A4
Opinion
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
EDITORIAL
Adelle Chua, Editor
Urban renewal
M
ETRO Manila—with all the chaos in traffic, crimes mostly associated with drug abuse, and squatters clogging its major waterways—definitely needs an urban redevelopment program. The expanding economy is actually shaping the capital region into a typical modern metropolis dotted with many skyscrapers. But Metro Manila has not developed into a megalopolis with a lush and green landscape, comparable with Tokyo, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Previous government planners did not come up with a
comprehensive redevelopment plan for the capital region. Such a plan may have never taken off amid budget constraints, an ineffective Metro Manila Development Authority and the myopic approach of local government executives. But it is not too late. The current administration can start redeveloping Metro Manila, or at least certain sections of it, in step with the demands of an expanding economy. The government of President Rodrigo Duterte can start it off with the recommendations of the Japan International Cooperation
Agency in addressing the worsening traffic in Metro Manila. Jica has favored the relocation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Manila North Harbor to decongest the capital region. The transfer of the two major facilities will prompt the government to provide a seamless and integrated transportation system that will require additional roads or a rail network for the affected commuters. The relocation of the harbor, meanwhile, will provide the capital city of Manila an opportunity to redevelop the 600-hectare wa-
terfront property into a possibly mixed-used project. Manila can also use part of the proceeds from the conversion of the estate to finance a massive low-cost housing program around the Tondo area and partly rid itself of the slums that often depict the city. An urban renewal program will be a tough job to do, given the the enormous budget needed to implement it and the political divisions within Metro Manila. President Duterte, however, should initiate the process soon if his administration wants to introduce real change as he promised during the campaign season.
Is China’s super-bus a scam? By Adam Minter
Kuwait BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO IT’S literally a killing job if you’re a domestic helper in Kuwait. Our domestic workers deployed in oil-rich Kuwait are fleeing their abusive employers almost daily. There is rising demand to stop the DH deployment but only on a temporary basis. A moratorium had been imposed before for the same reason of hostile working conditions, but after a few months the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs allowed the redeployment to Kuwait. Are we that desperate that we would allow our people to be fed into the meat grinder? Labor recruitment agencies whose primary concern is the money earned from these desperate-for-work Filipinos, are of course, opposing the moratorium move.
The Philippine ambassador to Kuwait, Renato Pedro de Villa, when interviewed by ABS-CBN Channel 2 on Tuesday, appeared unperturbed. He said conditions of the migrants are being monitored and the Embassy is working with Kuwaiti officials to talk to the employers. It’s doubtful these Kuwaiti employers will change their abusive treatment of foreign household help. Our domestic workers, particularly women are raped, beaten, maltreated and not fed well despite working more than eight hours a day. A 35-year-old Filipino maid in Saudi Arabia, Irma Avila Edloy was repeatedly raped by her Arab employer. She eventually died in a hospital after suffering from the trauma of the sexual violence. Another Pinay domestic, Rehana Bayan, also died after being raped by her Arab employer. That her family name is Bayan is symbolic of the rape and abuse committed on our Filipino maids in the Kingdom. Although the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh initially doubted she was raped, it is now looking at
the fact that a heinous crime has, indeed, been committed. Our embassy officials, specially in the Middle East, should be more vigilant against crime of this nature. Our poor workers who go the Middle East looking for work often come home in a coffin. Yet, when Filipinos are the
Are we that desperate that we would allow our people to be fed into the meat grinder? ones who commit a crime, they are for sure beheaded under Islamic law. These incidences of violence against women is not only pervasive in Saudi Arabia but also in Kuwait. Some years ago,
a Filipino domestic helper in Dubai, Sarah Balabagan, killed her Arab employer for attempting to rape her. Through the intercession of the late Ambassador Roy Seneres who provided legal assistance, she was acquitted and was able to return to the Philippines. War on drugs targets poor From the nearly 1,000 suspects killed in President Duterte’s war on drugs, it seems the campaign targets the poor. There is no rich, well-known personality who has been killed because he resisted arrest and fired at police. Although a list of top police generals and a Leyte town mayor have been bared by Duterte , they have not been summarily executed as the other small-time pushers and police “assets.” Almuera mayor Espinosa, who surrendered to PNP chief Ronald de la Rosa, was even allowed to stay in the former’s “white house” residence inside Camp Crame. After posting bail, Espinosa returned to his post as mayo of Almuera. His son , Kerwin, Jr., also a drug trafficking suspect, is still at large.
The President has dropped another bombshell on Senator Leila de Lima, alleging she has a new boyfriend and is still receiving money from detained drug lords in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. If Dutere’s plan is to turn De lima’s driver, Ronnie Dayan, against her, then the motive is clear. For sure, if it’s not only Dayan who might come forward to implicate De Lima. But unless documentary evidence is presented by the President, the case against the former justice secretary might not be enough. Why does the House want Senator De Lima to appear in its probe of drug money and her alleged link? There is such as a thing as inter-parliamentary courtesy and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III is right in not letting De Lima attend the House hearing. With the socalled “supermajority” in the lower chamber, Senator De Lima is good as toast if grilled by the congressmen. VAT for senior citizens Senior citizens and persons with disability are aghast the
IT LOOKED like the future: a wide, elevated Chinese bus that would speed atop tracks straddling the road while multiple lanes of traffic flowed below. And the future looked surprisingly near. In early August, a prototype of the Transit Elevated Bus—or TEB—was tested in northern China. Just as international excitement began to build, however, the TEB story went off the rails. According to China’s state media organs, previously big boosters of the project, the TEB was little more than a publicity stunt—one of the dozens of peer-to-peer lending scams that have duped retail Chinese investors in recent years by promising unreal annual returns. The bus bust has thus become a symbol of a different— and far more damaging—kind of Chinese ingenuity. The TEB’s promoters promised investors 12-percent returns on their money, despite the fact that the prototype bus seemed likely to tip over, couldn’t clear most urban bridges and wasn’t tall enough to accommodate most vehicles underneath it. They could get away with it in part because those kinds of numbers are par for the course in China’s P2P lending industry, which averaged returns of 13.3 percent in 2015. Demand for such loans has exploded in recent years, growing in volume from $4.3 billion in 2013 to $71 billion in 2015. The appeal is twofold. First, China’s big state-owned banks have traditionally focused their attention on other companies in the state sector, at the expense of consumers and small businesses. A budding entrepreneur, or a young couple looking to pay for a wedding, often had to rely on the goodwill and deeper pockets of friends and family, loan sharks and, more recently, unregulated “shadow” lenders that specialized in expensive, short-term loans. Meanwhile, cash-rich Chinese are anxious to find yields higher than the anemic rates paid by China’s state banks, which typically fall below three percent. China’s dodgy stock markets aren’t a terribly appealing alternative, while the attractiveness of Chinese real estate varies by region. In big cities where property can still produce good returns, the price of entry is oftentimes too rich for China’s middle classes. And for retirees looking for little more than a steady income, it’s too much of a gamble. On the surface, P2P products seem like a tantalizing investment alternative, especially Turn to A5
Turn to A5
Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: thestandard.com.ph
Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno
Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers
Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida
ManilaStandard
Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph
ONLINE MEMBER
PPI
Chairman Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager OIC-Ad Solutions Circulation Manager
Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares
Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor
Emil P. Jurado
Adelle Chua Honor B. Cabie Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera
Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board
Opinion Editor Night Editor Art Director Chief Photographer