Globe Telecom’s petition. According to the Philippine Internet Society (PIS), the injunction issued by the appellate court is “against public interest.”

PIS Chairman Winthrop Yu said it was “unfortunate” that the Court of Appeals has ordered the competition council to temporarily stop “conducting further proceedings for the preacquisition review and/or investigation of the subject acquisition.”

“We feel the injunction is unfortunate, as it stops the commission from carrying out its duties as clearly and specifically mandated under the law. Thus, this delay is not in the public interest,” Yu told

the BusinessMirror.

Foundation for Media Alternatives, a nonprofit group seeking to democratize information and communication systems for citizens and communities, shared this view.

“The foundation and many civilsociety organizations and independent observers believe that the PCC assessment of the transaction serves the public interest, and is against any move to prevent this assessment from happening,” the group said in a news statement.

A day before the appellate court issued the order, the competition regulator issued a preliminary statement of concerns on the transaction, claiming the P70-billion deal might have a negative impact on the telco industry as a whole.

For one, the Mergers and Acquisitions Office (MAO) of the competition commission said the transaction “will weaken any potential competitors to PLDT and Globe, such that they will impose less competitive constraints than they would have done in the counterfactual.”

“The MAO has considered whether the transaction will result in either or both PLDT and Globe having substantial advantages, such that it will not be possible for other operators to match and effectively compete with the incumbent firms,” the document dated August 25 read.

ger Terminal Building Area of the Bicol International Airport of the DOTr and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap); and the Department of Health’s P2.4-billion Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center Modernization and P2.2-billion Modernization of Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital projects.

The Neda Board, with President Duterte presiding, also approved the cost increase of the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project to P7.8 billion from P7.4 billion. The project will be

undertaken by the DOTr and Caap.

Apart from the projects, the Neda Board also lowered the economic hurdle rate in approving big-ticket infrastructure project to 10 percent from the initial 15 percent.

The Neda Board also raised the interagency Investment Coordination Committee’s (ICC) project cost floor to P5 billion from the initial P1 billion to declog the pipeline of projects.

The Neda’s top policy-making body also downsized the membership of the Neda Board to only 11 agencies and the ICC to only six agencies.

The 11 agencies that are part of the Neda Board are the President, Secretaries of the Neda, Department of Finance, DTI, DPWH, DBM, DOTr, DOE, Executive Secretary, Chairperson of Minda, and deputy governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The Neda Board Executive Committee, which will be composed of the President, the Secretaries of Neda, DOF, DBM, and the Executive Secretary, was reactivated. As for the ICC, the members now include the secretaries of the DOF, the Neda, DBM, DOE, the Executive Secretary and governor of BSP.

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Duterte. . .

Continued from A1

defense treaty, which has been a bedrock of American influence in the region. While Mr. Duterte has said he’ll respect the alliance, he’s repeatedly stressed the need for an “independent foreign policy” and questioned America’s willingness to intervene if China were to seize territory in the South China Sea.

‘Game changer’

“This could be the game changer for the South China Sea situation in general and Sino-US regional competition specifically,” said Zhang Baohui, director of the Center for Asian Pacific Studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. “Duterte’s foreign policy may dramatically shift the geostrategic picture of the region, leaving China in an advantageous position versus the United States.”

One of the biggest benefits for China is the potential for a deal over the South China Sea. Just weeks after President Duterte took office in late June, an international arbitration panel ruled that China’s claims to most of the waterway had no legal basis—a win for the Philippines in a case brought by Mr. Duterte’s predecessor.

While the President has said he’ll respect the ruling, he’s signaled he’s open to talks with China, the country’s biggest trading partner, and he did not push for the ruling to be mentioned in the communique last week from a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Laos. Before taking office, he said he’d consider setting aside territorial disagreements to get a Chinese-built railway.

Joint effort

In July Mr. Duterte sent former President Fidel V. Ramos to Hong Kong to explore common ground with China. Ramos later called for a bigger role for the Philippines under China’s plan to link ports and other trading hubs throughout Asia to Europe.

Chinese Foreign Ministr y Spokesman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday that China is aware of reports on President Duterte’s comments regarding military cooperation, but had no specifics. She said that China “will work with the Philippines to promote and renew normal exchanges and cooperation in different fields.”

“Let’s not be naive about this, there’s no other country that will benefit from our differences with the US and our other allies but China,” said Lauro Baja, a former foreign affairs undersecretary who served as the Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations under ex-President Gloria MacapagalArroyo. “Whether we like it or not, we’re sending the wrong message to the US, China and our other allies with these actions and pronouncements.”

China claims sovereignty over all features that lie within a nine-dash line drawn on a 1940s map enclosing more than 80 percent of the South China Sea. It says that gives it the right to interdict military ships close to its territory—a position the US opposes.

Fu Ying, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s top lawmaking body, this month framed US-China tensions in the South China Sea as a fight over the freedom of navigation for naval warships and other noncommercial vessels within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones of coastal states. “The Chinese want the South China Sea to become a Chinese strait, with control of the maritime space and the air space above it,” said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. “That is the long-term game, and flipping Duterte over to Beijing’s side is part of the play.”

China’s land reclamation and military buildup in the waters has in recent years pushed some neighbors closer to the US. The Obama administration has boosted military cooperation with nations, such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore and Japan.

‘Very bad scenario’

Still, at the summit last week in Laos, a spat with Obama over Duterte’s war on drugs and the thousands of deaths it has caused overshadowed any criticism of China.

“That’s a very bad scenario,” said Hideki Makihara, a senior lawmaker in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, referring to a potential Philippine strategic alignment with China. In that case, “at least we need Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries surrounding the South China Sea in our group,” he said in an interview this week in Tokyo.

For now, US officials are emphasizing the benefits of defense ties with the Philippines. “We’ve got a wide range of shared concerns and shared interests, and the United States and the Philippines have been able to work effectively together in a variety of areas to advance our mutual interests,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on September 12.

Backlash risk

A shift toward China may be difficult for President Duterte to sustain. If China refuses to make any tangible concessions on the South China Sea, particularly over fishing resources at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Mr. Duterte may face a domestic backlash, according to Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant political science professor at De La Salle University in Manila.

“This is precisely why security relations with the United States will remain indispensable for the Philippines,” he wrote in an article last week for the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. Still, the US can no longer expect the same level of strategic deference and diplomatic support. “This is the new normal in Philippine-US relations.” Bloomberg News

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Friday, September 16, 2016 A3

DOTr, DICT list options to ease traffic woes

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

he Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Thursday said transferring government agencies to provinces and introducing telecommuting would help ease urbantraffic woes in the country.

During the hearing on the bills granting President Duterte emergency powers, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and Information Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima said these plans may be included as provisions under the proposed special powers for the President.

“Actually, I have a program transferring my agency to other area, like Clark [in Pampanga].

Other government offices should also consider the same. This is a big help to address congestion in Metro,” Tugade said, when asked by PDP-Laban Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of Negros Occidental, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development.

Tugade also agreed to Benitez’s suggestion to include the plan of allowing the President to select and identify government offices that may be transferred out of Metro Manila to decongest the capital as a provision in the emergency powers bill.

He added the government may also consider transferring factories to provinces.

“There are several factories in [the National Capital Region]. We should ask them to move out and give them incentives. When they move out they will enjoy certain incentives,” Tugade said.

Benitez, author of the prop o s e d A d m i n i s t r at i v e C api tal City Planning Act of 2016, said the government shall create the Administrative Capital City Planning Commission to lead the development of a comprehensive plan to relocate the government agencies and establish an administrative capital city outside Metro Manila.

“There is a need to rethink and develop a master plan that will

decongest Metro Manila. [The] relocation of capitals had already been done by several countries.

Malaysia, for instance, built a new administrative capital to ease decongestion in Kuala Lumpur. Brazil relocated its capital to a more central location closer to other regions, and carved a new city out of wilderness in the Brazilian Highlands. South Korea is also in the process of transferring most of its government offices to a new administrative capital called Sejong City,” the lawmaker said.

“Overpopulation, traffic congestion and high vulnerability to natural disasters have made Metropolitan Manila or the National Capital Region a pariah among world cities,” he added.

Benitez, citing Philippine Statistics Authority data, said Metro Manila is home to 11.9 million people, making it one of the world’s most densely populated cities.

Salalima, for his part, said t he gover nment shou ld t a ke advantage of Internet through telecommuting.

“Let us interconnect all departments or agencies of the government. A ll of them are traveling because they want to talk people in other side of town.

We are here trying to transport physical objects, people and cars over physical roads, which are narrow,” he said.

Salalima added telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees do not commute or travel by bus or car to a central place of work.

“A time and a motion study is necessary on how to transport objects over narrow roads, second, we travel because we want to communicate people, so the answer to that

Female executives

The officers and members of Filipina CEO Circle (FCC) posed for a photograph during a news conference held at a hotel in Taguig City. The group of 43 female CEOs in the country is a young organization with members from across a broad range of industries, such as business-process outsourcing, financial institutions, health, airlines, real estate, information technology, automotive and advertising, among others. ROY DOMINGO

Relocation of capitals had already been done by several countries. Malaysia, for instance, built a new administrative capital to ease decongestion in Kuala Lumpur. Brazil relocated its capital to a more central location, closer to other regions and carved a new city out of wilderness in the Brazilian Highlands. South Korea is also in the process of transferring most of its government offices to a new administrative capital called Sejong City.”—Benitez is telecommuting,” Salalima added.

The DICT, he said, is also mandated to coordinate with the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education to include a curriculum where the government can introduce information and communications technology. “ T here’s now a technolog y [called] virtual university or offsite learning. Perhaps, for certain days in a week, instead [of] students physically commuting from

their homes to these schools, they can meet their instructors via telecommunicating,” he said.

“Let’s not underemphasize the use of current technology, we are now in the Internet era,” Salalima added.

Chaotic

Tugade described the current traffic situation in Metro Manila as chaotic.

“The country’s traffic situa-

Govt eyes new tack to develop Manila Bay region

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

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he National Economic and Dev e l o p m e nt A u t h o r it y ( N e d a ) said it will lead the crafting of a P250 -million comprehensive maste r pl a n , wh ic h wou ld det a i l ne w strategies for developing the Manila Bay region.

Neda Deputy Director General for Investment Programming Rolando G. Tungpalan told the BusinessMirror that the agency is currently in discussions with the Dutch government for a bilateral cooperation.

Tungpalan said the Netherlands has already sent a scoping mission for the project and is exploring a possible engagement with the private sector for the master plan.

“We have not finalized the instrument that would allow the Dutch to provide that assistance but they may bring in some private sector to help us,” Tungpalan said. “[There is a need to] prepare the master plan for the Manila Bay area so that before you allow individual reclamations, its good to have a masterplan. W hat do you want Manila Bay to look like in, let’s say, 40 years from now? W here would you allow reclamation? W here do you put the storm surge protection? W here do you ensure that there is sanctuary of the migratory birds?” he added.

₧250M

The cost of crafting a new master plan for the Manila Bay area Tungpalan said the creation of a comprehensive master plan will coordinate national and local government efforts in developing the Manila Bay area. It will take into consideration economic, ecologic and social development in the Manila Bay region.

D o c u m e nt s o b t a i n e d f r o m t h e Neda showed that the project, to be titled Manila Bay Development Master Plan, will be undertaken between 2017 and 2019.

The crafting of the master plan will be spearheaded by Neda, in coordination with over five agencies, including the Philippine Reclamation Authority, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The Neda will also coordinate with the Department of Transportation and the Philippine Ports Authority.

“Inspite of all the substantial demand from the bay, as well as the stress from pollutants, there is no single entity or organization that is accountable for the management of the area,” Neda

documents read.

“With this many stakeholders, the development within the Bay has haphazardly been undertaken and the protection mechanisms piecemeal, thereby missing economic opportunities and, worse, endangering the quality of the Bay and ecosystem,” it added.

Once the master plan is completed, Tungpalan said the government can move inland and plan for the development of areas surrounding Manila Bay, such as the Port of Manila.

In many countries abroad, Tungpalan said ports have been turned into tourist and commercial attractions.

He said this will be good for cities in the Manila Bay region because this can increase the tax collection of local government units.

“We said in the Infracom [Infrastructure Committee], we can no longer deal with specific projects.

We have to have master plans or road maps that take on a more long-term strategic direction,” Tungpalan said.

The Manila Bay serves as the catchment basin of major rivers in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Bataan, Laguna and Cavite.

In 2014 the Department of Tourism pushed for the crafting of a “tourism master plan” for the Manila Bay region, while the private sector wanted a comprehensive master pl a n t hat would spur economic development in the area.

tion is not a state of the mind, it is a state of chaos that we have to address. We can journey together and address this crisis and stop it once and for all,” Tugade said.

Emergency powers, he said, will solve the traffic problem in the country, adding that, through the emergency powers, the next administration may be allowed to open pr ivate subdiv isions to commuters and will provide P resident D uter te opt ion to

forego public biddings to speed up construction.

He added bidders’ legal actions have delayed the implementation of government projects.

The procurement law provides that a ll gover nment projects should be subjected to a public bidding to ensure that the government gets the most affordable and quality products and services.

However, t he l aw a lso a llows direct contracting and negotiated contracting in “highly exceptional cases.”

Tugade, likewise, reassured the public that the special powers would only given to Mr. Duterte for a limited period of time.

Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez said Congress will not give a blanket definition of emergency powers for President Duterte.

“We need to identify carefully what will be the projects under the emergency powers, but we assure you we will not allow blanket definition of emergency powers,” he said.

‘Ghost month’ spooks investors

By Bianca Cuaresma

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@BcuaresmaBM

he reluctance of foreign investors to invest during the so-called ghost month reflected on the lower shortterm investments made by foreign players in August, the central bank reported on Thursday.

Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs), however, remained on positive territory amid the ghost-month scare, hitting a net inflow of $427.07 million in August this year.

While this posted a turnaround from the $542.54-million net outflows in the same month last year, it showed a steep decline against the previous month’s net inflow of $1.1 billion—the highest monthly inflow posted since February 2015.

FPIs are more popularly known as hot or speculative money because they come in as easily as they are pulled out of the local platforms on the slightest change of global and local sentiment.

The low August outturn happened on the confluence of both a lower total inf low of $1.76 billion combined with a higher total outf low at $1.33 billion during the month against the previous month.

The central bank blamed the decline in the total inflow to investors’ prudence to invest during ghost month, while the increase in total outflow was blamed on profit taking, disappointing first-half

corporate earnings reports and investor reaction to the possible interest-rate hike in the United States, which may take effect as early as September 2016.

The weaker, but still positive, development pushed the FPI net inflows in the first eight months of the year to $1.97 billion, stronger than the $211.81-million net outflows seen in the same January-to-August period last year.

This is the fourth consecutive time the FPIs in the countr y registered a monthly net inflow, showing the country’s favorable standing in the investing community despite global volatility and internal changes since the start of the new administration.

About 82.8 percent of investments registered in August were in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities.

They were mainly pertaining to holding firms; property companies; banks; food, beverage and tobacco firms; and telecommunication companies.

Meanwhile, the 17.2-percent balance was in peso government securities and in other peso debt instruments and peso time deposits.

The United Kingdom, Singapore, the United States, Lu xembourg and Belgium were the top 5 investor countries for the month, with combined share of 78.5 percent.

The United States continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 84.2 percent of the total.

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AP explains: Lifting of sanctions to boost Myanmar’s transition

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.S. economic-trade sanctions on the once-isolated Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar are being eased to support the country’s transition toward democracy and a market economy.

President Barack Obama announced the plan to lift remaining sanctions and restore trade benefits after meeting at the White House with Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner who is now Myanmar’s foreign minister and the country’s de facto leader. Here is a look at some details and implications of the plan to lift most sanctions:

What sanctions are being lifted

The US eased broad sanctions since Myanmar began political reforms five years ago, but kept in place targeted restrictions on military-owned companies and officials and associates of the former ruling junta. The White House also notified Congress it will reinstate trade benefits to Myanmar that the US provides to least developed countries. They were suspended in 1989, a year after the bloody crackdown on democracy protesters by the military.

How lifting sanctions helps

U.S. companies and banks have remained leery of involvement in one of Asia’s last untapped markets.

By ending most of the remaining sanctions Obama has cleared the way for them to invest and trade more freely with Myanmar’s fastgrowing economy, and for companies there to do business with the US. The restoration of Generalized System of Preferences trade privileges, such as lower import tariffs, will open the way for more exports from Myanmar of garments and textiles, core products of its nascent manufacturing sector.

What will happen

For two decades, US presidents have renewed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” with respect to Myanmar annually. Obama must issue a new executive order to end the emergency. US officials said 111 Myanmar individuals and companies will be dropped from a Treasury blacklist and restrictions will be lifted on new investment with military and on imports of rubies and jade.

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Obama vows to lift Myanmar sanctions during Suu Kyi visit

arms embargo,” said Herve Lemahieu, a research fellow specializing on Myanmar at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.

Suu Kyi will probably not go that far and instead signal that she would “tolerate further sanctions relief but make removing the last vestiges of the US sanctions regime conditional,” he said.

The US still maintains a blacklist of people and companies, including two of the nation’s largest conglomerates, which invest in everything from mining to banking, but are controlled by the military. It also bans arms sales to Myanmar and the import of jade and gemstones from the country. US entities investing more that $500,000 in Myanmar must file paperwork every year on issues from human rights to anticorruption measures. The US should wait to lift sanctions until Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party has had time to carry out more government and institutional reforms, said Yan Myo Thein, a Yangon-based political analyst.

“Our political and economic institutions are not ready if the US totally lifts the sanctions,” he said, noting the NLD still didn’t have a plan in place for legitimizing the country’s so-called cronies who benefited under military rule and still have a big influence on the economy.

Remaining restrictions

Penalties meant to block the drug trade and bar military trade with North Korea via Myanmar would still apply. A visa ban will still bar some former and current members of the military from traveling to the US.

Concerns

Human-rights groups favor keeping sanctions due to military abuses in ethnic minority regions. A top concern is for Rohingya Muslims, who remain displaced by sectarian violence and are denied citizenship. The military elite, US-sanctioned drug lords and crony companies have huge stakes in the economy, especially in the jade trade, which is worth nearly half Myanmar’s economic output.

What’s at stake

For ordinary Burmese, better job opportunities, thanks to increasing investment and trade with the US, and access to more, better-quality imported products. For the US, wider access to a resource-rich economy of 54 million people whose annual growth is estimated to average over 8 percent for the rest of this decade.

Removing barriers to trade and investment also will give US business more leverage vis à vis China, which has been Myanmar’s chief source of foreign investment for years. AP

Singapore high-rise office rents decline by 7% as demand slows ingapore landlords are paying the penalty for a slowing economy. Alone among the world’s major cities, the cost of renting an office with panoramic views is falling as supply outstrips demand.

Annual rents on the upper floors of Singapore’s skyscrapers fell 7 percent to about $775 a square meter in the first six months, according to a 23-city index compiled by Knight Frank Llp. The biggest increase was in Shanghai, where rents climbed 7.6 percent to $774. In Hong Kong, the most expensive market, rents rose by 5.9 percent to $2,996 a square meter, the broker said.

“There’s a classic imbalance in the Singapore market,” said Will Beardmore-Gray, head of Knight Frank’s tenant representation and agency business. “They had relatively high supply and this has been exacerbated by a poor-performing economy and over development.”

Vacancy rates in Singapore were 9 percent in the second quarter, compared with 3.3 percent in Shanghai, Knight Frank data show.

The city-state’s economy will shrink 0.1 percent in the third quarter, according to a survey of 26 economists conducted by Bloomberg News in the week through September 13.

Demand for Shanghai office space has been lifted by the technology and creative industries, Beardmore-Gray said. The city has created 300,000 jobs in those sectors since 2009 and is expected to add 100,000 more by 2020, he said.

Manhattan skyscraper rents increased 1.9 percent to $1,701 per square meter during the first half, the second highest in the index, while those in Tokyo and the City of London district were unchanged at $1,610 and $1,226 respectively.

Editor: Max V. de Leon • Friday, September 16, 2016 A5

$775

The average rent per square meter on the upper floors of Singapore’s skyscrapers in the first six months

Singapore home sales fell in August as developers marketed fewer projects in a month considered inauspicious by Chinese homebuyers. Developers sold 473 units last month, compared with 1,091 in July, according to data released on Thursday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. That’s the lowest sales since February.

The seventh month of the lunar calendar year, known as the Hungry Ghost Month, is a time homebuyers avoid property purchases.

Singapore’sgovernmenthasbeen steadfast in its commitment to cool the housing market, maintaining real-estate tightening measures rolled out since 2009 even as the city-state’s home prices dropped for an 11th quarter. An index tracking private residential prices fell 0.4 percent in the three months ended June 30 from the previous quarter, capping the longest series of quarterly losses since 1975 when prices were first published, according to data from the URA in July.

Among developers that marketed new projects was Wingcrown Investment Pte’s The Crest, which sold 11 of the 128 units offered, the data showed. KingsFord Property Development Pte. sold 18 of 100 units marketed at its Kingsford Waterbay project. Bloomberg News

Human rights In this November 14, 2014, file photo, US President Barack Obama (right) walks out with Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi at her home before the start of their joint news conference in Yangon, Myanmar. Suu Kyi’s latest visit to Washington signals her transformation from long-imprisoned heroine of Myanmar’s democracy struggle to a national leader focused on economic growth. Obama will discuss rolling back more of the sanctions that were applied when the nation was under military rule, and Suu Kyi will be courting the American business community at a dinner where tables go for as much as $25,000. AP

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resident Barack Obama said he would lift economic sanctions on Myanmar after meeting at the White House on Wednesday with the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political dissident whose government took power in March.

“The United States is now prepared to lift sanctions that we have imposed on Burma for quite some time. It’s the right thing to do,” Obama said after the meeting, calling the country’s ongoing transition to democracy a “good news story.”

US companies have been watching closely for any sign they’ll get more access to the fast-growing Southeast Asian nation, known as Burma before its former military rulers changed the name to Myanmar in 1989. Business groups in the US have complained that sanctions hinder them from competing with major rivals in an economy that the Asian Development Bank projects will expand 8.4 percent this year and 8.3 percent in 2017, making Myanmar Asia’s best performer.

“We are very interested in successful businesses” entering Burma, Suu Kyi said after the White House

70%

The percentage of Myanmar’s economy that is offlimits to American companies

meeting. “We think our country is ready to take off.”

She said that US sanctions helped drive the country’s military junta to surrender power, but that the time had come to lift them.

Off-limits economy

BY some estimates, as much as 70 percent of Myanmar’s economy is off-limits to American companies

despite some easing of sanctions, according to Alexander Feldman, president and CEO of the US-Asean Business Council in Washington.

“The president just removed the biggest challenge specific to American companies in Myanmar,” he said, noting that US businesses would now be able to “compete on a level playing field with competitors from Europe, Asia and elsewhere.”

The US first imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar in 1990 in an attempt to weaken the then-military regime and their associated business cronies. As the generals loosened their grip in recent years, the US did likewise.

Most recently after Suu Kyi’s government took power in March, Obama’s administration allowed American businesses to have dealings with seven formerly blacklisted state-owned enterprises, use the country’s main port, and work with state-owned banks.

There was speculation that Suu Kyi might want some US sanctions to remain in place until Myanmar’s military releases its remaining hold on the country’s government. Myanmar’s constitution still gives the military control over several key ministries and a quarter of parliament, and prohibits Suu Kyi from serving as president.

“The White House is likely prepared to make a strong statement by waiving most remaining US sanctions with the exception of the

Rights groups have also urged the US to maintain the remaining sanctions, saying they are still needed to make sure more reforms are carried out and those in place become entrenched.

“President Obama should be laying out a series of human-rights benchmarks that will sustain momentum to eliminate unjust laws and ensure that the Burma Army fundamentally changes the way it operates, and only lift sanctions as those benchmarks are met,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.

The US is working to help Myanmar grow its economy through increased aid, promoting a healthy environment for trade and investment and taking steps to relax sanctions, Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national-security adviser, told reporters last week at a briefing in Laos.

“It’s something that we continue to look at, because the purpose of the sanctions regime was to support a democratic transition, and some of the sanctions even were tied to the treatment of Suu Kyi specifically,” Rhodes said.

The issue of sanctions are a tricky one for Suu Kyi, whose party was elected in a landslide and is now going to be expected to deliver results, said Zeya Thu, a Yangon-based political analyst. Sanctions could hamper those efforts, he said.

“She is in a dilemma,” he said.

“Sanctions have a serious negative impact on the country no matter how targeted or smart they are. On the other hand, she might think of sanctions as a bargaining chip over powerful interests. She has to decide what will be her legacy.” Bloomberg News

Ringgit falls for third day as Malaysia outlook falters with oil

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alaysia’s ringgit headed for its biggest three-day decline since May, as a faltering recovery in crude prices dimmed the outlook for the oil-exporting nation’s finances.

Brent has lost more than 7 percent since reaching a two-month high in August, amid concern that an oversupply of the commodity will extend into next year. The energy industry contributes to one-fifth of Malaysia’s GDP and the rout in oil markets has hit exports and government

coffers, forcing Prime Minister Najib Razak to lower the country’s economic growth forecast for two years in a row. The ringgit retreated 0.6 percent to 4.1335 per dollar as of 8:56 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur, prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg show.

It reached 4.1390, the lowest since June 27, and has lost 2.1 percent in three days.

“A combination of weaker oil, riskoff sentiment in markets and recent weaker-than-expected economic data out of Malaysia all combined to

push the ringgit weaker again today,” said Khoon Goh, the head of regional research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore.

Malaysia’s exports unexpectedly shrank in July, while industrial production growth missed forecasts, official data showed this month.

Brent climbed 0.5 percent to $47.33 per barrel on Wednesday, a day after slumping 2.5 percent.

Malaysia derived some 22 percent of revenue from oil-related sources in 2015 and the government’s budget

to be tabled in parliament on October 21 may provide a glimpse of the impact of lower oil on government finances next year.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index was set to decline for a fourth day, its longest losing streak since a similar period ended June 14. Indonesia’s rupiah fell 0.4 percent, the Philippine peso dropped 0.3 percent and Taiwan’s dollar lost 0.2 percent. South Korea’s markets are shut through Friday for local holidays. Bloomberg News

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Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant Bloomberg News

Thousands work at Japan nuke plants that sell no power

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ore than 6,000 workers cycle through the world’s biggest nuclear plant every day to operate and maintain a facility that hasn’t sold a kilowatt of electricity in more than four years.

The buzz at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) Holdings Inc.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant plays out daily across Japan, where utilities employ thousands of workers and spend billions of dollars awaiting the green light to restart commercial operations.

With only three of the country’s 42 operable reactors running, they’re betting a national government committed to nuclear power will win over local officials and a wary public who don’t believe enough has been done to guarantee safety since the worst meltdown since Chernobyl.

“Even though operating expenses of nongenerating reactors remain high, utilities would prefer to keep them open while there is any chance they can restart,” said James Taverner, a Tokyo-based analyst at IHS Markit Ltd. “Utilities have already committed significant expenditure for plants to meet new safety standards, and decommissioning costs are considerable.”

T he n i ne big gest reg iona l utilities spent more than ¥1.5 trillion ($14.6 billion) on their nuclear plants during the year to March, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the latest earnings reports. Over that same period, those plants accounted for just 1.1 percent of the nation’s electricity.

Nuclear-related costs accounted for 9 percent of all operating expenses at the utilities in the previous fiscal year, according to the calculations. That includes

$14.6B

The amount spent by nine biggest regional utilities on their nuclear plants in operating expenses to meet new safety standards and decommissioning costs from January to March

personnel and maintenance, as well as waste disposal and contributions to the nation’s nucleardamage compensation system.

The burden of paying for nuclear facilities producing little electricity has been softened by price declines in recent years for coal, natural gas and oil, which are also used as fuels for power generation.

Tepco sees itself swinging to a net loss as fossil-fuel prices recover, m a k i ng t he rest a r t of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa key to profitability, Naomi Hirose, the company’s president, said in an interview earlier this year.

Emergency drills

Costs for operating the country’s nuclear facilities were slightly higher before the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, at about ¥1.7 trillion a year, when atomic energy accounted for nearly 30 percent of Japan’s electricity mix.

Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, estimates that restarting one

of the newest reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa—known as KK—would boost net income by as much as ¥10 billion a month.

The plant, the world ’s biggest with generating capacity of about 8.2 gigawatts, has seven reactors at a facility spread across more than 1,000 acres and located about 217 kilometers northwest of Tokyo in the prefecture of Niigata.

Workers clad in jumpsuits and loaded down with manuals convene daily in a mock-up of the reactor control room, preparing for the restart of the plant under new safety guidelines imposed after the Fukushima meltdown.

“Every day, this room is full of workers, from fresh employees to old veterans, sharpening their skills,” Noboyuki Suzuki, a deputy manager in the company’s humanresources development group, said at the KK plant last month. “Operators at this facility are required to go through training here on a regular schedule.”

About three-fourths of the Tepco employees and contract workers at the plant are from the prefecture housing the facility, making it one of the area’s biggest economic drivers.

The reactor is an economic windfall for the region, employing thousands of local workers and supporting restaurants, shops and even taxi companies, according to Kariwa village official Masayoshi Oota. “If the reactor were to disappear, then so would the economic benefit,” he said.

Japan’s nuclear energy industry employs more than 80,000 engineers, construction workers and operators, according to a report published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last year.

To boost confidence in its facilit y’s safet y, Tok yo-based Tepco has spent ¥470 billion on f lood barriers, a 15-meter seawall and a reservoir the size of 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools

to supply water in the event a reactor pump fails.

KK’s restart is far from assured. The plant was forced to shut for 21 months following an earthquake in July 2007. Though some units eventually restarted, all were shuttered again after the March 2011 Fukushima accident for safety checks.

There is skepticism among the Japanese public. The restart of nuclear reactors is opposed by 53 percent of Japanese and supported by just 30 percent, according to a nationwide poll conducted earlier this year by the Mainichi newspaper.

Local courts and governments have been some of the biggest roadblocks to restarting more reactors, crimping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s goal of deriving as much as 22 percent of the nation’s energy needs from nuclear by 2030. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its price target on six Japanese power utilities this month on risk of delays in restarting operations or renewed shutdowns.

“W hile some reactors have been restarted, the method to shut them down again are evolving,” Goldman analyst Hiroyuki Sakaida wrote in a report dated September 14. “We think it will be difficult to fully price in nuclear restarts and restored dividends until fundamental solutions are found to resolve the economic uncertainty surrounding nuclear power operations.”

Should the plant clear the necessary regulatory, legal and political hurdles and resume operations, Tepco plans to maintain the facility’s work force at current levels, a reflection of how many workers are needed even during a period called cold-shutdown.

“Right now we are focused on the nation’s regulatory review of the plant,” said Chikashi Shitara, facility chief at KK. “Even though the plant isn’t running, there is still a lot we must do.” Bloomberg News

Li Ka-Shing returns to HK housing after 4-year absence

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illionaire Li Ka-Shing is getting back into Hong Kong’s housing market, with his property unit buying its first plot of residential land in four years. Li’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. will pay HK$1.95 billion ($251 million) for the New Territories site, the Hong Kong Lands Department said in a statement on Wednesday. Designated for private residential purposes, the site has a maximum gross floor area of 22,676 square meters.

The purchase is a welcome boost for Hong Kong’s housing market, where large developers have been reluctant to make high bids on land after home prices fell and sales slowed earlier this year, making way for smaller local companies and mainland Chinese firms.

Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., Hong Kong’s largest developer, last month outbid 10 other companies with a HK$2.4-billion offer for a site in the same Sha Tin area, its first residential land acquisition since June 2015.

There have been signs of a property rebound in Hong Kong, where prices have fallen from their all-time high in September. After slumping as much 13 percent between September and March, home prices have risen in recent months and transaction volumes rose in August to the highest in 14 months. Prices are still more than 6 percent below last year’s peak, according to Centaline Property Agency Ltd. Cheung Kong Property shares rose 1.9 percent to HK$56.60 at 10:49 a.m. in Hong Kong. The

shares have advanced 12 percent this year, roughly in line with the Hang Seng Properties Index.

Li, Hong Kong’s richest man, was until recently one of the biggest players in Hong Kong’s property market, buying 37 percent of the land sold by the government in 2011, and a further 6 percent the following year. Since then, he’s been largely absent.

Cheung Kong Property said as recently as last month that it wasn’t easy to buy land at “reasonable costs,” amid increasing competition from new entrants, especially in Hong Kong.

Eighty-eight-year-old Li, who has spent billions of dollars in investments in European telecom assets since 2010, in an interview earlier this year, said Hong Kong is going through its toughest times

in two decades amid a widening wealth gap. On the property side, he has often alluded to rising land costs in Hong Kong and China. Last year, in a media briefing, Li said in Cantonese that the cost of “flour,” or land, now exceeds the price of the “bread,” or apartments.

Li’s fellow octogenarian billionaire Lui Che-Woo earlier this month said he’s having trouble reading the city’s property market these days.

“Recently land prices have surged so much,” said Lui, who has spent more than 50 years as a property developer. “I really don’t know what’s happening right now.”

Other bidders on the New Territories plot included Wheelock Properties Ltd., Vanke Property (Overseas) Ltd. and Sun Hung Kai Properties, the Lands Department said. Bloomberg News

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Powell calls Trump a ‘national disgrace’

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Activists in Syria’s besieged Aleppo protest against the United Nations for its alleged failure to lift the siege off their rebel-held area on September 13. Dozens of protesters marched in al-Shaar neighborhood heading toward the Castello road, the area from which aid is expected to be delivered. “Hunger better than humiliation,” one banner read. “X the UN,” another read. Modar Shekho via AP

UN building momentum for humanitarian aid in Syria

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STANBUL—As a cease-fire in Syria entered its third day, authorities said on Wednesday the government was to begin withdrawing forces from a strategic road in the besieged rebel-held area of Aleppo, a move that would open the way for United Nations (UN) relief shipments.

Syrian forces, with Russian air support, closed the road in July, thereby, completing the encirclement of rebel districts with a population of as many as 300,000.

A withdrawal south of Castello Road was to begin on Thursday morning, according to Russian state news agency Tass. Rebel forces reportedly were to retreat simultaneously to positions north of the road. But it remained unclear whether residents of the city would accept the sacks of flour and food baskets the UN hopes to deliver. For the last three days, officials have said residents want freedom, not food.

“The people inside Aleppo don’t want that aid,” Brita Haji Hasan, head of Aleppo City Local Council, said in an interview. “What’s human about putting me in a cage and giving food to me?”

If Syrian government forces withdraw from the road, he said, the aid could be accepted, provided other conditions were met. Those include putting the road under full civilian administration, having the UN monitor compliance and opening it to normal commerce and civilian traffic.

The conditions may be unattainable, for they are tantamount to lifting the siege.

UN officials are hoping that the

300K The population of the rebelheld area in Aleppo

withdrawal of Syrian forces from the road will be enough to generate the momentum needed to start the flow of aid and, in time, open other forms of commerce with the city.

“This is a Band-Aid,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a phone interview from Geneva. “We need a complete lifting of sieges, in Aleppo and everywhere.” For now, however, “the siege remains. There will be no free movement.”

If the cease-fire holds for a full seven days and if food and medical supplies begin flowing to Aleppo and other government-besieged cities and towns, the US and Russia have agreed to set up a joint coordination center to exchange intelligence, as both countries stage air strikes against Islamic State (IS) extremists in Syria.

The move is highly controversial in Washington, where the major security agencies have all expressed

reservations about collaboration with Russia.

The cease-fire began at sundown on Monday, to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha and has largely held, with no reports of civilian deaths in the first 48 hours.

Russia and moderate rebel forces exchanged charges of violations, but they have been relatively minor in nature compared to the onslaught that preceded them.

Meanwhile, Pentagon lawyers and strategists were hammering out details about how American and Russian military forces will go about jointly targeting terrorist groups in Syria should the ceasefire agreement hold.

“We’ve got ways to go to see whether it will be implemented, but if it is, it will mean that the suffering of the Syrian people is eased,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday while traveling in Austin, Texas. “It will mean that Russia gets on the right side of things in Syria, not on the wrong side and that’s good news.”

The first step calls for Carter to sign a “national security waiver” along with Secretary of State John F. Kerry. The government order would set aside conditions

by Congress that prohibit militaryto-military conversations between Russia and the United States.

The freeze in talks began after Russia’s annexation of Crimea more than two years ago and its continued involvement in the Ukrainian civil war.

The US military is expected to reserve information on IS extremists so it can continue targeting them from the air in northern and eastern Syria. But the Pentagon will share targeting information related to the Front for the Conquest of Syria, formerly known as the Nusra Front, which the US considers al-Qaeda’s branch in northwestern Syria.

The US hope is that by sharing targeting information on the front, it will sharpen Russia’s focus on the militants rather than the US-backed rebel forces opposing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has said that US allies work alongside the al-Qaeda-linked militants and are, therefore, indistinguishable amid the mosaic of militias on the ground in Syria.

The Pentagon has yet to figure out how it will share sensitive intelligence and targeting information with Moscow.

“There is a trust deficit,” said Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US Central Command, which oversees all military operations in the Middle East, during an event in Washington. “It’s not clear what their objectives are.”

Military lawyers are determining what the legal liability is for the US if, after the collaboration begins, Russia continues to use unguided, or “dumb,” bombs to indiscriminately hit civilian targets on the so-called no-strike list, which include schools, hospitals and other critical Syrian infrastructure.

Pentagon officials are also concerned about having to expand the number of drone flights in Syria, or redirect them from Islamic Stateheld areas, to help meet the new demands for increased surveillance over spots where the al-Qaedalinked militants are operating and are often intertwined with rebels supported by the US. “As the terms of reference are finalized, we will take the guidance, review it and build an operational plan that executes the mission precisely while minimizing risk to the coalition team and civilians on the ground,” said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of air forces for US Central Command, in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday. TNS

Australia’s unemployment rate declines A

ustralia’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest in almost three years in August, as fewer people sought work, while the economy unexpectedly shed jobs. Employment dropped 3,900 from July; economists forecast 15,000 gain.

Jobless rate declined to 5.6 percent from 5.7 percent; economists forecast 5.7 percent.

Full-time jobs rose by 11,500; part-time employment fell by 15,400. Participation rate, a measure of labor force as a share of population, declined to 64.7 percent, from 64.9 percent; economists predicted 64.9 percent. The drop in unemployment is a gift for a government struggling to assert its authority in a parliament

where it holds a razor-thin majority; yet, the rise in people leaving the labor force suggests a level of discouragement that points to plenty of slack. The central bank has eased policy twice since May, as it tries to boost inflation and tame an elevated local dollar; the picture is further clouded by the hiring of 38,000 people for a population count.

The “fall in employment in August is probably even worse than it looks, as employment last month was boosted by people being temporarily employed to conduct the census,” said Paul Dales, chief Australia and New Zealand economist at Capital Economics Ltd. “Even so, the forward-looking business surveys

are consistent with employment continuing to grow.”

Still, monthly hours worked decreased by 3.9 million in August and the underemployment rate climbed to 8.7 percent. The participation rate in Thursday’s data was the weakest since May last year, helping reduce unemployment to the lowest level since September 2013.

The local dollar edged lower as the market digested the data, trading at 74.60 US cents at 12:25 p.m. in Sydney, from 74.76 cents before its release. Australia’s economy has been showing resilience against a difficult global backdrop, with industries, like construction, tourism and education, helping soak up unemployed

miners as a resource boom is three-quarters wound down. Still, a rebounding local dollar—up about 9 percent since mid-January—risks the competitiveness of currency-sensitive service industries and could mute a record-low 1.5-percent cash rate.

In its rate statement t his month, when the Reserve Bank of Australia held after cutting in August, it said: “recent data suggest that overall growth is continuing, despite a very large decline in business investment, helped by growth in other areas of domestic demand and exports. Labor-market indicators continue to be somewhat mixed, but suggest continued expansion in employment in the near term.” Bloomberg News

A SH I NGT ON — I n a trove of newly leaked emails, former Secretary of State Colin Powell calls Donald Trump “a national disgrace” and suggests his own Republican Party is “crashing and burning.”

Powell also laments Hillary Clinton’s attempt to equate her use of private e-mail at the State Department with his.

The e-mails, posted on the web site DCLeaks.com and first reported by Buzzfeed News late on Tuesday, offer insight into the unvarnished opinions of the respected retired Army general who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush. The messages run from March 2015 through last month.

Powell, 79, did not respond on Wednesday to a phone message or e-mail seeking comment. He earlier told BuzzFeed that he does not deny the e-mails’ authenticity.

In the e-mails, Powell said he stayed relatively quiet during the rise of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

“To go on and call him an idiot just emboldens him,” Powell said.

To a former aide he writes, “No need to debate it with you now, but Trump is a national disgrace and an international pariah.”

He also criticized Trump for backing the false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

“All his lies and nonsense just pile up,” Powell wrote. “I just go back to the unforgivable one.

Trying to destroy the President elected by the American people with his fictitious investigation

into this source of birth. Absolutely disgraceful.” Trump, in a Twitter post late on Wednesday, said, “I was never a fan of Colin Powell after his weak understanding of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq = disaster. We can do much better!”

Powell, a Republican, also suggests frustration with the state of the nation’s politics.

“We all need to start voting for America and not our parties,” Powell writes. “Trump is taking on water. He doesn’t have a GOP philosophy or even a Conservative philosophy. We need a revolution and it will begin with the GOP crashing and burning up its current form.”

DCLea ks.com has been a lleged to be an outlet for hackers tied to the Russian intelligence groups. The web site, which says it intends to expose the misuse of political power, has previously released e-mails from other Washington political figures.

The release of Powell’s e-mails is the latest in a string of leaks that appear intended to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating how thousands of Democratic National Committee e-mails were hacked and released, an embarrassing breach that Clinton’s campaign maintains was committed by Russia to benefit Trump.

Powell’s leaked messages include his thoughts on Clinton’s lingering e-mail woes. He criticized Clinton aides for tying him into the controversy over the Democratic nominee’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. AP

Trump has 5-point lead in Ohio poll

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onald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 5 percentage points in a Bloomberg Politics poll of Ohio, a gap that underscores the Democrat’s challenges in critical Rust Belt states after one of the roughest stretches of her campaign.

The Republican nominee leads Clinton 48 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in a two-way contest and 44 percent to 39 percent when third-party candidates are included.

The poll was taken on Friday through Monday, as Clinton faced backlash for saying half of Trump supporters were a “basket of deplorables” and amid renewed concerns about her health, after a video showed her stumbling as she left a September 11 ceremony, with what her campaign later said was a bout of pneumonia.

Trump’s performance in the poll—including strength among men, independents and union households—is better than in other recent surveys of the state.

It deals a blow to Clinton after she enjoyed polling advantages nationally and in most battleground states in August before the race tightened in September, as more Republican voters unified around Trump.

“I’m tired of career politicians being in office and nothing’s ever changed,” said Darren Roberts, 45, a facilities maintenance and homeimprovement retail worker who lives in Columbus and considers himself an independent. “I don’t like all of his policies, but I really don’t like Hillary Clinton’s.”

Tr ump’s strength in Ohio, a state cr itica l to his path to the W hite House, comes even, as seven in 10 say they v iew one of his sig nature campaig n pledges—to build a wa l l a long the southern US border funded

by Mexico—as unrea listic.

The survey shows a strong majority of likely Ohio voters, 57 percent, are skeptical of trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) that was backed by Clinton’s husband when he was president and that Trump has used to his political advantage. One in five say such deals help increase exports and employment, and 23 percent aren’t sure. More than four in 10 Clinton supporters see Nafta as a bad deal, compared to seven in 10 Trump loyalists.

‘Clinton fit to serve as president’

A new letter from Clinton’s doctor, Lisa Bardack, explained the pneumonia diagnosis that prompted the candidate to pause campaigning this week and, otherwise, offered mostly the same i n for m at ion about C l i nton’s health Bardack shared in a letter more than year ago. The new letter says the physician has evaluated Clinton several times since she nearly collapsed on Sunday, after becoming overheated, dehydrated and dizzy during a September 11 memorial event in New York City.

Before the episode, a noncontrast chest CT scan revealed that Clinton, 68, had a small right middle-lobe pneumonia, according to Bardack. Bardack writes that it is a mild, noncontagious form of the bacterial infection. Clinton was prescribed the antibiotic Levaquin and was directed to take it for 10 days. Bardack wrote that Clinton “continues to improve.”

Clinton continues to take medication for an underactive thyroid, as well as the blood-thinning drug Coumadin, the doctor also reported. She also takes allergy medication and vitamin B12.

The doctor shared various results from Clinton’s physical exam suggesting she is otherwise in good health. Bloomberg News/TNS

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US govt inaction hampering econ growth

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ASHINGTON—As the US economy enters its eighth year of its recovery from the Great Recession, one major factor is slowing its growth: Government gridlock.

That finding emerges from a report by Harvard Business School released on Thursday. The report concludes that the tepid pace of the recovery increasingly reflects the inability of President Barack Obama and the Republican-led Congress to reach agreement on programs to bolster US competiveness worldwide.

Prosperity has become more concentrated among fewer Americans, and the nation’s competitive edge is slipping as factors that have helped drive growth in the past are viewed as worsening.

The US political system, tax code, health-care system, public schools, regulation and infrastructure are now all viewed as weaknesses for the economy, according to surveys of Harvard Business School alumni, students and the public compiled in the annual report.

“We have reached the conclusion that the paralysis in the US political system is one of the gravest threats to our economic competitiveness,” said Jan Rivkin, a professor of business administration and coauthor of the report.

The report defines competitiveness as being characteristic of an economy that enables companies to succeed in domestic and international markets, while raising living standards for average people.

42% The percentage of competitiveness in 2015 that declined from 71 percent in 2011

One challenge is that, while average Americans depend on e duc at ion , roadw ay s, pu bl ic transit and health care to thrive, the survey found those parts of

the economy to be weakening.

A greater share of Harvard alumni say the economy is becoming less competitive, reversing improvements documented in prior reports. The proportion who expect declining competitiveness had dropped from 71 percent in 2011 to 42 percent in 2015. That share then rose to 50 percent this year.

There are still many strengths that help fuel US competiveness, including established financial m a rket s a nd m ajor resea rc h universities. But many of those strengths often benefit major companies and clusters of highly skilled workers without necessar ily spreading through the entire economy.

The report found that few Americans have developed opinions about policies to improve economic growth. Fully 46 percent, according to the report, held no opinion about infrastructure

spending, a vital need touted by both Hil lar y Clinton and Dona ld Tr ump on the presidentia l campaig n trail.

Majorities failed to register any opinion on creating a sustainable federal budget, fixing distortions caused by trade, rewriting the corporate tax code or st re a m l i n i ng re g u l at ion s for businesses.

Rivkin said those responses point to the complexity of the issues and the lack of information in the public debate.

The findings dovetail with signs that the election is causing many companies to hold back on spending. Roughly a third of US chief financial officers surveyed said their companies will limit their investment plans unti l after the election and the new president shows how he or she will govern, according to a poll released on Wednesday by Duke University. AP

India’s bustling Mumbai slows for festival to honor Ganesha

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UMBAI, India—Every year Raju Laljibhai Dipikar goes out with his wife and three daughters and chooses an elaborate statue of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god so dear to devout Hindus.

For two days the god “ lives” with the family in their tiny apartment in Mumbai, his presence bringing them joy. And in return for the love the family showers on him, he takes away all their problems, Dipikar said.

So it is for tens of millions of other families across western and southern India, when they mark the birthday of Ganesha.

Beautiful idols of the god are purchased and brought home, where they are worshipped. After a few days—every family has its own tradition—the idols, made from plaster of Paris or clay, are carried to a large body of water and ceremonially immersed.

Nowhere is the festival celebrated with more fervor than in Mumbai. For 10 days every year the pace of India’s bustling business capital slows to welcome the god, known as the one who blesses new beginnings and removes obstacles.

Apart from the small idols installed in people’s homes, massive statues are set up in temporary structures. Flowers, coconuts and incense are offered to the god as is his favorite sweet treat—dumplings called “modaks,” made of a crude sugar and coconut.

The last day of the 10-day celebration is the biggest day, w ith massive crowds singing and dancing, as they carry their idols through the streets, to immerse them in the water, an act that symbolizes sending the god back to his mythical home in the snow-capped mountains taking all the worries and problems of his worshippers with him. AP

M

briefs

China expels journalists from fishing area under siege

BEIJING—China has detained journalists in the fishing village where it suppressed new protests five years after the village received international attention for demonstrations against land seizures.

The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported on Thursday that one of its journalists in Wukan was assaulted by a group of unidentified men during an interview in a villager’s home. The newspaper journalist and two other journalists were taken to a government office where officials accused them of conducting “illegal” reporting.

The newspaper said its journalist was eventually taken to the border with Hong Kong. The BBC also reported that its journalists in Wukan were forced to leave.

Wukan remains under siege after the government arrested 13 people on Tuesday and used rubber bullets on protesters. AP

Boy, 13, fatally shot by police after pulling out BB gun

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The police in Ohio responding to a report of an armed robbery shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who they say pulled a gun from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun. It happened Wednesday night in Columbus.

The police say when officers arrived on the scene, the victim told them that a group of males had approached him and demanded money. One of them reportedly had a gun.

The police say the officers saw three males matching the descriptions of the suspects and tried to speak with them, when two of them ran off. The officers followed them to an alley when police say a suspect pulled a gun from his waistband, and an officer shot him. The suspect, later identified as Tyree King, was taken to a hospital, where he died. AP

German woman killed in Bali boat explosion, about 20 injured

BALI, Indonesia—The police on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali say a German woman was killed and about 20 other people injured in an explosion on a speed boat ferrying them to neighboring Lombok. Karangasem police chief Bambang Sudarso says on Thursday that the Gili Cat 2 fast boat had more than 40 people including crew onboard. He says all the passengers have been evacuated from the boat.

He says the explosion occurred about 200 meters from the port of departure and was preceded by smoke billowing from the engine. Aside from Germany, the passengers were foreign tourists from Australia, Britain, France and South Korea. The police are questioning the boat’s captain. AP

Officials: 6 people killed in Pakistan train accident

MULTAN, Pakistan—At least six passengers were killed and more than 100 others were hurt on Thursday when a passenger train collided with a freight train near the central Pakistan city of Multan, rescuers and a railway officials said.

The pre-dawn accident happened near the town of Sher Khan in Punjab province 15 minutes after the freight train stopped after hitting a man on the track, railway official Saima Bashir said.

Bashir said the freight train had stopped so its driver could remove the body of the man who had been crushed to death while crossing the railway track, The freight train was then hit from behind by the passenger train. AP

Raju Laljibhai Dipikar (center) and a relative carry an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha to take it out of his house for immersion on the second day of Ganesha Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India. AP/Rafiq Maqbool

Millions of Indian workers hold the biggest labor strikes in history

UMBAI, India—Earlier this month, tens of millions of Indian workers staged a one-day general strike that unions billed as the biggest work stoppage in human history.

By the unions’ count, 180 million workers stayed home to demand a slew of changes to labor laws, including establishing a $270 monthly minimum wage for unskilled laborers and ensuring social security for every worker.

The 24-hour strike cost the Indian economy up to $2.7 billion, by one estimate, and affected electricity, mining, telecommunications, banking and insurance operations in several states.

It was the latest salvo in an

A9

escalating battle between India’s leading public-sector trade unions and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which they accuse of pursuing a probusiness agenda, while ignoring workers’ rights.

The unions represent several million workers in a countr y of 1.25 billion people. But the changes they are seeking would have the greatest effect on those who toil in India’s vast informal economy, which by some measures includes 90 percent of the work force. The housekeepers, deliverymen, sidewalk vendors, pushcar t dr ivers, br ick layers and others account for roughly half of what has become the

world ’s fastest-growing major economy. Yet, they lack health benefits, pensions and basic labor protections, including the ability to organize.

And because there is no enforcement of minimum-wage laws at the informal level, these workers struggle the most when prices rise. In Mumbai, India’s financial hub, domestic servants sometimes leave jobs for raises of as little as $15 a month.

A lthough these workers aren’t represented by any union, their struggles have been adopted by public-sector unions seeking to expand their political base and raise pressure on the government. Many informal

workers joined the September 2 strike, which labor experts say showed g row i ng f r u st rat ion among the masses.

“The strike is significant in that it clearly articulated the unfulfilled grievances and the demands of the working class, which have not been given any kind of a patient and concerted hearing by the government,” said K.R. Shyam Sundar, a professor of human resources management at the Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur, India. The battle over labor laws is shaping up as a crucial test of Modi’s efforts to turn the nation into an economic juggernaut. Despite impressive growth statistics, India has struggled to create jobs

for the estimated 600,000 people who enter the work force every month. To boost manufacturing and attract foreign companies, Modi, who took office in 2014, has promised to streamline a burdensome regulatory framework and give employers more flexibility.

Under the slogan of “Make in India,” the government has proposed laws that would make it easier for companies to lay off employees, avoid paying severance and extend working hours.

The government argues that by lifting some restrictions on companies, it will spur job growth and ultimately bring more workers into the formal sector.

Los Angeles Times/TNS

Current WB President Kim only candidate for new term

WASHINGTON—The World Bank said on Wednesday that its current president, Jim Yong Kim, is the only person who has been nominated for the presidency of the 189-nation lending institution.

The bank’s executive board said that nominations have now closed.

It said Kim would be interviewed by the board, with the expectation that a decision will be made before the Washington-based bank’s annual meeting from October 7 to 9.

The Obama administration put Kim’s name into nomination last month. He is widely expected to win a new term given the absence of rival candidates.

Kim was the president of Dartmouth College when he was first picked for the World Bank job in 2012. Since the creation of the World Bank after World War II, the top job has always gone to an American. AP

A10 Friday, September 16, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Reducing our military dependence on US

I

n another attempt to show his seriousness in implementing an independent foreign policy, President Duterte announced his desire for the withdrawal of US military Special Forces operatives and halting joint naval patrols with the United States Navy. This was followed by an announcement from the President that he is considering buying new military equipment from either Russia or China. The President also mentioned that both countries are offering a soft loan for purchasing new equipment that will be payable in 2025.

While such moves were to be expected from Mr. Duterte, taking such bold steps is a paradigm shift and is unprecedented in our diplomatic and security relations with other countries. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States has accounted for 75 percent of arms sales to the Philippines since 1950.

The annual Balikatan provides training to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for interoperability and use of US military equipment. The AFP’s tactical doctrine, selection of equipment and logistical chain has always been geared toward US military and North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards and compatibility with US equipment.

Critics have warned that these bold moves can sever our relationship with the United States and can affect the AFP modernization program, as we might lose our primary source of equipment. But does charting our own course in matters of defense equate to severing ties and will it severely affect our ability to defend our country from external threats?

President Duterte’s decision to pursue other avenues for modernizing and enhancing our external defense capabilities is rooted more in pragmatism than in ideological or political considerations. Despite having a strong US military presence, US military aid and a mutual defense treaty, the AFP remains to be among the weakest in the region.

In contrast to other “more special” allies, the Philippines receives very little. Israel, the biggest ally of the United States in the Middle East, recently reached an agreement where the country will receive $38 billion in military aid in a 10-year agreement. On the other hand, the United States early this year promised the Philippines $120 million for 2016, and an annual $79 million in military aid, which is not even a fourth of what Israel gets each year.

Most US “military aid” comes in the form of training and hand-medown equipment, which the shipping, repairs and upgrades the Philippines has to pay for. Such is the case of the 114 armored personnel carriers in 2015. The shipping costs and refurbishment, which include engine replacement and the installation of remote-controlled weapon systems, were shouldered by the Philippine government.

Any purchase of brand-new equipment from the United States is put on the tab of the Filipino taxpayers, which was the case of the brandnew assault rifles and digital radios the AFP recently acquired.

Since Filipino taxpayers are shouldering the costs of the AFP modernization program, it would be just prudent for the Philippines to choose where it gets its new equipment. Opening the doors to alternative sources allows us to get the best deals for building up our external defense.

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10 things James Jimenez

spox

I

n advance of the resumption of voter registration, here are 10 things you need to know about voter registration: 1. You should register as a new voter only once in your lifetime, and that’s when you are registering, literally, for the first time.

It is a common mistake for people who have changed addresses to want to register as first-time voters in the place they transferred to.

In the past, this practice resulted in multiple registrations, which are, of course, prohibited by law. With the advent of the use of biometrics, however, this problem has been reduced dramatically.

2. If you want to register as a voter in the place where you’ve transferred to, the proper application to file is an application for a transfer of registration, not an application for registration as a new voter. All you have to do is inform the election officer that you are registered to vote in the place where you transferred from, i.e., your original address, and that you now want to vote in the place where you transferred to, i.e., your new address.

3. If you fail to vote in two consec-

utive national elections, your voter registration will be deactivated. Deactivation means that although your name remains on the list of voters, you will not be allowed to vote in the next elections.

4. If your registration has been deactivated, you can have it reactivated by simply filing an application for reactivation.

5. If you are a registered voter but failed to have your biometrics validated by October 31, 2015, you will have been deactivated. This

Voter registration is best accomplished during the early days of the registration period.

The longer you wait to register, the greater the chances of you running into long queues that might discourage you from registering at all. means that your name remains on the list of voters, but that you can’t exercise your right of suffrage; you were thus most likely unable to vote in the 2016 national and local elections.

6. Filing an application for registration does not automatically mean you are a registered voter. All you’ve filed is an application, which must first be evaluated by the Election Registration Board or ERB. 7. The ERB is charged with determining whether the applicant for registration is eligible to vote in the place where he registered. In this task, the ERB is empowered to hear challenges against any applicant’s eligibility. This is one of the most overlooked means of ensuring a clean list: anyone who has reason to believe that an applicant for registration is ineligible to vote in the place where

he is applying to be a voter can actually submit a formal challenge.

8. The most common basis for challenging a person’s eligibility to vote is that the person being challenged is not actually a resident of the place where he filed his application for registration. These are people commonly referred to as hakot, nonresidents pretending to be residents for the purpose of padding the list of voters.

9. Biometrics are currently not required to be verified on election day. However, an application for registration without the corresponding biometrics of the applicant is considered not filed, and therefore cannot be approved by the ERB. Put in another way, without biometrics, a person cannot become a registered voter and therefore, cannot vote.

And 10. Voter registration is best accomplished during the early days of the registration period. The longer you wait to register, the greater the chances of you running into long queues that might discourage you from registering at all.

James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s Education and Information Department.

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Comfort women

Viva la Virgen! Viva el Divino Rostro!

BusinessMirror

Tito Genova Valiente

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

annotations

THE PATRIOT

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urpose vs. goal. A goal is usually short term in that after putting in some time and effort, it is almost always achieved or reached. Earning a college degree, losing weight or having a million pesos in the bank are some examples of goals. Life can be a series of goals put together. Once a person reaches a goal, he gets recognition, if not the immediate satisfaction, of reaching it. A purpose is much higher than any and every goal combined. It is long term, as it requires a considerable amount of energy and time to achieve, sometimes even spanning one’s entire lifetime.

In his book The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day, author John Maxwell said that often a burden starts the process of finding a purpose. In his Law of Navigation, Maxwell said a burden purifies motives, cultivates persistence and cements conviction. Let me share the stories of three “comfort women” who I have encountered at different stages in my life—Charlene Ang, Chollie MisonObillo and Evelyn Paguio-Tuason.

Atty. Charlene was my classmate in Ateneo Law School, Class 1996.

Since I was a working student who rarely got to school on time, at the first class, Charlene made sure that I had all the case digests assigned for the day. She also gave me tips on how to handle recitations based on information from the earlier class. Charlene gave me that level of confidence and “comfort” during recitations, even if and especially when I was not prepared for class.

Soon after we became lawyers, she provided me that listening ear every time I encountered problems in my personal life. Dra. Chollie is a cousin, the eldest in our generation, whose father is the eldest brother of my father Salvador. In most of our family’s medical concerns, she is always the first one consulted. I found “comfort” in her professional medical advice, which was, almost always, to be confined in a hospital for further tests and observation.

Always safe. Always conservative.

Dra. Evelyn is the wife of a college buddy in UP, Dino Tuason. When I was in the Army and stationed in Bataan, the Tuason and Paguio families took care of me in every which way they could. The food and the fellowship they provided me during my R&R periods kept me sane, as I was away from the comforts of home in Manila. Until now and from time to time, Dra. Evelyn sends me “comfort” (sometimes sinful) food, knowing that I love the way she cooks seafood from Bataan.

One thing these three “comfort” women have in common is the fact that they suffered breast cancer at one time in their lives. Having faced the probability of death due to this deadly disease, they have learned to appreciate each moment of life given to them. Time became more

valuable. Relationships became more precious. The burden of having to go through physically draining chemotherapy and the prospect of leaving their loved ones at any time have caused Charlene, Chollie and Evelyn to purify their motives to help others, to cultivate persistence in their battle against cancer, and to cement their conviction of living each day in accordance with their purpose in life.

Someone famous once said that the No. 1 fear of people is having lived a meaningless life. To me, Charlene, Chollie and Evelyn have lived and continue to live a very meaningful life as they continue with their purpose-driven lives of helping other people.

People who have found their purpose accept the good with the bad, as Job in the Bible did when he asked his wife—“Shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity?” Job’s faith and purpose was severely tried and tested but he never wavered, as he was faithfully conscious that God was present during these times of trials and hardships. As Job did, we should all never give up amid all challenges in life, whether personal or professional. John Maxwell uses the stories of Job and Joseph to show how positive results can come from negative situations. In the case of Joseph, he was sold as a slave, endured many years of hardship, before becoming a leader of his people. Joseph was loyal to his faith and to God that he was never worried even when he faced so many adversities in life. In the case of Job, he realized that God allowed some sufferings in stages in our lives for reasons, “some of which to test us, to discipline us, to humble us, to change our perspective, or to prepare us for blessings in the future.”

People do not reach a purpose; they find it. I have met a few persons who have continued to live their lives to the fullest, regardless.

In the case of Atty. Charlene Ang, Dra. Chollie Mison-Obillo and Dra. Evelyn Paguio-Tuason, their bout with cancer may have very well allowed them to find their purpose in life. Instead of giving up, they simply took this opportunity in adversity to give “comfort” to others.

A sign for Syria: US-Russia plan could steer the war to end

T

he United States and Russia have put forward proposals that could begin to bring to an end the horrible slaughter in Syria that has continued for more than five years.

The craftsmen of the proposal were U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They are the same two who led the way in bringing home the agreement between the permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus Germany and Iran, exchanging Iran’s nuclear-weapons program for international economic sanctions against it. The two reached agreement in Geneva.

The first critical piece of the accord is a “cessation of hostilities” that was to begin on Monday at sundown. A second military step will be the establishment on September 19 of a joint US-Russian implementation center. It will begin by coordinating US and Russian military

strikes in Syria against forces of the Islamic State and Jabbat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, Islamist organizations that both nations and the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria oppose.

The devil of these agreements is always in the details, but, in this case, the principal enemy of implementation is the plethora of national and international parties to the conflict, active to different degrees. International parties involved include Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

To begin with, on a positive note, Russia states that the Syrian government is ready to fulfill the measures in the USRussian accord. Its forces, the Russians say, upon whom the Syrian government is dependent to a degree for its military capacity, will end combat missions into specified opposition-occupied areas.

These include at least part of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and a charnel house of recent killing. TNS

O

n the second Friday of this month of September, the image of the Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia, or Our Lady of Peñafrancia, was carried on a globe-like carroza. From the old shrine, the icon was carried by an all-male retinue. No female, by tradition, was allowed to be near the Virgin. The obvious reason is that the procession is rowdy and can get violent.

The devotion to the Lady of Peñafrancia is old, dating back some 300 years ago, when the Shrine was a small hut near the Naga River. It is said the resplendent image attracted the Remondatos, or those who went back to the mountains, people who refused evangelization. During the procession, the Virgin Mother is accompanied by the icon of Jesus Christ in the form of His face, which appeared on the veil of Saint Veronica. The devotion to the Divino Rostro came much later in the early 1900s.

An epidemic of El Tor, or cholera, was spreading from Manila to the Tagalog area, down to what is now Quezon province. It is said the people in Naga prayed for the intercession of the Divine Face. The epidemic, as the memory of the people narrate, did not reach the Bikol area.

To the Virgin, who is fondly called “Ina” by Bikolanos and devotees, is attributed many miracles of healing. It is the practice to borrow the manto, or cape, of Ina and bring it to the person who is sick or afflicted. The cape is then held over the person or placed on the body or under the person’s pillow. It is the duty of the one who

borrows the cape that he gives back to the shrine a new one. As esoteric

Friday, September 16, 2016 A11

as this practice may sound, it is really very easy to borrow one of the Virgin’s manto.

The Virgin of Peñafrancia stays for nine days in the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral for the novena.

On the third Saturday of September, a raucous and very emotional procession takes place again, where the Virgin is carried to a barge that will transport her back to the Shrine in the Basilica by the old Naga River. However hot or dry the month of September in the region, it rains during the nine days.

It rains during the Traslacion, the land procession from her shrine, to the fluvial procession by the river. Old folks say Ina is filling

up the river so she can make possible Her return, with the tradition fulfilled, and the efficacy of the ritual realized.

In 1972, on that Saturday, as the Mother of Kabikolan was being ferried back to her home, the old Colgante, or hanging bridge, collapsed, killing hundreds. When something odd or violent happens during the fiesta takes place, the faithful always says it is an omen of something terrible that will happen.

A week after the Colgante tragedy, martial law was declared by the dictator.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

‘Women are natural entrepreneurs’ and leaders— and other lessons from PLDT’s #BeTheBoss Awards Niña Terol

Women Stepping UP

I

F the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) #BeTheBoss Awards are any indication, then there is clear evidence of women being natural entrepreneurs who can thrive and lead in any endeavor they choose to undertake.

Now on its second year, the PLDT #BeTheBoss Awards recognize young entrepreneurs from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), who, according to the organizers, “are able to harness the power of digital tools and platforms to grow their businesses.” It is organized by PLDT SME Nation, an organization within telco giant PLDT that provides digital solutions to businesses, and seeks to “recognize excellence in tech innovation and digital integration for global competitiveness.”

This year four winners were selected by a panel of industry leaders and by the voting public for four categories: Boss in E-Commerce; Boss in Social Media; Boss in Innovative Solutions; and Boss in Social Responsibility. They stood out from 600 nominees and were part of a public voting process that generated over 24,000 votes. The awarding ceremonies were held on September 9 at the Conrad Manila in Pasay City.

Meet the ‘Bosses’

OF the awards’ four categories, three were dominated by women: Boss in E-Commerce, awarded to Sis. Rachel Alejandro and Barni Alejandro-Rennebeck of The Sexy Chef, the food delivery service that offers a wide variety of healthy meal packages that are as delicious as they are fitness-friendly; Boss in Social Media, awarded to Jill Borja, as well as husband and wife Jaime and Nadine Fanlo of

Pedro Brewcrafters, the craft-beer brand made “fun, approachable and accessible” using cloud-based technology; and Boss in Social Responsibility, awarded to Melanie Go and Hindy Weber of Holy Carabao, the organicfood brand that offers premium produce to its discerning consumers while taking care of farmer communities.

The lone male winner, Boss in Innovative Solutions, Matthew Cua of Skyeye Inc., was proud to acknowledge that his company is now comprised of “more than 50 percent female—from administration to engineering to field work.” Skyeye creates its own unmanned air vehicles (“UAVs”, also known as “drones”) to help communities, people and organizations make better decisions by taking aerial images topped with metadata.

What makes women entrepreneurs stand out

This year’s awards seem to say a lot about a feminine brand of leadership that is critical to entrepreneurial success.

Pedro Brewcrafters’s Borja says, “There’s a study that says women are natural entrepreneurs because of their attention to detail and their ability to multitask. It’s very easy for us to look at the little things, and that’s what matters to being an entrepreneur…. Being able to multitask is a natural trait of women, as well.

It allows you to expand your ability

to do things and to complete things, and I think that’s the benefit of having women as entrepreneurs in your company.”

Borja’s business partner, Nadine, adds, “In terms of PR and markering, there’s something [about a woman’s touch and about] being personable…and getting the pulse of the market and tapping into people’s emotions that comes from a very sincere place.” These Bosses for Social Media attest that “it’s a mix of these elements” that have helped them communicate better with their community.

For Holy Carabao’s Weber and Go, it’s their crystal-clear vision and their uncompromising stance— driven by their “nurturing nature” as women—that have allowed Holy Carabao to thrive.

Weber explains, “It’s our nurturing aspect that ensures that everything we give our children, our families, our brands, are always helpful, whole, real and nurturing…. [We’re also] always trying to keep it real, always keeping the ‘why’ [of the business] in our minds and hearts.”

According to both Weber and Go, there had been many times when their business approach was “challenged.” “ There’s temptation all the time—[with] your product line and and your bottom line. It usually involves money. But we started [with being] really concerned about what we wanted to provide our families, so we’d always go back to that. What you choose to eat grows into what you choose to consume, and then… it becomes [a part] of your life,” Weber emphasizes.

The men also attest to women’s drive and ability to get things done.

Skyeye’s Matthew Cua shares, “Whenever I review candidates for hiring, I hide the names. I look at the metrics of how they write, how they reply, and [the women candidates come out] better. It’s a fact of life that people who apply to us who are good are female. And usually on the field, women are the

best. I fear for their safety, as well, when they’re out on the field, but they’re overly aggressive in getting the job done.”

From the perspective of PLDT’s Vice President and Head for PLDT SME Nation Mitch Locsin, “Women learn digital technology quicker than men [do]. What makes women natural entrepreneurs and leaders is that they love to multitask; their brain [has] a lot of boxes that allow them to think and consume and do things at the same time. When they create their own business case, I think they’re more open and adaptive in terms of what they call “digital disruptive technologies” or solutions. They’re not [as conservative as] men, who [opt for] traditional brick-and-mortar [businesses].

Women are more risk-takers and they adapt quickly.” nnn

Taken all together, the emerging image we have of the modern Filipina entrepreneur is this: a natural leader, detail-oriented, multitasking, good at communications, visionary and uncompromising, nurturing, aggressive, driven, risktaking, agile and adaptive.

When provided with the right kind of infrastructure and support, and connected with the right kinds of networks and experts, she will not only do well for herself, her family and her organization; she will also have what it takes to uplift her community. Together, women entrepreneurs and leaders have what it takes to uplift an entire nation.

What the rest of us must do, then, is to all step up together to make this possibility a tangible reality all over the country.

Niña Terol heads corporate affairs for McCann

Worldgroup Philippines, the leading multinational marketing communications firm in the Philippines.

Terol is a member of Business and Professional Women Makati, a nonprofit organization aligned with the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles. Disclaimer: None of the organizations mentioned in this piece have an existing business relationship with McCann Worldgroup Philippines.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12

Friday, September 16, 2016

July remittances fall as deployment drops C

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

ash sent home by Filipino migrant workers in July posted the largest monthly decline since November last year, due largely to a slump in the deployment of skilled Filipino workers, pushing the total growth of remittances in the first seven months of the year below the government’s “prudent” projections.

Remittances coursed through banks that entered the country in July this year saw a 5.4-percent Wdecline—to $2.313 billion from

July 2015’s inflow of $2.25 billion.

This is the slowest monthly growth rate of the country’s cash remittances for 2016, and the third

lowest monthly volume of the year.

This also puts the growth of remittances in the first seven months of the year at 3 percent—at $15.32 billion. The government’s projection is for remittances to grow by 4 percent this year.

Broken down from sources, cash remittances from land-based workers hit $12.1 billion during the first seven months of the year, while sea-based workers reached $3.3 billion during the period.

The central bank, meanwhile, said about 80 percent of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Germany.

Some of the top sources of remittance flows have been undergoing economic stress in recent months— particularly Saudi Arabia’s flailing economy due to volatile oil prices

and the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the European Union, or the so-called Brexit.

As such, preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) cited by the central bank showed the number of deployed land-based workers, or new hires, dropped by 10.3 percent year-on-year to 235,895.

The sea-based deployment took a bigger hit, falling by 44.4 percent to 134,360.

Remittances have supported the local economy’s growth. As such, remittance contractions may put a risk on the country’s overall external balance, the current-account surplus, the currency’s performance and investors’ sentiment.

Personal remittances—or the remittances both in cash and in kind—grew 2.9 percent for the first seven months of 2016 to $16.9 billion.

Global beauties Candidates of the Miss Global beauty pageant do a dance presentation during a news conference. The international pageant, which celebrates a woman’s individuality, is set to crown its new queen at the Philippine International Convention Center. Forty candidates from all over the world are vying for the prestigious title. This is the second time that the Philippines will be hosting the pageant. NONIE REYES

International buyers flock to dive expo PHL

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Special to the BusinessMirror

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IRST-TIME buyers all over the world flocked to the recent Diving & Resort Travel Expo Philippines 2016 (DRT Show Philippines 2016), keen on selling the country as a premier dive spot to their clients.

Held from September 9 to 11 at the Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall in Ortigas Central Business District, DRT Show Philippines 2016 registered first-time buyers from India, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and the Middle East for a series of by-invitation-only business-to-business meetings, according to a news statement from the Department of Tourism (DOT).

There were about 80 international buyers who flocked to the second edition of the DRT Show Philippines, along with a large gathering of diving aficionados, marine conservationists and underwater environmentalists.

DOT Undersecretary for Administration and Special Concerns

Katherine de Castro said the exposure would hopefully increase the country’s meager 1.7-percent market share of the 7.3 million active divers worldwide. A scuba diver herself, de Castro added: “It is time for our marine biodiversity to shine, as the Philippines becomes a preferred diving destination, offering the richest concentration of marine life in the entire planet.”

According to the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi), year-round diving can be done in the Philippines, and identifies major destinations and dive spots such as Yapak, Boracay; Monad Shoal, Malapascua; The Canyons, Puerto Galera; Balicasag Fish Sanctuary, Bohol; Mactan Island, Cebu; Morazan Maru, Coron Bay, Palawan; Apo Island, Dumaguete; and the USS New York, Subic Bay. “The Philippines is a great place to see scorpion fish, emperor fish, barracuda, Moorish idol, flutemouth, tuna, batfish and trevally,” said the PADI Facebook page. “Some of the more unusual creatures spotted also

include pygmy sea horses, parrotfish, lionfish, triggerfish, unicorn fish, trumpet fish, wrasse, mantis shrimp, squid and octopus. Bigger animals also get into the picture with eagle rays, devil rays, manta rays and sharks, including thresher sharks and hammerhead sharks.”

It added: “More than 7,000 tropical islands, clear warm water, vast coral reefs and mind-blowingly beautiful flora and fauna make the Philippines a true scuba diver’s paradise.”

Corazon T. Teo said this year’s edition of DRT Show Philippines “is certainly another feather in the cap of Philippines tourism. It is a solid vote of confidence that should position the country at the heart of

diving in Asia. We must, therefore, own it and put our uniquely Filipino brand to it.”

In a separate statement, Jason Chong, DRT Expo chief executive officer, envisions the Philippines as “a very good market for travel business and resort business in the next few years.” The trade show featured 60 top-level exhibitors and 100 booths from the leading dive equipment manufacturers, water sport equipment manufacturers, dive resorts, national tourism organizations, marine conservation and diving organizations, a Philippine underwater photo competition, and a five-day post familiarization tour for select buyers.

It is a solid vote of confidence that should position the country at the heart of diving in Asia. We must, therefore, own it and put our uniquely Filipino brand to it.”—Teo

www.businessmirror.com.ph

WITNESS SAYS DUTERTE ORDERED KILLINGS WHEN HE WAS DAVAO MAYOR

Former militiaman Edgar Matobato shows the kind of tape they use to wrap up dead bodies, as he testifies before the Philippine Senate on Thursday. AP

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former militiaman testified before the country’s Senate on Thursday that President Duterte, when he was still a city mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead.

Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings and acknowledged he himself carried out about 50 of the abductions and deadly assaults, including a suspected kidnapper who they fed to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao del Sur province.

The Senate committee inquiry was being led by Sen. Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Mr. Duterte’s antidrug campaign that has left more than 3,000 suspected drug users and dealers dead since he assumed the presidency in June. President Duterte has accused de Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that she used to have a driver who took money from detained drug lords. She has denied the allegations.

The killings of the suspected drug dealers have sparked concerns in the Philippines and among United Nations and United States officials, including President Barack Obama, who have urged Mr. Duterte’s administration to stop the killings and ensure his antidrug war complies with human-rights laws and the rule of law.

Duterte has rejected the criticisms, questioning the right of the UN, the US and Obama to raise human-rights issues, when US forces, for example, had massacred Muslims in the country’s south in the early 1900s as part of a pacification campaign.

“Our job was to kill criminals like drug pushers, rapists, snatchers,” Matobato said under oath, adding that some of the targets were not criminals but opponents of President Duterte and one of his sons in Davao City.

The killings he said he has knowledge of happened starting in 1988, when Mr. Duterte first became mayor, to 2013, when he expressed his desire to leave the death squad, prompting his colleagues to implicate him criminally in one killing.

Presidential Spokesman Martin M. Andanar rejected the allegations, saying government investigations into President Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao had already gone nowhere because of a lack of real evidence and witnesses. De Lima and Philippine humanrights officials and advocates have previously said that potential witnesses refused to testify against Mr. Duterte when he was still mayor because they were afraid they would be killed.

There was no immediate reaction from the President, who has denied any role in extrajudicial killings when he was the longtime mayor of Davao and after he assumed the presidency in June.

Matobato said the victims in Davao allegedly ranged from petty criminals to people associated with Duterte’s opponents, including a wealthy businessman from central Cebu province who was killed in 2014 by a gunman in his office in Davao City, allegedly because of a feud with Mr. Duterte’s son over a woman.

Another victim was a suspected foreign terrorist, who Matobato said he strangled then chopped into pieces and buried in a quarry in 2002. Another was a radio commentator, Jun Pala, who was critical of Mr. Duterte and was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen while walking home in 2003.

After a 1993 bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral, Matobato said the then-mayor ordered him and his colleagues to launch attacks on mosques in Davao City. He testified he hurled a grenade at one mosque but there were no casualties because the attacks were carried out when no one was praying.

Some of the victims were shot and dumped on Davao streets or buried in three unmarked graves, he said, adding that some were disposed of in the sea with their stomachs cut open and their bodies tied to concrete blocks so they would not float.

“They were killed like chickens,” said Matobato, who added he backed away from the killings after feeling guilty and entered a government witness-protection program.

He left the protection program when Duterte became president, fearing he would be killed. He said he decided to surface now because “I wanted the people to know so the killings will stop.”

Matobato’s testimony set off a tense exchange between senators allied with President Duterte and those critical of him.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in May’s elections, accused Matobato of being part of a plot to unseat Mr. Duterte.

“I’m testing to see if you were brought here to bring down this government,” Cayetano said.

De Lima eventually declared Cayetano, who was not a member of the committee, “out of order” and ordered Senate security personnel to restrain him.

Another senator, former national police chief Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., warned Matobato that his admissions that he was involved in killings could land him in jail. “You can be jailed with your revelations,” Lacson said. “You have no immunity.” AP