BusinessMirror September 19, 2018

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Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 340

Q4 inflation seen slower amid agri loss, weak peso

By Bianca Cuaresma

I

@BcuaresmaBM

NFLATION is still expected to hit its peak in the third quarter of the year, despite looming pressures on prices, such as the supply-side concerns on agricultural products, worsened by recent typhoon damage, as well as the recent volatility in the foreign-exchange market.

At the Philippine Economic Briefing in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Complex in Manila on Tuesday, Central Bank Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo assured investors and economists that inflation will start decelerating to a more normal level come

fourth quarter of this year.

“I think the economy continues to shape up for the rest of the year, inflation remains manageable, and we expect the peak to happen during this quarter and to start going back to the 2 to 4 percent inflation target for the next two years,” Guinigundo said.

In particular, the BSP official said he expects inflation to slowly go down in the last three months of the year as nonmonetary measures that will be in place will support the decline of the acceleration of consumer prices in the Philippines.

Just last week, the Economic

“I think the economy continues to shape up for the rest of the year, inflation remains manageable and we expect the peak to happen during this quarter and to start going back to the 2 to 4 percent inflation target for the next two years.”—Guinigundo

Development Cluster (EDC) unveiled recommendations of policy reforms to immediately tame inflationary pressures, particularly on key food items.

Among these policy recommendations are: ■ Replicate the issuance of certificates of necessity to allow imports to be distributed in the wet markets in Metro Manila and to the other markets of the country;

For as long as power is held by men Teddy Locsin Jr.

FREE FIRE The New York Permanent Mission’s engagement on the undesirable involvement of men in the United Nations campaign against sexual violence and trafficking has attained an unstoppable momentum. Recently, we met with a young woman advocate for adopting a UN resolution against sexual violence, focusing entirely on it without wasting time on finding and addressing the socioeconomic-political-cultural roots of this peculiarly male proclivity that makes them unfit for most functions of government involving some degree of power over women and women’s concerns—although I did mention that, in Davao when he was mayor, President Duterte did the unthinkable yet commonsensical by opening women’s desks in every police station to handle crimes against or perpetrated by women to avoid sexual exploitation by persons in authority.

On Tuesday the Mission had occasion to intervene from the floor with Roseny Fangco of the New York Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The event was a reception on “Women and Girls First: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies in Asia and the Pacific,” September 4, 2018, the United Nations.

See “Inflation,” A8

Continued on A6

DTI chief shuns price controls

“If we end up with a tax structure that is not competitive, then we will not see quality investments in the minerals sector. That’s a fact. Why would they come here?”—Gerard H. Brimo

@jearcalas

& Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

T

HE country may lose billions of pesos in investments if the government pushes through with a proposed additional royalty fee on mining operations, which the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) described as “punishing” and a “disaster.”

COMP Chairman Gerard H. Brimo said on Tuesday that the present Department of Finance (DOF)-backed mining tax bill pending in Congress is disadvantageous to the local mining sector, as it would make firms “more expensive”compared to other countries.

COMP compared the proposed tax structure on mining with the present fiscal regime implemented

by Chile, Peru, South Africa, Canada and Australia, which are the world’s

top mineral producers.

“That bill [makes] us more expensive than the five very large mining countries.

It is punishing. It is a problem for new projects going forward,” Brimo told reporters in an interview on the sidelines of the first day of the Mining Philippines 2018 Conference on Tuesday.

“If that bill passes, we are not going to see investments in our mineral sector anymore from quality companies.

Investors will not come here if the tax structure is too expensive,” he added.

See “Mining,” A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.2070

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 24 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Sweeping royalty fee on mining will make PHL ops ‘too costly’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

2016 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

T OMPONG’S AFTERMATH Farmers in Roxas town in Isabela, one of the provinces hardest hit by Typhoon Ompong last weekend, rush to harvest their crops after the typhoon ravaged Northern Luzon. A number of houses and public infrastructure, including bridges, were also damaged.

Secretary Ramon M. Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry has thumbed down proposals to impose a price freeze on basic goods, pitching instead supply interventions as shortages are seen to worsen with the considerable damage to a region described as the country’s “cereal” and “salad” bowl. CEASAR M. PERANTE

@alyasjah

HE country’s trade chief on Tuesday shunned government-imposed price ceilings and instead pitched for supply intervention as a way to arrest the rising prices of basic goods.

In an interview with reporters, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said he is far from recommending that President Duterte authorize imposition of price ceilings. Placing a price cap could only worsen the situation, as it could further shrink the supply of basic goods in the market, he argued.

Lopez also stood firm on his policy decision to arrest rising prices through supply intervention.

n JAPAN 0.4847 n UK 71.3418 n HK 6.9105 n CHINA 7.9073 n SINGAPORE 39.5181 n AUSTRALIA 38.9206 n EU 63.3355 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.4540

See “DTI,” A2

Source: BSP (18 September 2018 )

A2 Wednesday, September 19, 2018

News

BusinessMirror

SC bars BIR from collecting ₧3-B tax from Petron, Shell T

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court has thrown out the bid of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to collect around P3 billion in alleged tax liabilities from giant oil companies Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Corp., following the invalidation of their respective tax credit certificates (TCCs).

In a 26-page decision penned by Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, the SC’s First Division upheld the separate decisions issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) which declared Pilipinas Shell and Petron as qualified transferees of TCCs. The Court held that the issues concerning the transferred TCCs’ validity, the oil companies’ qualifications as transferees of said TCCs, and the their valid use of the TCCs to pay for their excise tax liabilities for the years 1998 and 2002 had been finally settled in its decision in the 2007 Shell case and 2010 Petron case. As such, these are barred from being relitigated under the doctrine of “res judicata” in the concept of “conclusiveness of judgment.”

The SC noted, “In the instant petitions, petitioner asserts his right to collect excise tax deficiencies which respondents had previously settled using the transferred TCCs, impugning the TCCs’ validity on account of fraud, as well as

Petitioners had failed to comply with the prescribed procedure for collection of unpaid taxes through summary administrative remedies and, thus, violated respondents’ right to due process.”

—Supreme Court respondents’ qualifications as transferrees of said TCCs.” It added, “However, respondent already raised the same arguments and the Court definitively ruled thereon in its final and executory decisions in the 2007 Shell case and 2010 Petron case.”

The SC also dismissed the petition for BIR’s violation of the respondents’ right to due process for

failing to observe the prescribed procedure for collection of unpaid taxes through summary administrative remedies.

It explained that the Court cannot allow the BIR to collect any excise tax deficiency from the two oil companies by mere issuance of the 1998 and 2002 collection letters.

Due process violated

“PETITIONERS had failed to comply with the prescribed procedure for collection of unpaid taxes through summary administrative remedies and, thus, violated respondents’ right to due process,” it added. Under the Tax Code, the SC said there are two types of remedies to enforce the collection of unpaid taxes—summary administrative remedies such as the distraint and/ or levy of taxpayers’ property; or judicial remedies, such as the filing of a criminal or civil action against erring taxpayer.

It added that in the case of Shell, the collection letters were already followed by the BIR’s issuance of warrants of garnishment and distraint and/or levy against it.

The SC said the BIR proceeded with the collection of the oil companies’ alleged unpaid taxes without a previous valid assessment.

“Absent a previously issued assessment supporting the 1998 and 2002 collection letters, it is clear that petitioner’s attempts to collect through said collection letters, as well as the subsequent warrants of

garnishment and distraint and/or levy are void and ineffectual,” the SC said. “If an invalid assessment bears no valid fruit, with more reason will no such fruit arise if there was no assessment in the first place,” the Court declared.

The BIR has insisted that the August 29, 1989, amendment of the October 5, 1982, memorandum of agreement between the Board of Investments and the then Ministry of Finance, and also of Rule VII of the rules and regulations implementing the Omnibus Code required transferees of TCCs to be not only BOI-registered firms, but also domestic producers of the raw materials and components being supplied.

The BIR insisted that Pilipinas Shell and Petron do not qualify as lawful and valid transferees of the TCCs since the bunker fuel and other fuel products they supplied to its transferors do not constitute either domestic capital equipment or a raw material and/or component of the transferors’ finished products.

The appellate court, however, held the 1989 amendment to the MOA between the BOI and the finance department cannot be validly used in nullifying the TCCs since it was not incorporated into the implementing rules of the Omnibus Investment Code, nor filed with the University of the Philippines Law Center, or published as mandated by the Administrative Code of 1987.

DTI. . .

Continued from A1

Over the weekend, he revealed the government has now required rice retailers, particularly those selling fancy premium rice, to sell regular and well-milled rice.

“In effect, this is a price control: the implementation of the SRP [suggested retail price] system.

Let us call it that way because it is difficult to place a price control.

With that [supply intervention], we are basically saying make it available. That is better than a price control [because], again, it might [further lessen] the availability of rice,” Lopez said in a mix of English and Filipino.

During a Senate deliberation on the proposed 2019 budget of the Department of Trade and Industry, Sen. Francis G. Escudero questioned why calls to impose a price ceiling apparently fell on deaf ears.

Escudero pointed out this might be the best time to put a cap on prices of basic goods, as government economists struggle to temper inflation. He added Lopez might be missing out on one of his key powers as trade chief, which is to recommend to the President the imposition of a price ceiling under the Price Act. Under Section 7 of the Price Act, the President can impose a price ceiling upon the recommendation of an implementing agency or the Price Coordinating Council.

The price ceiling can be utilized if there are widespread acts of illegal price manipulation, or the impendency, existence or effect of any event that causes artificial and unreasonable price hikes on basic goods.

Moreover, the price ceiling can be placed by the Chief Executive whenever the prevailing price of any basic good has risen to unreasonable levels.

“In effect, we will simply implement the SRP that has been out already. Part of effective implementation is to make sure that the items covered by that SRP [are] made available,” Lopez said, in defending his aversion to the idea of putting a price ceiling in place.

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58:$1 projection in ‘19 out of this world–Diokno

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

B

UDGET Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno disputed the Capital Economics’s projection that the peso will further fall to 58 against the dollar next year, branding it as “out of this world.”

Aside from this projection, Londonbased think tank Capital Economics said in its September 14 report that the peso will further weaken to 55 to $1 this year due to concerns on the widening trade deficit.

Diokno said this is unlikely to happen because of the country’s “sound” fundamentals, citing growth in remittances, tourism arrivals and foreign direct investments (FDI).

“I think we have hefty [gross international] reserves [GIR]. We continue to get remittances. Remittances increased by 5 percent this year compared to last year. Tourists are increasing and we have foreign direct investments increasing…I am confident that [peso to dollar exchange rate] won’t reach [the 58 to $1 level],” he told reporters on the sidelines of the forum.

The July 2018 cash remittances were also a recovery from the 4.5-percent decline in remittances in June.

FDI also surged by more than 42 percent to $5.75 billion in the first half, from $4.04 billion a year ago, according to the Central Bank. Despite the continuous drop in the GIR, the BSP said

Mining. . .

Continued from A1

House Bill 7991, introduced by Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing of Nueva Ecija, seeks to impose a uniform 5-percent royalty rate across all mines operating inside and outside mineral reservations. At present, only mines operating inside mineral reservations are slapped with a 5 percent royalty of their gross value output.

The bill also introduced a new revenuesharing scheme between the government and the mining firms.

The government would collect an additional revenue share from the mining firm when the basic government share is less than 50 percent of the mine’s net income.

The additional revenue would be equivalent to the difference between the 50 percent of the mining company’s net income and the government’s basic share.

Bills rushed

A LAWMAKER on Monday expressed optimism that measures on mining taxation will be at the plenary level around next month, with measures on mining taxation forming part of Package 2 plus of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program of the Department of Finance (DOF).

During a House Committee on Ways and Means hearing on Monday, the Suansing bill and another one—HB 422 by former Ways and Means Chairman Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina—were discussed by the committee.

“If there is a committee report this week then maybe in two weeks time it will be in the plenary already. Any legislative agenda of the President should be our priority,” Suansing told financial reporters.

Based on the DOF’s presentation, the department is for a rationalized and a single fiscal regime applicable to all mineral agreements, which promotes fairness and would complement the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

A provision on royalty is proposed at a rate of 5 percent which is seen to be applicable to all metallic and nonmetallic minerals, small and large-scale mines, mineral reservations (MR) and outside mineral reservations (OMR).

For the MRs a 5 percent royalty is proposed, while the rate for OMRs are proposed to be phased in, at 3 percent for the first three years, a 4-percent rate in the fourth year, and a 5-percent rate starting the fifth year.

The introduction of a thin capitalization and ring-fencing was also proposed and amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997.

Revenue projections

THE DOF said estimated revenues, once the 5 percent royalty is imposed on OMRs alone in 2019, would reach around P1.83 billion, P1.94 billion by 2020, P1.86 billion in 2021, P2.50 billion by 2022 and P3.16 billion by 2023.

“The estimates are just for the royalty that is being proposed on nonmineral reservation

the July GIR at $76.89 billion is still an “adequate liquidity buffer.”

Tourist arrivals also hit P3.7 million in the first half of the year, an increase by 10.4 percent compared to the 3.3 million recorded for the same period last year.

Diokno said they will also stick to the current projection of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) that the peso to dollar exchange rate will remain at 50 to 53 until 2022.

“The DBCC [projection], we stick to that in the meantime,” said Diokno, the DBCC chairman.

Capital Economics also attributed the widening trade deficit to imports of capital goods continuing to flood in to support the government’s massive infrastructure program.

Last week the peso plunged to a 13-year low at 54 to $1 level.

The trade deficit for the first seven months of the year was also the highest recorded in history for all the sevenmonth trade deficits, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The country’s trade deficit from January to July jumped to a re cord $22.49 billion due to weak exports.

A trade deficit happens when the total value of country’s imports exceeds its exports.

According to Capital Economics, the peso depreciated by 8 percent year-todate against the US dollar, describing it as “one of the worst-performing Asian currencies” so far this year.

areas. We do not have estimates yet on the additional government share,” DOF Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa S. Habitan told financial reporters.

Low global prices

BRIMO, who is also the chairman and CEO of Nickel Asia Corp., said the proposed mining taxes could worsen the present situation of copper and gold mines which are reeling from low global prices.

“Everybody thinks we are making a lot of money but the reality is that we are not. One [mine] is losing money for the last two years and if you introduce an additional 5 percent royalty to their tax structure then you run the risk of those mine closing down,” he said.

“One of them has a community of about 20,000 people. So, imagine the closure of one of those mines—its impact on the area if that happens,” he added.

Brimo estimates that about 200,000 families are directly and indirectly dependent on the mining industry.

He urged lawmakers and government policy-makers to go slow on their proposal and instead create a technical working group (TWG) that would sit down with the industry to come up with a favorable fiscal regime for the mining sector.

“If we end up with a tax structure that is not competitive, then we will not see quality investments in the minerals sector. That’s a fact.

Why would they come here?” he said.

“We are talking about billions of pesos in lost investments and lost taxes, particularly employment and social development that is critical [to the country],” he added.

Commodity-based scheme

FOR his part, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Wilfredo G. Moncano maintained that they support the proposed additional royalty rate but reiterated that they are more partial to a commodity-based taxation scheme.

“We support the initiative to impose royalties to areas outside the declared mineral reservation but it should be on a mineral commodity basis,” Moncano said in an interview with reporters at the same event.

“Because what is applicable for nickel, for example, is not applicable to other commodities. For gold and copper, 5 percent is too heavy, while for nickel it is low,” Moncano added.

Moncano explained that mining firms’ investments vary depending on the commodity they are producing, hence, a uniform royalty rate would be disadvantageous.

“Nickel mines only pour in small investments but the gold and copper [companies] have a bigger investment as they establish processing plants. That costs hundreds of million,” he said. “And if you impose 5-percent [royalty rate], unilateral, [they will lose]. That’s our position.”

Moncano said the royalty rates to be imposed on copper and gold mines should be lower than what nickel firms are paying.

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Ompong death count rises to 73

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

T

HE death toll from Typhoon Ompong has risen to 73, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP), even as rescuers continue to search for victims of the massive landslide in Barangay Ucab, Itogon, Benguet.

PNP Spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. said the casualty figure was compiled from the various reports of police offices affected by the typhoon in Regions 1, 2 and 3 and in Calabarzon, National Capital Region and in Cordillera Administrative Region.

The PNP also reported 55 missing and 74 injured.

The figure is much higher than the eight deaths and 21 injuries that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported on Monday, which also said that at least 218,492 families, or 893,844 individuals, were affected by Ompong.

Meanwhile, the Army has sent its 525th Engineer Combat Battalion (ECB) and K9 Military Working Dogs (MWD) to Barangay Ucab to help in the ongoing search and rescue operation.

The ECB is composed of six search and rescue retrieval (SRR) teams with heavy equipment and specialized tools. The teams from K9 Search and Rescue (SAR) could detect victims buried under the mud.

Army Spokesman Lt. Col. Louie Villanueva said that based on the report that they got from the ground, at least 39 people were reported to have died at Barangay Ucab, while 65 others are still missing. Some15 individuals also suffered minor injuries.

“There are 337 families who have been evacuated out of the area to reduce exposure to hazards and were given food, water, shelter and also medical care,” Villanueva said.

Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said that they have already retrieved 15 bodies from the site of the landslide as of Monday morning and were still searching for 59 others who are still missing.

Palangdan is confident they could still recover survivors.

“According to rescuers, they believe that there could still some who may be alive that is why they are inspired to continue with the retrieval operations,” he said.

Durana said the PNP and all the rescuers working on site will not stop until the “ last body” has been accounted.

“But we are still hoping against hope that we could recover survivors.

Miracles can still happen,” the PNP spokesman said.

He said the Department of the Interior and Local Government is already looking into the liability of officials in areas where casualties were reported.

Lawmaker resumes hunt for hidden pork funds in 2019 budget proposal

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By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

EN. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. is poised to reveal anew multibillion-peso pork-barrel allocations in the proposed P3.757-trillion 2019 budget bill to bankroll various pet projects of certain lawmakers. This, even as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) assured the public there are no “budget insertions” as asserted by Lacson.

Lacson, in a radio interview on Tuesday, admitted encountering difficulty in pinpointing the funding for congressional pork items tucked in the annual money measure.

“The hidden pork allocations were really difficult to find. We really had to invest time and exert extra effort, not mentioning sleepless nights, in the entire exercise,” the lawmaker said in Filipino.

But Lacson said the latest development involving feuding House members made the task of his staff in tracking down pork-barrel allocations in the budget bill somewhat a bit easier. “…The feud among lower House members, ironically, made the task quite a bit easier of us, especially for my legislative staff,” he quipped.

According to the senator, his staff managed to uncover a whopping P55 billion in pork allocations in the Department Education (DepEd) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr). “This is a good break for us. It is much easier now to undertake the search now,” he said.

Asked how could funding appropriated for DOTr and DepEd projects could be considered pork-barrel items, Lacson recalled that prior to 2013, before the Supreme Court (SC) issued a ruling declaring pork barrel as unconstitutional, the annual budget law set aside P200-million project funding for each senator and P120 million for each congressman for so-called hard and soft projects.

“We refer to that as post-legislation, which means each senator has P200 million, even if the budget, or the GAA is passed,” Lacson said, referring to the Congress-approved General Appropriations Act. The senator further recalled that when the practice was declared unconstitutional by the SC, it ef-

₧3.757T

The total amount of 2019 budget bill

fectively “differentiated pre- and post-legislation” funding.

“The new scheme being implemented now is that before budget deliberations commence, there are some lawmakers who have already earmarked in advance some projects in the National Expenditure Program [NEP] that may even include the presidential budget. The project has been embedded in advance. When congressional deliberations start, they could fine tune and insert more projects of their choice. That, in brief, summarizes the evolution of pork-barrel allocation practice to its current form,” Lacson said.

He noted that the argument now being foisted is that “there is no more pork barrel because pork barrel applies to post legislation, and what they are doing now is pre-legislation,” adding that this is part of their legislative task as members of the House and the Senate to amend the budget bill.

“But what was not emphasized is that the SC ruling [also covered] all informal practices having similarity in effect and form to be considered as pork barrel. So, if a project was identified by a lawmaker and admits it as his, it could also be called pork barrel. It’s clear it could be considered as pork barrel,” he added.

The senator surmised that a heated argument among some House members that nearly ended into a fistfight involving the camps of former Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, on one hand, and the camp identified with current

Karen Empeño’s kin, friends hail guilty verdict on Palparan

M

ASINLOC, Zambales— Family and friends rejoiced here on Monday as a Bulacan court convicted retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito S. Palparan Jr. and two cohorts for the kidnapping and illegal detention of missing University of the Philippines student and Masinloc native Karen Empeño 12 years ago.

Karen’s father, Oscar, said that congratulatory messages poured from relatives and acquaintances by phone, text and social media, expressing happiness and relief over the long-awaited justice that was finally handed down for Karen and fellow UP student Sherlyn Cadapan.

Karen and Sherlyn were forcibly taken away by armed men from a village in Hagonoy, Bulacan, on June 26, 2006, along with farmer Manuel Merino, and have remained missing since.

Palparan, who earned the moniker “The Butcher” for allegedly torturing his victims, was tagged by witnesses as the mastermind of the abduction.

Aside from this, reports compiled by human-rights groups linked Palparan to 71 cases of extrajudicial killings, 14 frustrated killings and five massacres during his stint as

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, September 19, 2018 A3

Army chief in Mindoro alone.

On Monday Judge Alexander Tamayo of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court sentenced Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado Jr. and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio to the highest penalty of reclusion perpetua after finding them guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

Palparan and his coaccused were also ordered to pay the heirs of Karen and Sherlyn the amount of P100,000 as civil indemnity, and P200,000 as moral damages for each of the two cases filed against them.

“We are very happy with the conviction,” Oscar Empeño said in reaction on Monday. “While we never imagined it would take us this long to get justice for Karen, we have won at last.”

Karen’s mother, Concepcion, who was in Bulacan for the promulgation of the sentence, said she was also satisfied with the decision handed down by Judge Tamayo.

“I’m happy that Palparan has been found guilty and it is only right that he should rot in jail,” Concepcion told the BusinessMirror in a text message.

“After the long years that we had

to fight to gain justice, this conviction restored my faith in our judicial system and proved that even ordinary people like us could win against the powerful,” she added.

“But despite this victory we gained, we call on Palparan and the others to surface Karen and Sherlyn.

We will not accept their claim that they had nothing to do with the disappearance of our daughters,” Concepcion also said.

Oscar Jr., who is Karen’s elder brother, also said that despite the guilty sentence handed down by the court, the family felt that the victory they won was not complete.

“Of course, we are jubilant over the verdict, but our fight has not yet ended,” Oscar Jr. said. “We will pursue our call to surface Karen, Sherlyn and other victims of state-sponsored forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.”

“It is not enough for Palparan and his accomplices to be jailed because they have betrayed their sworn duty to protect citizens. Our family will continue looking for Karen and will prepare for the long fight ahead,” he added. Henry Empeño

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on the other, may have exposed the possible P55-billion pork insertion.

Lacson speculated that lawmakers allied with Arroyo may have wanted to reallocate P55-billion pork funds among themselves.

“There was this instance in the House recently wherein there was a reported argument among House members identified with former Speaker Pantaleon ‘Bebot’ Alvarez, on one hand, and another group close to Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo, on the other. The object of contention is the reallocation of P55 billion,” Lacson recalled, adding that they are closely watching the developments related to the House version of the General Appropriations Bill to pinpoint the specifics on the items listed on the NEP. “If a compromise between the two camps in House has been forged,” Lacson said, “We have to identify what projects and who are the recipients of the fund. Clearly, the P55 billion comprise pork-barrel allocation,” he added.

Lacson emphasized the necessity of budget planning that emanate from local development councils to barangay, municipal and regional levels for budget consolidation and for expenditure planning. What transpired, he added, was the opposite.

The senator affirmed his determination to track down pork funds in the Senate’s version of the budget bill saying they have done this in the previous years.

“We did it in 2016 where we were able to identify P8.3 billion,” Lacson said referring to so-called pork funds that he and other senators moved to be transferred to government’s free tuition program.

No pork insertions

THE DBM, on the other hand, stood firm that there’s no pork barrel in the 2019 budget following Lacson’s allegations of “budget insertions” amounting to P55 billion.

Supposedly due to concerns over some projects that will be given to “select” lawmakers, the House of Representatives suspended its hearing on the 2019 General Appropriations Bill on Monday.

The President’s economic team, including Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, was there during the executive session bet ween Hou se a nd le ade rs, i nc lud i ng Speaker Arroyo, wherein a “spirited debate” ensued between House Majority Floor Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. and Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. of Camarines Sur.

“We were there as DBCC [Development Budget Coordination Committee] members yesterday [Monday]. We are not aware of the intramurals happening in the House.

That is a legislative prerogative. We have nothing to do with it… There is no pork barrel [in the 2019 budget],” Diokno said during the Philippine Economic Briefing.

But he said on the sidelines of the forum that there were “conflicting” committee reports, which the House could not agree on.

Reports said that there was another committee report that was asked by House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Karlo Alexei B. Nograles.

But Nograles said his panel had already approved a committee report, which was approved by House Committee on Rules.

Nonetheless, Diokno said all the items included in the 2019 President’s budget are “initiated, reviewed by the President and his Cabinet, and none by Congress.”

Sought for clarification on what specific budget line items did the alleged “ budget insertions” come from, Diokno said in a message to the BusinessMirror: “I don’t know where whoever wrote the report for the P55 billion got the list.”

A4 Wednesday, September 19, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

‘Reinvent’ PHL mining sector?

DENR chief says it can be done

E

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

NVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu urged the country’s mining industry anew to “reinvent” mining to preserve gains in promoting sustainable mineral resources development and usher in a new era of doing mining in the Philippines.

This as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) chief called on mining industry’s big players belonging to the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines to continue undertaking reforestation program, implement progressive rehabilitation in mining areas and provide appropriate mitigating measures to protect watersheds and water bodies, and strictly follow environmental guidelines in all aspects of mining operations.

In a message delivered for the DENR chief by Undersecretary for Climate Change and Mining Concerns Analiza R. Teh during the opening ceremonies of Mining Philippines 2018 Conference and Exhibition at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on Tuesday, Cimatu said reinventing mining is “the only way

to go” for the industry to move forward as an industry.

Cimatu, who was unable to attend the event, as he is attending to the developments in Itogon, Benguet, where a landslide buried to death dozens of small-scale miners taking shelter at bunkhouses in a smallscale mining area during the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong.

According to Cimatu, reinventing mining means taking up a very different way of life for the various stakeholders of the mining sector.

He said reinventing mining is what the industry needs “to change to be almost entirely new.”

“We need to take up a very different way of life,” Cimatu said.

He added the national government, mining companies, local gov-

ernment units, communities, and all other stakeholders need to take part in reinventing mining.

For the DENR’s part, Cimatu said several policy issuances he signed were geared toward reinventing mining in the Philippines, namely DENR Administrative Order 201813 or Lifting the Moratorium on the Acceptance, Processing and Approval of the Applications for Exploration Permit for Metallic and Non-metallic Minerals, Administrative Order No. 2018-19 or the Guidelines for Additional Environmental Measures for Operating Surface Metallic Mines, and Administrative Order No. 2018-20 or Providing for a new Guidelines in the Evaluation and Approval of the Three-year Development/Utilization Work Program.

According to the DENR chief, the rev iew conducted by the M i n i ng I ndu st r y Coord i n at ing Council, Technical Review Teams show that the industry needs to shape up as a sector.

“Even if there are responsible mining companies, those which still disregard environmental laws, unfortunately, affect not just the overall image of the sector but also provide an impression of the dismal performance of the industry, in general,” he said.

According to Cimatu, a review on specified major reforms are needed, such as on the inadequate mine tailings pond and the very

slow rehabilitation of the disturbed mined areas.

The review also pointed out the unacceptable practices regarding stockpile areas, the location of tailings storage facilities and dumping of toxic and hazardous waste.

A former military general, Cimatu stressed that enforcement is critical to ushering in a new era of doing mining in the country.

Cimatu said reinventing mining entails improving the Mines and Geosciences Board monitoring of operations and compliance of mining companies to mining and environmental laws, rules and regulations.

“Enforcing fines, penalties, suspension and closure to demonstrate no one putting into force compliance and promoting deterrence for the commission of violations is imperative,” he said.

More important, he said, reinventing mining in the Philippines means providing actual benefits to the people, first and foremost, from the utilization of the country’s mineral resources as stressed

by President Duterte.

“We can do more not by imposing additional taxes or giving incentives or implementing social development programs. We can do more by strictly complying with the protection and conservation of the natural resources to ensure that future generations will benefit,” he said.

De Lima slams construction of P200-M ferro-nickel mining project in Zambales

D

ETAINED opposition Sen. Leila M. de Lima has expressed grave concern over the suspicious construction of a P200 million ferro-nickel mining project in Candelaria, Zambales, which would heavily be funded by Chinese investors.

De Lima, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, said in a news statement issued on Tuesday the government should carefully assess the environmental, social and economic impact of yet another mining project with China.

“The indiscriminate mining operations in Zambales continue to wreak environmental havoc. Our mountains are stripped of top soil and our river waters are turning all red due to heavy mud,” she said.

“But what’s worse, the government, particularly Mr. Duterte, is obviously willing to allow unscrupulous Chinese contractors rape our environment at the detriment of our natural resources, as well as the livelihood of our local residents,” she added.

News reports showed that Fujian Hengrun Investment Co., Ltd. of China and Filipino firms Westchinamin Corp. and Easternreach Mining Group Inc. have agreed to put up Ferro-Nickel Plant in Candelaria, Zambales.

The deal was reportedly sealed recently despite strong opposition of the residents of Zambales calling for an immediate halt to the indiscriminate mining operations in their province which continue to destroy their communities and affect their health.

Although in detention, de Lima was shown some actual photographs of how the river in Zambales had alarmingly turned red due to the risky mining business.

In October 2017 residents of Cande-

laria and Santa Cruz, Zambales, pressed the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to support the cancellation of permits of the four mining firms by then-Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez because these companies mined the watershed and rendered their fishing grounds and farm lands unproductive.

The mining companies cited include Benguet Nickel Mines Inc., Zambales Diversified Metals Corp., LNL Archipelago Minerals Inc. and Eramen Minerals Inc. The Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) expressed dismay over a 2018 Court of Appeals decision rejecting the appeal of local residents of Santa Cruz, Zambales, and Infanta, Pangasinan, for the issuance of a Writ of Kalikasan with Permanent Environmental Protection Order against all mining operations in the northern part of the province.

De Lima said there is a need to scrutinize all government dealings with regards to mining operations, especially the construction of a Ferro-Nickel Plant in Zambales, to be fully aware of their effect to the residents and impact to the generations to come.

“The government has the obligation to protect the environment and at the same time ensure the well-being of the people.

Abandoning the people by disregarding their safety and needs is an outright dereliction of one’s duty,” she said.

The lawmaker from Bicol assured local residents from Candelaria, Zambales, that she will “do anything in my capacity—even from detention—to help stop destructive mining operations in the province.”

According to one of the local residents in Zambales, there should be concerted efforts from the government leaders and residents to protect the environment and to enhance their livelihood.

Based on records from ATM, destructive nickel mining operations in Zambales have resulted in farmers’ and fisherfolk’s loss of an estimated P250 million worth of livelihood annually in Santa Cruz, Zambales, alone.

In July de Lima has filed Senate Resolution 778, which seeks a Senate inquiry into the apparent gaps in the country’s environmental laws that compound the prevalence of humanrights abuses in communities where there are large-scale mining.

She said the proposed Senate investigation in aid of legislation should take an in-depth evaluation of the continuing negative impact of mining operations on the environment and human rights of local communities.

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Clock ticks for economy’s bid to enter demographic dividend window, Neda’s Pernia warns

By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

T

HE Philippines may be the “last major Asian economy” to enter the demographic dividend window between 2025 and 2070, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In a presentation at the Philippine Economic Briefing on Tuesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said if the country fails to enter the demographic dividend by 2025, the country has to wait another 25 years before joining the ranks of other Asian countries.

The demographic dividend, according to the United Nations Population Fund, is “a boost in economic productivity that occurs when there are growing numbers of people in the work force relative to the number of dependents.”

“The country is expected to be the last major Asian economy to benefit from the demographic dividend window between the years 2025 to 2070,” Pernia said.

“If not properly addressed, we would need to wait until at least 2050 to benefit from the demographic dividend, or possibly even miss it altogether,” he added.

Pernia said the country’s young population is one of the country’s advantages in meeting the demographic dividend. He said the median age in the Philippines is 24.1 years old in 2015, well below the world’s (29.6 years old), Asian (30.3 years old) and Southeast Asian (28.5 years old).

He added that the Philippines

had the highest ratio in Southeast Asia in 2015 at 58.2 percent. However, the ratio is expected to decline in the next few years as the working age population steadily grows, and will be lower than Singapore and Thailand by 2035.

In order to further efforts to enter the demographic dividend window, Pernia said the country must fully implement the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law that includes the family planning program and investment in the youth’s human capital.

“Maximizing the demographic dividend will ensure that the economy will expand even faster beyond the country’s medium-term plan, and thus achieve our long-term vision goal, or what’s referred to as AmBisyon Natin 2040,” Pernia said.

Poverty targets

DESPITE the recent typhoon and the high inflation experienced by Filipinos, Pernia said the country’s poverty targets remain achievable.

However, Pernia admitted that the typhoon and high commodity prices will dampen the government’s efforts in bringing down the country’s poverty rate to 14 percent by 2022, from 21.6 percent in 2015.

The Philippine Statistics Authority is currently in the process of conducting and collating the data for the Family Income and Expenditure Survey for 2018 which will be released next year.

The FIES is the basis for the country’s poverty and hunger incidence monitoring efforts.

Probe Benguet Corp.’s liability in Itogon tragedy–CBCP exec

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

A

N official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Tuesday urged the government to look into the possible liability of Benguet Corp. in the mining site tragedy in Itogon, Benguet, during the weekend.

CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice, and Peace Executive Secretary Fr. Edwin Gariguez alleged that Benguet Corp. outsourced its operations to small-scale miners to get around the suspension order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The DENR ordered the closure of the Benguet Corp. last year until it could comply with the necessary environmental and safety standards.

“The area was supposed to be fully rehabilitated but Benguet Corp. allegedly have subcontracted small miners to continue operation,” Gariguez said in a news statement issued on Tuesday.

“We need to make mining companies accountable. Justice means reparation for the damages,” he added.

Gariguez said Benguet Corp. has made the town vulnerable to the landslide because of its “destructive mining” over the years.

On Monday Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu revoked the 10 temporary small-scale mining contracts issued in Itogon.

This after a landslide brought about by Typhoon Ompong buried old bunkhouses used by Benguet Corp. last Saturday killing 35 people.

Authorities are still looking for 40 others who were also buried in the landslide.

Gariguez supported the latest initiative of Cimatu and urged him to extend the stricter mining measure to other parts of the country.

“The DENR should also take enforcement seriously to avoid disasters of this kind from happening anywhere in the Philippines,” Gariguez said.

Aid for the displaced

THE labor department, meanwhile, assured that almost 12,800 workers displaced by Typhoon Ompong in the Cagayan Valley region will soon get assistance.

Department of Labor and Employment Region 2 Director Sarah S. Mirasol said they already started profiling qualified beneficiaries for their Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Tupad).

“The provinces with affected workers will work on the profiling of the beneficiaries starting September 18, 2018,” Mirasol said.

She said they have already allocated over P44 million to provide temporary emergency employment to typhoon victims in the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Batanes and Tuguegarao City.

Isabela has the highest budget allocation with P20 million followed

by Cagayan (P15 million) and Batanes (P4 million).

Quirino and Tuguegarao Cities will get P2 million each, while Nueva Vizcaya has the least with only a million.

Selected beneficiaries of Tupad will be given 10-day work, which will involve clearing and repairing operations in their communities. They will be paid P340 per day.

Mirasol said their assistance will be separate from the intervention of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which caters for families of overseas Filipino workers, who were affected by Typhoon Ompong.

The OWWA earlier announced it has an available fund of P100 million for the program.

Cagayan Valley was among the regions in Luzon, which were battered

by Typhoon Ompong during the weekend. It left 74 fatalities as of yesterday and thousand of others, who were displaced.

Editor: Angel R. Calso | www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World

China vows ‘countermeasures’ to Washington’s new imposition

B

EIJING—China said on Tuesday that it will take “countermeasures” to US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and an American business group warned a “downward spiral” in their trade battle appears certain.

The Commerce Ministry gave no details of a possible response to US tariffs imposed in the fight between the two biggest global economies over Beijing’s technology policy. But China previously released a $60-billion list of American goods for retaliation. The Trump administration announced the tariffs on some 5,000 Chinese-made goods will start at 10 percent, beginning on Monday. They rise to 25 percent on January 1. “ We d e e p l y re g re t t h i s,” s a i d a Commerce Ministry statement. “China will adopt countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and the global free-trade order.”

The statement, which was unusually mild af ter months of angr y public exchanges, didn’t say whether Beijing would back out of talks proposed last week by Washington. It said only that the tariff hike “brings new uncertainty to the consultations.”

The United States complains that Chinese industry development plans, including “Made in China 2025,” which calls for creating global champions in robotics and other fields, are based on stolen technology, violate Beijing’s market-opening commitments and might erode American industrial leadership.

American companies and trading partners, including the European Union and

Japan, have long-standing complaints about Chinese market barriers and industrial policy.

But they object to Trump’s tactics and warn that the dispute could chill global economic growth and undermine international trade regulation.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China warned Washington is underestimating Beijing’s determination to fight back.

“The downward spiral that we have previously warned about now seems certain to materialize,” said the chamber chairman, William Zarit, in a statement.

Trump imposed 25 percent duties on $50 billion of Chinese imports in July. Beijing retaliated with similar penalties on the same amount of American goods.

The US duties targeted Chinese goods Washington says have benefited from improper industrial policies. Beijing’s penalties hit soybeans and other farm goods from states that voted for Trump in 2016.

If China retaliates for the latest US duties, Trump threatened on Monday to add a further $267 billion in Chinese imports to the target list. That would raise the total affected by US penalties to $517 billion—covering nearly everything China sells the US. “Contrary to views in Washington, China can—and will—dig its heels in, and we are not optimistic about the prospect for a resolution in the short term,” said Zarit of the American Chamber of Commerce.

“No one will emerge victorious from this counterproductive cycle.”

Th e c h a m b e r a p p e a l e d to b o t h g ove r n m e n t s f o r “re s u l t s - o r i e n te d negotiations.” AP

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

A5

Trump imposes new tariffs on $200-B Chinese goods

W

ASHINGTON—The Trump administration will impose tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods starting next week, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies and potentially raising prices on goods ranging from handbags to bicycle tires.

The tariffs will start at 10 percent, beginning Monday of next week, and then rise to 25 percent on January 1.

President Donald J. Trump m ade t he a n nou ncement on Monday in a move that is sure to ratchet up hostilities between Washington and Beijing. Trump has already imposed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. And China has retaliated in kind, hitting American soybeans, among other goods, in a shot at the president’s supporters in the US farm belt.

Beijing has warned that it would hit an additional $60 billion in American goods if Trump ordered more tariffs. If China does retaliate, Trump threatened on Monday to add a further $267 billion in Chinese imports to the target list. That would raise the total to $517 billion—covering nearly everything China sells the United States.

After a public comment period, the administration said on Monday that it had withdrawn some items from its preliminary list of $200 billion in Chinese

imports to be taxed, including child-safety products like bicycle helmets. And in a victory for Apple Inc. and its American customers, the administration removed sm a r t watc hes a nd some other consumer electronics products from the list of goods to be targeted by the new tariffs.

At the same time, the administration said it remains open to negotiations with China.

“China has had many opportunities to fully address our concerns,” Trump said in a statement. “I urge China’s leaders to take swift action to end their country’s unfair trade practices.”

The two countries are fighting over Beijing’s ambitions to supplant American technological supremacy. The Office of the US Trade Representative has charged that China is using predatory tactics to obtain foreign technology. These tactics include hacking US companies to steal their trade secrets and forcing them to turn over their know-how in exchange for access to the Chinese market.

Trump has also complained about America’s gaping trade

deficit—$336 billion last year— with China, its biggest trading partner.

In May, in fact, it looked briefly as if Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had brokered a truce built around a Chinese offer to buy enough American farm products and liquefied natural gas to put a dent in the trade deficit.

But Trump quickly backed away from the truce.

In the first two rounds of tariffs, the Trump administration took care to try to spare American consumers from the direct impact of the import taxes. The tariffs focused on industrial products, not on things Americans buy at the mall or via Amazon.

By expanding the list to $200 b i l l ion of C h i ne s e i mp or t s , Trump risks spreading the pain to ordinary households. The administration is targeting a bewildering variety of products— from sockeye salmon to baseball gloves to bamboo mats—forcing US companies to scramble for suppliers outside China, absorb the import taxes or pass along the cost to their customers. AP

A6 Wednesday, September 19, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Kill destructive mining, not the whole industry

I

N the wake of a landslide that hit an illegal mining site in Itogon, Benguet, that killed 34 people and dozens more missing at the height of Typhoon Ompong, President Duterte said it is time for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to take a serious look on destructive mining practices. Duterte added: “Mining must stop. And if I cannot stop it during my time as President, nobody can. Because it’s big business and the pressure is just too great.”

We understand where the Chief Executive is coming from, as we can’t crucify the truth that destructive mining would “result in perdition for the country.”

Sadly, mining’s bad reputation precedes the industry, thanks to a number of unscrupulous businessmen who had no regard for the public good. Thus, the DENR’s marching order to review the best practices in mining and use these as standards that existing and new entrants to the sector must adopt is a good starting point. It must not allow a repeat of the Itogon, Benguet, tragedy.

Closing all mining sites in the country, however, is not a practicable solution. The products of mining are very much a part of our daily lives. From the little items, such as your house keys, zippers, cellphones and gadgets, to hightech equipment that allow scientists to study Mars, the Earth’s minerals have allowed man to do the “impossible.”

The Philippines has the resources to supply the growing appetite of the world for precious minerals and metals, according to a report released by the Senate Economic Planning Office in 2013. Citing the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the report said the Philippines is one of the highly mineralized countries in the world with 9 million hectares considered to have high mineral potential. It also noted that the country has untapped mineral wealth worth at least $840 billion (P46.2 trillion) in gold, copper, nickel, chromite, manganese, silver and iron. The country’s gold reserves alone, the report said, can amount to P7.36 trillion. Citing the National Statistical Coordination Board, the report said the amount is enough to completely eradicate poverty in the Philippines.

For the mining sector to realize its potential, the government must put in place the necessary policies that would attract and not drive away investors. Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo L. Neri said in 2004 that the full development of one large-scale mining site alone requires an investment of $850 million to $1.2 billion, an amount difficult to source from local investors.

Measures that seek to raise business cost, such as an additional royalty fee, will not encourage the type of investors needed by the local mining sector. The government could look into the “commodity-based” taxation scheme, which the MGB has deemed as less onerous, and proposals to tax profit and the gross earnings of mining firms.

Instead of closing responsible mining sites, the government should use them to fast-track the country’s industrialization. It can do this, for example, by disallowing the exports of raw, beneficiated or semi-processed nickel ores from operating nickel mines. According to Engr. Graciano Calanog, the expert who recently wrote in the BusinessMirror about how the Philippines can cash in on the global e-vehicle revolution where nickel plays a key part, the government must require miners to set up ferro-nickel smelter and leaching plants, reverberatory furnaces/converters and nickel refineries that will produce nickel metal for the electric vehicle market. These facilities will enable the Philippines to take full advantage of the electric vehicle revolution and can help the government raise revenues needed to improve the quality of lives of Filipinos.

The nickel industry alone, according to Calanog, has the potential of leapfrogging the Philippines from a semi-developed to an industrialized/developed country in less than 10 years, if the right policies are in place. Imagine what the Philippines can gain if it has a well-thought-out plan for the entire mining sector.

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BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua

For as long as power is held by men Teddy Locsin Jr.

FREE FIRE Continued from A1

‘T

HERE is something very troubling about violence against women and sex trafficking that occur during humanitarian emergencies. We expect compassion and generosity for the afflicted, empathy at least.

“We are but putty in nature’s hands and could ourselves be victims of natural calamities like what struck our sisters. And yet, we come across stories of violence and exploitation: women robbed, assaulted, raped; worse, sold for sex and labor. Nature’s wrath took their livelihood and their loved ones—and swept them into the hands of men who robbed them of dignity. It is even more astounding when these evils are committed by those whose job is to help the distressed—responders, aid workers, emergency service personnel and others who come forward as saviors and then come across as predators.

These people deserve the sternest punishment, and frankly it is a

matter of total indifference to me if it is within the law or not.

“My country is in the wrong place—the ‘emergency belt’—except it also has a huge body of water between itself and a big power with big ambitions. Numerous and increasingly ferocious typhoons because of climate change visit us each year and we cannot slam the door in their face. They will come in. All we can do is brace.

“Typhoon Haiyan wiped out villages and killed more than 6,300 people in 2013. There is not a year but floods strike parts of my country. Earthquakes are more frequent.

Imagine if every time there is a natural disaster and communities need to

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that qualifies them the least for sensitive positions involving the protection of women in the most vulnerable situations. Where a woman is drawn by compassion; a man might be driven only by passion—a sickness contracted after the fall.

“We have to change this thinking; burn this evil if we must. But how?

Here is a problem worse than drugs because no one, man or woman, can be addicted to slavery. So it should be easier to solve. But as we don’t shoot drug addicts we can’t say the same about sex addicts; the consumers of sex trafficking—many of them in positions of authority.

“I’ve said this before: for as long as power in the world is held mostly by men, and security forces are stocked and officered mostly by men—even if women are as good if not better at the job—sex trafficking and violence against women will stay. But if we empower women, not rhetorically or with token positions, but by putting women into positions of real power and authority and at the frontlines of the battle against gender-based violence, then there will be change.

“Elections won’t do it; that’s the problem with democracy. Appointment to authority and conferment of real power is the best way. Here in the UN and in the government of every member-state. Thank you.”

Tax abusive banks worse than loan sharks

Founder Publisher

be evacuated, women get sold for sex.

This would give a whole new meaning to natural calamity by the inescapable addition of human perversity.

“But unlike the weather, we can do something about it—with the help of partners like United Nations Population Fund and civil society. We just heard about best practices and lessons learned. We need to integrate these lessons into actionable programs—in practical terms official, governmental; it means using public authority—the writ, puissance and wherewithal of states which are still the most effective organization for the protection of populations.

“This is why we need more women in the government, not just flatteringly in Cabinet posts; but in frontline positions wherever the vulnerable are preyed on. Natural calamity is not the cause of violence and trafficking of women. Neither is conflict, scarcity and poverty. The cause of these enormities, whether perpetrated in times of calm or emergencies, is the evil in men who see and treat women as nothing more than objects of lust and commerce to be discarded after use. The helplessness and despair that abound in emergency situations are fuel for this evil; the more helpless the woman, the easier to lure, and the more gratifying to abuse.

“There is something about men

ON THE CONTRARY

I

T’S high time policy-makers imposed penalties on banks and government financial institutions (GFIs) that abuse “freemarket” penalties on small depositors and borrowers, making them even worse than loan sharks. n Dream houses turn to nightmares? At Public Attorney’s Offices (PAOs), you hear hundreds of complaints from couples and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who lose their homes even after paying twice to six times their loans, simply because of unpaid arrearages, making them victims of unscrupulous financing of erring developers and banks.

One OFW broke his back in the Middle East, sending a total of P5 million for his dreamhouse, only to return and see the posts of an unbuilt house. Another couple paid over P750,000 for an original SSS loan of P120,000, because of compounded penalties and arrearages and loanrestructures. While paying bigger amounts five times the original amortizations, the debts mounted faster

as arrearages remained. Retirement benefits were used to settle all, but the problem doesn’t stop here as many aging couples, no longer earning anything, lose their ancestral homes to rising unpaid property taxes.

A widow-senior citizen, Carmen Ramos, was evicted from her house while a court case was ongoing. She paid over P1.5 million on a housing contract of P920,000 with Durawood Construction & Lumber Inc., which was discovered later to have no license as home developer and financier.

After her husband’s death, Ramos said the developer’s secretary tore off the contract, claiming it was no longer valid with his death, and replaced it with a new contract, followed by more onerous agreements.

“It is no surprise why big bank owners are among our top billionaires,” says economist Cielito Habito, saying that, while “GDP grew by 5.8 percent the past 15 years, banks grew higher by 8.7 percent. And when GDP hit its lowest at 0.9 percent in 2009, the banks grew by a hefty 8.3 percent!

Bankers seemingly profit through thick or thin.”

While laws are bent, she feels what’s legal is not necessarily moral. She may appeal with higher courts, but after losing home, and savings to costly lawyers, neutralized by her adversary, she lost the strength to continue fighting.

Perhaps, it’s time to review loan policies to give consideration to borrowers, just caught as victims, not of their making, but of dysfunctional short-term job contracts. n Banks are worse than loan sharks? Another problem is how 80 percent of depositors, mostly ordinary people on a Pareto principle estimate, hardly keep their P2,000 minimum bank balances. Most banks slap a P350 monthly penalty less than the minimum, which is 17.5

percent of P2,000, or 210 percent if annualized for 12 months.

Deducting another P350 on the remaining P1,650; and P350 every month thereafter, you end up with only P250 on the sixth month, beyond which, the account is closed.

Penalties and effective interest rates in these months show increasing usury, much worst than loan sharks.

Another P350 deduction on the second month against the remaining P1,650 is a 21.21 percent penalty, or 254.54 percent per annum.

Subsequently, it’s 323.07 percent per annum on the third month; 442.1 percent on the month; 700 percent on fifth; and 1,680 percent sixth month.

Banks can freely do this. But by definition, theft happens when somebody steals from you stealthily without your knowledge; qualified theft when a person entrusted does the stealing; and robbery happens when forcibly taken from someone.

Can we say, banks are legally practicing “qualified theft and robbery?” n Tap banks for development.

Experiences of Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan and others show that they tapped banks to generate capital through a “hidden tax” or “stealth tax” by offering depositors interests lower than market rates to fund industries, exports and agriculture.

See “Alunan,” A7

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Opinion

Abuse of power

Regulation of composite insurers

BusinessMirror

Florante S. Solmerin

Dennis B. Funa

FACT IS MIGHT!

INSURANCE FORUM

T’S been a year since the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 143 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and writ of injunction, which stalled the bidding process of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) P10.9-billion Nationwide Online Lottery System (NOLS) project. In an auspicious turn of events, the Supreme Court (SC) recently ruled in favor of the charity agency.

N insurance company is classified as either a life insurance company or a nonlife insurance company. Some jurisdictions, including the Philippines, allow an insurance company to conduct both life and nonlife insurance businesses concurrently or one that is called a “composite” insurance company.

Interestingly, the words “composite”, “composite insurers” or “composite insurance company” are not used at all in the Insurance Code. Nonetheless, Section 193 of the Amended Insurance Code speaks of insurance companies that may be authorized to transact the business of life and nonlife insurance concurrently.

I

If the TRO and injunction were not issued last year against the NOLS project, it would have been fully operational by now and would have probably contributed revenues for the government’s medical and charity assistance programs.

Makati City RTC Branch 143 Judge Maximo de Leon favored the Philippine Gaming and Management Corp. (PGMC), PCSO’s Lotto online system provider for Luzon, which claimed it has “exclusive right” as lotto system provider of PCSO for Luzon.

The case reached the International Chamber of Commerce-International Court of Arbitration, which subsequently junked the complaint.

The SC Third Division granted the government corporation’s petition to set aside the August 3, 2017, writ of preliminary injunction issued by Judge de Leon.

The court also found that the RTC committed grave abuse of discretion in granting respondent PGMC’s application for injunctive relief. A writ of preliminary injunction is issued to “prevent threatened or continuous irremediable injury to some of the parties before their

Alunan. . .

continued from A6

Joe Studwell discussed this in his book How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s most Dynamic Region, a must-read for policy-makers.

Local interests on savings are already low at 0.1 percent, and lending at 6 percent or more, or a 60,000percent margin difference. Unfortunately, these margins are mostly kept as profits and not channeled to fund physical wealth-creation in industry and agriculture that generate productive jobs.

“It is no surprise why big bank owners are among our top billionaires,” says economist Cielito Habito, saying that, while “GDP grew by 5.8 percent the past 15 years, banks grew higher by 8.7 percent. And when GDP hit its lowest at 0.9 percent in 2009, the banks grew by a hefty 8.3 percent! Bankers seemingly profit through thick or thin.” n But banks shying away?

Supposedly, agri-agra loan law requires banks to invest 25 percent of loan portfolios into agriculture, but the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) allows banks an escape clause to

claims can be thoroughly studied and adjudicated.”

If there’s abuse in the judicial process, there should be someone who is liable to the law because the judge may have disregarded the interest of the Filipino people. Let’s just wait for the SC’s action against these people who are abusing their power.

NOLS has only one system and can validate all tickets bought from all over the country. This is the first system to undergo public bidding since the 1995 contract, which is only rightful according to law.

No contract lasts a “lifetime.” In the two decades that PGMC has become the system provider for Luzon, its contract finally expired in August.

That’s why it lost the case.

Subsequently, the PCSO extended the contract of Pacific Online System Corp. (POSC), while bidding is being conducted in preparation for the implementation of NOLS, probably in the second quarter next year.

POSC is the system provider for Visayas-Mindanao, including Luzon, but its contract expired on July 31, 2018.

E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com.

invest in government securities as a form of compliance. This is estimated to be about P500 billion.

Lending to farmers will likely further drop as the BSP and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. cannot seem to solve the problem of the padlocking of close to 20 small banks every year, or a total of 325 banks from 2000 to August 2018. There may be abuses and legitimate reasons, but because it is happening yearly, and not corrected, it invites questions.

Unfortunately, commercial banks, replacing them in the provinces, are hesitant lending to farmers. In fact, capital is siphoned out from the countryside as a bank manager in Ilocos once said years back, he retains only 2 percent of inflows from thrifty Ilocanos abroad, for withdrawals and loans, and sends 98 percent to Manila headquarters. n When you can bank on banks? Reforms needed are not entirely aimed for the government to capture excess margins as tax, but to forcibly push banks through policy to lend more liberally to physicalwealth-creating sectors—agriculture and industry.

E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com.

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Section 193, paragraph 8, of the Amended Insurance Code provides: “No insurance company may be authorized to transact in the Philippines the business of life and nonlife insurance concurrently, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Commissioner.”

This concept of composite insurers was first introduced in the Philippines in 1974 under Section 187 of Presidential Decree (PD) 612. Section 187 provides: “No insurance company may be authorized to transact in the Philippines the business of life and nonlife insurance concurrently unless specifically authorized to do so xxx.”

Regulatory question

THE regulatory question now is: should the capitalization or net worth requirement of a composite insurance company be imposed on each unit of business, meaning on each of the life and nonlife unit separately? Or should the capitalization or networth requirement be imposed on the combined businesses, life and nonlife, as one operating unit? In other words, since the current net worth requirement today (2018)

for either a life or nonlife insurer is P550 million, should the net worth requirement for the composite insurer be P550 million for the life business and P550 million for the nonlife business each, for total net worth requirement of P1.1 billion, or should it be P550 million only?

The Insurance Code is silent on the matter. While Section 188 of PD 612 prescribed the paid-up capital of a single line insurance company, PD 612, however, never prescribed the capitalization requirement for composite insurance companies.

Computed separately

THE first directive found pertaining to composite insurers is Department Order 27-92, issued on March 17, 1992, by Secretary Jesus P. Estanislao. As early as DO 27-92, dated March 17, 1992, it was already pronounced that a new composite insurance company shall have a paid-up capital of at least P150 million, P75 million of which shall pertain to the nonlife account and the other P75 million to the life account.

DO 27-92 required a new insurance company, either life or nonlife,

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 A7

to have a paid-up capital equal to at least P75 million and a contributed surplus fund of at least P25 million. New composite insurance companies, on the other hand, were required to have a paid-up capital of at least P150 million, P75 million of which shall pertain to the nonlife account and the other P75 million to the life account, and a contributed surplus fund of at least P50 million, P25 million of which shall pertain to the nonlife account and the other half to the life account.

In other words, as early as 1992, the capitalization requirement for composite insurers was already computed separately for the life and nonlife businesses.

This policy of separate treatment for the two units of businesses for composite insurers was reiterated 20 years later in DO 15-2012 dated June 1, 2012, issued by Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima. DO 15-2012 stated: “For an existing or licensed composite insurance company, the PUC of its life and nonlife units should each comply with the minimum PUC required under clause A.1 above.”

The said DO requires that each of the life and non-life units should comply separately with the minimum paid-up capital requirement.

DO 15-2012 likewise required the following: a) in case of an existing or licensed composite insurance company, the paid-up capital of its life and nonlife units should each comply with the minimum paid-up capital; b) in case of a licensed life or nonlife insurance company applied for a composite license, the capitalization required shall apply to the new unit in addition to its present capitalization for the business it is currently licensed; and c) in case of new composite license, it shall have a paid-up capital of P2 billion.

On November 12, 2015, the Amended Insurance Code was signed into law by then-President Benigno S. Aquino III, which retained the

MAIL

AS the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly will convene on September 18, 2018, at United Nation headquarters in New York, I am writing this letter to call for the kind support for Taiwan’s determination to participate in the UN system by the people of the Philippines.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly

Dennis B. Funa is the current insurance commissioner. Funa was appointed by President Duterte as the new insurance commissioner in December 2016.

E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com.

China’s trade-war tack is steeped in history

By David Fickling Bloomberg Opinion

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RESIDENT Donald J. Trump certainly has a way of picking his moment.

After weeks of will-he, won’t-he, the US government’s latest announcement on tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods came on Tuesday Beijing time, just as the nation was preparing a nationalistic commemoration of resistance to foreign humiliation.

September 18, 1931, marks the Mukden Incident, when dissident Japanese soldiers staged a fake attack on a railway line near the modern Chinese city of Shenyang as a pretext to their country’s invasion of Manchuria.

China’s increasingly jingoistic turn under President Xi Jinping has turned this anniversary into a sizable event, marked with memorial ceremonies, school assemblies and air-raid sirens blaring in some cities, and this year a film screening in Washington. Since 2014 Beijing has introduced three public holidays to commemorate aspects of the war with Japan, two of them taking

place this month.

To dismiss all this as the stuff of school textbooks would be to underestimate the way the Communist Party has long sought to turn China’s history to propagandistic ends. US negotiators trying to work out whether Beijing will agree to make wide-ranging changes to its economic model in response to threats from Washington should consider that, to decision-makers in Zhongnanhai, they’re engaged in more than just an everyday economic fight.

You can trace the story through Xi’s speeches, like the one he gave to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover last year, or to celebrate 70 years since the end of the war with Japan in 2015.

It begins in the early-19th century, when the European vogue for Chinese tea and manufactured goods left the Qing Empire with a substantial trade surplus. The British East India Company sought to redress this balance by paying for Chinese goods with the opium it grew in India. That stopped the drain on its silver reserves but fueled a growing addiction crisis in China.

The trade eventually prompted

China’s equivalent of the Boston Tea Party, when Qing officials seized about 1,300 metric tons of opium in 1839 and destroyed it on an island at Humen in the mouth of the Pearl River. Unlike its American precursor, though, the Humen incident was a disaster, sparking the First Opium War and, ultimately, the hand off of Hong Kong to the British.

While many Chinese citizens may be more conscious of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the post-Tiananmen crackdown, the country’s leaders still remember the Opium Wars, and the further conflicts that characterized the long decline of the Qing Empire. Official rhetoric describes the whole period as a century-long “national humiliation” that only the Communist Party was able to reverse.

The Monument to the People’s Heroes, built in Tiananmen Square after the founding of the People’s Republic, is Beijing’s equivalent of Nelson’s Column or the Washington Monument. There, the Humen incident forms the first panel of the national story; the war against Japan forms the second-last.

Taiwan calls on PHL to support its participation in the UN in 2015, set bold goals to shift the world onto a sustainable, resilient path. Here was also pledged the formation of a revitalized Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, including all countries, all stakeholders and all people, such that no one would be left behind.

Despite such a pledge, Taiwan’s 23 million people have been left out of this global effort. This violates the principle of universality upon which the UN was founded and deprives Taiwan, as well as the international community, of opportunities to work together for the common good.

To ensure the UN remains relevant to all people, the organization should stand up to the external pressures and open its doors to Taiwan.

I hereby urge the Philippines, a dynamic democracy in Asia, to support democratic Taiwan’ s campaign

provision allowing insurance companies to engage in both life and nonlife insurance companies concurrently.

Section 193 of the Insurance Code, as amended by Republic Act 10607 reads: “Section 193. xxx No insurance company may be authorized to transact in the Philippines the business of life and nonlife insurance concurrently, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Commissioner xxx.”

A significant change in the Amended Insurance Code is the shift of our statutory regime from the paid-up capital requirement to the networth requirement.

However, once again, the Amended Insurance Code failed to provide for the specific networth requirement for composite insurance companies.

On January 13, 2015, this Commission, under then-Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc, issued Circular Letter 2015-02-A on the minimum capitalization requirements under the Amended Insurance Code. However, the said Circular Letter was silent on the paid-up and net worth requirements of composite insurance companies.

It is to be observed that there was never a time when the capitalization requirement was the same for a single line insurer and a composite insurer.

As of 2018 there are only five companies licensed as composite insurance companies in the Philippines, they are: 1) Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co.; 2) AsianLife and General Assurance Corp.; 3) 1 Cooperative Insurance System of the Philippines Life and General Insurance; 4) CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative; and 5) Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp.

to participate in the UN system and to recognize Taiwan’s determination to contribute to regional and global affairs.

Taiwan provides development assistance to other countries. Through the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), Taiwan’s official development assistance organization, we have launched various programs in the Pacific, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. These programs aim to help countries in these regions to achieve clean energy, food security, food safety, sustainable agriculture, better education, health and well-being for all age groups, and disaster reduction and adaptation. TaiwanICDF also works with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to assist countries in Central Asia

and Central and Eastern Europe to develop market economies and a green economy.

While Taiwan’s valuable contributions have been widely acclaimed around the globe, the UN continues to ignore what Taiwan can offer.

Taiwan’s tourists, experts and professionals are denied entry into UN premises simply because the United Nations does not accept the Republic of China (Taiwan)’s passport, which is recognized by almost every country in the world. The UN has refused to accredit Taiwan’s journalists covering its meetings and activities, yet the work of such people is in the interests of the people of Taiwan and the world.

We are extremely disappointed that the UN continues to misuse 1971’s General Assembly Resolution 2758 (XXVI) to justify Taiwan’s

exclusion and isolation. As we have pointed out before, this resolution neither addresses the issue of representation of Taiwan and its people in the UN system, nor defines the relationship between Taiwan and China.

Many UN member-states had challenged the so-called one-China principle. It is wrong for the United Nations, an organization created to serve all of humankind, to unilaterally define Taiwan’s status.

Article 1 of the UN Charter proclaims that the purposes of the organization are to “achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights.” At this critical juncture when humankind is facing multiple

Now fast forward to the present. Once again, China has a significant trade surplus. Once again, the world’s preeminent trading nation is complaining about it.

Once again, Chinese leaders suspect that the appeal to free trade is an excuse to seek wide-ranging changes to the Chinese state.

To date, Beijing has shown little interest in coming to the table. The weakness in Chinese stocks in recent months is, in many ways, a symptom of the country’s continued focus on deleveraging and refusal to take a more stimulative path in response to the threats from Washington.

It’s possible that China’s relatively muted response to Trump’s trade rhetoric is the result of rumored leadership tensions in Beijing staying Xi’s hand from the more aggressive path seen in recent years. At the same time, it’s hard to see how current officials would be able to hold on to their own prestige were China to agree to another unequal treaty with the West—let alone at a time when analysts estimate the economy will tick up, regardless of the turmoil in stock markets.

challenges, global cooperation that includes all countries, all stakeholders, and all people is ever more important. By excluding a willing and able partner like Taiwan, the UN not only violates the fundamental human rights of Taiwan’s 23 million people but also greatly harms human welfare.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

People in Taiwan are ready and well prepared to make meaningful and substantial contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all human beings on Earth, including the people in the Philippines.

Michael Peiyung Hsu Representative Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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House okays realignment of ₧51.8B in DPWH budget

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE House of Representatives, convening as the Committee of the Whole, on Tuesday approved a report seeking to realign some P51.792 billion of the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2019 to fund other programs.

Majority Leader Rolando R. Andaya Jr., who chairs the Committee of the Whole, said the proposed fund realignment is not meant to “destroy” the Executive branch’s budget proposal “but [aims] to strengthen it.”

A n d a y a s a i d “u n f o r e s e e n events” such as the devastation of Typhoon Ompong (international code name Mangk hut) prompted the introduction of amendments in the budget proposal so it would be attuned to the country’s needs.

“There are some intervening events, which occur during the

budget execution phase and the budget, this important document, should not be firewalled against them,” he said in his speech during the meeting of the committee.

“When we spot errors in the course of our review, we serve the President’s cause and the people’s interest if we correct those. We betray their trust, if we remain silent,” Andaya added.

The bulk of the P51.792 billion from the DPWH, or P31.592 billion, would remain with the agency but would be used for other purposes, such as the construction of various access roads that would lead

to tourism destinations, economic zones and to decongest traffic.

Based on the committee report, P10.8 billion was allocated for the construction of access roads leading to tourism destinations; P10.792 billion, for access roads leading to economic zones; and P10 billion, for roads and bridges to decongest traffic.

“This is to decongest traffic in urban areas in the hope of partially relieving the daily calvary of commuters. This is intended to boost tourism receipts by easing the access to tourist draws. If you build them, they will come,” Andaya said.

“Because to create jobs, roads through which commerce and workers will pass are indispensable,” he added.

Additional P6B for DOH

THE Department of Health (DOH) would receive an additional P6 billion for next year, with half of it going to its health facilities enhancement program.

“This was reduced to practically nil at P50 million. But hospitals need equipment. With more people getting sick, they should be...

perpetually upgrading,” Andaya said. The remaining P3 billion reallocated to the DOH would be used “to stave off the mass layoff of 6,000 nurses, doctors and dentists,” according to Andaya.

Both the Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) received an additional budget of P5 billion each under the approved committee report.

Andaya said the additional budget of the DA is part of the government’s safety net pledge to rice farmers who are vulnerable to the lifting of the quantitative restriction. The P5 billion would be used for the DA’s farm-to-market road program. The additional P5 billion of the NDRRMC is for Typhoon Ompong rehabilitation efforts.

The Department of Education would receive an additional P3 billion next year for the construction of technical-vocational laboratories, while state universities and colleges would be given another P1.2 billion to complement the free tuition law.

DOF: Policy, infra reforms anchor PHL growth

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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HE Department of Finance (DOF) has assured members of the regional financial community that the Philippine economy remains strong, with the growth momentum being sustained by the government’s policy and infrastructure reforms.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Philippines remains “on course” toward the government’s medium-term goals of reducing poverty and achieving inclusive growth, driven by stronger investor confidence arising from the rollout of its “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) infrastructure projects and the initial gains from the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).

RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE AREA AFFECTING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON as of 4:00 pm - September 18, 2018

“The Philippine economy is strong.

This year, we will again be among the top performers in the region. The momentum is being sustained by policy and infrastructure reforms. Firm and decisive political leadership pushes forward these reforms,”Dominguez said during the Philippine Economic Briefing held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) headquarters on Tuesday.

The finance chief added that the most remarkable aspect of the country’s economic performance so far this year is its turn into an increasingly investment-led growth, following a 27.4-percent jump in capital formation as President Duterte’s BBB initiative continued to gain momentum.

Confidence in fiscal management has been reinforced further by the successful passage into law of the first package of the CTRP, and this, he said, has led to a 21-percent increase in total revenue collections over the past seven months, while putting more money into the pockets of 99 percent of Filipino taxpayers via hefty cuts in their personal income tax (PIT) payments.

He added that the adept management of the country’s fiscal affairs has also been recognized both by way of improved credit rating outlooks, as well as by the tight spreads given the foreign-denominated bonds that had been floated the past few months, namely, the Panda bond in China and the samurai bond in Japan.

“With these reforms and with the infrastructure program, we expect our economy to create more jobs, improve productivity in all sectors and remove roadblocks to clear the way for more rapid economic expansion,” he added.

Dominguez said the bigger foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and the successful bond floats overseas following the implementation of CTRP’s first package, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, “dispel concerns that our tax reform is scaring investors away.”

“Our growth performance for the first semester of this year was below expectation, hampered by elevated inflation and supply issues. Like the rest of economies in the world, the Philippines is not exempted from challenges.

But what differentiates our economy from many is the decisiveness, the extent, and the pace by which we are implementing policy and infrastructure reforms. We remain one of the best performing economies in the region and our outlook is strong,” he said.

Dominguez further explained that the government also remains on course toward its goals for the medium term and beyond: in line with reducing the country’s poverty incidence from 21.6 percent in 2015 to just 14 percent by 2022; to make growth more inclusive by addressing the infrastructure deficiencies that stymie productivity; and to induce more investments to open up more jobs for the next generation of Filipinos.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘FLAGSHIP PROJECTS ON TRACK DESPITE ILL EFFECTS OF TYPHOONS’

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

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ESPITE the ill effects of the typhoon, the national government remains on track to complete nearly half of the flagship projects by the end of the President’s term, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In a presentation on Tuesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said of the 75 flagship projects, at least 32 projects are going to be completed within the term of the administration.

Forty-three projects will commence under the Duterte administration but will be completed after the President’s term. Pernia said that currently, 24 projects are undergoing pre-investment studies, 44 are already under implementation and seven are being reviewed.

“The government rigorously vets the viability of projects, and the government must work hand in hand with the private sector in implementing the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program,” Pernia said.

However, if there are projects that would be affected

by Typhoon Ompong, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the government has sufficient funds to cover for the damage.

Dominguez nonetheless said, the economic team has yet to receive a “concrete” report on the damage brought by Typhoon Ompong to various infrastructure projects nationwide. “ We don’t have concrete report yet of the damage. I’m sure there are road projects and bridge projects that are affected by this typhoon.” He added he was waiting for the report on a damaged dam.

“We don’t have a report yet.

And yes, if the costs go up, because of the damage, we can certainly handle the additional costs,” Dominguez added.

Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and CEO Vivencio B. Dizon said in the Clark Airport project, there was minimal damage ex-

Inflation. . .

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■ Immed iately release 4.6 million sacks of rice available in warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA) to the market across the country and allocate 2.7 million sacks of rice to Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi; ■ Import 5 million sacks of rice, which arrive over the next one-anda-half months, and another 5 million sacks early next year; ■ To reduce the gap between the farm gate and retail prices of chicken, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry will convene poultry producers and set up public markets where producers can sell this directly to consumers; and ■ Open the importation of sugar to direct users to moderate cost to consumers.

Remittances, BPO receipts

GUINIGUNDO also said the BSP expects the local currency to appreciate toward the end of the year, as remittances and business-process outsourcing (BPO) receipts back the local currency.

“We also expect that for the rest

10% The passing rate maintained by the government for the economic internal rate of return for major projects

cept for some fallen trees.

The experience of the country with typhoons, Dizon said, only highlights the importance of sustainable development, particularly of cities.

He said Clark is very fortunate with its location since it is elevated and is surrounded by mountain ranges which protect it from typhoons.

“We have to look at those future developments and start planning because these weather disturbances are not going to get any weaker, they will get stronger and stronger,” Dizon said.

EIRR rates passed

F AST-TRACKING the government’s infrastructure push, Pernia said, does not mean that the government is willing to sacrifice quality for quantity.

Pernia said the government still maintains a 10-percent passing rate for the economic internal rate of return (EIRR), which many of the projects have successfully passed and exceeded.

He said the Mindanao Railway, for example, has an EIRR of 12.2 percent, while the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge has 16.1 percent and the New Cebu International Container Port, 20.1 percent.

Pernia added that the Panguil Bay Bridge Project, which aims to connect Tangub City in Misamis Occidental and Tubod in Lanao del Norte, has an EIRR of 21.4 percent and the Clark International Airport Expansion project has an EIRR of 20.6 percent.

“These infrastructure projects will be funded with the best possible funding sources, or an optimal mix of financing from public and private sources, besides official development assistance,” Pernia added.

of the year overseas remittances, as well as BPOs, will be coming in a bigger way. This is the holiday season so you would expect that the exchange rate will start shaping up,” Guinigundo said.

“As you know, for every 1-percentage point depreciation we will see a 0.06-percentage point increase in inflation. And, so far, the exchange rate has been doing at around 8 percent year-to-date.

So that will be about 0.48 percentage points,” he added.

BSP officials earlier said that should the rice tariffication bill get passed into law, it would effectively bring down inflation by 0.2 percentage points for 2018 and as high as 0.6 percentage points in 2019. Rice is one of the more heavily weighted items in the Philippines’s consumer price index (CPI) basket.

Inflation in August hit a 9-year high of 6.4 percent, bringing the 8-month average inflation to 4.8 percent.

In the August monetary policy meeting, the BSP announced that it expects inflation to hit an average of 4.9 percent for 2018. For 2019 the BSP forecasts inflation to go down to 3.7 percent.

The monetary board is expected to have its next monetary policy meeting on September 27.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

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SMC formally submits to DOTr proposal for New Manila Airport in Bulacan

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

IVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) submitted to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Monday its revised unsolicited proposal for the construction of the New Manila Airport in Bulacan, a transport official said on Tuesday.

Transport Undersecretary Ruben S. Reinoso Jr. said his group is currently in the process of review-

ing the amended proposal, which was first flagged by the National Economic and Development Au-

thority (Neda) and the Department of Finance (DOF) earlier this year.

“Most of the issues discussed are provisions on what constitutes material adverse government action, what constitutes change in law to warrant compensation by the government to the private sector, and the determination of payment in case of fault of either party—those are the three major issues discussed based on certain agreements,” he said on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) headquarters on Tuesday.

He said the evaluation may take

days to finish, as the documents sent were “thick.”

“We cannot simply scan it because every comma, period, matters a lot. These things can be sources of legal tussles,” Reinoso explained.

He added the first proposal’s language was “very broad.”

“So we wanted to be more specific. We wanted more details, because if the language is broad, sometimes, it becomes subject to dispute in the future,” Reinoso said.

Officials of the transport department will meet with executives from SMC on Monday to discuss the revised proposal.

“As soon as we are able to agree on the concession agreement, it will be submitted to the Neda Investment Coordination Committee for confirmation,” Reinoso said.

Concurrently, the department is now “drafting” the Swiss challenge for the unsolicited proposal.

“We hope to finish this by yearend so hopefully proponent will be granted approval or awarded contract early next year or later this year,” Reinoso said.

In a nutshell, a Swiss challenge is the process of seeking competitive bids to challenge the unsolicited proposal. The original proponent will then have the right to

match or submit a counteroffer to win the project.

Under its proposal, SMC wants to spend P735 billion to develop the Bulacan International Airport, envisioned as a 2,500-hectare airport complex that will have a total capacity of 100 million passengers annually.

It also has a provision for the construction of an 8.4-kilometer airport toll road, and a four-to-six runway design.

The proposal also included the construction of a sea port, an industrial zone and expressways.

SMC’s proposed concession period is 50 years.

AGI plans to spend ₧240-B capital expenditures through 2020

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LLIANCE Global Group Inc. (AGI), the holding firm of businessman Andrew L. Tan, on Tuesday said it will spend P240 billion in capital expenditures (capex) over the next three years or through 2020.

“We are mindful of the current domestic and global economic developments, but we remain cognizant of the vast opportunities in the market; hence, our continued aggressive capital spending,” said Kevin L. Tan, the company’s CEO.

He said the amount will be used to expand its businesses, from property development to liquor to gambling and resort facilities.

The spending is an average rate for the company as it usually spends between P70 billion

and P80 billion in capex per year.

The company’s newly formed subsidiary, Infracorp Development Inc., which the younger Tan also heads, is set to undertake rail infrastructure projects mostly going to their own property such as the

monorail that connects the MRT station in Guadalupe, Makati, to its Uptown development near Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Infracorp, through parent AGI, is also part of the super consortium that proposed to rehabilitate and

upgrade the existing Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The P102billion project, which recently secured an original proponent status, is looking to start the airport modernization work as early as the middle of next year. VG Cabuag

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Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Companies BusinessMirror

PetroSolar gets BOI okay for Tarlac solar project

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

ETROSOLAR Corp. (PetroSolar) has secured from the Board of Investments (BOI) a Certificate of Registration for its 20-megawatt (MW) Tarlac-2 Solar Power Project located in Central Technopark, Tarlac City.

which will see our solar-asset increase in capacity from 50 MW to 70 MW, PetroSolar President Milagros Reyes said.

The BOI certificate was awarded on September 17.

PetroSolar, a joint venture of PetroGreen Energ y Corp. and EEI Power Corp., owns and operates the 50-MW Tarlac-1 solar plant, which started commercial operations in February 2016 as one of the early qualifiers in the gover nment’s solar feedin-tariff program. PGEC is the renewable-energy holding unit of publicly listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

“Despite the current regulatory

and market uncertainties, PGEC is pushing through with its calibrated expansion of renewable-energy assets in key locations to reach our goal of about 200 MW to 400 MW installed capacity in two to four years,” PGEC Vice President Francisco Delfin Jr. said.

PGEC’s power production comes from three renewable-energ y plants—the 20-MW Maibarara-1 geothermal plant in Santo Tomas, Batangas; the 36-MW Nabas-1 wind project in Aklan; and the 50-MW Tarlac-1 solar facility in Tarlac City.

PGEC currently supplies 8.4 percent of wind power and 5.94 percent of solar capacities in the country.

“With the BOI’s award of the incentives registration for our Tarlac-2 project, PetroSolar is closer to securing the Confirmation of

Commerciality from the Department of Energy [DOE] needed for project construction to begin. We are excited by this new investment,

The Medical City appoints new chairman, CEO

Dubai firm interested to partner with PNOC to build PHL’s LNG hub

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HE Medical City (TMC) announced on September 17 the appointment of Jose Xavier B. Gonzales as its chairman and Dr. Eugenio Jose F. Ramos as its CEO effective immediately. The appointments follow a special stockholder meeting held on September 13, 2018 in accordance with TMC’s bylaws, where 230 shareholders representing 74 percent of the shareholdings in TMC were present. A vote was held to elect a new board of directors and CEO for 2018-2019.

Six doctors were among the newly elected board of directors, including Dr. Augusto P. Sarmiento (chairman of the previous board), Dr. Eugenio Jose F. Ramos, Dr. Ruben Kasala, Dr. Rafael Claudio, Dr. Cenon Alfonso and Dr. Daniel Alonzo.

Major shareholders Clermont Group, Fountel, Lombard and the Religious of the Virgin Mary are also represented in the board. Sarmiento, one of the two surviving founders of TMC, has been conferred chairman emeritus.

Gonzales, the incoming chairman, is a seasoned corporate leader and business owner who has served as the treasurer and a director for TMC for 19 years. Prior to joining TMC, he held senior management positions in companies across a range of industries in the Philippines where he played a key role in transforming and growing the companies he has worked with and owned. He helped facilitate the generous donation by the Lopez Group of the land on which TMC and Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health stand.

Ramos, TMC CEO, is an esteemed member of the Philippine medical community and had served as national president of the Philippine College of Physicians. He has been a practicing internist-cardiologist in TMC since 1987. He received his MBA from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in 2008. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he was the SVP of the Medical Services Group of TMIC and has served as director of the various boards of the TMC enterprise. He has been the CEO of TMC Iloilo since 2013. He brings into his new position a strong understanding of the future of health care and the nature of patient-centered care.

Sarmiento said, “I would like to thank the outgoing board members for their service and commitment to the growth and prosperity of TMC. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Alfredo Bengzon for the time and devotion he has given to TMC over the past 50 years.”

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LOYDS Energy Group of Dubai has expressed interest to submit soon a solicited proposal to the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) for a partnership to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub in the country.

“Officials of Lloyds Energy, including Chief Operating Officer David Howe and Executive Director Brett Wight, recently met with PNOC President Reuben Lista, to express Lloyds Energy’s interest to pursue several major projects with the PNOC to enhance and strengthen their relations through the establishment of joint venture agreements and maximize the potential of their expertise and capabilities to develop the LNG industry in the Philippines,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

Lloyds Energy said it would join the solicited process recently announced by PNOC in choosing a partner for its planned LNG project.

PNOC earlier said that under the solicited scheme, it would open the tender to foreign and local firms, starting with the prequalification tender schedule within the month, with the selection streamlined to ensure the project will reach commercial operation before the end of the service contract for the Malampaya gas consortium in 2024.

Lloyds Energy, together with China Kaicheng Energy Ltd., has a proposal for the development and

construction of an integrated LNG hub with storage, liquefaction, regasification and distribution facility, as well as a power plant capacity of 80 megawatts to 200 MW. Aside from the LNG Project, Lloyds Energy will also pursue other projects with the PNOC particularly in the development of LNG facilities, oil reserves and the training of Filipino manpower for work in LNG industries in the Philippines and overseas. “We believe in the vision of the PNOC under the leadership of President Lista to invest not only in the development and construction of LNG facilities but also in the training of Filipino workers to improve their skills and abilities and contribute to the growth of the LNG industry in the Philippines,” Wight said.

When sought for comment, Lista said in a text message that there is no formal proposal yet submitted

by Lloyds Energy since the Asian Development Bank and PNOC are still formulating the guidelines for the solicited scheme.

“Lloyds and the rest.… There are no official communications yet.

There were just calls and visits. I understand Lloyds submitted a formal one to the Department of Energy [DOE],” Lista said.

The DOE is the agency that will issue permits for LNG, Lista said. Separately, under the DOE’s Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Regulation policy, at least 15 firms have ex-

pressed interest to develop their respective LNG facilities in the country.

The key features of the LNG project under the PNOC’s solicited scheme are the following: n Minimum capacity of three metric tons per annum, equivalent to 3,000 MW to cover existing immediate needs with future increase to five MPTA. n Phased development to cope with future market developments. n Flexibility to allow Floating Storage and Regasification Unit in the first phase, but eventually, the terminal will be land-based as demand increase and to ensure greater security. n Implemented as a joint-venture with PNOC to ensure public oversight of the project development and operation. n PNOC would make site available in the Batangas area.

The LNG project is estimated to reach anywhere from $600 million to $1.4 billion.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the tender process will be accomplished in six months, with start of construction to take immediately thereafter.

The PNOC said the solicited scheme will ensure the widest possible competition and achieve the lowest price for the country. It will also ensure that the construction is on time, on the right specifications and at the right price for the country. Lenie Lectura

W.F.M.A. SIGNS ACCORD WITH FORTUNE LIFE, ETERNAL PLANS World Financial Marketing Alliance (WFMA) entered into an

agreement with Fortune Life Insurance Corp. and Eternal Plans Inc. for it to offer the insurance and preneed products of the two companies. WFMA is a Philippine-based financial services organization that offers various financial products through its affiliate companies. With the agreement, Fortune Life and Eternal Plans products are among those the WFMA will be offering to the market. Photographed at the recent signing are executives of the three companies, namely (from left): Evelyn T. Carada, Fortune Life executive vice president and general manager; Shiela Roxas, WFMA chairman; Elmer M. Lorica, Eternal Plans president and chief operating officer; Marydoll L. Rapirap, WFMA president; Mark Albert E. C. Ampil, Fortune Life senior vice president for Marketing and Sales; and Rolando B. Bongalon, Eternal Plans senior assistant vice president for Sales and Marketing.

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briefs

CLARK MARRIOTT HOTEL HOLDS GRAND OPENING

THE first five-star hotel in the Clark Freeport is now open to the public after its grand opening on Friday. Clark Marriott Hotel, owned by Widus Philippines Inc., is strategically located at this free port, making it the perfect destination for business meetings, celebrations or one’s simplest needs.

Set in the heart of this freeport amid a flourishing urban development, the Clark Marriott Hotel is only 2.6 kilometers from the Clark International Airport or five to 10 minutes away by car and within the central business district, providing easy access to major corporate businesses, government entities and well-known city landmarks.

Ashley Manabat

HYUNDAI SALES DOWN 8.7% IN AUGUST

HYUNDAI Asia Resources Inc. has yet to recover from its slow performance this year, as the firm’s sales declined 8.7 percent in August. In a sales report on Tuesday, Hari reported it sold 2,987 vehicles in August, from 3,273 units during the same month last year. The slowdown was largely due to the double-digit slump in its passenger car (PC) sales.

Total PC sales went down 31.8 percent to 1,448 units, from 2,122 units last year. All brands in the PC segment—Eon, Accent and Elantra—recorded sales declines. Elijah Felice E. Rosales

CEBU PACIFIC RESTARTS OPERATIONS AT TUGUEGARAO AIRPORT TO AID IN OMPONG RELIEF

THE Philippines’s leading airline, Cebu Pacific, resumed operations at the Tuguegarao Airport on Tuesday, September 18, to aid in relief efforts following the damage wrought by Typhoon Ompong. Cebu Pacific, through its wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo, initially mounted one round-trip flight from Manila on September 18 (Tuesday). Another recovery flight, DG 6006, will be mounted for September 19, with estimated time of departure from Manila at 8:05 a.m., and estimated time of arrival in Tuguegarao at 9:25 a.m.; DG 6007 is scheduled to depart Tuguegarao at 9:55 a.m. and is expected to land in Manila at 11:15 a.m.

MUTUAL FUNDS

September 18, 2018

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 251.7 -10.8% -0.43% 1.55% -14.15% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.4347 -13.6% 4.29% 2.36% -10.15% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.9199 -11.59% 1.35% 0.27% -14.65% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8941 -11.13% N.A. N.A. -12.08% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.8265 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.1911 -9.36% -1.06% 0.72% -13.67% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 115.09 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8314 -14.49% N.A. N.A. -16.25% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 49.0325 -9.41% 0.63% N.A. -13.05% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 509.9 -10.28% -0.71% 0.2% -13.35% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.2525 -7.8% 1.17% N.A. -10.81% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 36.503 -7.02% 1.57% 3.3% -11.17% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.9347 -9.15% 1.37% 3.33% -13.03% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 823.61 -9.31% 1.09% 3.04% -12.91% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.851 -8.93% -1.4% N.A. -12% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 4.0584 -8.03% 0.97% 1.92% -11.39% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.9501 -9.25% 1.21% N.A. -13.1% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.5015 -5.09% 2.33% 1.78% -10.08% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* *** 110.0888 -8.41% 2.3% N.A. -12.6% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $1.0055 -4.63% 4.41% 0.94% -9.28% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.298 8.27% N.A. N.A. 2.59% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.6531 -9.06% -2.84% -1.62% -11.29% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.2142 -8.06% 0.49% 0.54% -9.88% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.5172 -6.66% -2.75% -2.16% -9.12% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.3165 -7.81% N.A. N.A. -9.51% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.8361 -5.1% 0.22% 0.51% -7.85% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.5195 -8.33% -1.27% -0.49% -10.17% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.7416 -8.82% -1.41% -0.54% -10.34% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 2.055 -6.19% 0.32% 2.17% -8.34% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.6542 -6.08% -0.27% 0.65% -8.56% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.9349 -5.92% -0.41% N.A. -8.37% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03509 -2.85% -0.25% 2.57% -2.8% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9739 -4.37% 3.39% -0.65% -6.98% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.6732 4.45% 5.65% 3.76% 0.57% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0926 -0.17% N.A. N.A. -1.76% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.23 1.58% 1.8% 1.63% 1.22% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8564 -2.18% -1.13% -0.32% -1.9% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9301 5.48% 5.35% 5.33% 3.83% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1193 0% 1.08% 1.06% 0.81% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2174 -0.02% 0% 0.18% 0.05% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5798 -1.62% -1.56% -1.51% -1.85% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8959 -5.04% -1.48% -0.71% -3.8% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4673 -0.54% -0.45% -0.02% -1.07% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8909 -4.62% -1.83% N.A. -3.5% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.7656 0.08% 0.14% 0.33% -0.41% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5349 -0.62% -0.25% -0.32% -0.96% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $445.07 0.12% 2.28% 3.23% -0.2% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.18 0.46% 1.38% 1.73% -0.25% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.12 -1.18% 1.1% 2.05% -1.24% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 -1.2% 0.68% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.7008 -4.89% -0.2% 1.7% -3.99% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC* $1.0319 -4.75% -1.13% -2.28% -3.88% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.168 -3.68% 0.93% 3.07% -3.69% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0568606 -0.98% 0.96% 2.15% -0.59% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8947 -4.57% 0.77% 2.26% -3.92% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 119.73 2.26% 1.64% 1.42% 1.8% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1726 1.68% 0.34% 0.36% 1.31% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.207 2.36% 2.11% 1.36% 1.81% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0101 N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.14%

* - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE.

**** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.).

***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

B3

Moody’s paints rosy long-term Filipinas in Global Network outlook for Philippine banks

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By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Philippine banking system is gearing up for robust growth in the next decade, international credit watcher Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday, owing largely to the country’s favorable population mix and rising per-capita income.

In its most recent review on Asia-Pacific banks, Moody’s said the Philippine banking system is one of those that are looking to benefit from rapid and divergent demographic changes.

“Over the next decade, of the 17 banking systems in Asia Pacific, banks in Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, in particular, will face challenges from the effects of shrinking prime-age populations and declining proportions of working people,” Moody’s Senior Vice President Christine Kuo said.

“By contrast, banks in India, Indonesia and the Philippines will see growth opportunities in the same period from the effects of rapidly growing prime-age populations and increasing proportions of working people,” Kuo added.

The credit watcher said these countries with favorable demographic trends will benefit banks most when accompanied by income growth and technological advancements.

“Countries where income is growing fast

along with prime-age populations while dependency ratios are declining will benefit most from demographic changes. India, Indonesia and the Philippines fit this bill,” Moody’s said.

“For banks in Indonesia and the Philippines, technological advancements will remove a key obstacle to customer acquisitions,” the ratings agency added.

Moody’s expects the Philippines to incur a per-capita GDP (gross domestic product) of around $18,000 by 2030.

For countries with dwindling demographic dividends, the shrinking number of prima-age population is expected to translate to smaller core customer base and will hurt bank profits, a credit-negative development.

“In aging markets, pricing competition among banks will intensify as some banks offer more attractive interest rates or fees to lure new customers from competitors. This will pressure overall profit margins for the sector,” Moody’s said.

In addition, in aging markets, economic growth will slow, which will be detrimental to bank profit, it added.

BIR clarifies revenue rules for imposing deficiency interest, delinquency interest

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HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued a revenue regulation (RR) clarifying when the imposition of a deficiency interest shall be made as well as that of a delinquency interest, in order to avoid a double imposition of interest payments.

In BIR RR 21-2018, the bureau clarified that the imposition of the deficiency interest, and the delinquency interest shall not be done simultaneously.

“The TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion] law kept the deficiency and delinquency interest. Before it was on top of each

other, there were instances of double imposition,” BIR Spokesman Marissa O. Cabreros told financial reporters at the House of Representatives on Monday.

The TRAIN law reduced the deficiency interest to 12 percent from 20 percent, with the reduction of the rate in line with delinquency interest being the same.

“When we compute for the interest, the delinquency computation is different from the deficiency interest. So the RR was made with an illustration to show how it is going to be computed because the deficiency interest is different from

the delinquency interest,” she added.

Cabreros explained that when a taxpayer gets assessed, the person is given a final assessment notice, which he or she has 30 days to protest. If the person does not protest, it ripens as a final executory assessment and the BIR will send a collection letter. If the taxpayer ignores the collection letter within 30 days, it then becomes a delinquent account, where it becomes a nonpayment issue.

A deficiency interest, on the other hand, is imposed when a taxpayer has been assessed as having a deficiency in his or her voluntary declaration of taxes. Rea Cu

“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”

—Madam C J Walker First Female Self-made Millionaire in America “We must value our heritage for its intrinsic qualities, instead of pining for the measures of excellence of other societies.” ­—Elena Mangahas Chairman Filipina Women’s Network

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HE world has become a borderless community.

The Filipinas of today have made their own footprints in their respective endeavors in different parts of the world. While there are international organizations that cater to global women leaders, there is one world-wide organization that specifically caters to Filipino women leaders, the Filipina Women’s Network (FWN).

A San Francisco-based international advocacy organization, the FWN seeks to increase the power and influence of Filipina women as leaders and policy-makers at all levels in corporate, government, institutions and community organizations to achieve economic and social justice and uphold women’s rights. With members in 25 countries, FWN provides the content, credibility and a worldwide network to support the success of Filipina women in their businesses and careers.

FWN advocates for Filipina women’s rights in the global workplace. It has programs and activities that enhance public perceptions of Filipina women’s capacities to lead and to build the Filipina community’s pipeline of qualified leaders, to increase the odds that some Filipina women will rise to the president position in the private and public sectors worldwide. The organization gives awards annually in keeping with FWN’s Vision 2020—A Filipina woman leader in every sector of the global economy.

Since the launch of FWN100 Award in the United States in 2006, many Filipinas have reached the pinnacle of their careers at the C-suite level. To cite a few—California Chief Justice Tani Gorre CantilSakauye, HealthNet CEO Cora Manase Tellez, Convergys Corp. Chairman Marife Zamora, Philippine Bank of Communications President and CEO Nina Aguas, now with Insular Life as its Executive Chairman of the Board, Charles Schwab Investments CEO Evelyn Dilsaver, US Air National Guard Chief Diversity Officer and Colonel Shirley Raguindin, Western Union Senior Vice President for East and South

FINEX FREE ENTERPRISE

Dr. Conchita L. Manabat Asia Patricia Riingen, four rear admirals in the US Navy: Connie Mariano, Raquel Cruz Bono, Eleanor Valentin and Babette Bolivar. There are many more amazing Filipina women, not enough space to list.

There are those who have not reached the C-suite level yet but they are emerging leaders and community advocates who have been recognized for their outstanding work.

Part of the undertakings of those outstanding women is to femtor (female mentoring) a young Filipina woman so the number of Filipina global leaders could double. FWN aims to make young Filipinas to aspire. In the process, a new breed of Filipinas will emerge that will participate in building the future of our society, femtor next-generation leaders, and partner in developing strategies on how to include Filipina voices in global policy and decisions being made at the top public and private leadership tables.

From September 12 to 16, FWN held its 15th Filipina Leadership Global Summit at Saint Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London, UK. The summit was led by community leaders, industry experts, entrepreneurs and practitioners. As expected, new learnings were gained on leadership effectiveness.

May the Filipina network of influential women leaders and policy-makers advocating for economic and social justice and women’s rights thrive!

Dr. Conchita L. Manabat is the president of the Development Center for Finance, a joint undertaking between Finex Foundation and the UP Virata School of Business. A past president of Finex and past chairman of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes (IAFEI), she serves as the chairman of the Advisory Council of the said organization. She is also a member of the Consultative Advisory Groups (CAGs) of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA).

She can be reached at clm@clmanabat.com.

B4 Wednesday, September 19, 2018

DBP EXTENDS P2-B ASSISTANCE FOR RELENDING TO UNIFORMED PERSONNEL

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TATE-OWNED Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has granted a P2billion credit line to one of the largest cooperatives in the country for relending to its members mainly composed of the military, a top official said.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia C. Borromeo said the bank’s loan assistance to the Philippine Army Finance Center

Producers Integrated Cooperative (PAFCPIC) aims to broaden support to small borrowers, like soldiers and micro-entrepreneurs, who wish to have their own business or expand their operations.

“Through this P2-billion revolving credit line, PAFCPIC will be able to augment its working capital and enable it to grant more loans to its eligible borrowers,” Borromeo said.

PAFCPIC is the second-largest cooperative in Metro Manila and was founded in 1981 by employees of the Philippine Army Finance Center, an institution that handles the payroll and other financial matters of the Philippine Army.

The cooperative was initially created to support agriculture activities of its members, but has diversified into other types of lending, such as salary, multipurpose and business loans to its more than 120,000 members.

Borromeo (fourth from left) shakes hands with PAFCPIC chairman Francisco Paredes after signing a P2-billion loan agreement at ceremonies held on July 26 in Taguig City.

The DBP credit line will be used in relending to eligible borrowers of the cooperative, majority of which are in the military. Also in photo are (from left): PAFCPIC Vice President for Cooperative Planning retired Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad, PAFCPIC President Fernando Zabat, DBP Executive Vice President Anthony Robles and DBP Senior Vice President Lilia Baun.

PAG-IBIG FUND H1 NET INCOME GROWS 20%

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OMEDevelopmentMutualFund(Pag-IBIG Fund) earned P16.09 billion for the first half of this year, up by 20 percent from same period last year. The six-month revenue breached Pag-IBIG’s half-year target, boosted by its good home lending performance.

Over P32.71 billion worth of housing loans were released in the first half of 2018, a 13 percent, or almost P4 billion, increase compared to similar period last year. This translates to 40,094 families served by Pag-IBIG Fund from January to June this year, 11 percent more than the 36,139 families

served in the first half of last year.

“Pag-IBIG Fund is on track not only in carrying out their mandate to provide shelter financing for our Filipino workers, but also in following President Duterte’s directive to provide for the unserved and underserved sectors. I am happy to know that 32 percent of the number of units that Pag-IBIG Fund has financed in the first half of the year are under the socialized housing program,” Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Eduardo D. del Rosario said.

Complementing its housing mandate, Pag-IBIG

Fund also performed well in promoting savings among its members. For the first half of 2018, PagIBIG members saved P18.46 billion, up by 4 percent from the P17.69 billion of the first six months of 2017.

In the first half of 2018 alone, MP2 savings collections amountedtoP1.57billion,exceedingtheP1.30-billion total MP2 collections last year.

“Wearehittingthetargetswehavesetforthefirst two quarters, so I’m positive that we can accomplish our goal for the year and exceed what we have achieved last year,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said.

SECOND SM STORE IN BICOLANDIA (top) Legazpi City Mayor Noel E. Rosal (second from left), Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda of the Second District of Albay (third from left), Albay Province Governor Al Francis C. Bichara (fourth from left), Albay Province Vice Governor Harold O. Imperial (fourth from right), Legaspi City Vice Mayor Robert Oscar Cristobal (third from right) and Bishop of Legaspi City Most Rev. Joel Baylon (center) were the guests of honor in the blessing of SM City Legazpi. They are joined by SM Chairman for Executive Committee Hans T. Sy (left), SM Prime Holdings President Jeffrey Lim (second from right) and SM Markets Vice Chairman Herbert T. Sy (right). Envisioned to be the Bicol Region’s newest lifestyle destination, the 87,706-square-meter mall is SM Prime’s 71st supermall and the second in Bicolandia after SM City Naga. It will serve customers in Legazpi, which is known as the “City of Fun and Adventure”, and the rest of the province of Albay.

FORTINET NAMES PHILIPPINE COUNTRY MANAGER

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ORTINET (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cyber-security solutions, appoints Mario Luis Castaneda (in photo) to lead Fortinet Philippines as country manager. Castaneda has three decades of experience in the IT industry and will take charge of Fortinet’s overall business operations, growing market share in the Philippines.

Prior to Fortinet, Castaneda has worked in senior sales and channel management roles in global technology

companies, like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Fujitsu. He was also the country manager of Cisco Philippines. A licensed electronics engineer, Castaneda has engaged in systems and network engineering, IT planning and design, presales and technical consulting earlier in his career.

New and more advanced threats are emerging every day. From the Internet of Things to Cloud, enterprises need an architecture that can integrate, synchronize and automate cyber defences across the entire organization. Fortinet’s Security Fabric architecture foundation enables the vendor to deliver a broad portfolio of advanced solutions to organizations, helping businesses secure their networks and gain competitive advantage.

“This is an exciting time to join Fortinet,” Castaneda says. “In the Philippines and globally, there are tremendous opportunities to drive greater cybersecurity demand and adoption with the unique value propositions offered by our Security Fabric.”

“Governments and enterprises across the region are waking up to the importance of cybersecurity and are heeding the call for digital and security transformation,” says Peerapong Jongvibool, Fortinet regional director for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. “I am confident that Louie, with his rich industry experience, can lead his team to help customers revolutionize their networks and better defend themselves against advanced threats.”

Castaneda graduated from the Don Bosco Technical College with a degree in electronics and communications engineering, and also completed the academic requirements for his Master of Business Administration degree at De La Salle University.

HYPE AWARDS TOP DRIVERS AS IT GOES FULL SWING IN OPERATIONS

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YPE Transport Systems Inc., one of the newest all Filipino ride-hailing platforms, recently awarded 29 of its top-performing riders at the Hype transport hub in Mandaluyong; as it goes full swing in its operations to serve the riding public.

These top drivers completed the most number of trips and have taken great effort to provide the safest and most convenient passenger experience, since the app went full blast mid-August of this year. For their efforts, each driver received a basket of groceries, one sack of rice and two mobile phones for their personal use; aand was awarded by no less than Hype Transport Systems Inc. President Nicanor Escalante.

Escalante said, “We are proud to say that, as the Filipino riding public has begun to support Hype, more and more of our drivers—both TNVS and taxi cabs—will continue to enjoy more and more earnings by using the app, and will most definitely enjoy more surprises from us and our partners.”

The awardees were pleasantly surprised since they did not expect the gifts. “Nagulat ako talaga, kasi di naman naannounce na may ganitong pa-contest para sa mga driver ng Hype,” said Ubaldo Evangelista, one of the driver-awardees who is, in fact, one of the Hype pioneer driver-partners. When asked how he was able to become an awardee, Evangelista said that he simply followed followed his formula for success: Dedication to his line of work, love for the passengers and respect for all.

Said by Alberto Ganara, another awardee who started with Hype last July, “Maganda po ang sistema ng Hype, at fair po [ito] sa aming mga driver at syempre sa mga pasahero. Itong naiuwi ko, papakita ko sa kanila [other drivers] para naman ganahan sila.”

Both intimated that, because of Hype, they were on the average able to bring home an extra P550 due to the smaller percentage per trip that Hype gets as commission versus others.

In photo are (from left) Escalante, and driver-awardees Ganara and Evangelista.

Sports

By Samuel Petrequin

P

The Associated Press

ARIS—When Lance Armstrong won the last of his seven Tour de France titles back in 2005, there was not a single British rider on the starting line. The face of cycling has dramatically changed since, with Armstrong erased from the records books for doping and British cycling now ruling the Grands Tours.

Simon Yates capped a fantastic year for British riders on Sunday by winning the Spanish Vuelta, completing a clean sweep of cycling’s biggest races for the country following the successes of Chris Froome at the Giro d’Italia and Geraint Thomas at the Tour de France.

It is the first time in cycling history that each of the three titles have been held by three riders from the same nation.

“It’s astonishing really. Growing up I was so accustomed to seeing the French, Italian and Spanish riders lead the way, so for myself, Chris and Geraint to all win a Grand Tour in the same year just shows how far the sport has come in this country,” the 26-year-old Yates said.

“It has not happened by accident.”

Like Thomas, Yates is a pure product of British cycling, having joined the country’s renowned academy program when he was 18 years old. At the time, Britain had already started its cycling revolution under the helm of coaches Dave Brailsford and Peter Keen, who masterminded the rise of homegrown talents, on both the track and the road.

The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona were a milestone in British cycling history. In Spain, Chris Boardman, who was coached by Keen, won the gold medal in the individual pursuit, Britain’s first cycling gold medal in 72 years. From 1997 to 2004 Keen was in charge of the elite performance program of the British cycling federation and developed a plan focusing on track cycling to attract funding from the National Lottery, which had just started to invest millions of dollars into British sport federations.

“Britain has invested heavily in lower ranks,” said Brailsford, who runs Team Sky. “It does not happen overnight.”

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Jason Queally won the gold medal in the 1-kilometer time trial and the harvest of track medals expanded in Athens and Beijing under Brailsford’s leadership. But successes on the road remained scarce despite the emergence of a talented generation of riders including Mark Cavendish and Thomas, who developed their skills through the academy program run by Rod Ellingworth.

In 2009 Bradley Wiggins achieved a fourth-place finish at the Tour—he was later awarded third place after Armstrong’s disqualification—while riding for Garmin. He became an obvious choice for the newly created Team Sky that Brailsford helped to create and then managed, and was recruited as the team’s leader.

With his “marginal gains” philosophy and unmatched budget, Brailsford produced the first British Tour de France winner in 2012 with Wiggins, just a year after Cavendish became world champion at the road race championships.

Success has not stopped since.

“There were no British winners in any of the first 259 Grand Tours, yet following Yates’s victory in Madrid this weekend a British rider has now been victorious in nine of the last 20,” read a British Cycling statement after Yates won the Vuelta.

This year’s British dominance has, however, been met with skepticism outside the country after Froome returned an abnormal doping test at last year’s Vuelta.

Froome was cleared to compete at the Tour de France just days before the race started but was subjected to abuse by some fans on the roads of France, repeatedly spat at and even punched.

Thomas was also booed and jeered this year because he rides for Team Sky, which has been accused by a British parliamentary committee of crossing an “ethical line” after preaching zero tolerance and is now often associated with doping. In March the British legislators said they received evidence showing Team Sky sought a therapeutic use exemption for Wiggins to take a banned corticosteroid to enhance his performance while preparing to win the 2012 Tour.

Yates, who competes for the Mitchelton-Scott team, was suspended for four months for non-intentional doping two years ago after testing positive for a banned substance during Paris-Nice. He had been treated for asthma, but his team failed to apply for a therapeutic use exemption.

BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, September 19, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SIMON YATES is a pure product of British cycling, having joined the country’s renowned academy program when he was 18 years old. AP

YATES, THOMAS, FROOME, AND COUNTING...

Osaka watches sumo match, and she likes it

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OKYO—Naomi Osaka showed how deep her Japanese roots run: She went to watch Japan’s national sport of sumo and said she liked it.

Osaka is in Tokyo this week to play in the Pan Pacific Open, just a week after she won the US Open to become the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Osaka was born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother. She has spent most of her life in the United States and lives in Florida, but is sure to represent Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I thought it was really cool because they’re so flexible and they’re also very strong,” Osaka said on Monday at the Pan Pacific Open.

“During one match, he kept slapping the other guy. So I thought it was really fun to watch.”

Osaka is seeded third in Tokyo and had a bye in the first round. She is the subject of intense interest by Japanese reporters.

She fields questions in English but understands most questions posed to her in Japanese.

Two years ago she lost in the final to Caroline Wozniacki, who is the top-seeded player this year.

“I’ve played a lot more matches between then and now,” Osaka said.

“And I think it even shows that I’m a little bit more mature now. So, I mean, of course, having experience helps.”

She also added that “being more confident in yourself” also helps.

Osaka is suddenly on track to become one of the highest-earning female athletes on Earth, taking advantage of roots in Asia, deeppocketed Japanese companies, and a down-to-earth manner that makes her quickly likable.

Last week Osaka signed a three-year contract with Japanese carmaker Nissan—no financial details were offered—and she is reportedly close to landing a large deal with Adidas, perhaps in the range of $10 million.

The US Open title was worth $3.8 million in prize money.

Osaka also has deals with Japanese sporting goods company Yonex, noodle maker Nissin Foods, Citizen Watch and Japanese satellite broadcaster Wowow. AP

HAMILTON HAS 5TH TITLE IN SIGHT S

INGAPORE—Lewis Hamilton sounds unsure of just one thing: whether Ferrari can bounce back after he dealt another crushing blow to Sebastian Vettel’s title hopes.

Hamilton was imperious at the Singapore Grand Prix, securing one of the best pole positions of his Formula One (F1) career with an astonishing drive in qualifying on Saturday and then controlling Sunday’s race perfectly.

It all went so smoothly for Mercedes as Hamilton moved 40 points ahead of Vettel with six races left in

the season. But for Ferrari, it was yet another weekend on the back foot.

“We’re not overconfident, we’re diligent. We just want to keep hammering as hard as we can,” Hamilton after Sunday’s win, still sounding elated long after his victory. “If [Ferrari] have got an answer to that, we don’t mind that, we like that battle. If they don’t, we also don’t mind that.”

These are big “Ifs” for a Ferrari team lurching into crisis after a strong start—as Vettel won the first two races and

four of the first 10. They were neck and neck heading into the summer, but Hamilton has won four of the past five races despite acknowledging his car is not as quick.

“Ultimately, I think we’re overdelivering,” Hamilton said. “We’ve out-performed a car that’s often slightly better—out-performed them as a team.”

As a driver, too, Hamilton has the edge on Vettel— particularly in terms of composure under pressure.

Both are four-time F1 champions and vying for a fifth win to move level with Argentine Juan

LEWIS HAMILTON’S focus, the way he is talking and his uncanny ability to stay fresh for the races, makes him look good for the title. AP

NAOMI OSAKA is the subject of intense interest by Japanese reporters. AP

Manuel Fangio and within two titles of F1 great Michael Schumacher’s record. But Vettel, who crashed in the rain while leading the German GP in July—where victory would have given him the championship lead—makes mistakes Hamilton simply does not.

During the Singapore GP, Vettel hit a wall during Friday practice and lost valuable track preparation time for qualifying.

It triggered a set of baffling events and poor decisions unbefitting of such a proud team.

His team botched qualifying when a poor strategy call put Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen on the wrong tires. Ferrari compounded that by bringing Vettel in too early for a tire change during Sunday’s race, hoping to gain advantage by preempting Hamilton’s anticipated move. Instead, Vettel lost one place in the race and ended up third, wasting points he cannot afford to lose.

Ferrari’s mistakes this season have started to pile up, while Mercedes is making the right calls and Hamilton is making the most of it.

Hamilton said Vettel’s crash in practice was not Mercedes “lucking in,” but more about the differing approaches of the rival teams.

“I take pride in not putting myself in those positions,” Hamilton said. “The team’s relying on me as his team’s relying on him.

“There’s a lot of pressure on us as drivers, it’s only small percentages and [when] you get wrong it has bigger ramifications.”

While Vettel was again publicly critical of his team following qualifying and the race, Hamilton has faith in Mercedes—to such an extent that he’s now spending far longer in team debriefs than he ever used to.

When he arrived on Sunday night to give his final comments to the media, it was nearing 1 a.m. local time.

Yet, Hamilton was buoyant and seemed galvanized by his intensive leadership role with his engineers.

“I encourage them to ask me questions, and they did. More than ever, the communication has been an addition,” Hamilton said. “We’re going from strength to strength in terms of our understanding of the car.”

It is quite some turnaround from 2016, when Hamilton—who was at odds with Nico Rosberg and lost the drivers’ title to his teammate—was unhappy at certain decisions.

Now all the pressure is in the Ferrari garage.

With six races left, starting in Russia in two weeks’ time, Vettel has to find his best form and hope Hamilton slips up.

Given Hamilton’s focus, the way he is talking, and his uncanny ability to stay fresh for the races, that seems very unlikely.

If anything, Hamilton could well beat Vettel by more than the 46-point margin he did last year.

“I’ve got a few days off, probably doing yoga and training hard Tuesday onward ,” Hamilton said. “The focus has to remain the same, if not more.” AP

Spo

Business

C2 Wednesday, September 19, 2018

AL MENDOZA alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

Donate it, you say?

Fiba unfair

NO less than P32 million were supposed to be pocketed by five Filipino lasses in the just-ended Asian Games.

Golfers Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and LK Go combined for almost P20-million won, with weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and skateboarder Margielyn Didal stashing away nearly P7 million each.

And why the cash bonanza for the Fabulous Five?

Saso, Diaz and Didal won individual golds worth P6 million apiece at the very least, coming both from government and private incentives.

Pagdanganan and Go pocketed their millions from the gold won in women’s team golf.

However, look at this.

Irony is at its puking peak as only Diaz and Didal can savor the effervescence of their millions in the bank.

Saso, Pagdanganan and Go will get—hold your breath—not even a single centavo from their winnings.

Reason? They are amateurs. And amateur golfers are banned from accepting money.

Of all sports, only golf is the last remaining holdout. It has not torn down the ramparts of amateurism: Cash prizes not allowed.

Even the rules governing the sport itself are crafted until now by amateur entities—the USGA of America and the R & A (Royal & Ancient) of Saint Andrews of Scotland. Professionals still bow to them.

So what happened to the millions deservedly belonging to Saso (individual gold and team gold), Pagdanganan (team gold and individual bronze) and Go (team gold)?

Who got their windfall? Their parents?

Good guess. They are still teenagers, you know.

But seemingly, no, if we believe the papers. The kids appear to be merely one-day millionaires.

Look at this.

All three had become instant donors. If we can believe the papers again, they donated their winnings to the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP).

“Their money will be used for golf development,” said their golf officials.

Can you believe that?

Earlier, an elated President Duterte fattened the cash chest of all five gold medal winners with another million bucks each.

Was he informed the money of the three golden girls would go to NGAP’s coffers instead?

No need.

For, between you and me, do you also buy the idea that Saso, Pagdanganan and Go will never receive anything for their golden efforts worth millions?

Are you kidding me?

Tickle me more.

THAT’S IT If you ask me, Fiba (World Basketball Federation) committed a grievous mistake when it ordered the Philippines-Qatar game on Monday be played behind closed doors. (Gilas won, 92-81, for a much-coveted third place in the Fiba qualifiers.) This was an offshoot of Fiba’s seething anger (justified) toward the brawl between the Philippines and Australia in their recent game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Obviously, Fiba’s move to have the PHL-Qatar contest played behind closed doors was by way of “punishing” the Philippines for its part in the melee. No issue on punishment. But, alas, Fiba had sidestepped a crucial truth with that closeddoor thing. That was insane, to say the least, because what Fiba essentially punished for having done that was not our basketball team but the Filipino basketball public, who were unnecessarily deprived to watch the sport they consider their national sport. Actually, Fiba unleashed a double whammy against us by suspending nine Gilas players and two Filipino coaches (correct on this, I must say, though) involved in our fracas with Australia, either directly or indirectly; and, next, by preventing the Filipino fans from watching the Gilas-Qatar game live at the Cubao Big Dome. What could be a crazier Fiba decision than that? Oh, well, move on we must. Under the circumstances, that’s the only sane move available on the shelf.

SWIMMERS, CYCLISTS MAKE PRESENCE FELT

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

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AGUIO CITY—Five swimmers took to the pool unmindful of the chilling water and scooped a third gold medal each, while budding cyclists gave a sample of what they could become in the future in Day Two of the Philippine Sports Commission’s Batang Pinoy National Championships on Tuesday.

A day after bagging the 100-meter butterfly gold, Micaela Jasmin Mojdeh immediately hiked her medal count to four after ruling the 400-meter individual (IM) medley and 50-meter butterfly at the Baguio City Swimming Pool.

The 13-year-old pride of Parañaque City clocked five minutes and 37.7 seconds to beat Lady Samantha Corpuz of La Union (5:45.33) and Thea Diane Canda of General Santos City (5:54.08) in the medley.

With her adrenaline all fired up, Mojdeh annexed the butterfly gold with a time of 30.57 seconds, beating Puerto Prinsesa City’s Maglia Jaye Dignadice City (31.95) and Quendy Fernandez (32.26).

But fatigue finally took its toll on Mojdeh and allowed Roz Encarnacion of Laguna province to win the 200-meter breaststroke by a wide margin.

Encarnacion clocked 2:55.02 to beat Mojdeh, who was timed 2:59.68. The 12-year-old was also victorious in the 12-under 200-meter IM and 50-meter breaststroke to earn three gold medals.

“It’s so cold here. I also had cramps,” Mojdeh explained why she lost her steam in her fourth event.

Also collecting three gold medals were Quezon City’s Althea Baluyot (50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly), Laguna’s Roshanne Biglete (200-meter

backstroke, 50-meter freestyle and 12-under 100-meter freestyle) and Lucena City’s Mervien Jules Mirandilla (boys 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle and 13-15 100-meter butterfly.)

Marc Van Louie Baluyot, who is based in Rome, pedaled to his own nitch in cycling’s circuit race.

The 15-year-old who was born in San Jose, Tarlac, topped the five-lap race over a 2.2-km circuit and in the process sent Joseph Quirino of Malaybalay and Justin Valerio of Pangasinan to second and third place, respectively.

Baluyot is the son of former national team member Villamor Baluyot, who raced in the Tour de Langkawi and Asian Cycling Championships in early-2000.

According to his father, the secondgeneration cyclist wants to engage and gauge his skill against Filipino riders, as he is already primed up against European counterparts.

“He wants to play here. So we really brought him and paid for all the expenses,” the elder Baluyot said.

Baguio City and Pangasinan athletes,

meanwhile, showed savvy by bagging three gold medals each in taekwondo.

Lei Ramon (featherweight) and Rain Ramon (lightweight) topped their respective categories in cadet female kyorugi, while Gabriel Ivan Inacay, Zeik Jhay Ceniza and Zeick Andrei Tacay pocketed the third gold in cadet team poomsae.

Also impressive were Pangasinense Ericka Claudette Edrosolan (middleweight) in cadet female kyorugi and James Oranza, who topped the junior individual male poomsae and the junior pair poomsae with Kristine Roxas.

Laurize Jeanne Wangkay of Laguna clocked 11:29 to rule the secondary girls 2000m walk.

South Cotabato’s Nekie Hope Cabancal(12:01:69) linched the silver and Baguio City’s Yessamin Carbonila (12:20:19) took bronze.

Bohol’s Dian Rysiamie Hurano leaped to 5.45 meters to capture the gold medal in girls long jump. Rea Cristine Rafanan (5:04m) of Pangasinan and Niña Fe Aquilisea (4.91m) of Aklan completed the podium.

MARC VAN LOUIE BALUYOT brings his act from Rome to win a cycling gold medal for Tarlac.

CARDINALS AVOID BLAZERS’ UPSET AX M MAPUA’S Noah Lugo (26) collides with College of Saint Benilde’s Carlo Young. NONOY LACZA

APUA averted an endgame collapse behind Justin Serrano and Laurenz Victoria to beat College of Saint Benilde, 86-83, on Tuesday and stay in the Final Four hunt in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Blowing a 15-point lead and trailing by two points, 70-72, with less than six minutes remaining, Serrano struck with six unanswered points before Victoria hit two huge baskets down the stretch to fend off the Blazers’ late

uprising and lift the Cardinals to their fourth win against eight defeats.

Serrano finished with 12 points while Victoria had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Victoria drew praises from his coach, Atoy Co. “He’s the most senior on the team that’s why I’m giving him all the confidence to shoot and make the plays when we need it,” said Co of Victoria.

It was another heartbreaking defeat by Saint Benilde, which suffered a 65-66 loss to San Sebastian College in a game that saw Justin

Fuel Masters seek solo 4th place against Bolts

P

HOENIX guns for solo fourth place as the Fuel Masters take on the Meralco Bolts at the resumption of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The league took a respite to pave the way

NU, DLSU open title defense

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ATIONAL University (NU) opens its bid for a fourth straight men’s championship, while De La Salle stakes its women’s title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 chess tournament on Wednesday at the University of Santo Tomas’s Quadricentennial Pavilion.

The Bulldogs hope to remain in the throne despite the graduation of last season’s Board 3 gold medalist Fide Master Austin Jacob Literatus and Board 6 silver medalist Neil Conrad Pondoc.

But NU remains formidable for another title run, with reigning three-time Most Valuable Player International Master Paulo Bersamina, last season’s Board 5 silver medallist Christian Magtabog, Robin Ignacio and Rafael Caneda leading the charge.

The Bulldogs finished the tournament with 41.5 points, way ahead of the Green Woodpushers, who ended up with 33.5 points in second place.

De La Salle is expected to face another stiff challenge from Far Eastern University (FEU) in the distaff side. The Lady Woodpushers reclaimed the throne, separated by the Lady Tamaraws by just 2.5 points.

Meanwhile, FEU-Diliman is eyeing to retain the juniors crown.

The Baby Tamaraws emerged victorious last season behind IM and Asian Youth champion Marvin Miciano.

Typhoon Ompong forced the league to postpone the first two rounds over the weekend.

for the national team’s participation in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

With the momentum on their side, the Fuel Masters (3-1 won-lost) try to make it two in a row and break a tie with the Alaska Aces in when they face the skidding Bolts (1-2) at 7 p.m.

Blackwater, meanwhile, hopes to stay clean at 2-0 when it battles winless Northport (0-4) at 4:30 p.m.

Phoenix last saw action last August 31 with a huge 112-82 victory over TNT. Head Coach Louie Alas wants his team to continue its solid start despite a 19-day layoff.

“We’re off to our best start. It’s good thing

that we already compiled wins early in the conference,” Alas said.

“But we’re coming off a long break so I hope that would not be a factor as we look to continue this good run,” Alas added as he banks his trust on import Eugune Phelps and new addition Calvin Abueva.

Matthew Wright is also returning to the team after his tour of duty for Team Pilipinas.

Runner-up in the the last two seasonending conferences, Meralco is looking to find answers after two-consecutive defeats capped by a 72-80 loss to Alaska last August 24.

The Bolts have two-time Best Import Allen Durham, Baser Amer, Cliff Hodge and Chris Newsome to try to turn the luck on their side.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Abap eyes 20 events for 30th SEA Games

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COACH Louis Alas and his wards are coming off a 19-day layoff.

FILIPINO DRIBBLERS SURVIVE QATARI SCARE

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EAM Pilipinas clawed back from a 17-point deficit to turn back Qatar, 92-81, in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Monday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With no one cheering for both teams, the Filipinos survived the Qatari scare by waking up on both ends to keep third place in Group F with a third-running 5-3 won-lost card.

“The big difference was that this team really wanted to win,” Team Pilipinas Head Coach Yeng Guiao said. “It’s also the commitment to defend. They shot well from the three-point line. They gave us a scare.”

The match was played behind closed

doors on Fiba’s orders as punishment for the Philippines in its fight-marred game with Australia.

Japeth Aguilar brushed off the stigma of a one-game suspension with a masterful job inside the paint. The 6-foot-9 Ginebra Gin King scored 16, 11 he made in the second half when the team got into the groove.

Aguilar teamed up with Beau Belga, who, despite his height disadvantage, used his bulk underneath to finish with 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Alex Cabagnot was as efficient with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Qatar’s Mohd Yousuf Mohmmed sank a

A

TENEO, which skipped the recent Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Collegiate Conference to toughen up for the Open, hopes to live up to the promise when the season-ending conference opens Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

The Lady Eagles expect a tough challenge from the rest of the eight-squad field mostly made up of club teams but confident of their chances on a roster built around mainstays Bea de Leon, Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag and the comebacking Kim Gequillana and a slew of new faces plus a new coach.

Oliver Almadro, a five-time mentor of Ateneo’s men’s squad, will now be the man at the helm but hard-pressed to turn the Lady Eagles into one cohesive, fighting unit for the

Gutang’s potential game-winning and buzzerbeating basket nullified.

Interestingly, it was Gutang who willed the Blazers back from a 15-point hole to a 72-70 lead.

It turned out St. Benilde’s last show of force as Serrano and Victoria took charge to seal the deal.

Gutang finished with 22 points, 10 of which came in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Cardinals from slipping to a 7-5 (win-loss) mark.

jumper to make it a 37-20 gap with less than seven minutes to play in the second quarter.

The Qataris continued to hit their long shots for a 52-39 advantage at the half.

Things slowly went sour for the visitors as the locals went on a 28-12 spree in the third quarter and forced their foes to bleed for their shots in the final period.

Mohmmed topscored for Qatar with 26 points and also hauled down 10 rebounds and issued five assists. Nasser Khalifa AlRayes and Tanguy Alban Ngombo each had 17 points for Qatar, which dropped to its sixth loss in eight matches.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

HE Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (Abap) is looking at a 20-event program for the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting next year.

Abap Executive Director Ed Picson said that besides the men and women’s elite, events in juniors and youth will also be included in the program.

“If Malaysia [last year’s host] minimized on the number of events, we will have more. These events are legitimate,” Picson told the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday at the Tapa King Restaurant at the Farmers Plaza in Cubao.

The juniors competitions will be for 15 to 16 years old while the youth is for 17 to 18 years old.

Abap is looking to hold six events for both the men and women’s elite, while the rest will be spread to both the juniors and youth categories.

But Picson said the event will be subject to the approval of the SEA Games Federation Council (SEAGFC) of which Abap is confident of getting the nod. The SEAGFC convenes this November.

“Hopefully it will be approved, but normally, that’s a courtesy to the host (country),” said Picson in the public sports program presented by San Miguel Corp., Tapa King and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

In Kuala Lumpur the hosts limited the boxing competition to six events for the men’s elite, with Eumir Felix Marcial and Filipino-British John Marvin winning gold medals.

The boxing team came short of bringing home a gold in the recent Asian Games in Jakarta as Rogen Ladon settled for a silver, while Carlo Paalam and Marcial clinched bronze medals.

After a brief rest, the team will resume training for its coming campaign in the Tammer Cup in Finland and the World Women’s Championships in New Delhi.

READY TO SOAR AGAIN upcoming tournament that also serves as part of their buildup for the coming University Athletic Association of the Philippines wars.

Tacloban and PetroGazz open hostilities at 4 p.m., on Saturday with BanKo-Perlas and IrigaNavy tangling in the 6 p.m. main encounter.

New recruits setter Jaja Maraguinot, sister of former Ateneo open spiker Jho, and Vanessa Gandler both hope to make an immediate impact for one of the most popular teams in the fold that also boasts of Dani Ravena, Deanna Wong, Jules Samonte,

Bela Peralt and Ponggay Gaston.

Ateneo, backed by Motolite, will be as much tested as the rest of the field in the two-anda-half-month long tournament organized by Sports Vision although Creamline and Pocari-Air Force loom as the teams to beat for their solid, veteran-laden rosters.

The Cool Smashers, for one, are going all out to nail a second championship this year after scoring a breakthrough in the Reinforced Conference with former Ateneo stalwarts and current national team mainstays Alyssa Valdez

and Jia Morado bannering the squad.

Pocari is likewise fielding in an intact lineup led by MVP Myla Pablo, May Ann Pantino, Jeannette Panaga, Iari Yongco, Elaine Kasilag, Angel Antipuesto and Del Palomata, while Adamson-Akari, BanKo-Perlas, Iriga-Navy, PetroGazz and Tacloban have also toughened with key acquisitions during the off-season, guaranteeing a wide open title chase.

BaliPure, which dethroned 2016 champion Pocari in last year’s finals here, is skipping this year’s competition.

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SIAN Games champion Yuka Saso kicks off Pradera Verde’s title-retention bid on Wednesday at the start of the 13th Philippine Airlines Ladies Interclub golf team championships at the Palos Rancho Verdes Golf and Country Club in Davao City.

The 17-year-old FilipinoJapanese will play her first tournament since collecting two gold medals in the recent Asian Games in Jakarta.

“I will enjoy this one, and I think our chances are bright,” said Saso, who set a record 59 points, five-under in stroke play last year.

Pradera Verde made a smashing debut last year in Cebu City, clobbering the field with a record 638 points, 43 points clear of five-time champion Manila Southwoods.

Only two members of that team remain, Saso and Annyka Pineda-Cayabyab, 14-year-old daughter of Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda Cayabyab.

Reinforcing the squad are four Malaysian juniors, a Korean teen based in Angeles City and Rianne Malixi, the youngest at 11 years old.

Pradera Verde captain Norman Sto. Domingo said Saso and Korean Luna Shin will definitely see action in the first round with either Cayabyab or Malixi and one of the Malaysians backing them up.

Except for the Malaysians who were set to arrive later in the day, the rest of the squad played their first practice round on Wednesday.

Southwoods hosts PSA Cup

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

LADIES INTERCLUB ON

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) President Jaime Bautista, wearing a cowboy hat to go with the PAL Ladies Interclub theme “Hoedown at the Rancho,” hits the ceremonial drive launching the 13th edition of the event on Tuesday at Rancho Palos Verdes layout in Davao.

The Malaysians making their debut in the country’s premier ladies’ team event are Ika Nasser, 16; Charlayne Chong, 16; Vinisha Gunaseelan, 16; and Eliza Mae Kho, 17.

Manila Southwoods is coming to the event with a retooled team, infusing new blood in its desire to restore its dominance in the annual event.

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ORE than 80 players will see action on Tuesday when the Philippine Sportswriters Association holds its first PSA Charity Golf Cup presented by Manila Soutwoods and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) at the Legends course in Carmona, Cavite.

Golfers from the PSC headed by chairman

Led by internationalist Sofia Chabon and Sunshine Baraquiel, the Carmona-based squad is tapping Annika Guangko, Mafy Singson, Laurea Duque, Mariel Tee, Samantha Dizon and Tin Torralba, who played for Pradera last year.

“Our players have been together for more than a month now and are playing fairly well,” William Ramirez, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) through Commissioner Willie Marcial, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) led by Ricky Vargas and the ranks of sportswriters take part in the 18-hole event that aims to raise funds for the projects of the country’s oldest media organization.

Southwoods captain Claire Ong said. “The players are in high spirits.”

With Southwoods opting not to defend its Founders division title, Alabang and Del Monte are expected to fight for the secondtier championship.

Returning to defend their crowns are Sportswriters champion Eagleridge and Friendship titlist Wack Wack.

Attractive prizes are up for grabs, including a round-trip ticket to the United States courtesy of Philippine Airlines for a hole-in-one on the picturesque 16th hole aside from handsome trophies for individual champions in all divisions.

The PSA Cup will also see a battle among teams from the PSA, PBA and PSC-POC for the

On Tuesday Philippine Airlines President Jaime Bautista led the ceremonial tee-off ushering in the four-day tournament. Joining him were PAL officials Bong Velasquez and Vic Suarez.

The Molave scoring system will be used in the four-to-play, threeto-count team event. An even par score is worth 54 points. team trophy. The System 36 method of scoring will be used with the top 10 scores counting for each team. The team that wins the event three straight years will get to keep the perpetual trophy.

Others backing the noble project are Meralco, PLDT/Smart, ICTSI, Rain or Shine, Mighty Sports and the PBA.

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Cortes, Enriquez sizzle in Tubod

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RENT CORTES pulled off a rare three-title romp while Sydney Enriquez stretched her winning run to Lanao del Norte as they shared top honors in the Palawan PawnshopPalawan Express Pera Padala Tubod age-group tennis tournament on Monday.

Playing before hometown crowd, the 14-yearold Cortes upended top seed Nash Agustines, 7-5, 6-2, to rule his age division. He repeated over Agustines in the 16-under finals, 6-4, 6-4, then repulsed unseeded Keane Pepito, 3-6, 6-4, 10-7, to snare the 18-under diadem in the Group 2 tournament presented by Dunlop.

Unranked in the centerpiece division, Cortes shocked top seed Steven Sonsona, 0-4, 5-4(5), 10-6, in the quarterfinals and dominated Lex Estillore, 6-2, 6-1, before subduing Pepito to complete a grand finish in the event hosted by Stanley Noval at the Tubod-Laneco-Baroy tennis courts.

Enriquez, who swept the 16- and 18-under crowns in the three-leg PPS Zamboanga del Norte swing last month, including in her hometown Salug, sustained her charge and came away with another two-title feat, beating Camille Padilla, 6-1, 6-0, in the girls’ 16-under finals and holding off Janmarie Anghag, 6-2, 7-5, for the 18-under diadem.

“While Enriquez is coming off an impressive sweep, Cortes’s feat was worth noting since he even proved his mettle in 18-under play, gaining ground and confidence through his regular participation in the circuit,” said Palawan Pawnshop President and CEO Bobby Castro.

Other winners were Cagayan de Oro’s Janus Rosales (10-under unisex), Aslan Carbonilla from Maranding (boys’ 12-under) and Ozamiz City’s Ma. Judy Anne Padilla, who took the girls’ 12- and 14-under titles.

Rosales clobbered Wyn Sanchez, 4-1, 4-1; Carnonilla routed Vinz Bering, 6-0, 6-1; and Judy Padilla crushed Angel Denopol, 6-2, 6-2, in the 12-under finals then outlasted and top seed Guia Bandolis, 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 10-5, for the 14-under diadem.

Meanwhile, Anghag and Carmiville Gervacio foiled Enriquez’s bid for a third title as they nipped the latter and partner Jedidiah Gupit, 8-7(4), to snatch the 18-under doubles plum with Steven Sonsona and Jed Las Pinas taking the boys’ title with an 8-6 decision over Agustines and Christopher Sonsona.

FIGHTING THE FIX O CEANPORT, New Jersey—It’s early in a college basketball game and Team A, playing methodically and using up most of the 30-second shot clock, falls behind 10-6. Scattered around the bleachers, several fans staring at their smartphones celebrate silently: They have bet on Team B to be the first to reach 10 points and even promised two Team A starters a cut of the winnings.

With dozens of states rushing to capitalize on the US Supreme Court lifting a federal ban on sports gambling, will fixed scenarios like the one above become more common?

The four major pro sports leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) think so, and have argued for years that expanding legal betting will lead to more game-fixing. The pro leagues have sought, unsuccessfully so far, a cut of state gambling revenues to increase monitoring.

Meanwhile, architects of New Jersey’s successful legal challenge to the sports gambling ban say those fears are overstated and that bringing sports betting out of the shadows will make it easier to detect illegal activity.

They point to the Arizona State basketball point-shaving scandal in the 1990s, which was uncovered after legal bookmakers in Las Vegas noticed unusually large sums being wagered on Sun Devils games.

Yet the prospect of easy, legal access to sports gambling for athletes and others has many in sports concerned.

“They’re going to create a bigger pool for more kids and for more money to get involved,” said Jamall Anderson, a running back on the 1996 Boston College football team whose players were found to have bet against their own team.

“It’s really going to create a big mess, I think.”

TARGETING COLLEGE ATHLETES

COLLEGE athletes are generally considered easier to convince than pros to influence games. Two reasons: they are younger and aren’t paid directly to play.

They also aren’t strangers to wagering.

A 2016 NCAA survey of more than 22,000 college athletes found nearly one-fourth of male athletes had violated NCAA rules by gambling on sports within the previous year. When the survey was done, sports betting was available only in

Nevada or illegally through offshore operators.

It was another number that surprised the authors: 13 percent of the male athletes who had gambled on sports had wagered on in-game bets, things like whether the next football play will be a run or a pass or of a basketball player will hit the next free throw.

“We continue to have concerns that wagering enhancements such as live in-game betting could present increased opportunities to profit from ‘spot-fixing’ a contest as has been uncovered recently in a number of international sports leagues,” the study concluded.

NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches and other athletic department employees from gambling on sports.

Individual schools make sure athletes know the rules against

gambling, sometimes bringing in law-enforcement officials or former players to get the message across.

Will it be enough as laws change?

Legal sports gambling was the No. 1 topic for every conference meeting this spring, said Bob Vecchione, head of the National Association of College Directors of Athletics.

“Do you remember back when you were 18 to 20 years of age?” said Vecchione, the Minnesota athletic director. “When people told you something, how much did it sink in? That’s what causes some sleepless nights.”

NCAA officials have said they may consider adjusting rules to account for legal gambling but haven’t specified how.

INSIDER BETS

JAMALL ANDERSON recounted his experiences in the Boston College football scandal in a 2016 book, “The Best Bet.” In a recent interview, he described a culture in which gambling was part of the daily routine.

“You went to practice and you got your spreadsheet in the locker room,” he said. “It was nothing to sit there on the sidelines and say, ‘Who you got this week?’ That’s what you do.

You’re playing football, watching ESPN, seeing other teams and you’re totally engaged. It was too easy.”

While no players were alleged to have compromised their performances in games, Anderson—who was injured and did not

Sports BusinessMirror

NIKE BOYCOTT

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| Wednesday, September 19, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

People in New York walk past a Nike advertisement featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, known for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.

In response to Nike’s support of Kaepernick, the Rhode Island town of North Smithfield is considering asking its departments to refrain from purchasing Nike products. AP

A look at some notable US game-fixing scandals

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OTABLE game-fixing scandals in the United States: n 2013: Auburn basketball player Varez Ward is charged with trying to fix Auburn’s January 25, 2012, game against Arkansas. Ward is later accepted into a pretrial diversion program. n 2012: Former San Diego basketball player Brandon Johnson and former Assistant Coach TJ Brown plead guilty in a scheme to fix a 2010 game against Loyola Marymount. n 2008: Former National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy pleads guilty to wire fraud and transmitting betting information for taking thousands of dollars from a gambler for inside tips on games, including games he worked. n 2004-2006: Gamblers target Toledo basketball and football players to fix games; seven former players and two gamblers eventually plead guilty. n 1998: Northwestern basketball players Dion Lee and Dewey Williams admit they tried to fix games in 1995. Former NU football player Brian Ballarini admits running betting operations at Northwestern and Colorado. n 1997: Former Arizona State basketball players Stevin Smith and Isaac Burton Jr. plead guilty to conspiracy to commit sports bribery for fixing four Sun

Devils games in the 1993-1994 season. n 1996: Thirteen Boston College football players are suspended for betting on college and pro football and baseball. Two players bet against their own team in a loss to Syracuse. n 1985: Tulane suspends its basketball program in the wake of point-shaving and other allegations. The school resumes basketball for the 1989-1990 season. n 1981: Former Boston College basketball player Rick Kuhn and four others, including New York mobster Jimmy Burke, are convicted of conspiring to fix basketball games in the 1978-1979 season. n 1960-1961: More than three dozen players from more than 20 colleges including Saint John’s, New York University, North Carolina State and Connecticut are implicated in a widespread point-shaving scheme. n 1950-1952: Several college basketball teams are caught up in pointfixing schemes, including 1950 NCAA and NIT champion City College of New York.

Dozens of players are implicated and the scandal forces Kentucky to suspend its 1952-1953 season. n 1921: Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox are given lifetime suspensions by Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for conspiring to fix the World Series in the Black Sox scandal. AP

play during the 1996 season—and other players incurred debts betting on other sports and tried to recoup their losses. Some bet against BC and Syracuse and star quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Thirteen players were suspended.

Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs had a front-row seat to New Jersey’s successful challenge to the 1992 federal sports betting ban.

Now, New Jersey sports books are prohibited from taking wagers on college games played in the state or involving schools from the state.

With inside information being so key to betting markets, any tidbit—say, a student telling friends that his roommate, the star quarterback, just had a fight with his girlfriend—can take on greater significance.

That highlights the need for more education, Hobbs said.

“We’ll educate on a variety of scenarios and hypotheticals, and say, ‘Hey look, this may have sounded like an innocent question in the past, but now you have to be careful with that information,’” Hobbs said.

CURRENT ENFORCEMENT

PROPONENTS of legal sports gambling often point to Nevada as a model for effective monitoring. Sports betting has been legal in Las Vegas in some form since the 1930s.

If regulators there are notified of suspicious betting activity, agents from the Nevada Gaming Control Board can open an investigation or work with federal and local authorities if it involves multiple jurisdictions.

Karl Bennison, the board’s chief of enforcement, said board agents also meet and work with professional leagues, teams, the NCAA, conferences, universities and sports associations, including the International Olympic Committee, to discuss and educate athletes, coaches and others on integrity matters and illegal activity.

Reports from oddsmakers in Las Vegas have played key roles in the uncovering of illegal sports betting schemes, including the case involving two Arizona State basketball players fixing four games during the 1993-1994 season.

Stevin “Hedake” Smith and Isaac Burton Jr. admitted to shaving points—purposely holding the score down with mistakes or missed shots— for $20,000 per game. They were partly trying to erase a reported $10,000 gambling debt to a fellow student who also booked bets.

Las Vegas bookmakers reported suspicious betting activity when gamblers placed about $900,000 in bets against Arizona State on a meaningless contest against Washington. The heavy betting caused sports books to change Arizona State from a 10 1/2-point favorite to a three-point favorite.

“You might write $30,000 or $40,000 total on both sides of that game under normal conditions,” Jimmy Vaccaro, then-sports book director at Mirage Resorts, told The Associated Press. “We wrote $560,000 on that game. The people thought the fix was in and ended up blowing their money.”

Scandals like that are rare, but sports book operators say other situations could raise red flags, such as a bettor refusing to show an ID when trying to place a bet, or attempting to place large bets without a prior history with a particular casino.

Jay Kornegay, sports book director at the Westgate Las Vegas, said that in those instances, the books would look at what happened in that game, including suspicious plays and performances. If the oddsmakers think something is going on, they can refer it to regulators.

OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

LEGAL sports betting has been a part of the landscape abroad for years, and so have gambling-related scandals.

Authorities have busted soccer match-fixing rings in Greece, Spain and eastern Europe in recent years. Fifa, the sport’s world governing body, recently banned a Ghanaian referee for life for his questionable calls during a World Cup qualifying game in 2016; in April, four South African match officials reported being offered $30,000 to fix an international club game in Nigeria. AP

MINE! San Diego Padres center fielder Franmil Reyes (32) watches from the wall as a fan tries to catch a home run ball hit by the San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford during the fourth inning of their Major League Baseball Game on in San Diego. The Giants won, 4-2. AP

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God of light

OD of light, You instill rejoicing and gladness in all who seek You. We offer the needs of the world to Your care and pray: Oh God, make haste to help us. Prosper efforts toward peace in the Middle East and between nations in conflict. Deliver those who are poor, greedy rich, vulnerable or mentally ill from harm and injustice. Strengthen and support those who seek help or are in treatment for drug or alcoholic addiction. May God enlighten our hearts so that we may follow the Gospel and know the glory to which we are called in Christ Jesus. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

APPLE CEO Tim Cook discusses the new iPhones at the Steve Jobs Theater during a September 12 event to announce new products. AP

Life BusinessMirror

Got $1,100?

Apple shows off its most expensive iPhone yet

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By MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press

UPERTINO, California—Apple unveiled three new iPhones on September 12, including its biggest and most expensive model yet, as the company seeks to widen the product’s appeal amid slowing sales.

CEO Tim Cook showed off the iPhone XS Max, which has a bigger screen than the one on last year’s dramatically designed model, the iPhone X. It’ll cost about $1,100, topping the iPhone X, which at $1,000 seemed jaw-dropping at the time. An updated iPhone X, now called the XS, stays at $1,000.

As with the iPhone X, both new phones have screens that run from edge to edge, an effort to maximize the display without making the phone too awkward to hold.

The screen needs no backlight, so black would appear as truly black rather than simply dark. The Max model looks to be about the size of the iPhone 8 Plus, though the screen size is much larger.

The iPhone XS Max, which will be available on September 21—with orders open the week before— represents Apple’s attempt to feed consumers’ appetite for increasingly larger screens as they rely on smartphones to watch and record video and to take

photos wherever they are. By making more expensive iPhones, Apple has been able to boost its profits despite waning demand as people upgrade phones less frequently. iPhones fetched an average price of $724 during the April-to-June period, a nearly 20-percent increase from a year earlier.

Apple also showed off a cheaper iPhone, called the iPhone XR. It has a traditional, lower-quality screen and an aluminum body; it’s physically smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus but has a bigger screen. It’ll cost roughly $750 and come out on October 26.

All three new models join the iPhone X in getting rid of the home button to make room for more screen.

They will have facial-recognition technology to unlock the device.

Although it didn’t sell quite as analysts anticipated, the iPhone X still emerged as the most popular in Apple’s lineup, according to Cook. That emboldened the company to aim an even more expensive device at the affluent households that tend to gravitate to its products, especially in the US and Europe.

For everyone else, many of whom are still using iPhones they purchased several years ago, there’s the XR. “I am going to go out on a limb and say the XR is going to become Apple’s top-selling iPhone,” said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights. “It is a smart strategy to keep more people in the Apple

ecosystem and get even more people to come into it.”

The next major update to the iOS will be released next Tuesday, followed a week later by a Mac software update. Both will be free to install.

Apple also announced updates that push its Apple Watch further into medical device territory.

It has a larger screen and a built-in heart sensor that the company said can detect irregular heart rates and perform an electrocardiogram. The latter feature has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, the company said.

Ben Wood of CCS Insight said getting US regulatory clearance for that is a milestone that underscores the company’s leadership in health and fitness. Typically, smartwatches are marketed as consumer devices, not medical ones needing clearance. These features will be available to US customers later this year, but Apple did not say when it would make it to the rest of the world.

In addition, Apple said the Series 4 Apple Watch will also be able to detect when someone falls—and can tell the difference between a trip and a fall. If it detects a fall and the user doesn’t respond in a minute, it’ll automatically call for help. This feature may be especially attractive to older people or those with elderly parents worried about falling when no one is around to help. n

JUST THAT: THE GRAND FOOTBALL CAMP FOR KIDS WHERE SKILLS AREN’T EVERYTHING D4

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

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From music to news, EU moves to protect online copyright BRUSSELS—The European Union wants to shake up the way Internet companies handle media, e-books, digital music, news articles and other content posted online by better protecting the rights of the authors and creators.

EU lawmakers voted to back a report that has proved controversial and seen celebrities weigh in.

Beatles member Paul McCartney recently wrote an open letter to the lawmakers to encourage them to back the new rules, while former Fugees frontman Wyclef Jean has publicly opposed it.

Among other things, the report calls for automatic filters of uploaded content that would identify copyrighted material. To give the new system teeth, it would also make online publishing platforms liable for copyright infringement.

German lawmaker Axel Voss, who chaperoned the report through the assembly, said the vote “is a good sign for the creative industries in Europe.” The changes must still be endorsed by EU member-states.

Media companies and publishers say the changes would help them get paid for their work. But opponents say they are too hard to put into effect, and might lead to filtering or even greater control over the Internet. They also fear that the new rules would effectively ban parodies and viral Internet “memes” that are often based on or inspired by existing songs or movies or other content.

Voss said the text contains provisions to ensure that copyright law can be respected without limiting freedom of expression. Wikipedia and open source software platforms would not be affected.

“We have addressed concerns raised about innovation by excluding small and micro platforms or aggregators from the scope,” Voss said. “I am convinced that once the dust has settled, the Internet will be as free as it is today, creators and journalists will be earning a fairer share of the revenues generated by their works, and we will be wondering what all the fuss was about.”

The European Magazine Media Association praised the move as “a great day for the independent press and for democracy,” saying it would modernize the rules without stifling online competition.

But the Computer and Communications Industry Association said it would “undermine free expression online and access to information.”

McCartney and many other musicians had backed the proposals, saying it would help them earn revenue that otherwise would have gone to the dominant tech companies.

But others like Jean have rejected it, saying that working with Internet platforms is a bigger financial opportunity than threat for musical artists. World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales have said the changes would lead to automated surveillance and control of Internet users.

Some also worry about the cost and reliability of automated filters. Google has spent more than $100 million on Content ID, its copyright management system for YouTube, which has more than 400 hours of content uploaded every minute. But many users complain that the system is inaccurate. AP

Connectivity issues lead to damaged relationships in 1-in-6 cases STAYING connected is now an obligatory part of showing you care. According to a study from Kaspersky Lab (www.kaspersky.com), connectivity is now a vital part of our duty to family, friends and loved ones.

The research shows that when people can’t use their devices, their most common worries are that family and friends will be concerned about them (51 percent), and that they will not be able to help a family member if something happens (45 percent).

Imagine this: You are meeting your partner for an important anniversary one evening. But suddenly you realize you’re late. You need to let your partner know—you don’t want them to feel unloved or abandoned—but just when you’re about to contact them, your phone runs out of battery. You’re left unconnected, and you know your important anniversary isn’t going to go well. Concerns about not being connected, and what this means for our romantic lives, are often justified. The impact of not having a working connection can range from simply missing a date (21 percent), to longer-term problems, with 1 in 6 (15 percent) admitting to

having issues with their loved ones as a result of their device running out of battery, being misplaced or getting stolen.

And it’s not just relationships that are damaged—many of us mess up without our connected devices to guide us through daily life. Out of the survey respondents that have had a connectivity issue, a fifth (21 percent) missed out on an education/business opportunity, 16 percent got lost and 1-in-10 (13 percent) missed out on a social opportunity like a party, as a result of their device not keeping them online.

Despite their dependency on staying connected, 18 percent of people do nothing to keep their devices working and online, only 34 percent control their battery levels, and just 1 in 5 (22 percent) regularly check their device’s health.

“Connectivity plays a big part in our daily lives. What’s clear is that not being connected can also have a lasting impact on our relationships – because if we mess up there, it’s the heart that can get hurt. When people’s attitude to device safety is lax, that’s exactly

what can happen—because couples expect each other to respond, parents expect to be able to instantly find out where their children are, and friends don’t expect to go ignored. It is vital that more measures are taken to protect our devices better, and to maintain connectivity,” says Dmitry Aleshin, vice president for Product

Marketing, Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky Security Cloud helps people to avoid messing up. Its adaptive security means that users can keep their devices online, to avoid getting into trouble with loved ones. The solution is able to adapt to people’s connectivity needs and contains several features to help

Mac, Windows, iOS and Android users live their digital lives without the risk of losing their connectivity when it’s needed most.

For example: When your children are out and about, the new Battery Tracker feature in Kaspersky Safe Kids allows parents to know whether their children can connect or not.

It notifies parents when the battery level gets low on their children’s mobile devices.

When you suddenly can’t make it to a date or appointment, and you don’t want to leave the other party hanging, Device Power Consumption tells you how much battery you have left on your Android device, and how much time you have before it runs out, so that you can let the person know what’s going on before it’s too late.

Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company which has been operating in the market for over 20 years. Its deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into next-generation security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe.

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Pet Corner BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Kevin Zegers, 34; Alison Sweeney, 42; Jimmy Fallon, 44; Trisha Yearwood, 54.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Make plans and follow through. A change of location or learning something new will help you make a decision that will improve your life. Taking on new responsibilities will help to stabilize your life and your mind-set. A lifestyle change will give you the push you need to break old habits and embark on a new and healthier routine. Your lucky numbers are 2, 7, 18, 21, 24, 36, 47.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Do your part and get things done. Don’t give anyone room to criticize you for not pulling your weight. Be responsible and you’ll feel good about what you’ve accomplished. Help those counting on you without complaining. HH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Listen to advice offered, but when it’s time to decide, rely on what makes the most sense to you. A change in the way you feel about someone or something will dictate how you move forward. HH

Tips on how pet owners can get multiple pets to get along

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ET lovers live by the philosophy, “the more, the merrier” but is this always true?

With Philippines being one of the dog capital countries of the world, owning more than five dogs is not unusual. But with the number of pets in line to be fed and nurtured, this level of fun and excitement starts to take a toll on the owner. More often than not, pets have a hard time getting along, especially when a new one comes into the picture. If not addressed properly, it may cause several problems such as brawls which may then lead to serious injuries.

The Pet Food Institute (PFI), dedicated to its commitment to educate the Filipino pet community on responsible pet ownership, shares three tips to help pets get along.

TIP 1: INTRODUCTIONS ARE A MUST. Introducing pets to each other can be physically and emotionally draining to the pets and the owner. Naturally, pets feel threatened when an unknown animal enters their territory.

This is where introductions come in. Much like humans, pets need to be introduced to one another to get them accustomed to each other’s presence. Experts remind owners that there are two key components to a proper introduction: first, it must be done at a neutral zone; and second, owners must never rush this process.

Pets, by nature, are territorial, hence they immediately assume that newbies are intruders.

Therefore, introductions must be done in a neutral area, such as the park, where neither pet feels the need to protect their area. If these places are inaccessible, owners must ensure that they have control over their pets to avoid brawls. It is also important to separate pets during the first few days or weeks of cohabitation to make the newcomer feel safe in their new environment.

Pacing is an important aspect of introductions, as well. Owners must never rush this process and should be patient as their furry pals slowly get accustomed to their new environment and companions. To make this process easier on both pets, veterinarians suggest several methods like scent-swapping or introducing scents to each pet to familiarize themselves with their new playmate.

TIP 2: EQUALITY FOR ALL. Having multiple pets under one roof can be a fun and entertaining experience. However, it requires a lot from the owner to ensure they spend time with each of their pets. Quality time is necessary to build a strong bond between owner and pet. Working out together, exploring the great outdoors, playing together, and talking to one’s pets are perfect opportunities to spend quality time and form a bond with their furry pals.

Owners may choose which activity best suits each

of their pets. For example, an active pet would love working out and exploring the great outdoors with its owner. Meanwhile, owners may opt to engage in simple play with their laid-back pet.

However, if an owner’s schedule does not permit this level of play, simple pats and handing pets their favorite treats are simple ways they can show their furry companions their affection.

TIP 3: PERSONAL SPACE PLEASE. Most pet owners admit that having multiple pets in one household can be overwhelming and feel somewhat crowded, so it is advisable for owners to provide each pet their own space. For owners who wish to have both a cat and a dog inside their house, they must ensure that the feline has a private area to run to when it feels threatened.

Most issues among pets arise due the animal’s natural tendency to guard its food. Owners are encouraged to keep their pets’ food bowls separated to avoid conflicts between their pets.

PFI is committed in informing pet owners about pet nutrition and proper pet care to keep pets healthy and happy. Through its local initiative, the Well-Fed, Well-Nurtured campaign in partnership with the Veterinary Practitioners Association of the Philippines, PFI seeks to advocate responsible pet ownership to the ever-growing Filipino pet community. n

Woman charged with abandoning her blind and deaf dog TETERBORO, New Jersey—A woman accused of abandoning her blind and deaf dog along a road said she planned to return, but authorities said they believe the woman deserted the animal because she could not pay for veterinary services.

Tania Connelly, 59, is charged with animal cruelty and was issued a summons to appear in court this month, a New Jersey chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

Roni Wildoner, chief of the Bergen County SPCA, said a motorist in traffic saw the dog being pushed out of a car on a road near Teterboro Airport last Saturday and then took a photo of the car. The photo led investigators to Connelly, Wildoner said.

Connelly told NJ.com on Friday that she left her Boston terrier, Bruna, in a grassy area while she went shopping at a nearby Wal-mart store. “It was not my intention to abandon her. I swear to God,” she said. “I was going shopping

and it was very hot. I didn’t want to leave her inside the car.”

“I thought I could leave her there for a half an hour and then come back.

When I came back, she was gone,” Connelly said.

Connelly said she has had Bruna for eight years and believes the dog is at least 13. She also said the dog has growing medical problems and she cannot afford to pay for them.

The dog was found with no collar or identification tags, Wildoner said.

He also noted that the Bergen County Animal Shelter was a quarter mile away from where the dog was found.

Connelly signed a surrender of ownership order after being issued the court summons, Wildoner said. The order will allow the dog to be adopted before the case is resolved, and the dog remained at the Teterboro shelter this week.

Connelly is due to appear on September 20 in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack. AP

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Stick to the rules, no matter what others do. Taking a risk won’t pay off. Use your energy wisely and you will discover that planning can be the most important part of whatever venture you choose to pursue. HHHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take a look at your choices and head in the direction that draws you most. Sometimes it’s good to break routine and to try something you’ve never done. Exploring unfamiliar territory will lead to personal growth. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t worry about what others are doing. Do your part and take your responsibilities seriously. Avoid making personal changes that aren’t necessary. Take care of your health. Doing what’s best for you will be satisfying and rewarding. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Check out your options before you make a move.

Refuse to let anyone put you in a precarious position that can have a detrimental effect on you physically. Set your pace and stick to what works best for you. Handle romance sensibly. HHHHH

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If someone applies force, walk away. Take the time you need to consider your next move. It’s better to be cautious than to appease someone by doing something that isn’t right for you. Focus on personal growth, not joint efforts. HH

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Check out the latest trends and set your own style.

Live life to suit what you want, not what someone else wants for you. Change is only good if it results in positive improvement. HHHH

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t take a risk. You’ll feel far better using your energy to get into tip-top shape or to make a conscious effort to save money, not spend it. Don’t let anyone talk you into buying something you don’t need.

HHH

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Look at the possibilities and make the most of an opportunity. You have what it takes to get ahead if you are persistent. A personal change will bring you closer to someone who will bring out the best in you.

HHH

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t get emotional or let your guard down. Keep your thoughts and plans to yourself until you have worked out all the details. If you let others get involved in your business, it will end up costing you more than anticipated. HHH

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): You don’t have to prove yourself to others. Follow your heart and do what pleases you. A positive change will improve your status, reputation and the way you live life moving forward. HHHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are insightful, caring and helpful.

You are opportunistic and steadfast.

‘over here’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Region 5 In no time ____ 10 Touched land 14 Easy win 15 Major Web portal 16 Busch Gardens attraction 17 Egomaniac’s dream 20 Sharp pens?

21 Broadway offering 22 Carve, as initials 25 Do retail 26 ___-di-dah 29 Talk casually 31 Look for 35 Busy commotion 36 Old-style excited 38 IV bag’s innards 39 Mechanically smoothed 43 Shaking fit 44 Hot-weather ermine 45 Brief commercials?

46 Bun variety 49 Has dinner

0 AI game participant 5 51 Plunge 53 Have the look of 55 What some make out of nothing 58 Loamy deposit 62 Performed with sincerity 65 Shamu, for one 66 Latin American plain 67 Ensemble of three 68 Hitter’s hot streak 69 Country near Oman 70 Like dry ground DOWN 1 Softball pitch shapes 2 Ginseng, for one 3 An acting award 4 Trillion dollar co.

5 Skipper’s yes 6 Use a shuttle 7 Guttural interruption 8 Scene of an event 9 Sets free 10 Some drawers are in there 11 Old Italian bread?

2 Massive star 1 13 ___ Aviv 18 Chinese nut (var.)

19 Cairo’s waterway 23 Julie on TV 24 Loathes 26 Holy Tibetans 27 Tried-and-true saying 28 “Pocus” go-with 30 Massachusetts school 32 Back-to-health program 33 Formal belief 34 Possessed, per King James 37 Prayerful 40 Caps and helmets 41 Shirt tag locale 42 In ___ (intrinsic) 47 Long skirt 48 Fair way to split 52 America’s bird 54 Castle defenses 55 Dig into 56 Sun-worshiping empire 57 Fertile Earth

9 Island republic 5 60 Incite in a bowl?

61 Monopoly token 62 j thing 63 RBIs on a solo homer 64 Slip into, as clothing

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

BLIND SPOT BRUCE C.

THE REAL REASON

IF you want to know why the celebrity is moving from her longtime network to another, it’s probably because the relationship has run its course. The celebrity asked for a substantial raise, which the network refused because her projects are reportedly not making money. Showbiz insiders believe the celebrity asked for the raise because she knew her network wouldn’t grant it. According to reports, she is still with the network completing work obligations but she’s been late reporting for voice as she’s already taping for a new show in her new home. Oh, well, work is work and you can’t really blame celebrities if they get tired of staying in one network or studio.

ANOTHER HEARTBREAK?

THEY were exes who met again many years and relationships later and things seem to be turning out well. Or are they? It seems the girl, an actress, is set for another heartbreak as the guy she is working with—her actor ex—has reportedly gotten another girl pregnant. We feel for the actress who has had one heartbreak after another. The actor doesn’t have another girlfriend but he did have a fling and will reportedly be a dad soon. We hope that if this is true, the actress will survive this. She’s survived more devastating events and incidents.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

SHE used to be a popular singer until she got married and raised a family. But marriage luck didn’t favor the singer because she and her husband broke up a few years later. She had custody of their child. Later on though, the child went to live with the singer’s ex. Since then, the singer has been hounded by misfortune after misfortune, which is sad because she is very talented. We’re still hoping that she will bounce back. Clue: She isn’t very active anymore.

WELL WISHES ONLY

NOW it can be told that the celebrity’s favorite guy is not her former partner but a comedian who was once linked to her. According to the celebrity, the comedian really took care of her during the few times that they were together. The romance never really took off because of intrigues that followed the celebrity and the comedian. For her former partner, the celebrity only has good words. She wishes him good luck in everything.

LIKE AN ALIEN

THE singer-actress has been looking very strange lately. It seems that she’s had her face (specifically her chin and nose) done and so now, she looks like an alien and not in a good way. This isn’t the first time that the singer-actress has gone for self-improvement and that shouldn’t be an issue, right? But celebrities should know when to stop. In this celebrity’s case, someone should tell her that she’s already beautiful and doesn’t need any more work.

IN this undated photograph issued by Kensington Palace on September 17, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex cooks with women in the Hubb Community Kitchen at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in London. AP

DUCHESS OF SUSSEX SUPPORTS GRENFELL FIRE CHARITY COOKBOOK

LONDON—The Duchess of Sussex is giving her backing to a cookbook from a community kitchen set up in the aftermath of London’s deadly Grenfell Tower fire.

The former Meghan Markle has written a foreword to a volume of recipes from the Hubb Community Kitchen. It was set up by women displaced when fire destroyed the west London high-rise in June 2017, killing 72 people.

The recipes from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and beyond reflect the diversity of the local community.

The duchess wrote that the community kitchen “is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together” and “creates a space to feel a sense of normalcy.”

Kensington Palace said on Monday that proceeds from Together: Our Community Cookbook will go toward keeping the kitchen open and helping it expand. AP

RACHEL BROSNAHAN, winner of the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, poses in the press room at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 17, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. PHOTOS: AP

MATTHEW RHYS accepts the award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for The Americans

CLAIRE FOY accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for The Crown

‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Mrs. Maisel’ triumph at Emmys

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By Lynn Elber The Associated Press

OS ANGELES—Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel became the first streaming series to win top Emmy comedy honors and HBO’s Game of Thrones recaptured the best drama series award on Monday at a ceremony that largely slighted its most ethnically diverse field of nominees ever.

With the exception of Saturday Night Live, broadcast shows were shut out of the top awards as 21st-century platforms continued to overshadow traditional network fare like This Is Us, among the also-rans.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amazon’s freshman sitcom about an unhappy 1950s homemaker liberated by stand-up comedy, earned best actress honors for star Rachel Brosnahan.

Her castmate Alex Borstein earned the supporting actress trophy and the series creator, Amy ShermanPalladino, nabbed writing and directing awards.

Claire Foy of The Crown and Matthew Rhys of The Americans won top drama acting Emmys, their first trophies for the roles and last chance to claim them, with Foy’s role as Queen Elizabeth II going to another actress and Rhys’s show wrapped.

The field bested by Foy included last year’s winner Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid’s Tale and Sandra Oh of Killing Eve, who would have been the first actor of Asian descent to get a top drama award.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said a startled Foy. She played the young British queen who, as the series progresses, will advance in years.

Game of Thrones, which sat out last year’s Emmys because of scheduling, won its third best drama trophy despite competition from defending champ The Handmaid’s Tale.

“Thank you for letting us take care of your people,” Game of Thrones producer D.B. Weiss said to George R.R. Martin, whose novels fuel the drama.

In a ceremony that started out congratulating TV academy voters for a historically diverse field of nominees ever, the early awards all went to whites.

An African-American sweep of guest series actor

awards at the recent creative arts Emmys signaled major change in the awards, which only recently have given significant honors to performers and creators of color.

But there was disappointment for Atlanta, which had claimed acting and directing trophies last year for its star and creator Donald Glover and seemed poised for more with 16 nominations.

Rather than become the first black-led comedy in 33 years to be named the best (since The Cosby Show in 1985), Atlanta was shut out on Monday (it won two awards, including guest actor for Katt Williams, last week). The showing by Mrs. Maisel extended the long winning streak of shows that focus on white lives, including Modern Family and Friends, with ethnic minorities rarely given screen time.

“Let’s get it trending: #EmmysSoWhite,” presenter James Corden joked at the ceremony’s midway point.

Then Regina King broke the string, with a best actress trophy in a limited series or movie for Seven Seconds, which tracks the fallout from a white police officer’s traffic accident involving a black teenager.

She was followed by Darren Criss, who won the lead acting award for the miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace and who is of Filipino descent.

Thandie Newton won best supporting drama actress for Westworld, and Peter Dinklage added a third trophy to his collection for Game of Thrones.

Brosnahan used her acceptance speech to give a shout-out to her comedy’s celebration of women power. “It’s about a woman who’s finding her voice anew, and it’s one of the things that’s happening all over the country now,” she said. She urged the audience to exercise that power by voting.

Bill Hader collected the best comedy actor award for Barry, a dark comedy about a hired killer who stumbles into a possible acting career.

Henry Winkler, a.k.a. The Fonz, won a supporting actor award—his first Emmy—for Barry, four decades after gaining fame for his role in Happy Days.

“If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you. Tonight, I got to clear the table,” an ebullient Winkler said, with an equally delighted auditorium audience rising to give him a standing

ovation. To his grown children, he said: “You can go to bed now, daddy won!”

The biggest award won by a broadcast network was Saturday Night Live for best variety sketch series.

The Emmys had a real-life dramatic moment when winning director Glenn Weiss, noting his mother had died two weeks ago, proposed to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen. “You wonder why I don’t want to call you my girlfriend? It’s because I want to call you my wife,” Weiss said. She said yes, he put his mother’s ring on her finger and the crowd whooped and cheered.

John Oliver, in picking up the trophy for best variety talk show award for Last Week Tonight, thanked Weiss’s girlfriend for giving the right answer or, he joked, the whole ceremony could have gone south.

The Emmys kicked off with a song, “We Solved It,” a self-mocking celebration to the diversity of nominees sung by stars including Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson. The tune included a mention of Oh’s possible victory: “There were none, now there’s one, so we’re done,” the comedians sang.

Oh played along from her seat: “Thank you, but it’s an honor just to be Asian,” said the KoreanCanadian actress.

Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, producing his second Emmy telecast in 30 years, was tasked with turning viewership around after the 2017 show’s audience of 11.4 million narrowly avoided the embarrassment of setting a new low.

The ceremony clearly bore his stamp, with Michael Che and Colin Jost as hosts and familiar SNL faces, including Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin, as presenters and nominees. The long-running NBC sketch show, already the top Emmy winner ever with 71, won again for best variety sketch series.

The pressure was on Michaels because NBC and other broadcasters are increasingly reliant on awards and other live events to draw viewers distracted by streaming and more 21st- century options.

The networks, which air the Emmy telecast on a rotating basis, are so eager for the ad dollars it generates and its promotional value for fall shows that they endure online competitors sharing—and dominating—the stage. n

FILIPINO SINGER SEPHY FRANCISCO SUPRISES ‘THE X FACTOR UK’ JUDGES WITH HER PERFORMANCE OF ‘THE PRAYER’ SEPHY FRANCISCO, 27, an events singer from the Philippines, impressed all four judges of The X Factor UK with her version of “The Prayer” by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli on the third week of auditions of the reality singing competition.

Sephy, who walked onstage in a blue mid-length dress, long curled locks and a pair of wedge heels, had an unexpected surprise for the judges and the audience. They were all pleased as soon as she started singing and belting out the high notes of the song— but she also took them all by surprise when she flawlessly sang the male part of the song and showed a seamless transition on both male and female voices.

Sephy received a standing ovation from the audience and all four judges, with judge Simon Cowell giving her two thumbs-up after the performance Judge Ayda uttered a big wow before she sat down.

“Well, that was a surprise!” she said.

“I’ve never judged a duo who is one person, it was incredible!” Judge Simon shared. “I saved money, you made more money.”

Prior to her performance, Sephy shared that she admires Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston when judge Robbie Williams asked her who were her inspirations.

She also shared that she chose the song “The

Prayer” because she feels being guided by the Lord in everything she does.

Sephy received four yeses from the judges’s votes and will move on to the next round of the competition with fellow Filipino contestant Maria Laroco, who also got four yeses during her audition last week.

The X Factor UK airs first and exclusive, same day as the UK, on Blue Ant Entertainment every Sunday and Monday at 7:55 pm.

Blue Ant Entertainment is available on SKYcable Channels 53 (SD) and 196 (HD), Skydirect Channel 35, Destiny Cable Channel 53, and Cablelink channels 37 (SD) and 313 (HD).

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Image BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The grand football camp for kids where skills aren’t everything JUST THAT JT NISAY

jtnisay@gmail.com

WHEN DID SOAP, ONCE SIMPLE, GET SO COMPLICATED?

FOR some time, status in the first world has not been signaled just with expensive clothes and designer handbags, but also with so-called elevated versions of everyday items: an elegant pour-over coffee kit in place of a humble Mr. Coffee machine; dinky house ferns replaced by exotic Monstera plants; and in recent infamy, drinking straws and paper clips from Tiffany.

Now, let us consider what has happened to soap.

Remember Softsoap? Ivory? “You’re not fully clean unless you’re Zestfully clean”? Camay, all over?

These plastic bottles and softening cakes were once a boring household staple, little considered, casually tossed in the supermarket cart along with toothpaste and paper towels.

In many households, they still are.

Alexander Atkins, a 29-year-old social-media specialist and menswear blogger, is also a fan of Aesop, as well as Le Labo. “It appeals to people like me, in terms of it photographing very nicely,” he said. “I think that my generation seems to be more aesthetically driven.”

A PRETTY PACKAGE EXPENSIVE hotels were the first to use soaps as a form of brand enhancement; now restaurants and boutique fitness studios are following.

The Gramercy Park Hotel in New York has been using amenities from Aesop, based in Australia, since 2014.

Morgans Hotel went local with Malin & Goetz. Around the world, the Ace Hotel chain stocks products from Rudy’s Barbershop, a nod to the company’s Northwestern roots.

Included in the price of SoulCycle’s $36 stationary-cycling class is a rinse off with Le Labo, a 12-year-old perfume company in New York that started producing soap last fall.

The boutique workout company Barry’s Bootcamp stocks Oribe, the luxurious line of the celebrity hairstylist. Equinox, which helped take gyms upscale, has stocked Kiehl’s soaps in its locations since 2009.

When the Italian fashion brand Prada and the high-end online retailer Mr. Porter hosted an event at Gutter Bar, a grungy bowling alley and dive bar in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, to celebrate a springtime fashion collection, no detail was overlooked and organizers put Byredo in the bathroom, resulting in some enthusiastic tweets. But how much will it set you back to get this stuff in your own bathroom?

Well.

Byredo Suede Hand Wash sells for $65, Aesop Reverence Aromatique Hand Wash sells for $39, and Le Labo Hinoki Hand Soap sells for $38. Even boutique bar soap ain’t cheap: Saturdays NYC Moisturizing Bar Soap, made by a menswear label, is $20 and Binu Binu Shaman Black Charcoal Soap is $18 (yes, charcoal—that which used to smudge chimney sweeps). The leading players tout their substance. “While pretty stores and pretty packaging are important to us, it would be nothing without having a quality product inside,” said Andrew Goetz, a founder of Malin & Goetz. “If you pump out one of our hand washes, you’ll notice it’s really viscous and thick, and it’s not going to run through your fingers.”

WASHING WITH DIRT AN idea of industrial squeaky clean in America—remember when everyone had a little bottle of Purell?—has long done battle with one of gently cooperating with nature. Nowadays it’s the nature-inclined faction that seems to be winning, with handmade, rough-hewed bars filling shops from Etsy to Sephora. Aveda, the natural grooming company founded in 1978, helped usher in the concept that high-quality shampoo and soap was worth paying a premium for. Aesop, founded in 1987, added streamlined design. The increase of niche brands continued into the 1990s, including companies marketing sensitive-skin soaps and fragrance-free soaps.

Yet another wave of these premium beauty, skin care and soap brands popped up in the mid-aughts, including Sachajuan, in Stockholm, and Grown Alchemist, from Melbourne, Australia. The Erno Laszlo “Sea Mud” black bar, given a shout-out in Annie Hall, has been joined by entrants from Herbivore and Korres.

Despite its reputation as the messier, inferior application, the bar soap is resurgent. In a Softsoap television commercial from 1982, bars of soap from Camay, Ivory, Dial and Dove are stacked upon a royal blue sink counter and shown eroding alongside a pristine bottle of liquid Softsoap. The voice-over then states: “Soap without the soapy mess.”

But a report by Mintel, a market research firm, found that more than 60 percent of consumers said they might consider buying “premium” varieties of bar soap, even though more than half of consumers say bar soap is inconvenient. In 2018 mess and inconvenience, as long as it seems intentional, can feel more like a feature—not a bug. The Brooklyn-based company Joya offers a bar soap that comes with its own beautifully designed tray, and Salt & Stone, a company based in a village in British Columbia, sells salt bars in distinct pyramid shapes. Even the bar soap from Saturdays NYC comes embellished with the logo, the same one that adorns the brand’s widely coveted graphic t-shirts. “I’m happy to use an unscented Dove soap and buy it for $1.50,” said Frederick Bouchardy, the founder of Joya. “But I also want these, and I’m not ashamed of it. These are so cool and beautiful—you just want to touch them, smell them and have them.”

NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

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EBU CITY—The impending downpour of a dim Sunday afternoon over the Cebu City Sports Center finally came in as slow and heavy, then torrential. In the grayness of the driving rain, however, in the middle of the field now cleared of people, a bright sunshine of a scene came through.

As the crowd in the open multisport complex scrambled to take shade, around 80 young football players, together with coaches, remained unmoved in the middle of the pitch. They were wrapping up the final session of the second Milo FCB (FC Barcelona) Road to Barcelona Philippines Invitational Camp with a song taught to them by the FCB Youth Academy coaches.

“Ole-le, Ola-la, ser del Barça és el millor que hi ha! [Ole-le, Ola-la, being a Barça fan is the best (thing) there is!],” sang the drenched campers with the biggest smiles on their faces, jumping up and down on wet grass while wiping their eyes dry.

Cebu is this year’s Philippine venue of the global football grassroots development program between Milo and FC Barcelona, where a country’s top collection of football players ages 10 to 12 years old participate in a world-class training camp run by coaches of the prestigious FCB Youth Academy, which produced FCB stars such as Andres Iniesta, Puyol and Lionel Messi. The chosen players from the camp will get to represent the country’s delegation in the FCB Training Camp and Ultimate Experience in Barcelona, Spain, in November, which include a training session with an FCB legend and watching a live FCB game at Camp Nou. According to Willy de Ocampo, vice president and business unit manager for Nestlé Philippines, the multinational behind the Milo brand, Cebu was made the host of this year’s camp with the intention to tap into a broader base of football players from all over the country.

“On our second Road to Barcelona, we wanted to extend this world-class opportunity to more kids in the country, particularly the football hotbed that is the Visayas region,” de Ocampo said. “Milo and FCB both believe that it is through sports and the values learned through them that we truly become champions in life. We are very pleased and grateful to have had this chance to help advance the local football scene here through this global partnership.”

This year’s local camp welcomed around 160 players from Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Dumaguete, Koronadal, Masbate, Negros Occidental and Metro Manila. The selection process involved the participation of nationwide football associations, which were asked to nominate local prospects.

One of athletes who participated in the recent Cebu camp was 12-year-old Donjie Alimanggo of Koronadal. A fan of midfield maestro Iniesta, Donjie entered the world of football after being discovered by a coach in his hometown who saw him running in an oval track. The coach asked him if he wanted to join a football team, and he’s never looked back since.

“After po nun, sure na po agad ako na football talaga ang gusto kong gawin,” Donjie said. “Masaya po kasi ’yung

teamwork and kailangan po ng respect, at ’yun din po ’yung natutunan ko dito sa mga coaches sa camp.”

Another participant was Carlos Bongocan from Cagayan de Oro. Unlike Donjie, Carlos’s exposure to football came in much earlier, when he was four years old, because his dad, Dennis, carried an advocacy to teach less-fortunate kids about the sport.

“We don’t go to the mall because we enjoy teaching football very much, just seeing kids enjoying the training and the game,” the elder Bongocan said. “My wife even cooks for the kids for our training sessions.”

From the pool of Road to Barcelona young athletes, Milo Philippines, the visiting FCB Youth Academy coaches and the Cebu Football Association (CFA) will select seven standouts centered on an interesting mechanic: only 30 percent of the criteria will be based on skill, while the remaining 70 percent will be based on values.

When Milo tied up last year with FC Barcelona for a four-year global partnership, de Ocampo said the move was born out of a shared set of values— the kind of values that do not end in sports but extend to life—that there’s more to playing than winning, and, more important, the traits of HEART, an acronym for humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork, which Milo and FCB believe are what make up a champion.

The announcement of the lucky seven who will make it into the 2018 Philippine delegation to Spain will be made later this month, and they will fly out to Barcelona in the second week of November, together with the identified players from the other Milo markets worldwide.

Part of the Philippine delegation in the inaugural trip last year was 11-year-old Cebuano Ethan Roxas.

Milo Philippines Consumer Marketing Manager Robbie de Vera said Ethan is mature beyond his years, and the trip to Barcelona helped a lot in that

development. “The exposure abroad really helped build his confidence apart from his skills.”

For his part, Ethan, who learned about his selection last year from his mom while he was out playing football in school with a bottle cap, called the whole experience “fun and enjoyable.”

“It helped me with my values and my skills,” he said, adding that the most memorable part of the 12day Barcelona trip was meeting former FCB defender and current Sporting Director Eric Abidal.

As far as this year’s crop of talent is concerned, de Vera said athletes who’ll be missing out on the plane to Barcelona shouldn’t feel any less proud, because with the free, world-class training, free jerseys, free equipment and free exposure to the technology of FC Barcelona that they received, that experience in itself is value enough. “The actual trip to Barcelona is just icing on the cake.”

Meanwhile, the two FCB Youth Academy coaches who headed the camp this year, with the help of CFA coaches, rolled out every football drill, theoretical lesson and values formation for the purpose of instilling to the young athletes FC Barcelona’s team system, culture and shared values of HEART, bannered by the message of #TEAMMAKESME. “We not only want to teach them the right way to play, but also want to teach them the right values to live by,” said FCB Youth Academy Coach Jordi Aguilar. His colleague Albert Batalla joined him in the camp.

De Ocampo, the Nestlé Philippines executive, said the focus for the Road to Barcelona program in the coming years will be the expansion of its appeal to invite even more children to get into sports, because they believe that sports is a teacher of values in life.

“That’s the whole point of this camp: You learn some skills, yes, but what you learn more is the experience that will fuel you to reach for your dreams, that you can go for it.” n

Dementia and Alzheimer’s: How are they related?

LAPSES in memory may occur in the normal elderly person but dementia is not an inevitable part of aging.

Popular movies like The Notebook, and famous personalities like former US President Ronald Reagan and country music superstar Glen Campbell have increased awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), conditions that were relatively unfamiliar to most people until recently. For those who have loved ones with these conditions, the tragedy is seeing them forget how to do the simplest activities, or, worse, forget their own identities and those dearest to them.

Makati Medical Center (www.makatimed.net.ph), one of the country’s leading medical institutions, takes you through the basics of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Contrary to frequent belief, dementia is not synonymous to Alzheimer’s disease. According to Darwin A. Dasig, MD, chairman of MakatiMed’s Neurological Sciences Department, “Dementia is an acquired condition causing intellectual decline in an awake person that is sustained and severe enough to cause impairment in occupational or social function.” There are many disorders that cause dementia. The most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease. But there are other causes, which include Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Frontotemporal Dementia.

AD is believed to be due to the accumulation of an

abnormal protein in the brain, called Beta Amyloid.

This brings about several other processes and mechanisms that result in progressive death and loss of brain cells. Because this starts at the area of the brain necessary for the consolidation of memory, the earliest symptom of AD is impairment of short-term memory.

But with continuous loss of cells in other parts of the brain, patients eventually experience impairment in language, orientation with surroundings, problem solving and behavior.

During the most advanced stage, they may be completely mute, unable to move and become bed-ridden, according to Dr. Dasig.

AD is very prevalent and should be treated as a major public health issue. The 2015 World Alzheimer Report estimates one new case every three seconds worldwide, with the highest prevalence now in Asia.

Unfortunately, it is estimated that around only 1 out of 3 patients are diagnosed properly and a smaller number of patients receive proper treatment.

“Early diagnosis is of utmost importance for health care to be initiated earlier,” says Dr. Dasig. “There are at present available effective medical and nonpharmacological treatment strategies to maintain and maximize existing functions and prevent further progression of impairment in persons with AD.”

THE second Milo FCB Road to Barcelona Philippines Invitational Camp welcomed around 160 football players aged 10 to 12 years old from all over the country for a two-day, worldclass training camp in Cebu, featuring coaches from the FC Barcelona Youth Academy.

BusinessMirror E1 | Wednesday, September 19, 2018 • Editor : Tet Andolong

BASF Plant in Germany

BASF introduces poles for telcos and power producers

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

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Contributor

UDWIGSHAFEN, Germanybased BASF recently said it plans to work with small and independent power producers and telecommunications providers in the Philippines for their pole requirements.

The company said it is promoting the Boldur poles in the country, as it is one of the most heavily exposed

places to typhoons and other natural disasters.

Ronald Mercado, managing di-

rector of BASF Philippines said it high time for the country to have a proactive approach in managing disasters.

“The Philippines gets an average of 19 typhoons a year. Boldur’s superior strength can improve the resilience of power distribution infrastructure during and after extreme weather conditions. This helps build local communities’ readiness in facing the effects of global climate change,” he said in a press statement.

“During natural calamities, such as typhoons, the lack of electricity puts further stress on affected communities. Traditional concrete, steel and wooden poles often topple after

being buffeted by typhoon winds,” said Greg Hosford, senior manager for Performance Materials, Construction, BASF. Globally, the Philippines is one of the countries most exposed to tropical storms, with typhoons being most active from the months of June through September. Boldur utility poles can mitigate the effects of tropical cyclones in affected communities by ensuring continuous delivery of electricity.

Mercado said the plan to introduce new innovations led to the development of Boldur. “There was a demand in the market for poles that are not as cumbersome as traditional concrete poles and do not

Botanika Nature Residences brings generosity of space to condo living

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N this increasingly crowded metropolis that we live in, freedom of space has become a rare commodity. There is, however, a unique luxury condominium development that marries ease and convenience to give city dwellers the feeling that they are in a subdivision instead of a high-rise: Botanika Nature Residences by Filigree, the new gold standard in luxury real estate today.

Rising on a 1.55-hectare prime property within a secluded section of the progressive Filinvest City in Alabang, Botanika Nature Residences features a bioclimactic architecture from the creative minds of Architecture International and Leandro V. Locsin Partners. It is a

private enclave with three mid-rise, low-density condominium buildings set on varying topography and bound together by lots of greenery.

“It is the whole idea that it is a condominium unit, but there is this village quality, the opportunity to bump into your neighbors to share space, to interact this way if you want to,” said Andy Locsin of Leandro V. Locsin Partners, Botanika’s architect of record.

The abundance in space is reflected in Botanika’s modern and generously sized residential units, each with a balcony, that reinforces the feeling of exclusive village living.

Now ready for occupancy, Botanika Tower 1 has a variety of finely

crafted units with a minimum of two bedrooms. All the units are designed to anticipate their future owners’ distinctive lifestyles.

The two-bedroom deluxe unit is perfect for those with varied pursuits and passions—art, travel, sports or business. With 123 to 129 square meter of space, it can be a weekend sanctuary, a cozy and intimate pied-à-terre. The twobedroom premier, 135 to 143 sq m, is ideal for a young couple or a new family, allowing for hours of bonding and strengthening family ties.

The three-bedroom premier is best for a growing family. With up to 218 sq m of space, there is more space to enjoy. For the few who like grander

crack as easily or corrode under harsh weather conditions,” he said.

BASF’s Research & Development teams went to work, tapping into our vast accumulated experience in the compounding of glass fiber and polyurethane material. Coupling with our unique filament winding technology, BASF was able to develop low-cost, lightweight, strong composite materials, giving Boldur utility poles their robustness and durability.

The company said Boldur utility poles are robust and lightweight at less than 1one-fourth the weight of conventional concrete poles, weighing just 250kilograms. It also pointed out installing the poles require little manpower and lifting

equipment and can be installed in difficult terrain, cutting through remote mountainous and through swampy areas. “Initially, we are mainly working with small and independent power producers and telecommunications providers in the Philippines to identify key needs,” the company explained.

Compared to conventional concrete utility poles, Mercado Boldur poles are twice as wind resistant, enabling them to stand firm in strong wind and heavy snow, as well as in other natural disasters. Boldur poles are approximately one-fourth of the weight of traditional poles, making them simpler and faster to install even in remote areas.

Alveo tops off East Veranda

accommodations, the Garden unit offers spaces from 213 to 327 sq m, while the penthouse unit is divided into spaces from 135 to 343 sq m.

Aside from the luxury of space, what sets Botanika apart is structure and location. Residents enjoy utmost exclusivity and the assurance that their view will remain unobstructed, thanks to a carefully master-planned layout and sheltered ambiance. “Botanika is a modern rendition of a grand stately home in a mid-rise development to let residents indulge in luxurious breathing space, a rarity today,” said Filigree Head Kate Ilagan. www.botanika.com.ph.

RUFINO GUTIERREZ (from left), chief operating officer of Alveo Land; Arch. Jay Caniza, innovation and design group head of Alveo Land; Mr. Aries Cajucom, sales and marketing group head of Alveo Land; Anjo Soriano, project development manager of Alveo Land; Engr. Jhim Chua, project director for Construction Management Group of Alveo Land; Ron Galura, regional sales head for North Operations of Alveo Land; Arch. Jun Simeon, senior division architect of Aidea Philippines and Engr. Joselito Satriano, Opcen head for Arca South–Datem Inc.

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LVEO Land commemorates yet another achievement with the topping-off ceremony of East Veranda, the third tower of Alveo Land’s first residential community in Arca South. Held recently, this marks the full structural completion of an intimate development in the newest business and lifestyle district in Taguig.

Business

E2 Wednesday, September 19, 2018

WOMEN AND YOUTH IN REAL ESTATE

Amor Maclang

FIRST DIBS IN REAL ESTATE

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NCLUSION has always been a driver for me in our advocacies. A most meaningful work expression of this spirit of volunteerism in the real-estate industry is our work in mentoring and engaging more women and the youth to engage in the realestate sector.

This year, it was a no-brainer for me to accept being a volunteer mentor mentorship as we strive to marry our work in real estate, communications, nationalism and digitalization.

Once more, the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) and the Young Leaders Group (YLG) will work together for the ULI Philippines Mentorship Program 2018.

This second run of the program was ignited by the major success of last year’s start. An avenue for young individuals and real-estate professionals to intertwine tradition with new perspectives, the program specifically cultivates skills, innovates, and infuses a deeper understanding of real estate today.

According to Angeline Yapyuco, cochairman of the YLG, the program is meant to support learning and sharing on both responsible land use and career development. “We believe we achieved this goal last year and had an amazing and diverse lineup of mentors and mentees. This

year, we’re excited to have mentors from the branding, retail, planner and developer perspective, which will give successful applicants the unique opportunity to understand the various facets of the real-estate environment.” The mentor responsibilities of support, encouragement and deliverance are vital to fulfill.

Similarly, a mentee’s responsibilities of initiative, dedication and deliverance make the program selection highly competitive. The mentors for the ULI Philippines Mentorship Program are widely known in their respective fields. They have been selectively handpicked by ULI to create a unique and enriching experience for mentees.

This year’s group of mentors is a diversified mix of individuals, talents and backgrounds. The first of the three female mentors is Myra Ocampo. Ocampo is the head of commercial operations at Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC).

Her part in BGC projects has helped skyrocket the success of Fort Boni-

THE lineup of mentors for the second run of the ULI Philippines Mentorship Program

facio’s projects in preserving culture and sustainability. Among her most recent endeavors include the BGC Greenway Park—the longest urban park in Metro Manila.

The last of the female mentors is Abba Napa. She is an acclaimed restaurateur and cofounder of The Moment Group and The Tropical Retail Co. Also an Ateneo graduate, Napa briefly studied in New York’s French Culinary institute where she focused on restaurant management and culinary techniques. As one of the driving forces of her dynamic group, Napa has opened one new restaurant every 45 days. She has brought to life a mix of fine and casual dining treasures. The wellknown Manam, 8Cuts, Watering Hole, Bank Bar, Mecha Uma and

Ooma are just a few of the treats we can thank her for. With Napa at the helm of TMG, it is no surprise that the five-time Michelin star-awarded restaurant, Din Tai Fung, chose The Movement Group to represent them in the Philippines.

Included in the roster is the current National Chairman for ULI Philippines and Chief Executive Officer Delfin Angelo Wenceslao. He is a real-estate professional, as he has extensive experience in financial analysis, asset management and development.

There are also mentors with global backgrounds, such as Sylvester Wong, vice president of AECOM. An urban planner and a designer, Wong has handled projects in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Mongolia,

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Freia breaks ground

PSY Series launched

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REIA, Pico de Loro Cove’s latest residential offering, held its groundbreaking ceremony recently at its construction site at Hamilo Coast in Nasugbu, Batangas. The ceremonial dig was led by Costa del Hamilo Inc. executives and project consultants—Senior Assistant Vice President William Chew (from left), Senior Assistant Vice President Alexis Ortiga, Vice President Camie Bolus, Vice Presi-

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EADING global manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric Corp., through local affiliate International Elevator and Equipment Inc. (IEE), recently launched a breakthrough air-conditioning solution in a glamorous event, aptly themed “Unveiling the Mystery of Winter Wonderland,” held at Conrad Hotel in Seaside Boulevard, Pasay City.

Mitsubishi Electric’s new PSY Series floor-standing air conditioner under the Mr. Slim Inverter Series is targeted to make waves in the airconditioning sector as it answers the need for cooling technologies that are efficient, quick and easy to install. The PSY Series’s streamlined features offer comfortable cooling that, at the same time, do away with big, bulky and noisy air-conditioning systems.

“The PSY Series floor-standing, split-type air conditioner is testimony to Mitsubishi Electric Corp.’s commitment to design and build superb quality products that give optimum comfort, efficiency and durability for users,” said Melecio B. Vicencio, vice president of IEE during his opening remarks. “We want to keep innovating to continuously make positive impact in the market for the benefit of our

Russia, Australia, the UAE and the USA. The Berkeley, California, native and graduate has had over 20 years of leading multidisciplinary urban design and planning teams.

He has dedicated much of his time to incorporating sustainability, competitiveness and resilience into his designs. His developments all vary in project types, mixing waterfronts, new cities, city centers, and even historic and environmental protection projects. Wong advocates for vision-led planning and is certain to impart this and more on chosen mentees.

In keeping with the international forces, Christophe Vicic will also join this powerful group of mentors. Vicic is an international senior executive with experience in managing com-

panies through matrix structure and across cultural borders. He is the current country head at JLL Philippines Inc. His international background has given him significant global exposure and entrepreneurial skills.

His work has led him to direct board and management experience in Europe, Africa, Scandinavia, Middle East and Asia. Mentees of this program are lucky that JLL has brought Vicic to Manila, as he specializes in organizational review, turnaround program, organization transition, and M&A Advisory role. He has had over 30 years of multi-industry corporate experience collected from different parts of the world.

The mentorship program is one of the YLG’s major initiatives in the Philippines. Mikko Barranda, the cochairman of YLG, calls it their core program. “This is an opportunity to bridge both the young generation of up and coming professionals with seasoned experts in the real-estate industry,” he said.

“I believe more than just sharing of ideas and best practices, this is a chance to strengthen ties and build long-term relationship with the entire group.” Several of the mentees from the initial batch have become involved ULI members, a proof of the success of the program. Some have even moved on to collaborate on industry-related projects together.

“We look forward to host the 2nd Batch with a powerhouse of mentors representing different fields of real estate each with their own set of skills and expertise that they can impart to the future young leaders,” Barranda added.

The Urban Land Institute’s creation of this program has offered young individuals the ability to harness their full strong potentials. The combined mix of experiences and lessons from the chosen mentees breeds continuity for the real-estate world. This dynamic of collaboration is enriching for both sides, though ultimately, it will enrich the world of development by producing new ideas and preserving old foundations.

The program is open to all realestate professionals under 35 years old. Interested applicants may submit the requirements at ULI_Philippines@uli.org. Deadline for applications have been extended to September 24, 2018.

“UNVEILING the Mystery of Winter Wonderland” grand launch event was graced by Masakazu Obata (from left), overseas marketing manager, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Shizuoka Works; Melecio B. Vicencio, IEE vice president; Keiichi Matsunaga, chairman of IEE and general manager of Mitsubishi Corp.; Ramoncito A. Ocampo, IEE president; Hotaka Ishikawa, group leader of Southeast Asian Group, Mitsubishi Electric Corp.; Alfred Pantaleon, IEE assistant vice president (E/E Installation); Rico Mercado, IEE treasurer; and Henry Bayonas, IEE assistant vice president (E/E Service)

business partners.”

The PSY Series diversifies the capabilities of the Mr. Slim Inverter Series as it provides for a wide range of air-conditioning needs, whether it’s for a small room, to offices and large commercial spaces.

“This new product demonstrates Mitsubishi Electric’s ‘Changes for the Better’ mantra, which means continual change and growth by offering only the best services and latest technologies that contribute to a safe and sustainable environment,” noted Hotaka Ishikawa, group leader of Southeast Asian

Group at Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

The PSY Series air-conditioning technology has a cooling capacity that range from 8.8 kW to 13.4 kW. Its indoor unit boasts of a long-life filter that has a maximum service life of about 2,500 office hours when used on average office conditions. As an inverter-type aircon, PSY floorstanding air conditioners similarly boost the space’s aesthetic because of its streamlined, light-weight design and provision of a four-way multidirectional piping connection to the indoor unit. A quiet operation and an even distribution of airflow that

eliminates uncomfortable drafts in office environments are also some of the foremost characteristics of the Mr. Slim Inverter Series that are infused in the PSY Series. Other features include an “open-and-close grille” that simplifies removal of filter for cleaning; a weekly timer that enables setting of operation start and stop times; an auto-return function that automatically resets the temperature back to its original setting after a specified period of time; and a temperature range restriction that limits the maximum and minimum temperature settings.

dent Engr. Nestor Javier, Executive Vice President Shirley C. Ong with project consultants Arch. Arlie Cruz from GF and Partners, and from Budji+Royal Arch. Bennie Lagos and Arch. Onet Coronel.

Freia is a luxury beach condominium of the SM Group where future residents can indulge in the spectacular panorama of sea and verdant mountains. Construction of Freia is now in full swing.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2018 E3

PHILGBC pushes green agenda in the workplace

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

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Contributor

N the further pursuit of the green agenda, the Philippine Green Building Council (PHILGBC) recently stressed that the workplace must also have green elements to enhance worker’s productivity.

In its recent Building Green Product Spotlight event held in Makati City, the PHILGBC organized a forum to present pro-environment products to the audience composed of developers, contractors and property consultants, among others.

Reigning Miss Earth 2017 Philippines Karen Ibasco discussed about increasing employees’ productivity by improving indoor air quality.

Moreover, she stressed the importance of knowing and having a clean indoor air quality in the workplace.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States, indoor air quality is the biggest environmental hazard in the world—with as much as five times more pollution than the outdoor air.

Furthermore, according to the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations, poor indoor air quality has proven to decrease employee performance down to 10 percent.

Among the symptoms that result from poor indoor air quality are sick employees, chronic fatigue, and absenteeism that seems to continuously rise.

In the Philippines there is an insufficient source of information and awareness of indoor air quality. It’s very important to address the potential causes of indoor air-quality problems. These problems can have a very detrimental impact on our employees’ health if left untreated.

Research shows that people spend 90 percent of their time indoors, and if the indoor air is polluted, this could pose a significant health risk.

A device called 24-Hour Indoor Air Monitoring Device of AOM Philippines can detect, monitor and alert indoor air-pollution levels through a mobile app that is accessible through an Internet connection whenever.

The device can monitor nine indoor air pollutants: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, VOC, relative humidity, respirable

CARLO GOZE (from left), marketing manager of Armstrong Ceilings; Macky Lim, head of Design and Value Added Partners, Philips Electronics and Lighting; Matthias Gelber, 2008 Greenest Man on the Planet, brand ambassador of Air and Odor Management Philippines; and Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco, representing Indoor Air Quality Philippines

suspended particles, nitrogen dioxide and temperature.

Ibasco concluded that focus on improving the indoor air quality in the workplace is another important policy that will benefit the employees. Matthias Gelber, the 2008 Greenest Man on Earth, discussed how kitchen fire can be reduced and how a kitchen exhaust releases a greener discharge for a cleaner environment.

In a study, the WHO concluded that outdoor air pollution is carci-

HOME

Ethimo showcases its outdoor furniture

ESEDRA designed by Luca Nichetto. At the time of the Ancient Romans, the exedra was a semicircular space where social gatherings and philosophical debates were held. The collection Esedra takes its name from this element of classical architecture to create a complete range of furniture for a contemporary outdoor look.

THE Knit collection was designed by Patrick Norguet, which is an original synthesis of beauty and functionality with a finished quality in every detail, from the wooden structure in teak or black mahogany of the tables and chairs, to the interlaced weave of the armchair, in synthetic roped fabric, elegant and ideal for outdoor use.

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HERE’S an outdoor revolution going, said Sales Head Danilo Bordi Ethimo of Ethimo, an Italian furniture brand that specializes in high quality outdoor furnishings and décor.

Danilo, was in Manila to visit Ethimo exclusive distributor Home Studio Inc. He said that the Philippines is ready for the outdoor revolution. For a tropical country, we

are indeed so ready. Ethimo’s deisgn is very apt for the country’s sunny weather almost all year round. They are proud of their Mediterranean charm and feel and their design is made with comfort and practicality in mind. The high-end materials also ensure the end users with longer-lasting outdoor furnishings.

It’s really more practical to spend on good quality outdoor furniture

than to have to keep on changing, because the cheap ones get tired and old easily.

Grant Lim, Home Studio’s owner and CEO, said, “Gone are the days when home owners neglect their outdoor space. It has now become part of the entire look of one’s home.”

This is backed by Danilo, who said that their sales in the region have definitely been looking good. He boasts of their new collection, which was just showcased in the recently concluded Salonedelmobile at the Milan Design Week 2018.

The new collection, he says, is on display of enchanting Mediterranean colors and made to enhance any outdoor area to create sophisticated settings for every homeowner who can relax and savor the true luxury of free time. “We shouldn’t waste our beautiful gift of sunshine and tropical weather and enjoy the outdoors more, added Danilo.

“It is a shame not to be in love with such beautiful designs. With Ethimo in one’s veranda why would I stay indoors?”

nogenic to humans—with increased cancer incidence of the lungs and urinary tracts.

It said that discharges from kitchen exhaust systems contribute to outdoor air pollution. Not only do they negatively impact the environment, they can cause public odor nuisance, as well.

Environmental laws worldwide have been clamping down on offenders, and affected businesses often face severe fines and operation suspensions.

By collecting 98.7 percent of oil, grease, smoke and odor from cooking processes, environmental impact and fire risks will be kept to the minimum. This will benefit all members of the community for many generations to come.

Scrubbox, a Kitchen Exhaust Electrostatic Precipitator, uses the ESP technology to collect cooking-process pollution and reduce the risk of kitchen fire while producing oil-free and odor-free kitchen duct discharge.

This equipment has an intui-

tive design that allows oil, grease, smoke and odor molecules down to 0.01 micron to pass through and be electrostatically charged through the filtration plates.

Other discussions covered during the event were market solutions and best practices in indoor environment quality, energy efficiency, efficient chillers and energy design, smart lighting, integrated pest management, green cement and information-technology solutions, such as BIM 360, among others.

Kärcher strengthens PHL presence

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LOBAL cleaning technology and solutions leader Kärcher recently inaugurated its first service center and showroom in the Philippines, as part of efforts to bring the innovative products closer to Filipinos.

Located in Sucat, Parañaque, the new Kärcher Center serves as a showroom where visitors can view and buy the company’s latest products. Customers and potential business clients can also personally experience the products or see how they work through a demonstration by professionals. In addition, the center also functions as the business and service center for Filipino customers for both the Home & Garden, as well as the Professional product lines.

“Our new f lagship K ärcher Center will definitely help develop our commitment to bring the right cleaning solution to every Filipino customer. With the brand-

new showroom and service center, local customers can now expect full and immediate support from us—from simply inquiring about our products to actually seeing and using the products in action for a test run,” said Kärcher Philippines Country Manager Zurich Fernandez.

The opening of the Kärcher Center is a sign of the budding German interest in setting up business in the Philippines. “The Philippines is an economic powerhouse in the Southeast region, and together with its English-speaking population, it is no wonder that German firms are confident in expanding in the country. I’m very excited that a company as huge as Kärcher is now here. It will not only bring world-class cleaning technologies for Filipinos but also help both nations’ economies in creating job opportunities,” said Dr. Andree Buhl, Economic and commercial counselor of the German

Embassy in Manila.

Kärcher’s decision to complement the online shopping trend by opening a physical showroom is a testament to its commitment to show customers that cleaning is a process. “By having a brick-andmortar-store, we can teach our customers the right process. We can offer them advice and practical learning through our professionals.

At the same time, it gives us the opportunity to know our customers better by way of face-to-face interactions,” Fernandez added.

The new Kärcher Center is just part of the company’s ongoing initiatives in the Philippines. Earlier this year it restored the People Power Monument along Edsa, and last December, refurbished the Rizal Monument in Luneta Park. Both of these are under the “Kärcher Cleans the World” campaign that aims to help preserve national and historic landmark across the world.

Entrepreneur BusinessMirror

E4 Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Toby’s: From a Disney character shop to a popular sports gear store

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By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

@brownindio

Contributor

OR Roberto “Toby” Claudio Jr., the name behind Toby’s Sports, the largest network of sporting goods stores in the country today, an entrepreneur has to be innovative, creative, a performer and knows how to give back.

Claudio Jr., vice president for operations and business development of Quorum International Inc., mother company of Toby’s Sports, said innovation is foremost at the heart of all businesses. With innovation, he said, the same businesses remain fresh and current.

The University of the Philippines Business Economics graduate also said that the drive to create is how Toby’s Sports got where it is now after 40 years in business. He founded sports specialty stores Runnr and Urban Athletics because he believes that if the company fails to create, “we would end up just like any other retail store, so we needed to really invent and create a need for our products.”

Toby, who helped entrench the company founded by his father Roberto Sr. as a forerunner in sports retail, also stressed that of no less importance Toby’s Sports is in the business of improving athletic performance.

Humble beginnings

TOBY’S Sports had humble beginnings by selling Mickey Mouse and

other Disney merchandise at a modest shop in Greenhills, San Juan City some 40 years ago.

In 1978 Roberto “Bobby” Claudio Sr. decided to leave his job in a multinational company to become an entrepreneur. He used his savings to open a store selling stuffed toys at the Greenhills Commercial Center, which he named after his then five-year-old son, Roberto Jr., fondly called Toby.

Since Claudio Sr. and his two younger brothers were sports enthusiasts, the store, some two years later started selling skateboards, tennis, badminton, squash and pelota rackets. Later, it diversified into selling sports apparel and equipment. In 1980 they rebranded the whole concept as Toby’s Sports and Hobbies.

“It just eventually grew from there carrying foreign brands such as Adidas and Nike. We were just pioneering the concept. Back then, sporting goods were sold along with musical instruments in Quiapo and Raon [in Manila],” Toby, a triathlete himself, said in an interview on the

sidelines of the company’s 40th anniversary celebration held recently in Pasig City.

“Our first store inside the mall was in SM North Edsa. Now, we’re present in 45 SM malls nationwide and also in Ayala and Robinson’s malls. We now have a total of 60 stores,” he said.

Passion for sports

TOBY said they choose franchisees who are also passionate about sports and have strong ties with the community in their area of operation so they can create partnership and sponsorship of sporting activities.

Out of the 60 stores, 42 are company-owned, while 18 are franchise partners.

Challenges

JUST like any business, Claudio Jr. said Toby’s also experienced challenges in the business. Among them were the Asian financial crisis and the February 1986 Edsa Revolution when Toby’s was scheduled to open a store in SM North Edsa.

Claudio Jr. also said it was tough competing against local brands, but the company was fortunate because it managed to build the brand for the past 40 years.

“Toby’s has become synonymous with sports. Based on research, Toby has become a top of the mind brand for a lot of people when it comes to sports and probably remembered as the top place to go when people want to visit for sporting needs,” Claudio Jr. said.

Looking back, Claudio Jr., said his passion for sports played a big role in the growth of Toby’s, recalling how his father encouraged

CLAUDIO JR.

him to be active in sports during his growing up years.

“That is our advocacy and that’s we are really pushing. We tell everyone coming into our store that they can become champions. We tell them that they can learn a lot of things from sports like teamwork, discipline, hard work and dedication,” he pointed out.

As a responsible corporate citizen, the Claudio family established the Toby’s Sports Foundation to help children play sports. “We have lots of beneficiaries in the foundation especially kids who are playing in different sports tournaments,” he said.

“We want kids to be active in sports especially these days when it is very hard to veer them away from gadgets. We believe that every kid should be given an opportunity to play sports,” he added.

Although the sporting goods market has seen the entry of foreign

brands, Claudio Jr., said Toby’s has managed to be at pace with competition because by anticipating market demand and a sound knowledge on the taste of the local market.

“We also take our mission seriously. We always believe that sports help a lot of Filipinos to aspire to be better individuals. We also tell our team that every individual who walks into Toby’s must be given the chance to enjoy sports,” he stressed.

Toby’s also introduced its online store (Tobys.com) in response to the changing needs of the market. Claudio Jr. said it is now one of the top retail web sites in the Philippines.

It has also established a new brand called Runnr that caters to the sporting needs of running enthusiasts.

Claudio Jr. encouraged people to go into running because it offers a lot of benefits. “When I started into running, I became more productive and more fit,” he said.

Alongside Runnr, Claudio Jr. also formed Urban Athletics to cater to people who want to wear sports outfits as part of their regular apparel.

“Toby’s Sports is here not just to provide you with the gear that you need, but more important, to inspire you to succeed. In sports and life, we got this,” said Claudio Jr. Toby’s Sports, he added, remains committed to providing its patrons with the support and motivation that they need to succeed.

As the company ushers in a new decade, Claudio Jr. further ensures that “Toby’s Sports will continue to expand and innovate with the times, remaining committed to improving itself so that greatness will be more achievable for every Filipino dreamer.”

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Antique’s local food, fashion take center stage at SM City Iloilo

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AN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique—The provincial government of Antique, through its tourism office, will showcase its famous local cuisine and fashion designs at the SM City in Iloilo on September 20.

Antique provincial tourism officer Jose Ramlo Villaluna, in an interview on Monday, said the event will further promote the local cuisine, which tourists could look for in restaurants in the province during their visit.

“This event is also in support to the culinary tourism, which is a thrust of Department of Tourism Secretary Bernadette [Fatima] Romulo Puyat,” Villaluna said.

He said among the cuisine they will showcase and offer for food tasting are the popular Por vida of Sibalom town, which is a native chicken cooked in a bed of salt inside a clay pot, and Bandi or melted muscovado sugar with peanuts prepared with ice cream.

“There would be at least nine selected cuisines prepared in a modern way of presenting food that would be showcased,” he said.

Meanwhile, Villaluna said the designs of the local designers who attended the workshop conducted

by Iloilo’s acclaimed designer PJ Aranador in July here will also be presented in a fashion show at SM City.

“There are 10 local fashion designers who will present their craft,” he said.

He said the classy designs of the local designers were so impressive that one of them, Oliver Zulueta of Tobias Fornier, was invited to showcase at the Likhang Pamana’s Katutubo Haute Couture at Sheraton in Hong Kong from November 9 to 11. PNA

Chinese entrepreneur tries to replicate Shenzhen ‘miracle’ to Africa

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HE Ethiopian officials visiting Shenzhen saw how it was transformed from a tiny, southern fishing village into a manufacturing powerhouse within 35 years, spawning China’s economic miracle. The message was clear: Ethiopia can do this, too.

Yet one minister on the 2013 trip didn’t believe that was enough and sought out his host, Helen Hai, telling her he had plenty of nice reports from American and European advisers showing him a vision of the future. He wanted specifics.

“What I need is somebody to show me how to take the first step,” Hai recalled him saying.

Hai, who at the time ran a pioneering shoe factory in Ethiopia, considered that a seminal conversation for her.

Within months, she began setting up the Made in Africa Initiative. Backed by the United Nations Development Programme and with a who’s who list of African leaders as advisers, its mission was to help the continent create manufacturing hubs.

Five years later, her quest has expanded significantly. Hai, 40, cofounded factories making children’s clothes in Rwanda, Senegal and Ethiopia, and she

became the UN Industrial Development Organization’s goodwill ambassador in Africa. In July she began exploring how blockchain technology might help create jobs for the nations there and now heads the $100-million Binance Blockchain Charity Foundation.

“There’s a golden opportunity for Africa,” Hai said. “What it needs now is success stories. They have a snowballing effect.”

Africa champion

HAI is an unlikely champion for Africa’s development. She grew up in Changchun in Jilin province in northeast China. She says she was a typical child of the 1970s and 1980s, with her family pushing her to get a good education and then find a job in a blue-chip company.

She earned degrees in actuarial science at the Cass Business School in London and then became the youngest female partner at UK insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson. In 2007 she returned to China as chief actuary for Zurich Financial Services.

In 2011 Hai made a big move, leaving Zurich Financial with a plan to establish her own brand of shoes. That led to a meeting with Zhang Huarong, the

chairman of Dongguan-based Huajian Shoes Industry Co., who asked her to help him set up a shoe factory near Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Hai was intrigued by the idea of building a factory in a developing nation, she said. Within three months, Huajian was exporting shoes to the United States, and within two years it had about 4,000 employees, Hai said. The factory has supplied such brands as Nine West, Guess and Marc Fisher.

In 2013 former Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn invited Hai to accompany him on his first official visit to China. Sitting together on a flight, Hailemariam thanked her for making Huajian successful and then asked her to expand to hundreds, even thousands of factories, Hai said.

So Hai left Huajian to become the first Chinese adviser to the Ethiopian government while pressing forward with her Made in Africa Initiative. Her work in Africa predates China’s ongoing “Belt and Road” foreign investment plan.

Spurring growth

HUNDREDS of Chinese companies have flocked to Ethiopia, helping it become Africa’s fastest-growing economy for

most of the past decade. Ethiopia absorbed almost half of the $7.6 billion in foreign investment in East Africa last year, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s World Investment Report.

Companies that set up factories last year included PVH Corp. from the US (a supplier to Calvin Klein Inc. and Tommy Hilfiger Corp.), Dubai’s Velocity Apparelz ( Levi Strauss & Co., Zara and Under Armour), and China’s Jiangsu Sunshine Group (Giorgio Armani and Hugo Boss), the report said.

As wages and other costs rise in China and the nation shifts to more sophisticated technology industries, 85 million light-manufacturing jobs must be relocated overseas, Hai said. Ethiopia’s role in Africa is similar to one Japan played in Asia in the 1960s, showing how businessfriendly policies and successful factories can trigger industrial progress.

The Made in Africa Initiative now has 15 staff members in nine African nations, Beijing and Hong Kong.

The challenge is huge. Beyond Ethiopia’s borders, attracting investment is proving tough. When advising Rwanda on how to rev up its manufacturing industry in 2013, Hai couldn’t

attract a single foreign investor to set up a factory for export from the landlocked nation.

So, with fellow Chinese investor Candy Ma, she cofounded C&H Garments there to serve as a demonstration model.

It makes uniforms and children’s outfits and now employs 2,000 people, Hai said.

About 80 percent of its production is for exports, mostly to the US and Europe.

In May 2015 C&H had the capacity to produce 15,000 branded Polo shirts a month, said Rwandan Trade Minister Vincent Munyeshyaka. By June 2018 this capacity had increased to 70,000 pieces, including some for the nation’s military.

“This is a huge impact,” he said.

In 2014 Hai advised Senegal’s government on setting up its first industrial park, and C&H Garments subsequently set up a factory there and also in Ethiopia. The initiatives helped manufacturing industry investments in Africa increase almost 9 percent last year to $21 billion. In the textiles, clothes and leather segments, investment surged almost fourfold to about $4 billion, according to the UN. “Helen understands that a success story is the best way to convert people,”

said Justin Lin, former chief economist at the World Bank and an adviser to the Made in Africa Initiative. “If Rwanda can be a manufacturing floor for the global market, every country in African can be, as well.”

Long-term price

THERE have been some troubles along the way for Hai. In 2013 about 200 workers went on strike at Huajian, demanding a share of profits after a surge in orders.

Hai’s initial successes in Africa come as pressure on the continent to seize development opportunities intensifies amid advancements in automation.

Growth models that worked elsewhere could become difficult to emulate, partly because of the rapid adoption of robots in manufacturing, the International Monetary Fund said in an April report.

For example, a Sewbot made by Atlanta-based Softwear Automation Inc. can produce t-shirts and jeans.

Still Hai estimated there’s a five- to 10-year window for Africa to capitalize. So she’s forging ahead with plans to expand C&H, committing $10 million over five years to create 30,000 jobs in Rwanda. The goal is to catalyze $1 billion in investment, Hai said. Bloomberg News