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Thursday, September 28, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 350
China to PHL: Remove hurdles to infra projects
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By Recto Mercene
@rectomercene
he Philippine government must address “challenging issues” to ensure that projects funded by concessional loans from China would proceed according to schedule, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said.
$9 billion
The amount of soft loans that will be extended by China to the Philippines
Zhao, speaking on the sidelines of the 68th founding anniversary celebration of the People’s Republic of China in a Makati City hotel, said the Chinese government has so far
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Future in the labor market: With work but no job? Rene E. Ofreneo
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he phrase “Future of Work” has become a buzz term. The International Labor Organization (ILO), which is observing its centenary in 2019, has organized numerous conferences and studies on the topic. The techies and futuristic academics have a grand time imagining work done by robots and/or facilitated by artificial intelligence and big data analytics. The HR specialists, trade unionists, economists and sociologists have all joined the discourse and have been debating about technology and the changing work organization in the 21st century.
Continued on A2
Continued on A11
Farm-gate price of chicken still below pre-bird flu level By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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Isuzu Gencars inaugurates Sta. Rosa Dealership Top Isuzu executives and other automotive industry officials from Japan were the guests of honor during the soft opening yesterday of Isuzu Gencars Santa Rosa, along with executives of Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC). Leading the ribbon cutting with D. Edgard A. Cabangon (third from left), Isuzu Gencars president and CEO, are (fourth to seventh from left) Masanori Katayama, Isuzu Motors Ltd. president and representative director; Hajime Koso, IPC president; Kazushi Okawa, Mitsubishi Corp. Japan executive vice president and Group CEO Machinery; and Shojiro Sakoda, IPC executive vice president. With them are (from left) Beth Dimacuha, Isuzu Gencars Inc. vice president for sales and marketing, and Lerma Nacnac, executive vice president. Randy S. Peregrino
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he liveweight price of broilers in Central Luzon has gone up to more than P60 per kilogram, but poultry growers in the region are still losing money, according to the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra). Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong said the current farm-gate price of broiler is 20 percent higher than the P50 per kg recorded in previous weeks, but it is still not enough to cover the production cost of poultry growers. “The farm-gate price for broiler in Central Luzon has breached P60 per kg, and in some areas in Luzon, there have been reports that it is at P65 per kg. However, this is still below our breakeven price,” Inciong told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the National Research Council of the Philippines’s forum on bird flu. Before the government confirmed the outbreak of bird flu in Central Luzon last month, live broilers were sold at P75 per kg.
₧60/kg The current liveweight price of broilers in Central Luzon, ccording to Ubra
This level, Inciong added, allows poultry growers to recoup their production cost. The Ubra chief attributed the increase in farm-gate price to tightness in broiler supply in the region. Poultry growers in Central Luzon remain hesitant to restock their flocks as they want to make sure that bird flu has been eradicated. As the holiday season approaches, Inciong said poultry growers have started to reload their flocks to take advantage of the expected increase in demand for broiler meat. He noted that the price of a day-old chick (DOC) has recovered and has gone back to the usual P21, from P15. Continued on A12
MEGAWORLD’S NEW HEADQUARTERS The Alliance Global Tower, Megaworld’s new corporate headquarters in Uptown Bonifacio, Taguig City, features expansive and minimalist office spaces that promote collaboration and teamwork. The award-winning 30-stor y tower now houses around 3,500 employees of the Megaworld Group and has its own skygardens, creativity and wellness lounges, as well as expansive dining hall and events hall. Story on B1.
n japan 0.4529 n UK 68.4223 n HK 6.5071 n CHINA 7.6551 n singapore 37.5351 n australia 40.0845 n EU 59.9540 n SAUDI arabia 13.5547
Source: BSP (27 September 2017 )
A2 Thursday, September 28, 2017
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China to PHL: Remove hurdles to infra projects Continued from A1
provided $5 billion in concessional loans to finance three projects in the Philippines. He said more concessional loans would be extended by Beijing to finance President Duterte’s various infrastructure projects. He also added some of the projects have already been bidded out in China and would be undertaken by Chinese companies. “The Chinese have accumulated relative advantages over almost all other countries in building infrastructure in an efficient manner”, Zhao said. But he added Chinese companies have encountered problems
building infrastructure in the Philippines. “As the saying goes, it takes two to tango. You have your responsibilities too, you have to create the necessary conditions and atmosphere for the infrastructure to be built and to be operational”, Zhao said. He added it is Beijing’s policy to support Chinese banks and Chinese enterprise, to finance infrastructure projects in accordance with legal and relevant procedures in the Philippines. But Zhao said “challenging issues” have to be addressed by the Philippine government “in an efficient manner and with a strong sense of urgency”. “Your right-of-way issue; if you
cannot clear the ground for the railway or the road, we might be stuck there forever,” he added. “According to your local law, you require that 70 percent of a firm’s work force would consist of Filipinos when a foreign-funded project is to be implemented in the Philippines,” Zhao said. He said Chinese firms would be “very happy” to tap Filipinos for their projects if the Philippines has qualified laborers because it is cheaper than bringing in workers and technicians from China. “But the problem you have is: do you have enough qualified laborers? What if you do not have them?” Zhao asked. A s k e d w h at he me a nt b y
“qua lified ” laborer, Zhao explained: “For each projects, they [Chinese contractors] all require technicians, qualified laborers and common laborers.” He said even laborers need to have certain standards. “First and foremost, you must be healthy enough to work, and second you have to be hardworking, and third you must have the skills required before you go to work.” Zhao added laborers must also be healthy and strong and must be able to learn additional skills while on the job. “But if you have people not strong enough to work, who are not willing to work or who would not learn during their work, what can you do?”
So far, the Chinese envoy said Beijing has committed to build the Kaliwa Dam, the Chico River Irrigation Project and the North-South Railway for a total of $5 billion. Zhao added Chinese financiers would also build two rehabilitation centers in Mindanao for free. “Meaning you don’t have to pay, we pay for it and also the two bridges across the Pasig, you don’t have to pay for it.” “We will pay, finance and undertake the constructions, and, most likely, there would be groundbreakings in November, probably by our Prime Minister,” he said. However, Zhao added the groundbreaking would be ceremonial because Pasig would be too far Prime
PHL may soon export genetically modified corn–Monsanto exec Continued from a12
T he s pi r it of t he l aw proh ibit i ng farmers from exporting corn is to ensure that the country will have sufficient buffer stock. “Our level of sufficiency is playing from 96 percent to 100 percent,” Romero said. “We can export corn anytime, but there is a law that prohibits farmers.” Romero added the erratic price of corn somehow prompted corn farmers to look at the possibility of exporting GM corn. He cited China and Indonesia as potential markets for Filipino corn farmers.
Legal planting
IN the Philippines, the cultivation of GM corn, such as the insect-resistant Bt-corn and roundup-ready corn varieties, is preferred
over hybrid or native varieties because of its benefits, according to Romero. Romero said that, before, it was only India and the Philippines planting GM crops in Asia. “Australia has its GM cotton; India has GM eggplant or Bt eggplant. Now, Myanmar is planting GM cotton,” Rotmero said sans citing sources. Romero added that China has been into GM cotton and GM papaya, while Pakistan is now also planting GM cotton. “Not all of these are ‘legal planting’,” Romero said, adding that legal planting is only in the Philippines, Vietnam and Australia. “In Bangladesh farmers found out that GM crops are good and decided to adopt [the cropping] even without the regulatory system in place,” he said.
Production levels
THERE are only around 10 countries growing GM crops. But, as far as user-countries are concerned, many all allow the importation of GM products or by-products like Japan, South Korea, Taipan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. “Right now, their production levels might be high enough so they are happy to import, and they don’t need to grow, but, sooner or later, they will grow GM crops,” Romero said. He added that the next GM crops to see commercialization would include apples and potatoes. Nina G. Gloriani, leader of a group advocating the commercialization of GM crops in
the Philippines, said the country has the most stringent regulatory policy on GM crops. According to Gloriani, the Joint Memorandum Circular on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) even enforced a more stringent regulatory policy. She debunked the claim of environmental groups and anti-GMO advocates that GM crops are unsafe and pose great health and environment risks. “Regulation of GM foods are assessed according to national and international standards before they are allowed for importation and commercialization,” said Gloriani, president of the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines. “There are also food standards to protect consumer health and ensure fair food practices.”
Minister Li Keqiang to attend. Following Duterte’s state visit to China last year, he said he was able to bring home $24 billion worth of funding and investment pledges, as Manila and Beijing have agreed to resume talks and explore areas of cooperation in the South China Sea. China will provide $9 billion in soft loans, including a $3-billion credit line with the Bank of China, while economic deals, including investments, would yield $15 billion, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters in Beijing. Preliminar y agreements in railways, ports, energy and mining worth $11.2 billion were also signed between Philippine and Chinese firms.
Ex-Thai. . .
Continued from A12
He is living in self-imposed exile to avoid serving a prison term from a 2008 conviction on a conflict-ofinterest charge. Yingluck, who inherited the leadership of Thaksin’s political machine and was elected prime minister in 2011, became a proxy target for his enemies, as well. Despite her absence on Wednesday, scores of supporters turned up at court but were outnumbered by the police. “We can only accept the court’s decision,” said Pattana Meethai, 63, one of the supporters. “I’m not surprised. I’m quite used to the courts ruling in this fashion.” The rice-subsidy scheme was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the 2011 general election. The government paid farmers about 50 percent above what they would have received on the world market, with the intention of driving up prices by warehousing the grain. Instead, other rice-producing countries captured the market by selling at competitive prices. Vietnam, as a result, replaced Thailand as the world’s leading rice exporter. Prosecutors argued that Yingluck was guilty of dereliction of duty. Her critics describe the overriding motive of the rice-subsidy program as political, an effort to buy the loyalty of rural voters with state funds. A codefendant, her commerce minister, received a 42-year prison sentence for concocting a false government-togovernment rice sale, which was one of the allegations cited by the court in its verdict against Yingluck. Up until August 25, Yingluck had vowed to remain in the country and fight any charges against her, which posed a potential threat to the ruling junta. Acquitting Yingluck risked alienating people who took part in protest movements in late-2013 and early-2014 and seized government buildings and disrupted snap elections, setting the stage for the military coup. Jailing Yingluck, on the other hand, threatened to turn her into a martyr and pave the way for a new era of upheavals. That led to speculation that the junta may have been aware of Yingluck’s intention to flee and allowed it to happen, though the junta has denied it. Thaksin’s mostly rural supporters, who delivered him unprecedented electoral victories, believe his only offense was challenging the power of the country’s traditional elite, led by monarchists and the military, and supported by the urban middle class. They believe his appeal, earned from populist policies benefiting the less well-off rural majority, threatened the traditional ruling class’s privilege. The junta that took power in 2014 has pushed through reforms ostensibly to curb corruption and money politics by limiting the power of elected politicians, but are clearly aimed at keeping Thaksin from power. It has delayed holding new elections as long as the possibility exists that Thaksin’s political machine could stage a comeback. AP
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Floreindo says graft raps against him won’t stick By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
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avao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. has expressed confidence that the indictment issued against him by the Office of the Ombudsman would eventually be resolved in his favor. In an Ombudsman resolution dated September 4, 2017, the antigraft office, acting on a complaint filed by House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, declared that there was “sufficient evidence showing the respondent probably committing a violation of Section 3[h] of Republic Act [RA] 3019,” which is the law on anti-graft and corrupt practices. In a response dated May 10, 2017, Floirendo argued that the complaint was without basis because he “did not have any direct or indirect financial or pecuniary interest in the 2003 Bureau of Corrections [BuCor] and
There must be a showing of a conflict of interest, i.e., a showing that the private interest of a public official or employee conflicts or tends to conflict with the performance of his official duties.”—Alvarez
Tagum Agricultural Development Corp. [Tadeco] accord that would fall within the ambit of the prohibition under Article VI, Section 14 of the Constitution, or any other law.” Moreover, the congressman said RA 3019 “does not penalize mere stockholding in a private corporation that has an existing contract with the government. “There must be a showing of a conflict of interest, i.e., a showing that the private interest of a public official or employee conflicts or tends to conflict with the performance of his official duties,” he said. Floirendo, who expressed disbelief at the speed on how the investigation of the complaint was made, remains confident the indictment will be reversed and expresses his continued respect for the legal process the courts will adopt in hearing the charge. Earlier, a Department of Justice (DOJ) fact-finding team has declared as illegal the contract between the BuCor and the Tadeco over a 5,212.46-hectare land within the Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol). While the fact-finding team, led by Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III, found the contract to be illegal, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said it recommended that the joint-venture agreement (JVA) be amended to comply with existing laws. Aguirre added he was not amenable as to the recommendations made by the committee, saying he would study first the report of the panel and determine whether the DOJ is the proper agency to move for invalidation of the contract or the BuCor, being a separate body even though it is an attached agency. The committee held that the JVA was illegal as it exceeded the 1,000-hectare limit under the Constitution.
Defense chief Lorenzana sees end of Marawi siege in 3 days By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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@joveemarie
he Department of National Defense on Wednesday said the four-month-long Marawi City siege will finally be over in three days.
Following the hearing of the House of Representatives on the update on Marawi conflict, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana, in an interview, said there are less than 100 terrorists left in Marawi. “That’s what people on the ground told me, so I trust them. I’m not the one who said it will end. They were the ones who told us it will finally end,” he said.
“From 10 hectares last week, Maute group is now only occupying about five hectares,” the defense chief added. However, Lorenza said it is still up to President Duterte’s discretion if the whole Mindanao should still be placed under martial law while the rehabilitation efforts are ongoing. “We will finish the problem in Marawi first and we will as-
sess the situation in the whole of Mindanao [before recommending the lifting of martial law], but we will be making the recommendations in October,” he said. “Maybe I will consider the recommendation of the people in Marawi and in Lanao, which is if they want martial law to continue while we are rehabilitating their area, then we might agree. But the final determination whether to continue martial law or not rests with the President,” Lorenzana added. Lorenzana, likewise, admitted that the P50-billion fund may not be enough to rehabilitate the area from the massive destruction. “Post-conflict needs assessment of the damage.... After that we’ll get a good idea on how much we need to rehabilitate Marawi, how long
and how much money we [really] need to rehabilitate,” he said. Duterte signed Proclamation 216 imposing martial law and suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao on May 23 following the attacks of the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group in Marawi. Section 18 of Article VII of the Constitution empowers the President to declare martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus only “in case of invasion or rebellion, when public safety requires it”. For her part, Tawi-Tawi Rep. Ruby Sahali-Tan said the prolonged conflict might affect the passage of the proposed Bangsamaro basic law (BBL) in Congress. “The longer it takes, the more scared we are in ensuring the passage of the BBL,” he said.
House proposal to ‘redistribute’ govt housing units approved on 2nd reading
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he House of Representatives has approved on second reading a joint resolution authorizing the redistribution of thousands of housing units intended for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). Through viva voce voting, the lawmakers passed on Tuesday House Joint Resolution 11 authorizing the National Housing Authority (NHA) to award the unoccupied and unawarded government housing units to other qualified beneficiaries. House Committee on Housing
Hazing prohibition up for plenary approval he House Committee on Justice on Wednesday endorsed for plenary approval one of the 17th Congress priority measures prohibiting all forms of hazing and regulate initiation rites of fraternities, sororities and other organizations. This, after the committee approved the passage of House Bill 3467, which seeks to amend the 27-year-old AntiHazing Law of 1995, or Republic Act (RA) 8094. The bill makes all hazing illegal with penalties ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment with a maximum fine of P1 million, depending on the gravity of the hazing incident, and makes any crimes committed by the victim as a result of the hazing attached to the perpetrator. The measure was passed amid the congressional probe on the death of University of Santo Tomas student Horacio Castillo III from fraternity hazing. Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of Bagong Henerasyon, principal author of the bill, said the passage of the measure will “see to it that no hazing is conducted” by fraternities, sororities and organizations. “The main difference is that in RA 8094 we are regulating hazing, while in the bill, we are proposing to completely prohibit any form of hazing,” Dy said. Dy added hazing has been, and continues to be, a serious problem in the Philippine and in other countries in the world, including Indonesia, Russia, India and the United States. She said the government should act to correct such ubiquitous and institutionalized activity as hazing has become. The bill also expands the definition of hazing to cover psychological injuries in addition to physical suffering, as well as beyond just incidences related to gaining membership in an organization. It provides that “if a person subjected to hazing or other forms of initiation rites suffers any physical and psychological in-
Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, September 28, 2017 A3
jury or dies as a result thereof, the officers and members of the fraternity, sorority or organization who actually participated in the infliction of physical harm shall be held liable as principals”. It also mandates that no hazing or initiation rites shall be allowed without prior written notice to the school authorities or head of organization seven days before their conduct. At least two representatives of the school or organization must also be present during initiation to ensure that violence will not be employed. The measure requires all existing fraternities, sororities and other organizations otherwise not created or organized by the school but have existing members, who are students, or plan to recruit students to be their members, shall be required to register with the proper authorities of the school before they conduct activities whether on or off campus, including the recruitment of members. Fraternities, sororities and other organizations not based in school, such as those that are community-based are, likewise, covered by the prohibition under the act. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
The main difference is that in RA 8094 we are regulating hazing, while in the bill, we are proposing to completely prohibit any form of hazing.”—Dy
and Urban Development Rep. Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental, sponsor of the resolution, said the measure seeks to award the unawarded housing that are not yet occupied and whose ownership and possession is surrendered by their respective awardees. The lawmaker said housing units whose respective awards were canceled by reason of default in the payment of amortization or for any violation of the terms and conditions of the individual loan agreement were also included. Benitez said the nonuse by the intended beneficiaries of the housing units resulted to loss of revenues on the part of the gov-
ernment, unnecessary exposure of the units to unfavorable weather condition and nonattainment of the objectives of the program. “The low occupancy rate of the completed housing units will result in the loss of opportunity for the government to recover costs that can be spent for other social projects, fast deterioration of the units, exposure of the units to the risk of being occupied by families/ persons other than the intended beneficiaries and deprivation of the intended beneficiaries of the timely use and benefits of the housing projects,” he said. Benitez also said the low occupancy rate of the completed housing
units by their intended beneficiaries is a clear indication of a “failed program in the face of the need for government to provide housing to a larger portion of its populace, an undeniably undesirable situation that needs remedial legislation”. Under the resolution, the NHA may, instead, identify alternative beneficiaries and beneficiaryspecific sites, such as in the case of public-school teachers living within the area, employees in the local government concerned where the housing units are constructed, barangay employees and functionaries and informal settlers who could all benefit from the unoccupied housing units. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
Economy
A4 Thursday, September 28, 2017 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
BusinessMirror
WB report highlights education underspending in past 10 years
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By Cai U. Ordinario
@cuo_bm
espite efforts to increase its budget in the past 10 years, the education sector in the Philippines still suffers from lack of funding due to underspending, according to a new World Bank report. In the World Development Report 2018, titled Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, the World Bank said the country’s budget for education saw a 19-fold increase between 2005 and 2015. However, the Washington-based lender lamented that in 2014, around 30 percent of the government’s education budget for infrastructure was not committed. “Despite a 19-fold increase in the infrastructure budget between 2005 and 2015, lack of government capacity to manage such a massive school-building program has meant that a large share of the resources remained unspent,” the report stated. “In 2014 only 64 percent of the infrastructure budget was committed. And even where classrooms were built, school principals have been largely unsatisfied with their quality,” it added. Apart from underspending, the WB report also said public funds failed to reach schools as intended. The report stated the martiallaw period in the 1970s saw government spending below 2 percent of GDP on education. In the 1980s, the WB said, the People Power Revolution restored democratic rule, ushering in a new government that was more respon-
sive to demands for broader access to education. Further, the WB said, in 2013, about a quarter of public funds for education did not reach primary and lower secondary schools. The report stated that, instead of reaching public elementary and secondary schools, some of the funds were used for district level operating costs. “In the Philippines, while district education offices reported using some of the funds to pay school expenses, this use was not recorded and schools had no way of monitoring the spending. Schools in the Philippines that served poorer students also received a smaller share of their intended allocation than schools serving wealthier students,” the WB said. The lack of funds for the education sector, the report explained, was partly to blame why 34 percent of primary-school children in developing countries still fail to achieve minimum proficiency in learning. In high-income countries, the bank said nearly all students, or 99 percent in Japan, 98 percent in Norway, 91 percent in Australia, achieve this level in primary school. The bank added the average
share of students who complete this proficiency level in low-income countries is only 14 percent; in lower middle-income countries, 37 percent; and upper-middle-income countries only 61 percent. “No single learning assessment has been administered in all countries, but combining data from learning assessments in 95 countries makes it possible to establish a globally comparable ‘minimumproficiency’ threshold in math,” the WB said. “Below this threshold, students have not mastered even basic mathematical skills, whether making simple computations with whole numbers, using fractions or measurements or interpreting simple bar graphs,” it added. The report said the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, or Education Commission, estimated that low- and middle-income countries like the Philippines need to increase its spending for education by 117 percent between 2015 and 2030. This is needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to enable most children to complete primary and secondary education with minimum levels of learning. Without these investments and education reform, the WB said global education will face a “learning crisis” that will cause millions of young students in low- and middleincome countries to face low wages later in life. “This learning crisis is a moral and economic crisis,” WB Group President Jim Yong Kim said. “When delivered well, education promises young people employment, better earnings, good health and a life without poverty. For communi-
ties, education spurs innovation, strengthens institutions and fosters social cohesion. But these benefits depend on learning, and schooling without learning is a wasted opportunity. More than that, it’s a great injustice. The children whom societies fail the most are the ones who are most in need of a good education to succeed in life.” The report recommended concrete policy steps to help developing countries resolve this dire learning crisis in the areas of stronger learning assessments, using evidence of what works and what doesn’t to guide education decision-making; and mobilizing a strong social movement to push for education changes that champion “learning for all”. Some of the solutions WB supported was the use of student’s own language when learning. The bank said a pilot study done in the Philippines showed students improving their scores in reading and math when using their “mother tongue “instead of English and Filipino”. “Developing cou nt r ies a re far from where they should be on learning. Many do not invest enough financial resources and most need to invest more efficiently. But it is not only a matter of money; countries need to also invest in the capacity of the people and institutions tasked with educating our children,” said Jaime Saavedra, a former Peruvian Education Minister, and now the World Bank’s senior director for education. “Education reform is urgently needed and requires persistence, as well as the political alignment of the government, the media, entrepreneurs, teachers, parents and students. They all have to value and demand better learning.”
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Ibpap head calls for security tweak in new industry road map By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29
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he Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) will be considering early next year the impact of domestic conflict in achieving targets in their industry road map. Newly installed Ibpap President and CEO Rey Untal acknowledged the rising incidence of security concerns at the local front has been a contributing factor to the challenges the multibillion-dollar industry is facing this year. “I will not minimize those [security concerns]. Those are contributing to the headwinds that we are dealing with. It is unfortunate we have the Marawi incident, and we are really looking forward that things may go back to normal soon,” Untal said at a news briefing on Wednesday. The Ibpap head, however, said that while investor and existing members opted for a “wait-and-see” stance earlier this year, things have seen a gradual improvement. “We see many of our locators on wait-and-see attitude, but that has been changing; I’m not at liberty to disclose our members’ plans but there’s growth,” Untal said. While no recalibration on the industry’s IT-BPM Roadmap 2016 to 2022 will take place immediately, these concerns may be factored in during the group’s annual assessment. “While we do have those concerns, I don’t think it’s timely for us to make a quick count on where we stand. This is the first year of our road map and early next year [and] we’ll have a reckoning of exactly how much we have grown and once we have that empirical data, that’s the best time for us to make a call for recalibration, if need be,” Untal added. The IT-BPM road map assumes an average yearly growth rate of 9 percent from 2016 to 2022, or from an estimated $23 billion last year to
close to $40 billion in six years’ time. Head count, on the other hand, is seen to grow 8 percent annually, from 2016’s 1.15 million to 1.8 million by 2022. Cathy Ileto, vice chairman of the Ibpap board of trustees, underscored that in Mindanao, specifically in Davao, there are 40,000 full-time employees in the industry. A factor that has helped in improving the region’s competitiveness in business-process outsourcing (BPO) is the exemption of these BPO employees from the martiallaw curfew, Ileto said. Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) Chairman of the Board of Trustees Benedict Hernandez said the industry is still seen to achieve its target. The industry’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product is approximately 17 percent in 2016, and it is now the Philippines’s second-largest net foreignexchange earner after remittances from an estimated 10 million overseas workers.
I will not minimize those [security concerns]. Those are contributing to the headwinds that we are dealing with. It is unfortunate we have the Marawi incident, and we are really looking forward that things may go back to normal soon.” —Untal
DOE aims to break ground for PHL’s first LNG plant by 2018 By Lenie Lectura
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@llectura
he Department of Energy (DOE) has scheduled the groundbreaking for the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub in 2018, with project completion still being eyed within the six-year term of President Duterte. “The buy-in is there. The investors are in. And we expect to commence groundbreaking of this project in 2018,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said during the 35th Asean Energy Business forum. Cusi added the government is aiming to turn the Philippines into a hub for LNG, amid a depletion of natural gas from the Malampaya gas field in Palawan in less than a decade. Currently, around 3,500 megawatts (MW) of power plant capacity is dependent on the country’s sole natural gas source. “We’ve started with the rollout of the Batangas LNG terminal by 2020 to safeguard against the anticipated depletion of the Malampaya gas facility in 2024,” he said. LNG is natural gas that has been converted into a liquid state for easier storage and transportation. Upon reaching its destination, LNG is regasified so it can be distributed through pipelines as natural gas. Other places being considered for LNG hub, Cusi said, are “many areas in Mindanao and in Subic”. Cusi added the DOE would issue a regulatory framework on LNG soon. A public consultation is also scheduled on October 10. “Starting October 10 there will be public consultation, discussion. After October 20, there’s the publication, which is an administrative requirement.” Senate Energ y Comm it tee Chairman Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian has said there is an urgent
need for the power sector to put in place an LNG framework. “We would be tackling various legislative measures that will talk about LNG, and to hasten the development of the LNG industry here in our country. We really need to put the framework in place,” he said. “We really need to speed up the industry itself. We need to give some development either through incentives and other frameworks, and that calls for legislation.” The Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) was tasked by the DOE to develop an integrated LNG hub with storage, liquefaction, regasification and distribution facility, as well as a reserve initial power plant capacity of 200 MW. “The Batangas LNG hub project is expected to provide for the requirements of the five existing Malampaya-dependent natural gas power plants in Batangas during Malampaya’s maintenance shutdown. “On a larger scale, the hub will address the gap in energy capacity once the Malampaya gas field is depleted and the service contract expires in 2024. It will assure the sustained supply of the gas requirements of the five Malampaya-dependent power plants,” the PNOC said. PNOC President Reuben Lista said the number of interested firms that would want to partner with the state firm to pursue the ambitious LNG project has increased to 68 firms. The proposed LNG project is still under review. PNOC could tap the International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, for the conduct of a feasibility study. Cusi, in his speech, said LNG is an emerging trend that is changing the energy landscape. He pointed out that there is increasing demand from Asia, where players will eventually transition from net export-
ers to net importers. Cusi also noted an increasing supply from the rest of the world where new supplies have come on stream, especially from the United States. Also, gas prices are becoming cheaper due to the reconfigurations of these supply and demand mechanics. “In this region, these changes are already taking place, and at a fast pace.… Asean countries will be net importers requiring 20 million tons. This is set to rise to at least 45 million tons in 2030. Now, that’s just on the demand side of the equation. As demand continues to grow, things look promising on the supply side as well. Indeed, global supplies of LNG are on course to increase by 50 percent between 2014 and 2021,” Cusi said. He also cited the effects that US LNG exports on the global LNG market due to the shale gas revolution in the mainland. Once a net importer, the US is now a net exporter of natural gas and is expected to become the world’s third biggest exporter of LNG by 2020. “This has had a disruptive effect on the markets, as the prospects of rising US gas exports have put pressure on the pricing formula of several existing long-term contracts. What is happening is that a market once-dominated by long-term contracts between a small number of suppliers and an equally exclusive club of buyers, such as Japan and South Korea, have been blown open by the influx of US gas. “Given these new developments, Asean needs to start planning for this future. We need to think of how we can ride this LNG wave, to ensure that we can safeguard our energy security. We’ve started doing just that in the Philippines,” Cusi added.
Rock-star Santa
The House of Santa Claus store along Lacson Street in Manila launches over the weekend this year’s collection of assorted Christmas décors, most prominent of which are Santa Claus-inspired figures and Christmas decorations, for both residential and office use for the coming Yuletide season. ROY DOMINGO
Tesda chief seeks upgrade of OFW language proficiency, culture training
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he Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has intensified its coordination with foreign embassies in the country in a bid to upgrade the language proficiency and culture training of overseas bound workers. Tesda Director General Secretary Guiling A. Mamondiong said the language-proficiency and culture training program of the agency would help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) communicate easily and learn about the culture of the country they have chosen. A recent study has shown that
training on language and culture will boost the appreciation and understanding of OFWs in their workplace abroad. “Language proficiency at the workplace enhances quality service delivery which results in increased productivity and effectiveness,” Mamondiong stated in his letter addressed to foreign embassies. He also stated that workplacebased language proficiency and knowledge of the culture of a particular country tend to promote better human relations that provide added job security overseas.
These foreign embassies in Mamondiong’s list include Spain, People’s Republic of China, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Malaysia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, Italy, France, Russia and Germany. “In this regard, Tesda would like to recommend that our Filipino workers undergo workplace-based language training and culture prior to deployment. This specialized training has significant contribution in increasing the Filipino workers’ productivity, efficiency and quality of service delivery,” Mamondiong added. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco
Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror
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Passage of bill amending PCIC charter pushed By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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@jearcalas
lawmaker urged Congress to pass a measure that would amend the charter of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) so it could offer index-based insurance coverage and allow it to engage in reinsurance. Rep. Arthur C. Yap of the Third District of Bohol said amending PCIC’s charter would also allow it to partner with top European reinsurance firms, which are keen on investing in the Philippines. “Top reinsurance companies, such as Munich Re and Swiss Re, want to venture into agricultural reinsurance and are looking for a partner in the Philippines,” Yap told reporters on the sidelines of a forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines on September 27. According to the World Bank, reinsurance is a financial transaction by which risk is transferred from an insurance company to a reinsurance company in exchange of a payment (reinsurance premium).
Under House Bill (HB) 3560, which Yap filed in September last year, the PCIC would be allowed to engage in the business of reinsurance but only to cover index-based insurance contracts underwritten by private insurance companies. Also, the bill would mandate the PCIC and encourage private insurance companies to offer index-based insurance as one of their products. Yap proposed the expansion of the insurance coverage of the PCIC to include highvalue commercial crops, livestock, aquaculture and fishery products, agroforestr y crops and forest plantations. “Index insurance links payments to independently established data, such as local rain-
fall, wind speed, temperature, typhoons, cyclones and historical yield, as trigger events to release payments and compensation to affected farmers”, HB 3560 read. Yap said he is hopeful that the bill would be passed by Congress next year. “There is support for the measure in the lower chamber but we need more support in the Senate. It [reinsurance] may be a new concept in the Philippines, but it’s already being done in other parts of the world”, he said. Yap added he has asked Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, as well as Sens. Grace Poe, Sherwin T. Gatchalian and Juan Miguel F. Zubiri to support the measure. The lawmaker said there is a need to provide “innovative” cropinsurance products as the country’s agriculture sector is highly vulnerable to the unpredictability of nature. “In 2013 the Philippines was once dubbed as the No. 1 country most impacted by climate change according to Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index. Hence, as a country, we need to take necessary action in preparing for greater uncertainties and risks by climate change,” Yap said in HB 3560.
PCA allots ₧27.2 million to fight ‘cocolisap’ in Zamboanga Peninsula
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he Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has set a side P27. 2 m i l l ion to implement var ious inter ventions to contain the infestat ion of coconut sc a le i nsec t (CSI), also known as cocolisap, in Zamboanga Peninsula. PCA administrator Romulo de la Rosa said among the treatment interventions that the agency will roll out include leaf pruning, oilbased spraying and mass rearing and field release of biological control (biocon) agents. “ We are now focusing our resources on the conduct of research and testing of alternative methods using organic solution,” de la Rosa said in a statement. Of the total 54.63 million coconut trees in the Zamboanga Peninsula, the PCA said 834,474, or 1.53 percent, are
infested with cocolisap. “Based on our documentation, it is initially reported that 114,541 of the total infested coco trees were already pruned and 4,766 coco trees were sprayed using oil-based formulations. A total of 148,911 biocon agents were also released in the region covering about 1,500 hectares,” de la Rosa said. “We have also included in the allocated budget the upgrading of our biocon laboratory in Zamboanga City. We are expanding it by establishing another laboratory in our Zamboanga Research Center as the mass production of biocon agents is now in full swing,” he added. The PCA, an agency attached to the Office of the President, will establish baranggay-based biocon laboratories through the conduct
of Farmer Field School, wherein coconut farmers will be trained in the production of predators, such as beetles. Quarantine checkpoints have also been set up in strategically located areas in Zamboanga Peninsula to prevent the spread of CSI infestation, according to de la Rosa. A task force, led by the PCA R e s e a r c h a n d D e v e l o p m e nt Branch, was formed to manage and implement the integrated pest management (IPM) activities of the action program. “With the help and cooperation of our local governments, farmers, land owners and constant support from our government, we believe we will succeed i n i mplement i ng t hese control measures,” de la Rosa said. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
Filipino diners can help transform food-service industry–WWF
Many restaurants in the country offer La Paz Batchoy, a popular Filipino dish that originated from Iloilo. The World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines recently launched a project which seeks to make the local dining scene more sustainable. Photo from Wikimedia Commons
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he World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines on Tuesday launched a campaign to promote sustainable consumption and production and empower Filipino diners to help transform the local food-service industry in the country. Dubbed “The Sustainable Diner: A Key Ingredient for Sustainable Tourism”, the project launched on September 26 at the Seda Vertis North in Quezon City highlighted the Filipinos’ love for food, their willingness to shell out hard-earned money dining out and traveling places in search of new delicacies that boost the local tourism industry. “With The Sustainable Diner project, we hope to connect the Filipino dining public with government and food service industry stakeholders so we can all have a productive and collaborative discussion on the changes we can implement to make the local dining scene more sustainable,” said Jose A ngelito Palma, president and CEO of WWF-Philippines. “ The choices that the Filipino diners make are now more important than ever, and if we
want to transform both the foodservice industry and the tourism industry, they are the key ingredients toward achieving a more sustainable Philippines,” Palma added. The project is in partnership with the Climate Change Commission and is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. Through the project, WWFPhilippines will work with the Filipino dining public, the government and the food-service industry to promote sustainability in the food industry. The Hotel and Restaurant Association of the Philippines through its president, Raoul Roberto Goco, has expressed support for the project. A chef and restaurant owner, Goco underscored the import a nce of promot i ng Fi l ipi no dishes using locally produced food in support of the local food producers. W W F-Ph i l ippi nes bel ieves that food-service industry can be shaped by dining choices the Filipino dining public makes. During the launch, WWF-Phil-
ippines’s partner-cities, namely, Quezon City, Tagaytay City and Cebu City, affirmed their support and commitment to the project. According to WWF-Philippines, Filipinos love to eat and it doesn’t matter where they are, whether in comforts of their home or outside in restaurants and food parks and are fond of seeking the latest food trend in various social-media platforms. WWF-Philippines said eating is an integral part of the Filipino’s daily life. Given higher dispensable incomes and fast-paced city living, eating has become an almost daily habit among Filipinos, WWF-Philippines noted. This fascination for food has its downside. According to the WWF-Philippines, Filipinos waste up to 308,000 tons of rice every year. This is ironic, considering that 2.7 million Filipino families have reported going hungry in the past year. Added to this is because of the high demand for certain ingredients, sourcing practices are becoming more commercial, with less regard for where the food comes from, WWF said. Jonathan L. Mayuga
Syngenta settles US farmer lawsuits in China corn-trade case
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This April 18 file photo shows the suburban Minneapolis headquarters of Syngenta in Minnetonka, Minneapolis. AP
INNE A POLIS —Sw iss agribusiness giant Syngenta said on Tuesday it has agreed to settle tens of thousands of US lawsuits by farmers over the company’s rollout of a genetically engineered corn seed variety before China approved it for imports. Terms weren’t disclosed. Syngenta said in a statement that the settlement would establish a fund to pay claims by farmers and others who contracted to price corn or corn byproducts after September 14, 2013. Details will be announced after the agreement is submitted for court approval later this year, it said. Syngenta began selling Viptera to US farmers for the 2011 grow-
ing season with US government approval. But China didn’t approve it until December 2014. The dispute escalated into lawsuits on behalf of tens of thousands of farmers in state and federal courts alleging that Syngenta’s move wrecked China as an increasingly important export market for US corn and resulted in price drops that hurt all producers. Syngenta contended that larger market forces, not China’s rejection of Viptera, drove corn prices down, and that China wasn’t a big corn importer when it launched Viptera. The company also said China should not have effective veto power over the varieties US farmers choose to plant. The number of US growers who
will benefit has yet to be determined, Syngenta Spokesman Paul Minehart said. The proposed settlement doesn’t constitute an admission by either side over the merits of the cases, the company’s statement said. “Syngenta firmly maintains that its actions were appropriate and continues to believe that American farmers should have access to the latest US-approved technologies to help them increase their productivity and crop yield,” Minehart said. The settlement does not include exporters, such as Cargill and ADM, that are also suing Syngenta, he said, nor does it include Canadian litigation. “ Sy ngent a w i l l cont i nue to
vigorously defend those cases,” Minehart said. The announcement came three weeks into a jury trial in state court in Minneapolis that was the second “bellwether” test case to go to trial. The first ended in June with a federal jury in Kansas awarding nearly $218 million to more than 7,000 growers from that state. The two trials were meant to provide guidance to attorneys and the courts for how the complex web of litigation in state and federal courts in Minnesota, Kansas and Illinois could be resolved. Lew Remele, the lead attorney for farmers in the Minnesota case, said the two sides had settlement discussions before and after the Kansas verdict. AP
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By Roger Pe
t is not just an award. It is meant to extol sustainability for humanity, modernity with less impact to the environment. It may sound like a motherhood statement but, demographically, it means, all of us, and generations of our children, can look forward to enjoying this paradise, just like Mother Nature made it.
International Coastal Cleanup, not an annual charity event, but a daily mindset in El Nido.
On that bright and sunny Thursday morning, a few hours after we landed at Lio Airport, the scene that greeted us was like in Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning motion picture Apocalypse Now. Only this time, there were no helicopters but motorboats, the undisputed king of the seas in El Nido. In the movie, people remember the 12-minute chopper assault that was meticulously storyboarded and executed by Coppola and his production designer Dean Tavoularis when they shot in the Philippines. Yes, we were on our way to “assault” the blue waters of Bacuit Bay. Our mission: Reach El Nido’s famed lagoons and, subsequently, enter the more secluded nooks and crannies of Miniloc, Entalula, Pangalusian, Pinagbuyutan, Shimizu, and the longest sand bar I have ever seen, Snake island. “Get ready for the time of your life,” our island tour guide hollered. As we sat and panned our thrilled eyes like Arriflex cameras, we saw 12 other bancas, each with about 20 passengers, going our direction, as if wanting to chase us. Our voices were now drowned by the sound of motorized bancas. As we passed by Pinagbuyutan, the most recognizable of all rock formations in the area, our heartbeat stopped. The structure was so hair-raisingly beautiful, the iconic location of Survivor 10, the Israel reality show, and Bourne Legacy, the Hollywood blockbuster. Soon, three other bancas came closer, and further down, a line of bancas followed. Now, I could really hear Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries,” Coppola’s movie soundtrack, assaulting my ears.
Lagoons of wonder
Motorized bancas used to lull me to sleep. In El Nido, they gave me goosebumps and adrenaline rush. Not only were they bigger than usual, they cruised unbelievably fast, running like the wind as if mimicking the movements of flying fishes. Here, the islands are not spread out from each other and can easily be accessed in less than
an hour. In about 30 minutes, we reached the “Big Lagoon”, the picturesque landscape that was always on the pages of Condé Nast and Travel and Leisure magazines. “Here I am, I have finally seen it. Now I could die,” I whispered. All passengers of the boat then scampered for their smartphones and alternately took selfies. They posed with the lagoon as backdrop and made the de rigueur El Nido signature shot. From a 50-meter distance, smoke billowed from the prow of four boats. They also emitted a strange smell. We were told that they were roving “restaurants” with chefs onboard. Want to have the freshest catch from the sea? They can whip up a delectable dish for you, served grilled and scrumptious. Closer and closer, the cliffs started to look daunting. A raft then gently slid from behind our boat. There was a man paddling and peddling buko juice, young coconuts and canned colas. What a pretty sight! But then again, I asked: “Where do they dispose of their trash?” The “Big Lagoon” was about the size of three football fields to my estimation. When we arrived, foreign and local tourists were already basking in its glory, and most of us were ready to take the plunge. But then again, our tour guide, who sounded every inch like a marine biology and anthropology professor, told us that visitors are not encouraged to swim here. I got the drift. The flurry of boats coming in and out of the lagoon posed some risks and there could be accidents. He also mentioned that thousands of marine species lie underneath and reminded us to be extra careful in not disturbing their sanctuary. The water was so irresistible, four of my companions jumped into it. I did not but listened to my instinct. The color of the water was a tell-tale sign. One could tell, turquoise blue was rather deep.
Small and ‘secret’ lagoon
We were now moving toward a jaw-dropping limestone karst formation, a crystal-clear waterway
El Nido: ‘World’s Best Islan For You, For Keeps
Kayaking in the “Big Lagoon”
with refreshingly clear emerald water. We had gotten off our boat and now paddling on kayak. The entrance to the “Small Lagoon” is a narrow 3-meter-wide rock hole. “One kayak at a time only or you’ll hit the stone wall,” the boatman said. We had expected to be the only group of visitors, but alas, a number of tourists had beaten us to it. Nature as its chief architect, the “Small Lagoon” is largely enclosed. I was in disbelief when I learned that it has an almost perfect circular shape. Inside, I saw people in suspended animation, as if paying homage to the beauty of Mother Earth. I saw a man clam-
ber up a rock, lie on his back as he looked up the sky unmovingly. This must be the “altar” of the whole lagoon cavern. Toward the inner sanctum, people were visibly in awe, looking as if they’ve found their fountain of youth. Stillness was all over and the only sound you’d hear was the sloshing of water made by canoe paddles. The eerie sound of silence would be intermittently broken by people exclaiming in glee—one found a baby shark gliding under the water. Little “sharkie” and a green turtle were playing hide-and-seek in a “forest” of corals as big as wheels of a 10-wheeler truck. Tiger, Parrot, Jack, Butterfly, Sweetlips, Snapper,
Grouper, name it—multicolored fishes, all of them in their natural habitat, not in some mall or manmade aquarium. Behind the “Small Lagoon” is an island visited by author Alex Garland years ago. Captivated by a “secret” beach, it became an inspiration for his The Beach. The bestseller that became a movie shot in Thailand starring Leonardo diCaprio. We wanted to linger a while, but the sun was scorching our skin. Lunch was served at Entalula Island, where my table was right beside a magnificent limestone wall. We headed next to Snake Island, nature’s wonderful work of art—a white-sand beach that connects the
island to the mainland. Depending on the tide, you can see the longest sandbar in the Philippines.
Rocked by Earth, Wind and Fire
Ever wondered why El Nido’s geographical formation is similar to Vietnam’s Halong Bay, Thailand’s Krabi or Indonesia’s Raja Ampat? They are all part of Asia’s Sunda Plate, one of the most seismically active and tectonically complex regions on Earth. Each one with its own unique attractions but many travel magazines agree, “El Nido is the best.” How can El Nido not be “Best Island in the World”? Allow us to tell you why.
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coastal areas be always free of garbage and plastic trash? Would its corals and beautiful lagoons continue to grow and be as astonishing as they were, and not suffer degradation? Will its forest not felled illegally? With the town’s environmental culture and mindset, there is hope for planet Earth. “You don’t just create a destination, you see the bigger picture,” Larilit said. She also mentioned that we are literally swimming against the tide of trash. “We consume so much and, at some point in time, we will discard them. It is easy to trash and the potential to do it is at its alltime high, reaching a feverish pitch. Before we buy, we need to examine ourselves,” she said.
Beautiful planet
Modernity with less impact on the environment—Lio Tourism Estate Development
them over to big trucks parked on different parts of the beach when filled up. They would then bring them to recycling stations.
Global coastal clean-up
nd’ The date: September 15, 2017. The event: International Coastal Clean-Up Day. It was to happen in El Nido, Palawan. The participants: Hundreds of local school children, the youth, adult volunteers living in coastal areas, and tourists staying in island resorts. They came in droves, by boats, buses and jeepneys to do their share in making El Nido’s beaches and seas free of plastic trash, ready to “get dirtied”. After a few minutes of briefing, Estefania Mahecha, the pretty Colombian leader of the coastal clean-up, divided us into five groups. We were handed out sacks to put in our garbage loot and turn
If other towns in the Philippines revel in their fiestas, people in El Nido celebrate coastal clean-ups. Every year, El Nido and the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), an environmental movement, work together with volunteers to clean up the sea and its beaches of plastic trash. Through ICC, hundreds of thousands of them in various parts of the world comb lakes, rivers and beaches for trash. For over three decades, more than 12 million of these volunteers have collected about 220 million pounds of trash. Ten Knots Development Corp., the owner of El Nido Resorts, has been celebrating coastal cleanups since the 1990s, teaming up with the local government, schools, restaurants, resorts, dive operators and residents of all barangays in El Nido to participate. “We plan to do this not every year. Not every month, not every week…but every single day,” said Mariglo Larilit, sustainability director of TKDC, who gave an inspirational talk after the coastal cleanup on Lio Beach, Casa Kalaw Resort. Here’s a one-on-one interview with Larilit, an award-winning environmentalist and former UP biology professor who has stayed on the island for almost two decades: What are your priorities and steps you are doing to make them realized? We are mandated to push for shared value—this is taking corporate social responsibility to the next level. Creating shared value compels members of the organization to find ways to build partnerships with as many members of the community as possible. Partners look after each other and each other’s interests, and seek growth together. The relationship always strives to be mutualistic. A specific example would be committing to assist the LGU in tourism planning. This is an activity that will result in greater benefit for the entire municipality. This requires a long-term outlook and commitment, to ensure that we become part of seeing the plans
through, as opposed to a one-time charity event. A tourism plan is all-encompassing, requiring inputs from many sectors and expertise. As one of the country’s leading real-estate entities, we have access to a pool of talents from whom the LGU can draw. We are glad to be of help, as this taps into our core competency. Your brand of stewardship when it comes to environmental protection raises the bar, what else are you doing to make TKDC a leader on this aspect? Good environmental practices make good business sense. We have proven this time and time again. We would like to share this with as many entities as possible to assure them that these best practices are scaleable and not a luxury that only large business entities can afford. We are also happy to draw from years of experience to demonstrate how this scalability works for different types of resorts and hotels. We embrace our leadership role, and we do appreciate a lot of followers, but we look forward to the day when more leaders in sustainable tourism in the Philippines will rise and help us push for this across the country, 7107 islands, plus—plenty of potential for leadership. What were the tough challenges you encountered and how have you dealt with them? Working with communities can be a challenge, because some of them operate within a different development framework and timeline. Agreeing on standards could also be a challenge sometimes. But we benefit from an employment ratio that is 90 percent locals—every one of them is an ambassador to the barangays where they come from. So they can attest to the sincerity and seriousness with which we carry out our programs. What are the great rewards in teaching people about environmental protection? No one has tested this recently, but I can bet that El Nido has a high environmental awareness quotient. No matter how remote the barangay, children know about turtles and why their eggs should not be harvested. They also know why blast fishing is wrong. There are several other indicators that tell us our efforts have hit
their target. But this is not by any means solely on our account. This is the product of years of collaboration with many sectors and individuals that have allowed Ten Knots to build on the success, year after year. What do you think are the best things that happened to El Nido as a community over the last 10 years? I see the benefits of tourism spread more equitably. People are able to prepare their and their children’s future with greater confidence because of improved economy. People have greater access to information, and the influx of people of different cultures enriches the locals in various ways. I, however, am very much aware that tourism carries the seeds of its own destruction, that it is a doubleedged sword. The natural environment has taken a hit with the increase in population density and the demand for building materials. Would you be in the same job if you were to start all over again? Without a doubt.
Bird’s nest haven
Old Palawenos still call El Nido, Bacuit, a name that evokes long, torturous travel (because it is located at the tip of the mainland) and edible Swift bird’s nests. The latter, when turned into a soup, gave aphrodisiacal experience to the Chinese who paid premium for them. Before the Spanish came, Chinese boats flocked to this once sleepy village. Bird’s nest trading thus gave birth to a thriving town and was renamed El Nido (meaning Nest). The town sits right at the foot of a menacing limestone mountain. Menacing, because it drops vertically to the sea, and its jagged edges seem to challenge only those with the fiercest of hearts. Adding fear to the bystander are its grayish monotone hues with dark crevices in between. If you ask what lurks inside, the answer is they’re home to thousands and thousands of Swift birds that build their nests from their own saliva, a prized catch for those who believe in its medicinal value. The dome of the mountain is likewise scary, gothic-like with spikes protruding to the sky, not
the usual mountaintop you see in the Philippines. They’re cragged, sharp stones that could pierce your body if you make a false move. Unregulated hunting has diminished bird inhabitants of El Nido cliffs. On the verge of extinction, the collection is now banned—by virtue of “El NidoTaytay Managed Resource Protected Area” declaration, making it the largest marine sanctuary in the entire Philippines, covering a total of 903.21 square kilometers. El Nido was part of Taytay town before it became a first-class municipality. The latter was previously a Spanish settlement, capital of the whole Calamianes island region and the entire Palawan mainland.
The other El Nido
Word of mouth has fanned El Nido’s reputation as a mecca for the legendary edible bird’s nest. Until a stunning discovery that unraveled the town’s other beautiful secrets to the world—the 45 limestone islands that now compete for attention, sparkling gemstones in its tourism jewel box. Precious rocks that never fail to mesmerize thousands of visitors daily. To enjoy El Nido’s real beauty, one must also look at it with a drone-like perspective. One must not just sit there and wait for its world-renowned beauty to reveal itself. When one explores, the experience is just as incredible as finding a rare stone.
Regulating visitors
Recently, the management board of the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area (ETMRPA) issued a statement that it will start imposing a limit of visitors to its environmentally sensitive islands. To avoid further deterioration, a “carrying capacity” policy will be implemented to regulate the number of visitors at any given day. Tourist arrivals in El Nido increased by 30.70 percent in the last three years, according to the Municipal Tourism Office (MTO). The town registered 126,000 visitors last year. Would we still see El Nido’s Swiftlets and Hornbills that were there many years ago? Would the town’s famed islands, seas and
On our way to El Nido Cove Resort, accompanied by Lio Estate Resort Senior Manager Ramil Lagrosa, we saw a few forest trees standing tall in the middle of the street that was apparently widened. They had caught everyone’s attention. “Why didn’t you cut them?” I asked. “Why should we? They were here ahead of us,” he said. Well said. Lagrosa started his career as a waiter and bartender. He moved to Manila after seven years to gain more experience in resort management. In 2013 he was offered a group F&B manager position handling El Nido’s Pangulasian, Lagen, Miniloc, Apulit and El Nido Cove resorts. In two years, he was promoted as the resort manager of Apulit Island Resort. On his fourth year, he was given the opportunity to become the senior resort manager of all Lio Estate Resorts (Casa Kalaw, El Nido Cove, Balai Adlao and Hotel Covo). Born and raised in Palawan, Lagrosa wants El Nido to become a world-renowned destination, known for its stewardship toward responsible and sustainable tourism. He is proud of the El Nido kind of service that he has helped become famous—personalized, impeccable and beyond guests’ expectations, the kind of service with a personal touch showing the local community’s remarkable nature, and making them feel “at home” while on vacation.
Gemstone islands and resorts
Miniloc allows you to discover popular attractions around Bacuit Bay. It is the gateway to “Big” and “Small” Lagoons and Snake Island. Here, you can get up close and personal with a school of 1.5-meter jack fishes and an amazing variety of marine species. Pangulasian has a pristine white beach amid a tropical forest setting. You can frolic in its 750-meter stretch of white-sand beach and be amazed by the marine sanctuary right at its doorstep. They say you get the most spectacular photos of sunrises and sunsets here. Lagen is often referred to as El Nido’s eco-sanctuary island. It nestles between a lush four-hectare forest and a calm, shallow lagoon, ideal destination for those seeking a relaxing holiday in a private paradise. Casa Kalaw features 42 wellappointed guestrooms, each equipped with air-conditioning, hot and cold shower, wireless Internet, 42" cable television, coffee and tea-making facilities, safety deposit box and bathroom amenities to ensure a delightful experience for everyone. El Nido Cove Resort is a beachfront paradise that is also located in a forest, just 20-minute ride from Casa Kalaw. On our way here, I saw a squirrel darting off from the bush and crossing the street. A beautiful Mynah, perched on a tree, also made my day. Progress, as in any part of the world, cannot be stopped. Islanders must police themselves against pollution and degradation of paradise. Tourists must be responsible. Developments in El Nido should blend with the natural landscape. If they are master-planned to be ecologically sustainable and guided by the principles of sustainability, and with the least impact to the environment, El Nido will be forever called the World’s Best Island and make our planet Earth happy.
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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror
Thursday, September 28, 2017 • Editor: Jun B. Vallecera
news@businessmirror.com.ph
Citi bringing back crisis-inducing CDOs
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ia Chen was in London again this summer—just one of the many trips she’s recently made across the Atlantic— to peddle a product left for dead in the ruins of the financial crisis. The 35-year-old Citigroup Inc. director has spent the past two years meeting clients, speaking at industry panels and becoming the face of a resurgent market for synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDOs)—complex derivatives that let buyers make big, leveraged bets on the health of corporate America. Along the way, she’s helped establish Citigroup as its dominant player. It’s an astonishing comeback for the roughly $70-billion market for synthetic CDOs, which rose to infamy during the crisis and then faded into obscurity after nearly destroying the financial system. But perhaps. the most surprising twist is Citigroup itself. Less than a decade ago, the bank was forced into a taxpayer bailout after suffering huge losses on similar types of securities tied to mortgages. Now, many in the industry say Citigroup is responsible for over half the deals that come to market, though precise numbers are hard to come by. This time, Citigroup says, it’s doing things
differently. The deals are tailored in a way that insulates it from any losses, while giving yield-starved buyers a chance to reap returns of 20 percent or more. The market today is also just a fraction of its size before the crisis, and few see corporate defaults surging any time soon. But as years of rock-bottom interest rates have pushed investors toward riskier products, the revival of synthetic CDOs may be one of the clearest signs yet of froth in the credit markets. O t her Wa l l St reet ba n k s, wh ic h shunned the market since the crisis or struggled to establish a foothold, are angling for a bigger slice of the action. BNP Paribas SA is also active in synthetic CDOs and others are keen to follow suit, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. “There is a whole generation of people in finance who never knew or forgot what the problems were with synthetic CDOs,” said Janet Tavakoli, a 30-year veteran of the financial markets who runs
a consulting firm and has written books on structured credit and CDOs. “Just as derivatives can lever up the upside, they can lever up the downside.” Danielle Romero-Apsilos, a spokesman at Citigroup, said synthetic CDOs are fundamentally different than they were before the crisis and that banks today aren’t managing market risk any more. That’s because every part of a synthetic CDO deal is distributed to investors, which also helps to prevent the market from growing too fast. “Every single client we talk to always asks the differences precrisis and postcrisis,” said Vikram Prasad, who oversees Chen’s team as the head of correlation and exotics credit trading. “Everyone remembers the word CDO. Our clients are thinking the same thing, they are doing the due diligence.”
Center of attention
Whatever the case, there’s little doubt that few have captured the market’s attention like Chen, who leads Citigroup’s credit correlation trading desk with Davy Kim. (Citigroup declined to make Chen available for this article, which was based on interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with her work, including investors, colleagues and competitors.) A Citigroup lifer, she joined the firm’s correlation trading desk as an analyst in 2005 after getting her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
S&P warns of correction as Asia bond spreads hit decade low
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he trend of falling premiums on Asian bonds amid abundant liquidity may not last for long, as global monetary stimulus will inevitably fade, according to S&P Global Ratings. “A significant correction in prices of assets, such as bonds, equity and real property, is likely,” the ratings firm said in a note dated September 26. “Abundant liquidity and steady yields have desensitized markets to tail risks, which could shock markets if they were to occur.” Global markets are interconnected and the Asia-Pacific region could take its cue for a price correction from elsewhere, according to Terry E. Chan, the primary analyst on the report, who spoke by telephone. The quest for yield has pushed spreads on Asian investmentgrade dollar bonds to just 167 basis points over Treasuries, near the lowest since late-2007. “While the specific trigger of a market pullback is uncertain, a liquidity withdrawal is inevitable given the near decadelong era of easy money,” S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Wednesday.
“The potential for sharp corrections in asset prices has spiked.” Distressed scenarios will likely rise in A sia as the region’s outstanding debt h a s g row n rapid ly, accord i ng to Jay Wintrob, CEO at Oaktree Capital Group Llc. “Growth in debt creates leverage, which
can be very, very good and very, very bad,” he said in an interview this week. “Leverage in Asia has increased.” Rising threats include market overreaction to geographic conflicts, such as North Korea’s missile testing, the rise of populist or extremist trends and tax or trade wars, according to S&P.
Case clippings
By Justice S J Ranada Jr. FORUM SHOPPING–authorized corporate representative Juridical persons, including corporations, that cannot personally sign the certification against forum shopping, must act through an authorized representative. The exercise of corporate powers, including the power to sue, is lodged with the board of directors, which acts as a body representing the stockholders. For corporations, the authorized representative to sign the certification against forum shopping must be selected or authorized collectively by the board of directors. Nestlé v. Puregold 06 Sept 2017
GR 217194 Carpio, J
Effective member engagement for associations
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n my March 16, 2017, column, I mentioned that there are five stages in the “membership-life cycle framework ”: awareness, recruitment, engagement, renewal and reinstatement. The first two are within the membership-acquisition phase, and the next three are in the membershipretention part. Membership retention is the most challenging aspect in the lifecycle, and member engagement is the hardest one to define, undertake and measure. A good definition of member engagement that I wish to share is that of the American Nurses Association, namely, “Member engagement is the investment of time, money, attention and participation, by both the association and its members, in order to provide meaningful, long-term, mutually beneficial experiences and relationships that advance the profession.” As such, strategic member engagement plays a crucial role in promoting an association’s core values and message. Engaged members can act as “brand ambassadors” and become a key asset able to transform passive members into “multipliers”, according to the Geneva-based MCI Group, a global research and consulting organization. The MCI Group’s Global Engagement Index report for 2016 highlighted that continued, and positive member engagement relies on an association’s meeting a few fundamental criteria with regard to the services offered. The survey findings revealed that successful member engagements needs to fulfill the following requirements: n A personalized and relevant range of products and services exclusively available to members. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to delivering engaging products and services that bring value to members. Some associations will benefit from developing and offering services that focus on training (online courses, certifications, Webinars, etc.), whereas others are more likely to take advantage of creating opportunities for networking, such as organizing annual meetings, career fairs, conferences, one-day events, etc. n A clear definition of the benefits and values involved in membership. Members expect that belonging to an association will have a positive impact on their careers, professional reputa-
From CFO to CEO: Making the big leap T raditionally seen as bean counters, CFOs are now making the leap to assume bigger and more strategic roles in their organizations. And understandably so. “In times like this when the macroeconomic environment has become more volatile, more global and more interconnected, depth in financial understanding is a clear asset. This is why the CFO’s role has become more pronounced in many organizations,” said Consuelo D. Garcia, country manager and managing director of ING Bank, N.V. Manila Branch. For more than a decade now, Dutch financial giant ING and the country’s premier organization of financial leaders, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex), have been mounting the ING-Finex CFO of the Year Award to honor the country’s outstanding CFO. Since 2007, when the annual search began, several of its CFO awardees have already transitioned to higher and bigger roles. These include Delfin Gonzalez Jr. (from CFO of Globe Telecom to chairman and president of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., a subsidiary of conglomerate Ayala Corp.), Sherisa Nuesa (from CFO of Manila Water Corp. when she won to president and director of ALFM Mutual Funds, the country’s biggest mutual-
funds group), Jose Sio (from CFO to chairman of of SM Investments Corporation), Jaime Ysmael (from CFO of Ayala Land Inc. to president and CEO of property developer Ortigas & Co.) and Jeffrey Lim (from CFO to president of SM Prime Holdings Inc.).
‘CEO in disguise’
Experts, however, say the CFO’s ability to occupy the coveted corner office should no longer surprise, given his rapidly evolving role over the years. In a CFO study conducted by the Ateneo Graduate School of Business and Finex Research and Development Foundation in 2014, lead author Dr. Eliseo Aurellado said it is, in fact, the CFO’s ability to step into the shoes of the CEO that has become one of the main criteria in the ING-Finex CFO of the Year annual search. “What our findings show is that the CFO nowadays is actually the CEO in disguise, waiting in the wings,” said Aurellado, former head of the Finance Faculty of AGSB. “Now, we really see the CFO and CEO as complementary roles. While the CEO may be the visionary, the CFO must be a willing partner in strategy formulation and objective setting given the wealth of financial information at his disposal.” ING-Finex CFO of the Year 2011
awardee Jaime Ysmael is a walking testament to this. In his new role as president and CEO of Ortigas & Co., the 57-year-old said his nearly two decades of experience as CFO of Ayala Land came in really handy. “It certainly opened a wider window for me and gave me the skillset needed to assume an operating role in Ortigas & Co.”, which is currently undertaking about P210 billion worth of mixed-use real-estate projects in the country, he said. “Being a CFO is a good stepping stone for one to become a CEO, especially for a publicly listed company. The CFO’s role is quite unique: he does not just look at the financial aspect of the business but interact with all of the operating and support units because that’s the way the function operates. By having that unique access and exposure to the different lines of the business, the CFO is given the opportunity to add value to the company,” he added.
Transformational leader
For Sherisa Nuesa, the only lady to win the ING-Finex CFO of the Year Award to date, what sets the CFO apart is his “ability to be a common thread that binds the other operational elements because he can see the trees as well as the forest”. However, besides being the steward of the company’s finan-
cial resources and the CEO’s strategic partner, she said the CFO must also demonstrate the ability to take bold moves—a prerequisite to becoming a “transformational leader”. At Manila Water Co., where she spent nine years and won the CFO of the Year award, Nuesa has been credited for taking the company public immediately after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. “It was the first IPO that sold shares internationally, and global demand was oversubscribed. While we had to move fast, we did everything on a calibrated basis. Before the IPO, we bought out the shares of an international waterutility partner and got the IFC [International Finance Corp.] as strategic partner. We made sure we covered all grounds,” she explained. Proceeds from the IPO enabled the privatized water utility firm to invest in massive pipe replacement that stemmed the tide of water leaks and dramatically reduced its nonrevenue water. As a result, Manila Water transformed from “a company that was barely breaking even to now a $1.6-billion entity,” she added.
Agile CFO
In addition to being bold and decisive, the CFO must also learn to be agile, especially as he transitions to become the “captain” of the organization who will
Association World Octavio Peralta tion or help with their networking efforts. Therefore, member services offered by associations must be aligned with these expectations. n The quality of information and communication usually assessed to how personal, timely, up-to-date and relevant communications between an association and its members are. Equally important is the availability of information in formats and channels that suit members’ needs. In this respect, an association’s digital strategy needs to be carefully planned, as members do not only expect to find valuable information on the web site but also social media, blog entries, printed or online magazines/newsletters, etc. In short, associations should diversify their communications strategy and try to reach members through meaningful information that is accessible, easily available and cannot be found elsewhere. n The availability of responsive and professional customer service. Associations that have a nationwide scope should ensure that the needs of their members are catered to at local and/ or regional levels. Likewise, it is important to note that member support does not have to be limited to e-mail or phone, but can also include live chat options, FAQ sections and how-to guides. The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretarygeneral of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) and the CEO and founder of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE). The PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 5 (AS5) on November 22 and 23, 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), which is expected to draw over 200 association professionals here and abroad. The two-day event is supported by the ADFIAP, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap. org for more details on AS5.
steer the corporate ship away from a potential crisis and toward safer ground. This is why this year’s annual search is themed “The Agile CFO: Enabling Change”, as this befits the evolving role of the CFO. “Today’s global environment is characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. A lot of changes happen very quickly, and it’s also a very interconnected world. What happens outside affects the Philippines, though not always on the same magnitude. But the challenges can also be converted into opportunities when the CFO knows what he’s doing,” Ysmael said. This is why he said the ING-Finex CFO of the Year Award is both relevant and significant. “The Award is the only one that recognizes the CFO’s role— a function that has been relegated to behind the scenes in the past. It has now really elevated the stature of the CFO position, effectively opening doors, not just for the awardees but for CFOs out there in terms of increased opportunity to be recognized, possibilities of performing an operating role and encouraging others to take on a career in finance. It’s a ver y good award for CFOs aspiring for bigger roles in their companies,” he added.
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Trump to call for slashing taxes, but leaves the details to Congress
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ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump will propose a sweeping rewrite of the federal tax code on Wednesday, outlining a plan to reduce rates for corporations and individuals and eliminate some popular deductions, in a move that will set off a scramble among powerful groups eager to protect their tax breaks. The proposal will call for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, doubling the standard deduction for individual taxpayers and slightly increasing the bottom tax rate to 12 percent from 10 percent, according to two officials briefed on the details of the blueprint. The framework, which has been agreed upon by Republican leaders in the House and Senate, leaves most of the details to Congress but proposes a reduction in the current top individual rate to 35 percent, from 39.6 percent, while leaving the door open for an unspecified, higher bracket for the wealthiest Americans. The plan would also, for the first time, create a 25-percent tax for “pass-through” businesses, which account for the vast majority of business income in the United States and are currently taxed at individual rates. Pulling the tax-code levers inevitably creates winners and losers, but the scant details of the plan, including how it will be paid for and which deductions are on the chopping block, make it impossible to determine the distributional effects and whether it will actually help middle-class taxpayers and not the wealthiest Americans. At a dinner with conservative and evangelical leaders on Monday evening at the White House, Trump spoke extensively about his tax plan and said that referring to “tax reform” as “tax cuts” was a much better way of communicating the effort. Trump also said that repatriation of taxes on corporate profits kept offshore would be part of the plan. He did not describe changes to carve-outs or deductions, according to a person in the room. At one point, Trump said that getting the corporate rate down was the key to getting the economy to grow. The president said that he had grown tired of listening to foreign leaders, like India’s Narendra Modi, describe a GDP increase close to 10 percent, while Trump had nothing comparable to show, according to the person, who asked for anonymity because it was a private dinner. The White House is trying to navigate a narrow path on an issue that administration officials believe can reboot Trump’s presidency. It is an attempt to assuage the demand for lower taxes among wealthy party donors without being perceived by Trump’s workingclass base as giving a windfall to the rich. wTrump promised after meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday that “we will cut taxes tremendously for the middle class.” He will make his pivot to overhauling the tax code official on Wednesday during a speech in Indiana where he will unveil details of a plan that he has promised will be the biggest tax cut in history. After the failure of Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, passing tax legislation has become all the more crucial, and it is no accident that the Trump administration has chosen the Hoosier State, a reliably Republican part of the country. It is also the home to Vice President Mike Pence, its former governor, and it has a Democratic senator, Joe Donnelly, whose support Trump may need. New York Times News Service
The World
BusinessMirror G.O.P. concedes on last-gasp repeal try
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Obamacare repeal is dead
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ASHINGTON— Obamacare lives on. Senate Republicans, short of votes, abandoned their latest and possibly final attempt to kill the health-care law on Tuesday, just ahead of a critical endof-the-week deadline. The repeal-and-replace bill’s authors promised to try again at a later date, while President Donald J. Trump railed against “certain so-called Republicans” who opposed the GOP effort. But for now, Trump and fellow Republicans who vowed for seven years to abolish former President Barack Obama’s law will leave it standing and turn their attention to overhauling the nation’s tax code instead. The GOP’s predicament was summed up bluntly by Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a lead author of the legislation: “Through events that are under our control and not under our control, we don’t have the votes.” “Am I disappointed? Absolutely,” he said after a GOP lunch attended by Vice President Mike Pence. Standing alongside Cassidy, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “We haven’t given up on changing the American healthcare system. We are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us.” “We do think it’s time to turn to our twin priority, reforming the tax code,” McConnell said. There was much talk of returning to the repeal effort later, but not all Republican senators were putting on that brave face. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana described the bill as “dead as a doornail.” The bill Cassidy coauthored with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina would have unraveled the central elements of Obama’s
$1T The amount of fund that would be cut from Medicaid under the repealObamacare bill
law, including the requirement for Americans to carry health insurance or pay fines, and offered block grants to states to design their own systems with less federal control. Republicans are also strongly in agreement on a need for action on overhauling the loophole-ridden US tax code, and hope that if they also succeed in getting Americans a tax cut, their failure on health care will be forgiven. Yet, they began the health-care effort with unanimity, too, up until the devilish details began to emerge and divide them as they pursued a partisan effort against united Democratic opposition. Much the same could happen on taxes, where Republicans are at the beginning of the process, with plans to unveil a blueprint on Wednesday. On health care, the urgency confronting the GOP this week lay in special budget rules that protected the legislation from a Democratic filibuster, allowing
the Republicans to pass it with just 50 votes, plus a tie-breaker from Pence, instead of the 60 often required. Those special rules expire on September 30. Even with that advantage, McConnell had little room for error given his slim 52-48 vote majority in the 100-member Senate. And as in July, when Arizona Sen. John McCain cast a dramatic late-night thumbs down to kill the previous repeal bill, McConnell was unable to corral the 50 “Ayes.” In addition to McCain, moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced her opposition, as did conservative Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Several other senators were skeptical or undeclared, among them Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who waited until McConnell had conceded defeat on Tuesday to issue a statement criticizing “a lousy process” on the legislation. A full analysis of the legislation was never completed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, contributing to critics’ complaints of a rushed process, but independent experts warned that millions could lose coverage, states could relax existing requirements and coverage could end up being unaffordable for many, including people with preexisting conditions. That last element drew attention from late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, who got involved in the health debate in April after his son was born with a heart defect. He was outspoken on his ABC show in denouncing the bill and accusing Cassidy of lying about it. On Tuesday Kimmel tweeted a photo of his smiling baby son and wrote, “Thanks to all who stood up and spoke out from this happy guy and his less-fortunate friends #GoodbyeGrahamCassidy.” The legislation also would have cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, prompting angry protesters in wheelchairs to descend on the one hearing held on the bill, on Monday, chanting,
“No cuts to Medicaid! Save our liberty!” Dozens were pulled out and arrested as cameras captured the striking scene. For Trump, the failure added one more justification for his ongoing grudge against McConnell and provided another reason to turn his back on Republicans and make deals with Democrats instead, as he’s begun to do of late. Indeed, he said in a private bipartisan meeting of House Ways and Means members on Tuesday that he would work with Democrats on health care if the Republicans “didn’t get repeal done,” according to Rep. Richard Neal, Democrat-Massachusetts, who was present. Neal quoted Trump as saying, “You get a better deal if it’s bipartisan.” Graham insisted that despite Tuesday’s failure, Republicans would return to the health issue after disposing of taxes. But even under the optimistic assumption that Republicans will pass tax legislation in the coming months, Graham’s timeline would put the next health-care debate into the 2018 congressional campaign season, and that would be unlikely to improve the bill’s chances. It’s unclear how the collapse of the GOP’s latest repeal effort will affect Americans’ 2018 sign-up season for subsidized pr ivate-hea lth policies under the Affordable Care Act. On Wednesday is the deadline for insurers to finalize 2018 contracts. Uncertainty over whether the Trump administration will continue to pay monthly subsidies for assistance with copays and deductibles has been blamed for driving up next year’s premiums. Earlier this month senators launched a bipartisan effort to try to stabilize premiums for next year, but that was put on hold as Republicans pursued repeal. Talks are resuming, but it’s unclear if they can succeed, particularly since feelings are raw on both sides. AP
Saudi to rescind ban on female drivers S audi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a long-standing policy that has become a global symbol of the oppression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom. The change, which will take effect in June 2018, was announced in a royal decree read live on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington. The decision highlights the damage that the ban on women driving has done to the kingdom’s international reputation and its hopes for a public-relations benefit from the reform. Saudi leaders also hope the new policy will help the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workplace. Many work ing Saud i women spend much of their salaries on drivers or must be driven to work by male relatives. “It is amazing,” said Fawziah alBakr, a Saudi university professor who was among 47 women who participated in the kingdom’s first protest against the ban—in 1990. After driving around the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the women were arrested, and some lost their jobs. “Since that day, Saudi women have been asking for the right to drive, and, finally, it arrived,” she said by phone. “We have been waiting for a very long time.” Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is an absolute monarchy ruled according to Shariah
briefs Will Trump allow release of JFK assassination papers?
BOSTON—The anticipated release of thousands of neverbefore-seen government documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination has scholars and armchair detectives buzzing. Now, they’re waiting to see whether President Donald J. Trump will block the release of files that could shed light on a tragedy that has stirred conspiracy theories for decades. The National Archives has until October 26 to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, unless Trump intervenes. The Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose records make up the bulk of the batch, won’t say whether they’ve appealed to the Republican president to keep them under wraps. “The American public deserves to know the facts, or at least they deserve to know what the government has kept hidden from them for all these years,” Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of a book about Kennedy, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “It’s long past the time to be forthcoming with this information,” he added. AP
Collapsed Mexico school raises questions about quake codes
MEXICO CITY—On paper at least, the Mexico City school appeared to be structurally sound and built to withstand a major earthquake. But it collapsed, killing 26 people, most of them children. And now authorities are looking into whether an apartment reportedly built on top of the two-story school was to blame. Claudia Sheinbaum, the borough president of the southern Mexico City district where the school went down in the 7.1-magnitude quake, told a news conference on Tuesday that the school appeared to have its paperwork in order, at least according to documents filed by architects and engineers who supposedly inspected the structure. She said an investigation was being launched to look for any abnormalities not revealed in those documents. “We can’t stop just with the paperwork,” Sheinbaum said. “We are going to do a review of the building itself.” AP
Cuba to Tillerson: We have no culpability in health ‘attacks’
Aziza Yousef drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving in this March 29, 2014, photo. The kingdom was the only the country in the world to bar women from driving and, for years, had garnered negative publicity internationally for detaining women who defied the ban. AP/Hasan Jamali
law. Saudi officials and clerics have provided numerous explanations for the ban over the years. Some said that it was inappropriate in Saudi culture for women to drive, or that male drivers would not know how to handle having women in cars next to them. Others argued that allowing women to drive would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the
Saudi family. One cleric claimed— with no evidence—that driving harmed women’s ovaries. R ights groups and Saudi activ ists have long campaig ned for the ban to be over tur ned, a nd some women h ave been ar rested and jailed for def ying the prohibition and ta k ing the wheel. In 2014 Loujain Hathloul was
arrested after trying to cross the border from the United Arab Emirates into Saudi Arabia and detained for 73 days. “@LoujainHathloul I’m so proud of you,” Fahad Albuteiri, her husband and a well-known Saudi comedian, wrote on Twitter. Hathloul tweeted a simple reaction to the news: “Thank god.” New York Times News Service
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WASHINGTON—Cuba’s top diplomat insisted on Tuesday that his government had nothing to do with unexplained health “attacks” on United States diplomats, telling Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Cuba still has no evidence to explain what transpired in Havana. Tillerson emphasized that it’s Cuba’s responsibility to protect diplomats on its soil, regardless of who is to blame. The former Cold War foes appeared no closer to resolving the bizarre, frightening health crisis after a hastily arranged meeting between Tillerson and visiting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. Cuba requested the meeting as the US considers shuttering the newly reopened US Embassy in Havana, a response that would deal a devastating blow to the delicate rapprochement between the countries. The meeting marked the highestlevel diplomatic contact between the countries since the start of President Donald J. Trump’s administration in January. AP
A10 Thursday, September 28, 2017 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
Opinion
BusinessMirror
editorial
Ensuring regional power security and sustainability
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he Philippines is currently hosting the 35th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (Amem), which formally opened on Wednesday. Under the theme, “One Asean Community through Resilient and Sustainable Energy”, the Amem consists of three meetings—the Asean Ministers of Energy Meetings, the Senior Officials Meeting on Energy and the Asean Center for Energy for technical support consultations and dialogue. The meetings will cover the Asean Power Grid, Trans Asean Gas Pipeline, Coal and Clean Coal Technology, Energy Efficiency and Conservation, Renewable Energy, Regional Energy and Planning, and Civilian Nuclear Energy. An exhibit on power and electricity at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City complements these events.
Apart from host Philippines, Asean member-states participating in the 35th Amem are Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and Indonesia. Energy Undersecretary Felix B. William Fuentebella said, “The event is in line with Asean’s goal of boosting the region’s gross domestic product from an average of 4 percent to more than 6 percent as proposed in the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation.” At present, Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, based on real GDP growth. The launching of the Asean Economic Community is seen enhancing the region’s economic performance. But Asean’s high economic growth will come at a cost: The increasing energy demand will drive up energy security risks. Experts cited the uneven distribution of energy resources and different levels of economic development among Asean members as factors that complicate efforts to effectively use energy resources to meet demand not just between, but also within countries. In particular, the power sector’s problems of sustainability, availability and affordability of oil, gas and coal pose power-supply challenges among Asean members, which is what the ministers will hopefully resolve. As the growing regional power demand results to increased competition for available energy resources and tightens the availability of conventional fuel supply, sustainability concerns call for increasingly cleaner energy supplies. The challenges facing Southeast Asia’s power-demand stem from the need to secure resources for generation, to invest in additional capacity and grid development, and to do all these in sustainable and cost-effective ways. The Philippines, for example, need to surmount geographical challenges to power up rural areas. To complicate the situation, the country’s three major grids are all nearing or already at their critical level due to low generating reserve margins and aging generation. Although 95 percent of Philippine communities have access to electricity, rotating brownouts is still a common problem. Hopefully, the Asean ministers meeting in Manila will pave the way for a regional interconnected power system, which could help enhance the development and economic integration of member-countries. A study made by the International Energy Agency said the development of the Asean Power Grid (APG) would ensure mutually beneficial regional electricity security and sustainability, connecting those countries with surplus power-generation capacity to those who face a deficit. It added: “The APG could help all Asean members meet rising energy demands, improve access to energy services and minimize the costs of developing energy infrastructure.” However, participation of the Philippines in the APG will be limited. That’s because interconnection with neighboring countries will require significant investment. We are not saying this is not feasible at all because we also need to realize that the country’s participation in the Asean Power Grid will have long-term benefits.
Since 2005
Stop fooling yourself John Mangun
OUTSIDE THE BOX
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T may have been British playwright George Bernard Shaw that wrote, “A man gives more careful consideration in choosing a suit of clothes than he does a wife.” While that may seem sexist and misogynist, there is a brutal and logical truth to that statement. It is called “confirmation bias”.
Confirmation bias loosely manifests itself in three ways. The most obvious is that we see what we want to see. If we do not see or cannot make ourselves see what we want to see, we “fill in the blanks”. Finally, we take what we actually do see and make false conclusions. Go to the department store and try on a shirt. If the thought comes to your mind that, “This really doesn’t make me look fat does it?” and your answer yourself “No”, that is confirmation bias. Yes, the shirt does make you look fat but you are letting
Decongesting NCR
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yourself see what you want to see. There is one five-star men’s tailor in Manila that sells great and unique fabrics. The tailoring is superb and the clothes fit exceptionally well. Your feel exactly what hand-tailored clothes should feel like; that it was made just for you. But everyone that I have talked to that has had a suit of clothes made there says the same thing. The thread used to sew on the buttons is of the lowest quality possible. Expect your shirt to lose a button or two within the first month. No amount of confirmation bias
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HE House Committee on Housing and Urban Development has created a technical working group (TWG) meant to establish an Administrative Capital City Planning Commission that will study the feasibility of building in-city mass-housing projects for informal-settler families (ISFs) and of relocating the capital and seat of the government to decongest Metro Manila. In House Bill (HB) 83 filed by Committee Chairman Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental, data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that Metro Manila is home to 11.9 million people, making it one of the world’s most densely populated areas. “Overpopulation, traffic congestion and high vulnerability to natural disasters have made Metro Manila or the National Capital Region [NCR] a pariah among world cities. There is a need to rethink and develop a master plan that will decongest Metro Manila,” Benitez said. Benitez showed an audio-visual presentation at a committee hearing which summed up the results of the National Housing Summit two years ago and which culminated last year. Among the consensus reached was the construction of medium-rise buildings which would accommodate the ISFs scattered in Metro Manila in
areas eating up valuable urban space. The lawmaker said out of the 1.5 million ISFs in the country, nearly 600,000 are found in the NCR. He said the off-city government programs for the ISFs failed because many of the beneficiaries have returned to the NCR as their relocation sites are far from their source of income. “If it can be done in the local level, then the implementation on a larger scale, on a national level, is really feasible,” Benitez agreed. Benitez argued that under HB 83, the proposed transfer of the capital and seat of the government is also an attempt to decongest Metro Manila. He cited several countries where relocated seats of the government have flourished, such as in Korea, Malaysia and Brazil. Another example is Quezon City, where a lot of government centers were relocated because of the need to decongest Manila then. “If we have done it before because
can ignore that fact. But it is with situations that are more of the heart —like relationships—where confirmation bias really kicks in. We may be strongly attracted to person but have not known them long enough to make a reasonable judgment as to their kindness and empathy. But because we have not actually seen them pull the wings off of flies or kick the family puppy, we assume them to be gentle and loving human beings. If we actually see that other person whack the puppy on the side of the head, our confirmation bias may take over and we justify that action as that the dog probably deserved it. Too many investors come to the stock market with the same attitude as they do when they are looking for love. Every successful investor knows that there is one absolute certainty in the universe. The stock market is going to do what it wants to do. Your prayers, pleadings and passions are not going to change that. The stock market is a cruel mistress but one who will share her secrets if you are willing to listen. A stock position moving against
we wanted to decongest Manila, then the same reasoning applies, that we could move our administrative offices out of Metro Manila,” Benitez said. Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Assistant Secretary Avelino D. Tolentino III said they support the masshousing proposal and suggested that to make the housing project more affordable, government lands should be converted into housing sites. Avelino said this could be cheaper in the long run for the government, which will still own the land. Relocation, meanwhile, entails spending money to relocate to far-flung areas the ISFs, who, however, end up returning to the NCR due to the unavailability of basic services in the new housing sites. By allowing the free use of government lands, Avelino said, tenants will only pay a small amount for the investment the government will spend in constructing the housing building and for its maintenance. Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas of Gabriela agreed to the proposal and reiterated the need to ensure not only the affordability of the housing project, but more important, the tenants’ access to basic services. She also proposed to make the Tondo housing project an example and learn from its failures. Rep. Federico S. Sandoval II of the Lone District of Malabon City cited the success of the mass-housing project piloted in Valenzuela City and posed the challenge that if a local government was able to do it, then the national government can
you can be like the death of a loved one. You can go through the five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Unfortunately, by the time you get to acceptance, you may be broke. Your cognitive bias keeps you believing, even as your stock is turning your puppy into adobo. A stock price that is going down and particularly after it has broken below support does not deserve any benefit of the doubt. There are no blanks to be filled in with hope and good thoughts. Further, a stock-price drop is not a “correction” until it goes back up. That thought is a false conclusion. The only thing you need to see and accept is that the trend is negative. You want to be a stock-market winner? Then stop fooling yourself. Everything you need to know to be a successful investor is right in front of you. Remember, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
do it, too. He also recommended the allocation of additional budget to the HUDCC once the proposed mass housing is approved. Rep. Winston Castelo of the Second District of Quezon City also recalled the experience they had during a recent trip to Korea, which was initiated by the committee, to personally witness how the relocation there decongested Seoul and spurred economic growth and development. He said the country could learn from Korea’s experience and this would help the proposed Administrative Capital City Planning Commission in crafting the masterplan to decongest Metro Manila. Party-list Rep. Rodel M. Batocabe of Ako Bicol proposed to require the proposed commission to also draft measures that will give the master plan more teeth. He said the relocation plan could save valuable government funds, noting that many public offices are leasing or renting. For his part, Deputy Speaker Raneo E. Abu of the Second District of Batangas requested the committee to invite attendees of the housing summit so they could apprise the committee on the development and update each agency as a result of the agreements reached during the summit. Rep. Jose Christopher Y. Belmonte of Sixth District of Quezon City also suggested that all national agencies involved be required to attend the TWG meetings. To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.
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Can fire and fury stop North Korea’s missiles?
Long in intention, short in action Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.
Alálaong Bagá
Ariel Nepomuceno
DECISION TIME
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he missile launch two weeks ago led by the aggressive Pyongyang leader Kim Jong Un sent shivers and escalating panic to the international community, with the United States, Japan, China and other global players scrambling for answers on how to respond to a looming political and security crisis. With every possible step to be taken, there is an equivalent risk that can tilt the delicate balance of power to the detriment of humanity and our planet. North Korea’s missile landed in the Pacific Ocean, more than a thousand miles near Hokkaido, Japan, and not Guam. But the fact that it flew over the aerial space of Japan, resulted to an alert being issued via television and mobile phones that citizens should take shelter in buildings or underground. And where the missile landed resulted to a flurry of analysis on what the real intentions of North Korea were. Was it really directed against Japan? Was it for the US, because the earlier Pyongyang threat was directed at the American base in Guam? Was it intended to send a message to China that it should remain as North Korea’s staunch and steady ally despite the former becoming more enveloped in a capitalist global order?
Confusion and threats
For its part, Japan is now in an absolute quandary. It is torn between adopting a concrete reaction plan to the expanding nuclear program of North Korea, how it can ensure that any military action or preemptive strike will not offend the “self defense” limitation in its constitution and what its impact will be to its partnership with the US. While it has moved on, the pain and scourge of World War II still hounds its populace. Trump, on the other hand and as expected, announced that the US will respond with fire and fury if North Korea persists in its nuclear weapons tests. However, there appears to be some inconsistency and incoherence in the foreign and security policy statements of the White House. The President, at one time, communicated his desire for both Japan and South Korea to strengthen their military capabilities by purchasing more state-of-theart military equipment from America. This included beefing up their own nuclear arsenal, which Japan has opposed. And while the United Nations released a new round of sanctions against North Korea, these sanctions were considered by Trump as “very near the limit” of what his government can do through the UN. His frustration extends to the UN’s disagreement to his proposal to inspect North Korean ships bearing arms, which is prohibited by the UN itself. Guam is another matter, altogether. If this mighty Pacific base is attacked, then a strong military response will surely be forthcoming. And fairly recently, Secretary Rex Tillerson
challenged China for its humongous supply of oil to North Korea and Russia for its constant use of North Korean workers for its projects and industries.
Test of will and alliances
China, with its territorial adventures in the East and South China Sea, is another player that Japan and the US has to manage in the midst of Pyongyang’s nuclear experiments. Traditional global alliances have been put to a test by the surge in economic and political strength of Beijing. While understanding the disastrous effect of North Korea’s militarism, China has to grapple with the pressure of the community of nations because of its reliance on the former’s trade and cooperation channels. On September 24 China announced a limitation on its oil and gas supplies to North Korea and will stop buying textiles and other products, too. How North Korea will react is something that the entire world is watching out for. Prime Minister Abe’s warning that North Korea’s missile tests amounted to an “unprecedented, serious and grave threat” rings loud, clear and very true. The wide grins displayed by Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un while launching his latest missile over Japan demonstrate his country’s capability to foment a nuclear war, an event that the entire world has and is trying to prevent through various treaties and agreements, continuous talks, diplomatic remedies and political alignments among nations and international organizations. But the painful reality is that some countries have bigger interests to protect than the others. Focus has been on traditional alliances, leaving the others in the cold. The powerless stands to lose more than anyone else. Nothing wrong with alliances. In fact, the scope should be wider, engulfing other nations to actively participate in the dialogue. The trouble is that there is an apparent lack of alignment and self-interest remains to be the fundamental driver. But what will self-interest bring you in a nuclear world war? How far can the wealth of a big and strong nation shield its people from decimation? Or will there still be people remaining in the face of the earth once nuclear warheads become the rule rather than the exception? No one to protect. Utterly useless.
Folks, we’re home alone Thomas L. Friedman New York Times News Service
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ormer Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote a famous memoir, Present at the Creation, about the birth of the post-World War II order— an order whose institutions produced six decades of security and growth for a lot of people. We’re now at a similar moment of rapid change—abroad and at home. Many institutions have to be rethought. But any book about Washington today would have to be called Absent at the Creation. Surely one of the most cynical, reckless acts of governing in my lifetime has been President Donald J. Trump and the GOP’s attempt to ram through a transformation of America’s healthcare system—without holding hearings with experts, conducting an independent cost-benefit analysis or preparing
the public—all to erase Barack Obama’s legacy to satisfy a few billionaire ideologue donors and a “base” so drunk on Fox News that its members don’t understand they’ll be the ones most hurt by it all. Democrats aren’t exactly a fire hose of fresh ideas, but they do respect science and have a sense of responsibility to not play around with big systems without an ounce of study. Not so Trump. He scrapped the Paris climate treaty without consulting one climate scientist—and no GOP leader protested. Think about that. That failure is particularly relevant because, as this column has been arguing, “climate change” is the right analytical framework for thinking about how we shape policy today. Why? Because we’re going through three climate changes at once: We’re going through a change in the actual climate—disruptive, destructive weather events are steadily on the rise.
Thursday, September 28, 2017 A11
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T is easy to mistake good intentions with the necessary deeds required by real faith. The parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32) strongly reminds us Christians that we will be judged on our actions and not just on our sweet intentions.
The good turned disobedient There are those who, to others, look good and sound good and, to themselves, feel good. They know what is proper and what they should be attending to. They intend to be doing so and they say so. Hence, they readily appear idealistic and exemplary, and can easily actually think so of themselves. Such were the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. These felt secure enough in their patented religious sophistication, they paid no heed to John the Baptizer’s call for repentance and transformation. They did not believe in him, as they refused to change any of their ways. Jesus, akin to John, came but the religious leaders would not accept
him either. He told them what the Father’s will really is, but they held themselves beyond his teachings. They knew all about the law of God, though they fell short of living according to it. They were very much like the son in the parable who knew how to say yes to his father’s wish, but was not really interested to carry it out. They were those who appear to the public as good and who think of themselves as good, but who in God’s eyes are not among His obedient children. They have the right words but not the right actions.
The disobedient turned good
There are those who in the assessment of others would be “the least
likely to succeed.” They are persons who seem not to know what is good for them, who appear to be constantly doing the wrong thing. They may even be resigned to the fact of being numbered among the astray and outcasts of society. Such were the religious undesirables during the time of Jesus, like the prostitutes and tax collectors considered lost and beyond redemption. When they heard John the Baptizer, they believed him, and opened themselves to God’s mercy and turned to change their lives. Jesus preached his gospel of forgiveness, and the sinful and the poor availed themselves of the chance to be born again in the spirit. They received love and they discovered hope; they saw conversion as vital and possible. They were very much like the other son in the parable who earlier said no to the father’s wish, but thought the better of it and did carry out the paternal command. Initially, these persons might have been misled and began with the wrong values, but they became wise and learned what truly would be life-giving to them. And they grabbed the opportunity with both hands and turned around.
Alálaong bagá, part of God’s kingdom are those who have carried out the divine will in this world. The obedient ones to God’s word in their lives, not those who only know how to make verbal avowals while failing to translate the same into deeds. Actions, not mere lip service, count; doers of the word, not just theorists; fruits, not just promising blooms. Openness to the truth and readiness to change are clearly needed for a course for the future according to God’s plans. The disobedient and wicked can still change their mind and turn away from evil and become good, but the good can also turn away from good and become evil and disobedient. No one can rest and write a definitive résumé for oneself or anybody until it is over. Crucial is that one be willing to correct oneself and change for the better. Those persons complacent with their good intentions may well find themselves excluded, while those written off beforehand may well be entering the kingdom of God ahead. Thus, the first shall be last, and the last first. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.
Future in the labor market: With work but no job?
History tells us that jobs tend to be “disrupted” by the introduction of any new technology in the work place. If automation can do the work of five or more people, then workers get displaced. However, if the innovation spurs new job-creating economic activities, then society ultimately benefits and jobs eventually grow in quantity and quality. Proof of this is the great advances of civilization under the three Industrial Revolutions—first, the rise of factories in the 18th and 19th centuries; second, the surge toward mass production in the 20th century; and third, the widespread application in various fields of the Information Communication Technology tools at the turn of the millennium. The optimists cite the specific case of the banking industry, a big user of innovation and technology. The adoption of automated teller machines, doit-yourself banking and online banking have not reduced the work force in the banking industry worldwide. Instead, more bank employees with higher skills have been hired.
The pessimists are a multitude. Job decimation is palpable and massive when robots and automated processes, which can do the work of hundreds and even thousands, are deployed. In fact, industrial engineers and HR managers in many countries are grieving over the end of the factory and mass-production systems. There is now a global shift toward mass digitization, which spells troubles to the traditional way factories and businesses are established and organized, complete with a huge army of blue-collar and white-collar workers. Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s labor secretary, wrote in Saving Capitalism (2016) on the job contrasts between digital Instagram and predigital Kodak as follows: “…When Instagram, a popular photo-sharing site, was sold to Facebook for about $1 billion in 2012, it had 13 employees and 30 million customers. Contrast this with Kodak, which had filed for bankruptcy a few months before. In its prime, Kodak had employed 145,000 people.” (pp. 206-207). Will the digital age be able to create
more and better jobs? The answer to the quantity is still uncertain. But what is clear, based on studies by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other labor research institutes, is that precarity is surging. Paid wage work is becoming scarce and contingent labor is becoming the norm. This is clearly illustrated in the uberization of work, with Uber and Grab claiming that their drivers are “independent contractors”, not employees. Apps and sensors are making work less dependent on humans. The latest smart phone has, at least, six embedded sensors—temperature, GPS, accelerometer, humidity, ambient sound, magnetometer and so on. The engineers of iPhone and Samsung are now busy designing devices that listen to voice, monitor heart beat, give reminders on meetings and other interactive services. John Deere and other agri-machine companies are also able to use drones, cameras and sensors to tell “farmers” when to plow the farm, plant seedlings in the right place, place just enough water, add the right amount of fertilizer for each plant and when to harvest based on the color of the plant. The problem is that these advances in technology benefit mainly the elite consumers and the elite job holders, not the many in society. As the ILO’s labor-force studies show, only one in four workers worldwide has a stable job. More and more people are holding part-time, contingent and low-wage replaceable jobs. To put it more bluntly: the majority have work, but have no regular jobs. The ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook (2015) found that three-quarters of workers are “employed on temporary or short-term
We’re going through a change in the “climate” of globalization—going from an interconnected world to an interdependent one, from a world of walls where you build your wealth by hoarding the most resources to a world of webs where you build your wealth by having the most connections to the flow of ideas, networks, innovators and entrepreneurs. In this interdependent world, connectivity leads to prosperity and isolation leads to poverty. We got rich by being “America Connected”, not “America First”. Finally, we’re going through a change in the climate of technology and work. We’re moving into a world where computers and algorithms can analyze (reveal previously hidden patterns); optimize (tell a plane which altitude to fly each mile to get the best fuel efficiency); prophesize (tell you when your elevator will break or what your customer is likely to buy); customize (tailor any product or
service for you alone); and digitize and automatize more and more products and services. Any company that doesn’t deploy all six elements will struggle, and this is changing every job and industry. What do you need when the climate changes? Adaptation—so your citizens can get the most out of these climate changes and cushion the worst. Adaptation has to happen at the individual, community and national levels. At the individual level, the single most important adaptation is to become a lifelong learner, so you can constantly add value beyond what machines and algorithms can do. “When work was predictable and the change rate was relatively constant, preparation for work merely required the codification and transfer of existing knowledge and predetermined skills to create a stable and deployable work force,” explains education consultant Heather McGowan. “Now that the
velocity of change has accelerated, due to a combination of exponential growth in technology and globalization, learning can no longer be a set dose of education consumed in the first third of one’s life.” In this age of accelerations, “the new killer skill set is an agile mindset that values learning over knowing”. At the community level, the US communities that are thriving are the ones building what I call complex adaptive coalitions. These comprise local businesses that get deeply involved in shaping the skills being taught in the public schools and community colleges, buttressed by civic and philanthropic groups providing supplemental learning opportunities and internships. Then local government catalyzes these coalitions and hires recruiters to go into the world to find investors for their local communal assets. These individual and communal-adaptation strategies dictate the national
Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo
LABOREM EXERCENS Continued from A1
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or those analyzing the jobs market, the main concern is whether technology-driven changes on how work is done at the firm and industry levels are contributing to job creation and improving the quality of jobs. The pessimists tend to outnumber the optimists.
contracts, in informal jobs often without any contract, under ownaccount arrangements or in unpaid family jobs.” And among those who earn wages or salaries, less than half—only 42 percent—are employed on a permanent or regular basis. In short, the endo and “contractualization” complaints of the Philippine trade unions are global or universal concerns for workers around the world. This is true not only for developing countries but also for the advanced economies. According to the ILO, increases in part-time jobs are accompanied by losses in regular of full-time jobs for workers in France, Italy, Spain, Japan and others. There is also a trend toward less legal protection for stable jobs. This is illustrated by what is happening in France, where newly elected President Emmanuel Macron is pushing for greater “freedom” of employers to hire and fire employees based on the swings in the economy and the labor market. Macron even called the trade unions opposing his “reform” as “slackers”. President Duterte, who promised to end contractualization, will not use such a strong language against Filipino trade union activists who are pushing for a law guaranteeing “security of tenure”. So what does the future hold for the labor market of the world? More jobs? Uncertain. Better jobs? For a few, not the many. Is this equitable? No. Is this state of affairs sustainable? No. What then is the alternative? A new architecture of globalization, where the advances in technology are mobilized to serve, not penalize, the working women and men of the 21st century.
programs you want: health care that is as portable as possible so people can easily move from job to job; as much free or tax-deductible education as possible, so people can afford to be lifelong learners; reducing taxes on corporations and labor to stimulate job creation and relying instead on a carbon tax that raises revenues and mitigates costly climate change; and immigration and trade policies that are as open as possible, because in an age of acceleration the most open country will get the change signals first and attract the most high-IQ risk takers who start new companies. There was no good time for Trump to be president. But this is a uniquely bad time for us to have a race-baiting, science-denying divider in chief. He is impossible to ignore and, yet, reacting to his daily antics only makes us stupid— only makes our society less focused on the huge adaptation challenges at hand.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
IC okays preneed firms’ investment in funds backed by govt teacher-salary loans
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By Rea Cu
@ReaCuBM
egulators have widened the permissible areas under which entities supervised by the Insurance Commission (IC) may invest the funds entrusted them by the consuming public. IC c h i e f D e n n i s B . F u n a t ol d f i n a nc i a l re p or t e r s on Wednesday that preneed firms may now invest in a portfolio backed by teacher loans accredited by the Department of Education (DepEd). Likewise, insurance companies and so-called mutual benefit associations (MBAs) may also deploy a portion of their trust funds in such teacher loans but within a prescribed limit. In the case of life-insurance companies and MBAs, the regulator agreed to increase their exposure to teacher loans from only 20 percent of total assets in the past to 30 percent under new regulations. As for nonlife insurers, the
threshold had been made even bigger to 50 percent of net worth, from only 20 percent previously. In the case of preneed companies who are effectively the new players in the business, they may invest a portion of their trust funds in teacher loans provided these equal no more than 15 percent of their trust funds and provided further that they own a trust fund no smaller than P100 million. The changes adopted under IC Circular Letter 2017-42 not only widens the permissible investment area but allowed the entry of one more player represented by preneed companies. “The move to amend the previous Circular Letter is aimed
to increase the number of regulated entities that can offer salary loans to DepEd teachers and allow IC-regulated entities to intensify their investment opportunities by increasing threshold,” Funa said. Prior to the issuance of the Circular Letter, salary loans extended to DepEd teachers qualify as admitted assets of insurance companies and MBAs only. Now, preneed firms can offer the product to teachers as well. Under amended rules, the salary loans extended to teachers are now treated as allowable investments for preneed companies. “Furthermore, to make this type of investment viable and beneficial to other regulated entities, the IC increased the threshold in the
amount of investments of insurance companies and mutual benefit associations,” he added. The salary-loan programs of the regulated entities should also be covered by a memorandum of agreement with the DepEd. The credit risk inherent in such loans are subject to the prescribed risk charge under the risk-based capital framework, as well. Circular Letter 2017-42 was drafted after consultation with the Investment Advisory Committee composed of the representatives from the IC, the Philippine Life Insurers Association Inc., the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association Inc., the Federation of Preneed Companies and Chamber of Mutual Benefit Association Inc.
The move to amend the previous circular letter is aimed to increase the number of regulated entities that can offer salary loans to DepEd teachers and allow ICregulated entities to intensify their investment opportunities by increasing threshold.”—Funa
Ex-Thai leader sentenced in absentia to 5 years in prison
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ANGKOK—A Thai court on Wednesday sentenced for mer Pr ime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose government was ousted in a 2014 military coup, to five years in prison in absentia for alleged negligence in a money-losing rice-subsidy program. Yingluck, who has said the charges are politically motivated, is believed to have fled the country last month before the verdict originally was to have been delivered. Her lawyers said on Wednesday that they have no idea where she is. Yingluck’s conviction had been widely expected, as the military remains firmly in charge, and the courts have a record of antipathy toward her politically influential family. Thailand ’s military governme nt h a s dog ge d ly pu rsue d Yingluck in court. In an earlier, separate administrative ruling that froze her bank accounts, she was held responsible for about $1 billion of the losses from the rice subsidy program—an astounding personal penalty that prosecutors argued she deserved because she ignored warnings of corruption but continued the program anyway. Yingluck and her supporters say she is innocent and was prosecuted as part of an effort to dismantle the political machine of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications tycoon. T haksin was toppled from power by a 2006 military coup after being accused of abuse of power, corruption and disrespect for the monarchy. See “Ex-Thai,” A2
CITY VIEW Santos Knight Frank (SKF) Inc. Chairman and CEO Rick Santos (center) discusses the company’s latest findings on the future trends in real estate in key cities around the world during the launch of the firm’s Global Cities Report 2018 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City. With him are other SKF executives, namely, Investment and Capital Markets Associate Director Kash Salvador (from left), Research and Consultancy Senior Director Jan Custodio, Asia Pacific Research Head Nicholas Holt and Tenant Representation and Office Agency Senior Director Joanie Mitchell. ALYSA SALEN
Farm-gate price of chicken still below pre-bird flu level Continued from a1
“The recovery of the price of DOC to P21 could mean that some speculative growers are now buying and reloading their flocks”. “I think when the price of DOCs dropped to below P15, a lot of growers started to buy chicks, as they expect that the price in the coming months would be better”, he added. However, Inciong said the price of broilers may not be that “favorable” by December. As the Christmas season nears, he said the liveweight price is “lower than normal” because of oversupply. “We cannot be sure if it would be better by [December], because
there are a lot of factors to consider this time”, he said. “Besides, last-quarter prices are not that good because there is a lot of supply in the market. We are hopeful that everything normalizes before Christmas, but it is really hard to say right now”, Inciong added. While bird flu struck mostly commercial layers, the farmgate price of broilers took a hit because consumers panicked over the government’s discovery of the outbreak. Earlier, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) told the BusinessMirror that poultry growers remained hesitant in reloading
t hei r f loc k s a s i nd ic ated by the declining price of DOC early this month. The BAI also revealed that the cleaning and disinfection of the farms struck by bird flu in San Luis, Pampanga, have been completed on September 21. This means that the 21-day rest period prior to the release of sentinel birds has started in affected farms, according to BAI Animal Health and Welfare Division Officer in Charge Ronnie D. Domingo. “Maybe by December 20, [the San Luis farm] could be declared bird flu-free,” Domingo told reporters in an interview on September 26.
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NEARLY 10M EMPLOYED PINOYS UNSKILLED, ONLY LABORERS–DATA
FILE PHOTO
A12 Thursday, September 28, 2017
By Cai U. Ordinario
O
@cuo_bm
NE in four employed Filipinos are laborers and unskilled workers, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The PSA data showed elementary occupations make up 25.4 percent of the total employed population in January 2017. This means that, out of the 39.34 million workers in the country, some 9.99 million are laborers and unskilled workers. “Elementary occupations involve the performance of simple and routine tasks, which may require the use of handheld tools and considerable physical effort,” the PSA said. The second-largest group of workers in the country were managers comprising 16.8 percent or 6.61 million of the total number of workers. The other occupations that account for over 10 percent of workers are service and sales workers at 15.4 percent or 6.06 million and skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers at 13.4 percent or 5.27 million in January 2017. The occupation that accounted for the smallest share of workers were those in armedforces occupations, nongainful activities and special occupations with 0.3 percent or 118,041 workers.
Meanwhile, the PSA said seven in 10 persons who were not in the labor force were women. This means that around 69.5 percent or 18.97 million of persons who were not in the labor force were females. In January the PSA said there were a total of 27.3 million or 39.3 percent of those aged 15 years old and above were not in the labor force. “Persons not in the labor force are the housewives, students, persons with disability and retirees,” the PSA said. The data also showed that 43.4 percent of these women who were not in the labor force were young or between the ages of 15 and 24 years old. The data was part of the final results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS), a nationwide survey conducted by the PSA in January, April, July and October every year. Overseas Filipino workers are not considered part of the labor force in the Philippines. Hence, in the LFS, data on economic characteristics of household members who are overseas workers are not collected. For the LFS reports, they are excluded in the estimation of the size of working population, that is, population aged 15 years and older, and in the estimation of the labor force.
PHL may soon export genetically modified corn–Monsanto exec By Jonathan L. Mayuga
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@jonlmayuga
FTER becoming corn-selfsufficient in 2012, the Philippines may soon become an exporter of corn. This was emphasized by Gabriel O. Romero, Regulatory Affairs Lead of Monsanto Philippines Inc., during a forum organized by Monsanto Philippines and the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. The Joint Media Forum, with the theme “Towards Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”, aims to “enlighten” members of the media of the safety of genetically modified (GM), crops and its socioeconomic benefits. Romero said the global adoption of GM crops is proof that farmers worldwide have benefited from improved crop varieties
120% The level of production sufficiency so that the Philippines can export genetically modified corn, according to an executive of Monsanto Philippines Inc.
a ided by gene -spl ic ing tec hnique. He said around 812,000 hectares of the estimated 1 million yellow-corn areas, or about 80 percent to 85 percent, are planted to GM corn. “There is a rule that the corn farmers can only export if and the Philippines become 120-percent self-sufficient,” Romero said. Continued on A2