BusinessMirror March 8, 2015

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Sunday, March 8, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 150

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Intl banks have mixed views on BSP move to cut inflation TREASURIES FALL AS JOBS GAINS RAISE ODDS FOR FED RATE HIKE I B B C

WEEk AhEAD

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW

Foreign exchange

n Previous week: The local currency was largely unchanged in the previous week, trading at the floor of the 44 territory in the span of five trading days.

In particular, the peso opened trade at 44.09 to a dollar on Monday to slightly appreciate at 44.06 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

The peso then moved sideways to hit 44.1 to a dollar on Wednesday and further decelerate on Thursday at 44.125 to a dollar and corrected back to 44.09 against the US dollar on Friday.

The total traded volume was at $2.28 billion, lower than the previous week’s volume at $3.3 billion. n Week ahead: Bank research indicates foreign data that will be released in the week ahead. As such, liquidity data in the euro zone will likely dictate the flow of the local currency in the year ahead.

There are no other local economic indicator data due for release in the week ahead.

Bianca Cuaresma

NTERNATIONAL banks shared mixed views on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) potential policy move in response to the slightly higher, but still relatively tame, inflation rate in February this year.

In separate research notes, Barclays and JPMorgan both said that the February inflation, at 2.5 percent, was in line with their own market expectations.

However, JPMorgan is skewed to predicting that the BSP will likely lower its rates, while Barclays said it is maintaining its forecast of a hike in the central bank’s overnight policy rates within this year.

In particular, economists in Barclays Research said that, while the BSP appears to remain comfortable with its current monetary-

policy stance, they still see a policyrate hike taking place in the fourth quarter of this year.

The forecast was unchanged from their earlier projections, taking into consideration the BSP’s adjustment of its own rates to the expected normalization of monetary policy in the US. Barclays also noted that, while inflation remained relatively tame, at 2.5 percent compared to the 2.4 percent seen in the previous month, core inflation—or the measure of inflation without the volatile S “I,” A

INCREASE IN JAPANESE ASSISTANCE TO PHL EXPECTED

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B L S. M

HE amount of Japanese assistance coming into the Philippines may still increase in the coming years, despite Tokyo’s recent amendment to its policy on providing aid to developing countries.

Tokyo will continue to provide assistance to Manila, especially in development areas that are in dire need of aid, even as Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) program was recently changed into official development cooperation, as the Japanese government revised its policy from pure assistance to a two-way relationship.

This was the assurance of the Japanese Embassy to Manila, which said that the change in the charter will not immediately affect the direct assistance to the Philippines, as it still requires financial aid to effect inclusive growth.

S “A,” A

PHL infrastructure devt lags behind neighbors–BPI I NFRASTRUCTURE development in the country lags behind the rest of the Southeast Asian region.

Quoting the World Economic Forum 2014 report, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said that, despite efforts to shore up the lingering deficiency through government expenditure and public-private partnership (PPP),

the overall rating of Philippine infrastructure development remains one of the lowest in the region.

“In a year where government spending was expected to bolster the overall growth print, as the nation rebuilt storm-ravaged areas and shored up outdated infrastructure, national government expenditure failed to deliver, with the government deficit a

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 44.1590

mere 0.9 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] against the 2.2-percent target,” BPI said.

It added that the muchtrumpeted flagship PPP Program was also hardly able to get off the ground, with only a handful of projects moving into implementation stage and several others mired in legal woes.

S “I,” A

SPECIALIST Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. US stocks and bonds fell sharply, as a strong jobs report led investors to anticipate higher US interest rates. AP/RICHARD DREW

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B D K  A S | Bloomberg

HE Treasury market is signaling the latest jump in US employment will leave the Federal Reserve (the Fed) little excuse not to raise interest rates this year.

Jobless 10 ANNUAL 8 5.5% rate 6 Percent of 4 civilian labor 2 force that 0 is unemployed, ’04 by month, seasonally adjusted:

6.2% ’14

5.5%

10 10 88 66 44 22 00

February ’14

February ’15

Graphic: TNS Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Yields on two-year notes, most sensitive to changes in expectations for central-bank policy, climbed to the highest level this year, after a government report showed the economy gained more jobs than forecast in February and the unemployment rate dropped to an almost seven-year low. Futures showed the odds of a rate increase in September climbed to 60 percent, from 49 percent on Thursday.

“History suggests it’s not inflation expectations that move bond yields over the short run, it’s the expectation of what the Fed is going to do,” said James Kochan, chief fixed-income strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management Llc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. “We’re building in an expectation that rates are going up.”

The central bank has kept its target for overnight loans between banks in a range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent since December 2008 to support the economy. It last raised the rate in 2006.

Yields on benchmark 10-year notes rose to their highest level this year on Friday, climbing 13 basis points, or 0.13 percentage point, to 2.24 percent at 5 p.m. New York time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. They bottomed out at 1.64 percent on January 30, the lowest since May 2013.

Two-year note yields climbed as much as nine basis points to 0.73 percent, the highest level since December 29.

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n JAPAN 0.3676 n UK 67.2939 n HK 5.6948 n CHINA 7.0472 n SINGAPORE 32.2140 n AUSTRALIA 34.5505 n EU 48.6985 n SAUDI ARABIA 11.7754 Source: BSP (6 March 2015)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, March 8, 2015

TREASURIES FALL AS JOBS GAINS RAISE ODDS FOR FED RATE HIKE enough that the debate will turn away from, ‘when’s the first hike?’ and more toward the pace and peak of the Fed funds rate.”

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Jobs report

YIELDS soared after the Labor Department reported the US added 295,000 jobs last month, compared with a forecast for a 235,000 gain in a Bloomberg survey. The unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, from 5.7 percent.

It was the 12th straight month payrolls have increased by at least 200,000, the best run since March 1995. Payrolls rose 3.1 million in 2014, the most in 15 years.

“You see a coalescing of expectations about a June start to Fed tightening,” said Michael Cloherty, head of US rates strategy in New York at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Capital Markets unit, one of 22 primary dealers that trade with the Fed. “That shift will be strong

Inflation...

FEDERAL Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said midyear may be time for a “serious discussion” about raising interest rates, as the labor market nears full employment and inflation rebounds.

“The time is coming when we’ll be making our first steps down the road to normalization,” Williams said on Thursday, in the text of a speech prepared for delivery in Honolulu. “What I see when I look at the data that strip out the shortterm volatility is an economy that’s got a good head of steam and is getting close to full employment.”

“JPMorgan expects that inflation could fall well below the lower inflation bound of 2 percent in third quarter 2015,” JPMorgan said.

“This could provide room for the BSP to ease during third quarter of 2015, especially if capital outflows remain manageable following the Fed funds hike in second quarter of 2015, amid a comfortable current-

account buffer provided by lower oil imports,” it added.

The BSP projects inflation to hit 2.3 percent at the end of the year, as forecasted in its earlier policy meeting on February 12 this year.

This is still within its target range of 2 percent to 4 percent on average for 2015.

The BSP is set to hold its next policy meeting on March 26.

“The government has once again promised to accelerate spending despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Disbursement Acceleration Program [DAP]. Unless the government can address this backlog in infrastructure development, the Philippine may see long-term growth potential curtailed, as the government is unable to keep up with the rapid pace of private-sector development,” the BPI said.

Last year the Philippine economy grew by 6.1 percent, lower than the 6.5-percentto 7.5-percent target set by the national government.

“Government spending, which was an overall drag on 2014 growth, may bounce back and bolster growth,” as government managers manage to implement timely spending by skirting DAP roadblocks in realigning funds, it said.

“Against a backdrop of the demographic dividend, which can last for 10 to 20 years, depending on the growth of population, the Philippines can look to post a stable 5.5-percent to 6.5-percent growth trend, with upside to 7 percent to 8 percent, should infrastructure keep up with the economy’s vibrant performance,” it added.

This year the national government forecasts a GDP growth of 7 percent to 8 percent, with inflation rate remaining at 2 percent to 4 percent.

Should oil prices remain low and interest rates held near historic lows, consumption will continue to flourish to boost growth.

The second half of the year, which is the start of election campaign, is expected to contribute positively to the growth, particularly on consumption. G. Factao

MARCH 8, 2015 | SUNDAY

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He said the DBM has allocated P73.63 billion to the PNP to help the police force achieve its 2015 targets of limiting crime incidence to 37.11 percent and meeting a crime-solution efficiency rating of 29.99 percent.

“To support their efforts, the PNP was given a budget of P70.8 billion in the 2015 GAA, with an additional budget of P2.83 billion in the 2014 Supplemental Budget for the PNP Operational Transformational Plan that would upgrade their equipment,” Abad said.

The DBM, meanwhile, allocated P125.8 billion to the AFP, along with the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and the AFP General Headquarters, so that the military can effectively protect the sovereignty of the country.

The funds include a P95.8-billion allocation from the 2015 GAA and a budget of P20.0 billion from the allotment of the AFP General Headquarters, as well as P10.0 billion from the 2015 unprogrammed funds. Estrella Torres

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3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

WEAK NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING EXTREME NORTHERN LUZON (AS OF MARCH 7, 5:00 AM)

Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”.

It affects the eastern portions of the country. It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rain showers.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 32°C

“There is no intention to decrease Japan’s ODA [official development assistance], but we can increase depending on the need,” the embassy said, noting, however, that, in the long run, Tokyo will extend cooperation agreements, instead of pure assistance.

The Japanese embassy said the new charter will now focus more on providing disaster relief, maritime security and assistance to Mindanao.

Tokyo has been supporting peace process in Mindanao since 2006, when it launched the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD).

In March 2014 the Japanese government extended P38 million in assistance to the peace process in Mindanao. The package included the construction of 18 classrooms; an agricultural training center; and four vocational training centers, which mainly targets the youth and women.

As of the aforesaid period, the Japanese government has poured in P300 million in assistance to aid the conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

The ODA program has immensely benefited the Philippines in a wide range of priority areas, including maritime cooperation, peace building, governance, education, health care, and construction, and youth leadership-training programs.

The East Asian country has been the top donor of the Philippines for several years now. The total assistance that Japan has been extending to the Philippines is at ¥5.17 trillion as of end-2012.

In 2012 alone Japan donated some ¥69.97 billion in a mix of grants, loans and technical cooperation to the Philippines.

The Japanese ODA policy mainly revolves around the idea of aiding the Philippines to achieve inclusive growth. It has three priority areas, namely, to achieve sustainable economic growth through further promotion of investment; to overcome vulnerability and stabilizing bases for human life and production activity; and to develop peace in Mindanao.

Japanese aid was responsible for the construction of big-ticket infrastructures in the Philippines, such as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the Arterial Road Bypass in Cabanatuan City, among others.

Firefighting...

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

TODAY’S WEATHER

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products—registered a steeper jump at 2.5 percent, from 2.2 percent.

Barclays also noted that they noted the clearing of the Manila Port congestion, saying that this development removed a key headwind to export growth in the country.

Manwhile, JPMorgan said that while inflation slightly picked up in February, they see it going down again toward the end of the year.

Assistance...

Infrastructure...

The US central bank had boosted its assessment of the economy on January 28, after a twoday meeting. Policy-makers played down low inflation, while saying the US was growing at a “solid” pace, versus the “moderate” performance they saw in December, when they signaled they were on track to raise rates this year.

“It inevitably was going to pull people’s expectations a little forward because the marketplace just hasn’t believed the Fed, because they’ve changed the goal posts so many times to delay the lift-off,” said Guy Haselmann, an interestrate strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia in New York, one of 22 primary dealers that trade with the Fed. “People are starting to realize the Fed risks looking like it’s falling behind the curve.”

‘First steps’

news@businessmirror.com.ph

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EconomySunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

Sunday, March 8, 2015 A3

ARMM investments buoyant despite security, peace and order concerns

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

OTABATO CITY—Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) remain buoyant despite recent security concerns in certain areas of Maguindanao province, regional officials said on Friday.

Two companies based in the island town of Panglima Sugala in TawiTawi—the Tawi-Tawian Petroleum Trading Corp. and Chan C Mining

Inc.—registeredatotalof P863 million worth of new projects with ARMM’s Regional Board of Investment (RBOI) in the first quarter of this year.

Tawi-Tawian Petroleum Trading Corp. is into the importation and distribution of petroleum products, while Chan C Mining is engaged in mining and quarrying of nickel ore exported to China.

ARMM Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said investors’ confidence in the region is still high.

“Pagdating sa investments, so far, wala pa namang umaatras. Tuloy ang investments sa Maguindanao. Nagkausap kami ng mga investors at nang kanilang foreign partners at nasabi nilang itutuloy nila ang kanilang mga investments [As far as investments are concerned, nothing has changed.

I have talked to our prospective investors and their business partners, and they assured us they will push

through with [their] investments],” Hataman said. Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBOI chairman, said a string of projects is in the pipeline this year for Maguindanao, which includes a P1.3-billion palm-oil plantation and a P2-billion banana plantation.

Mastura said there are projects lined up in other parts of the region that include an expansion of capacity biomass-power plant, rehabilitation of a starch factory, expansion of banana plantation, and construction of an oil depot.

According to Jun Macalawan, RBOI supervising investment specialist, the incident in Mamasapano and the ongoing joint law-enforcement operation of the police and military in parts of Maguindanao

have not discouraged foreign and local investors from expanding their businesses in the region.

He said their trust in the good governance initiatives of the present ARMM administration and in the ongoing peace process are the main reasons for their confidence in the region’s economy.

In 2014 ARMM generated more than P3-billion investments, at least 400 percent of its target of P700 million for that year.

The military has launched an all-out offensive against the lawless Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the alleged foreign terrorists in Maguindanao, while other government forces are running after the extremists Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu. PNA

IEA pushes Asean to hike NG use in power generation

By Kris M. Crismundo Philippines News Agency

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HE Inter nationa l Energ y Agency (IEA) has urged Southeast Asian countries to increase the share of natural gas (NG) in power generation, with the projected surge of electricity demand in the Asean region.

IEA Global Energy Policy Office Asia Pacific and Latin America Division Head Misako Takahasi, at the Natural Gas Summit 2015 at the InterContinental Hotel in Makati City on Thursday and Friday, said power demand in Southeast Asia is expected

to surge by 80 percent in 2035.

“The engine of demand growth moves to Asia. Asean energy demand increases by over four-fifth in the period of 2035, or by more than the current energy consumption of Japan,” she said.

But Takahashi noted that the 80-percent increase is still a normal rate, given the projected growth of Southeast Asian economy, supported by the Asean Economic Community taking place by end-2015.

The population growth and the number of population without access to power will also drive the increase in demand in the coming years.

“This rate is not surprising, given the large population and economic growth of Southeast Asia,” the IEA official said.

In the region only Singapore and Brunei Darussalam have 100 percent of their population who have access to electricity, according to a study of the state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

In the Philippines 16 million people have no access to electricity.

Even higher for Indonesia at 63 million individuals having no access to power; Myanmar with 26 million; Cambodia, 10 million; Thailand, 8.0 million; Lao PDR, 2.2 million;

Vietnam, 2 million; and Malaysia, 200,000.

“The challenge for the region is whether it’s prepared for this demand,” Takahashi noted.

She urged that power supply in the region must evolve from coal to natural gas, as coal-fired power plants have contributed a lot to climate change, which is detrimental to economic progress.

But the IEA projected that coal will remain the main source of power in Southeast Asia in the coming years, followed by renewable gas and nuclear energy.

Takahashi, however, noted that the volume of liquefied natural gas will

double by 2035.

Takahashi also said the IEA supports the Trans Asean Gas Pipeline (TAGP) Project, which is envisioned to establish interconnecting arrangements of electricity and NG among the 10 member-states of Asean to ensure greater security and sustainability of energy supply in the region.

According to the Asean Council on Petroleum (Ascope), the TAGP Project—led by Malaysia’s Petronas —has already established 11 bilateral connections, with a total of 3,020 kilometers of pipeline connections making possible the transmission of gas among Ascope member-countries.

Boulevard Holdings sales decline 48% as of end February

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isted firm Boulevard Holdings Inc., which operates resorts in Puerto Galera in Mindoro and Boracay in Aklan, said its sales continue to suffer a decline during the first nine months of its fiscal year ending May due to problems in its Boracay resort.

Boulevard said its consolidated sales as of end-February plunged 48 percent to P48.38 million, from P100.6 million last year.

“In line with our existing problems at Friday’s Boracay Beach Resort in Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan, we report the significant negative effect on sales for the period,” the Panlilio-owned firm said.

In February alone, Boulevard said sales dropped 56 percent, to P8.04 million, from P14.45 million a year ago. The company’s sales is in decline since early last year, due to lower saleable rooms brought by the usurpation of property, as well as forcible entry by the son of the previous owner of a parcel of land at Friday’s Boracay.

Boulevard, led by businessman Jose Panlilio, develops real estate, such as leisure, hotel and tourist estates, as well as residential and office condominiums.The company operates Friday’s Boracay Beach Resort through its subsidiary Friday’s Holdings Inc. VG Cabuag

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, March 8, 2015

editorial

Hope in a time of political obscurantism and military strife

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everal developments in Mindanao and Metro Manila over the past few days need review to help us comprehend the current state of affairs in our country.

We need this analysis in the face of relentless Malacañang pressure on Congress to pass the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) and the accompanying road show pushing the idea that approval of BBL is our only remaining option for peace in Mindanao.

Foremost of the developments is the breakaway of a splinter group from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), forming the so-called Justice for Islamic Movement (JIM), whose objective is goal achievement only by force. It is said the BIFF is in itself, of course, a splinter group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Another development is the emergence of a Bangsamoro Transformation Council (BTC) that declared itself committed to the ways of peace in finding a solution to the problems of Muslim Mindanao.

A third development is the circulation of news that at least 80 percent of congressmen will not approve the BBL without amendments. Additionally, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that, no matter what Congress eventually does about the BBL, it will be challenged before the Supreme Court. In all likelihood, the BBL will be found unconstitutional. This may be primarily because President Aquino had no authority to negotiate with the MILF for the creation of a so-called substate.

These developments offer hope that all is not lost for our country. The surfacing of JIM, as bad as it is, is a validation of the argument that, BBL or no BBL, there will always be some groups in Muslim Mindanao that will take exception to whatever is agreed upon in negotiations, so long as it does not include the capitulation of the government. Just like the Islamic Caliphate of Syria (IS), JIM is so obviously repugnant it can only galvanize reasonable human beings to act against it.

In this connection, the report that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will not stop its operations in Mindanao until all terror groups have been decimated is most welcome.

The BTC says it represents all the people of Mindanao, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This is as it should be. Let’s explore the alternative it is bringing to the negotiating table.

Their record of political opportunism being what it is, our congressmen’s pledge to get rid of all unconstitutional features of the BBL before they approve it is hardly credible. They might just find the manipulation coaxing up by cash impossible to resist. But we are suckers for hope. We’re crossing our fingers.

Last, the argument put forward by Senator Santiago is thoroughly convincing as are also the arguments manifested by other brilliant legal luminaries and social commentators. But, whether the Supreme Court will agree with the conclusion is another matter. Fervently, we hope it will.

Our last stand might just be in a plebiscite, just in case the unthinkable happens, that the BBL, flaws and all, is submitted to the people in a referendum. The pros and cons of the issue will be threshed out before the highest tribunal of the Filipino people. We expect to win that debate.

Sony’s smart to think small T

Bloomberg View William Pesek

Gospel

Sunday, March 8, 2015

HE future of Sony, a $32-billion giant, may turn on $50,000. That’s how much a crowdfunding initiative, championed by CEO Kazuo Hirai, had raised, as of Thursday, for a new technology that seeks to empower would-be inventors. The project—the brainchild of Sony engineer Takehiro Hagiwara—is part of an improbable effort by the Japan Inc. icon to come up with the next Walkman.

Hagiwara’s invention, called MESH (for “make, experience and share”), combines hardware, wireless technology and an app that runs on iPads: A series of boxes the size of chewing gum packets can be linked up in various combinations to make cameras, sensors, alarm clocks, whatever. It’s one of several small, unusual projects being fostered within the company. The hope is to revive the culture of innovation that once propelled Sony to the top of the tech world.

For decades Sony’s corporate culture has favored top-down ideas delivered from executives to engineers and designers. That strategy has been a dismal failure, as evidenced by the company’s weak roster of products. Last year Hirai decided to reverse direction and promote ideas from below, funding them outside normal channels.

As my Bloomberg colleagues Pavel Alpeyev and Takashi Amano report, Hirai now meets personally with young developers to probe their ideas, test prototypes and give feedback. MESH, for example, will be offered for free—a very un-Sony approach. Hirai has embraced crowdfunding to support other products, as well, including a watch made out of electronic paper and a door lock controlled via smartphones.

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Silicon Valley companies, such as Google, have long encouraged employees to dream big and work on their own projects on the side, hoping to nurture breakthrough technologies. The question is whether Hirai can pull off such a revolutionary culture shift at a company as staid, bloated and siloed as Sony.

To do so, he’ll have to show an appetite for shock therapy that he hasn’t displayed before. “Disruptive ideas can come from everywhere and at any time, so the key to success is to foster a culture of ‘disobedient participation’ across the entire company, allowing anyone to step forward,” says Martin Roll, Singapore-based advisor to business leaders and author of Asian Brand Strategy. “Great ideas don’t emerge from a formula, so rules must sometimes be broken.

The future of Japanese corporations partly depends on whether their leaders dare to establish and implement strong, innovation-driven operating models across key businesses.”

The danger is that Sony’s size, hierarchy and competing fiefdoms will squelch any individual attempts at creative thinking, even if backed

by Hirai. There’s never been a shortage of smart engineers and designers at the company, remember. Sony had little trouble becoming a major force in the camera business over the last decade, going head-to-head with the likes of Canon and Nikon. The PlayStation 4 game console quickly put Sony on top in the console wars.

But Sony’s engineers have been better at producing faster and more versatile versions of existing gadgets, rather than breakthrough inventions. That’s a challenge now, as smartphones perform more and more tasks and single-use products lose their appeal. From a hardware

he passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And, making a whip of cords, He drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And He told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” The Jews then said to Him, “What sign have You to show us for doing this?” Je-

perspective, Sony makes decent smartphones, with high-resolution screens, great camera chips and a smooth interface. Yet its efforts to create an ecosystem to rival Apple’s iTunes, built around the PlayStation, have had minimal success. And there’s the price problem as consumer power shifts to emerging markets.

Japan’s preference is still to hawk video games for $70—not to let users download them for $2 or $5.

A decade after Steve Jobs showed how disrupting his own product line was smart business, Sony remains reluctant to cannibalize for consumers’ benefit. Sony could’ve offered a smartphone PlayStation years ago, just as Apple had the confidence to eclipse the iPod with the iPhone and then to take a risk again with bigger phones that ate into iPad sales. Japan Inc. has yet to show itself capable of such daring.

Kudos to Hirai for trying to change things. But to give ideas from Sony’s ranks a fighting chance, he’s going to have to make innovation a central priority across the company, altering incentives so that would-be inventors can expect a cut of whatever breakthrough gadget or app they dream up. (There are hints that the company may be considering this.)

He’ll have to break down silos from above even as he promotes out-ofthe-box thinking from below.

The potential benefit is huge. As Bryan Norton, CEO of Tokyo’s TMark Kabushiki Gaisha says, if Hirai “can trigger a rush of little business and/or product ideas from the creative young staff, then the critical mass could be there to propel Sony back to the realm of cutting-edge company.” He just needs to make sure the rest of his company doesn’t get in the way.

sus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and, in three days, I will raise it up.”

The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

But He spoke of the temple of His body. When, therefore, He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word, which Jesus had spoken.

Now, when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs, which He did; but Jesus did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for He, Himself, knew what was in man.— John 2:13-25

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, March 8, 2015 A5

Bridging the gap: How the SDG Fund is paving the way for a post-2015 agenda

By Paloma Duran Inter Press Service

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NITED NATIONS—The countdown has begun to September’s Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with world leaders discussing the 17 goals and 169 targets proposed by the United Nations Open Working Group.

The post-2015 development agenda will focus primarily on strengthening opportunities to reduce poverty and marginalization in ways that are sustainable from an economic, social and environmental standpoint. How shall the world set the measure for all subsequent work?

The SDG Fund, created by the United Nations Development Programme, with an initial contribution from the government of Spain, has been designed to smoothen the transition from the Millennium Development Goals phase into the future SDGs. The rationale of the joint program initiative is to enhance the development impact of technical assistance by combining inputs from various UN entities, each contributing according to its specific expertise and

bringing their respective national partners onboard.

To illustrate, we are currently implementing joint programs in 18 countries addressing challenges of inclusive economic growth for poverty eradication, food security and nutrition, as well as water and sanitation.

The majority of our budget is invested in sustainable development on the ground, and is directly improving the lives of more than 1 million people in various regions of Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Arab States and Africa.

National and international partners provide approximately 56 percent of these resources in the form of matching funds.

Each program was originally chosen through a selection process, including the review by thematic and development independent experts.

In addition, we ensure that local counterparts engage in the decisionmaking processes, from program design to implementation and evaluation. More than 1,500 people were directly involved in designing the various programs.

The main objective of the SDG Fund is to bring together UN

agencies, national governments, academia, civil society and businesses to find ways in which we can reduce poverty, improve nutrition and provide access to affordable water and sanitation.

Drawing from extensive experience of development practice, as well as the former Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, we are continually seeking better ways in which to deal with challenges that present themselves.

Gender equality, women’s empowerment, public-private partnerships and sustainability are cross-cutting priorities in all areas of our work.

It is noteworthy to point out that we are focusing our efforts on forging partnerships with the private sector, as we recognize the importance of actively engaging with businesses and ensuring their full participation in the development process.

It is in this vein that a Private Sector Advisory Group will be established this spring, consisting of representatives from various industries worldwide, with the aim to collaborate and discuss practical solutions pertaining to the common challenges of contemporary sustainable

development. Together, we will work diligently to identify areas of common interest and promote sustainability of global public goods.

As an example of how we work on the ground, we are setting into motion program activities that relate to alleviating child hunger and undernutrition, as well as projects that promote sustainable and resilient livelihoods for vulnerable households, especially in the context of adapting to climate change.

To illustrate, in Peru we are contributing toward establishing an inclusive value chain in the production of quinoa and other Andean grains, so that the increase of demand in the international market can convert into economic and social improvements on the ground.

In addition, we are supporting program activities that promote the integration of women in the labor market, as it is key to equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. We are conscious of the fact that gender equality and the full realization of human rights for women and girls have a transformative effect on development, and is a driver of economic growth.

To illustrate, the SDG Fund is

currently financing five joint programs in Africa that address some of the most pressing issues in the region, and seek to achieve sustainable development through inclusive economic growth.

In Ethiopia rural women lag behind in access to land property, economic opportunities, justice system and financial assets. Female farmers perform up to 75 percent of farm labor, and yet hold only 18.7 percent of agricultural land in the country.

We are taking a multifaceted approach to generate gender-sensitive agricultural-extension services; support the creation of cooperatives; promote the expansion of womenowned agribusiness; and increase rural women’s participation in rural producer associations, financial cooperatives and unions.

To conclude, we are looking forward to making a significant impact in the coming years with the hope to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Paloma Duran is director of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund.

Let’s grant women land rights and power our future

By Monique Barbut InterPress Service

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ONN—Women are not only the world’s primary food producers. They are hardworking and innovative and, they invest far more of their earnings in their families than men. But most lack the single most important asset for accessing investment resources— land rights.

Women’s resourcefulness is astonishing, but they are no fools. They invest their income where they are most likely to see returns, but not in the land they have no rights to.

Land tenure is the powerful political tool that governments use to give or deny these rights. We are paying a high price for the failure to grant land rights to the women who play a vital role in agriculture.

Women produce up to 80 percent of the total food and make up 43 percent of the labor force in developing countries. Yet, 95 percent of

agricultural-education programs exclude them. In Yazd, the “desert capital” of Iran, for example, women have invented a method to produce food in underground tunnels.

In Asia and Africa a woman’s weekly work is up to 13 hours longer than a man’s. Furthermore, women spend nearly all their earnings on their families, whereas men divert a quarter of their income to other expenses. But most have no rights to the land they till.

Land rights level the playing field by giving both men and women the same access to vital agricultural resources. The knock-on effect is striking. Granting land rights to women can raise farm production by 20 percent to 30 percent in developing countries, and increase a country’s total agricultural production by up to 4 percent.

This is critical at a time when we are losing 12 million hectares of fertile land each year, but need to raise our food production by up to

70 percent by 2050 due to population growth and consumption trends— not to mention climate change.

But what is land tenure exactly?

Land tenure works like a big bundle of sticks, with each stick representing a particular right. There are five important sticks in the bundle; the sticks to access, to use, to manage land independently, to exclude and to alienate other users. The more sticks a land user has in the bundle, the more motivated they are to nourish and support the land.

The failure to grant these rights, not just to poor, rural-land users, but to women as well, means fertile land is exploited to barrenness. With rising competition over what little is available, conflicts are inevitable.

In rural Latin America, only 25 percent of the land holdings are owned by women. This drops to 15 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and to less than 5 percent in western Asia and northern Africa. These are shocking figures, and yet they

may be even more optimistic than the reality.

A recent study in Uganda, for instance, shows that even when men and women nominally jointly own land, the woman’s name may not appear in any of the documentation. If a husband dies, divorces or decides to sell the land, his wife has no recourse to asserting her land rights.

Women are grimly aware that without land rights, they could lose their land to powerful individuals at any moment. Where, then, is the incentive to invest in the land; especially if you’re hungry now? Instead, those without rights take what they can from the land before they move to greener pastures. This adds to the unfortunate, yet preventable, spiral of land degradation.

At least 500 million hectares of previously fertile agricultural land is abandoned. And with less than 30 percent of the land in developing world under secure tenure, there is little hope that these trends will

change. The lack of secure land tenure remains a vital challenge for curbing land degradation in developing countries.

Among the rural poor, men are often the main beneficiaries. But granting land rights to both men and women will narrow inequalities and benefit us all.

In Nepal women with strong property rights tend to be food secure, and their children are less likely to be underweight. In Tanzania women with property rights are earning up to three times more income. In India women who own land are eight times less likely to experience domestic violence. The social gains from secure land tenure are vast.

For years, women have dealt with land degradation and fed the world without the support they need. Imagine how granting them land rights could power our future. Let’s mark this year’s International Women’s Day by shouting the loudest for the land rights of rural women.

We all have the duty to save the lives of others

By Christine M. Flowers Philadelphia Daily News/TNS

I

FOUND out that my brother had committed suicide from my mother.

It was hard, particularly when I saw how devastated and small she looked sitting on the living-room couch as if the life had been siphoned from her in one inhuman pull. But the way that I found out was nothing compared to the way she’d learned of his death about an hour before: a telephone call from a kind but anonymous police officer who’d investigated the death.

There was no gentle preparation from a family member, no call from a priest or nun, nothing but the cold news that her middle child had died by his own hand in his adopted hometown in Massachusetts.

It wasn’t until weeks later that we both discovered that this wasn’t Jon’s first attempt, and that other

people knew of this, and hadn’t done anything to get him help. His supposedly close-knit circle of friends had taken a hands-off approach, either out of fear, not wanting to intrude on some bizarre conception of privacy, or because they didn’t really care. If only they’d called us in Philadelphia, I would repeat over and over again in my mind, maybe we could have done something. Probably not, given what I now know about suicide.

I suppose the idea that “I am my brother’s keeper” was so deeply implanted in my psyche by the good Mercy nuns over a decade that I have a hard time accepting the fact that the human-default position is usually indifference. There are glorious exceptions to that rule, but far too many of us prefer to hide our heads in our own comfortable sandboxes and not see the pain in eyes or voices that don’t belong to us.

When I learned that Jon’s socalled friends hadn’t bothered to

tell us what was going on, or even to get him help, I was angry. In fact, I blamed them for his death. That was the irrationality of anguish working, because, of course, they did not kill him. They just looked away as he did it to himself.

Then I heard about the case coming out of, ironically, Massachusetts, where a young woman named Michelle Carter has been charged with manslaughter for encouraging her friend to commit suicide. Yes, you read that correctly. Carter actively helped her troubled classmate to take his own life, and is now being charged as a juvenile offender.

Some might say that this is a ridiculous extension of the criminal laws to an act that is, at most, the sign of a depraved young sociopath.

They would argue that lacking a soul and a conscience and being as morally bankrupt as an Islamic State militant is still not a crime. To hold otherwise, they’d say, is to open a Pandora’s Box

of unintended consequences.

And I would answer: not so fast.

Perhaps, our sense of what constitutes a crime is narrow and stingy, one that makes defense attorneys smile with thoughts of easy acquittals and victims wonder how justice became a fantasy. While I am not a criminal attorney, as my grades in this law-school discipline predicted, I could also see how coaxing a mentally vulnerable person to kill himself crosses the line between improper and illegal. After all, if we have laws that protect incompetent or incapacitated people from being exploited in civil matters, and if we can increase the sentences where children or the mentally ill are victims of crime, why can’t we recognize that encouraging a troubled soul to “just end it” is a despicable form of assault?

Anyone who is so desperate to exit this life because there is no surcease of sorrow, as the poets say, is not in

full possession of his faculties. The whole “death with dignity” philosophy that says people should have the right to determine when they say good-bye, á la Brittany Maynard, is a sad statement on how we put autonomy above human compassion.

This is not a legal treatise. It’s highly likely that the case against that callous creature will be dismissed because Massachusetts doesn’t make it a crime to assist someone in committing suicide. But in my opinion it should, especially when that life could be saved if despair were met with compassion and not a “Yeah, do it!”

My friend Claudia tells me that in the Jewish legal system, there is a Torah commandment that translates as “You shall not stand by your brother’s blood.” She says this means that if someone is in danger and you are able to save them, it is a crime not to.

In memory of my brother, and of all those who struggle toward the light, I agree.

NewsSunday

A6 Sunday, March 8, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

House probe into Mamasapano carnage resumes after submission of BOI report

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

he leader of the House of Representatives over the weekend reiterated that the lower chamber will not resume its Mamasapano bloodshed hearings without the Philippine National Police Board of Inquiry (PNP-BOI) report.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that the BOI report that is set to be submitted by the PNP to the Department of the Interior and Local Government on Monday would determine the resumption of the lower chamber investigation.

The speaker said there is no sense to reopen the joint probe of the House committees on public order and safety, and on peace, reconciliation and unity on Mamasapano incident, if the BOI will answer all the important questions.

“I want to see the BOI investigation. If it’s satisfactory, we’ll use it,” Belmonte said, adding, “if it’s satisfactory, we might open the investigation. But if it’s satisfactory, definitely I won’t repeat the inquiry.”

“Once the BOI report is [submitted] and…vital questions [remain] unanswered, we could reopen. Mul-

tiplicity of investigations [is] not desirable,” Belmonte said.

Last week the House independent bloc, led by Lakas Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte and 33 other lawmakers asked Belmonte to resume the hearings of the Mamasapano probe.

“We call on the House leadership to have a plenary voting on the matter so that the voice of majority who want to know the truth will be heard,” Romualdez said.

The Special Action Force (SAF) members were on a mission to get Afghanistan-trained bomb-makers Zulkipli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his cohort Abdul Basit Usman, when the Mamasapano bloodshed transpired.

Political capital

Belmonte, the vice chairman of President Aquino’s Liberal Party,

also expressed confidence that the administration has enough political capital in Congress to pass the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL).

However, the Mamasapano clash on January 25, where 44 members of SAF were killed allegedly by joint Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) delayed the passage of the BBL. According to Belmonte President Aquino does not need “carrot and stick” approach to convince lawmakers to pass the BBL. “President Aquino’s political capital remains,” Belmonte said, “At the end of the day, everybody wants peace for our country.”

Deleted provisions

Meanwhile, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on BBL, said that the panel has deleted some provisions of the proposed law that may be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Rodriguez said the panel deleted the provisions creating the Bangsamoro's own internal audit body despite the existence of the Commission on Audit (COA), disciplining of public officials and employees or a power to be taken away from the Office of the Om-

budsman, establishment of civil service, human-rights body, allowing Bangsamoro to run its elections, and creating its own police force.

“In the proposed law, there’s no more Bangsamoro COA, Comelec, Civil Service, Ombudsman, Human Rights and Police,” Rodriguez said.

According to Rodriguez, the deletion of these provisions, duplicating existing government agencies, has no big effect on the BBL. “The main fundamental of the BBL is the power sharing, political autonomy and fiscal autonomy...that’s the most important,” he said.

Earlier, Rodriguez also said that the panel is seriously studying the provision on allowing other areas outside the Bangsamoro territory to also join the entity upon a petition of at least 10 percent of the constituents as it may also be declared unconstitutional.

Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental, head of the Visayan bloc in the lower chamber, meanwhile, said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should intervene in the BBL deliberations to assure the constitutionality of the proposed law.

“Let’s ask the legal opinion of the DOJ for Congress to know what parts of the BBL are unconstitutional,” Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing

and Urban Development, said.

The BBL aims to create the new Bangsamoro juridical entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Moreover, Rodriguez said that lawmakers have still enough time until June 11 to work on the proposed BBL, which seeks to stop the conflict in Mindanao.

“We might’ve been able to have a vote on the [BBL] committee report by March 18, and then it will be sent to the committee on rules, and when we open on May 4, it will be in the plenary for debates...and our target date to approve BBL is on June 11, or before the start of third regular session on July 27.

That’s the new timetable we have,” Rodriguez has said.

However, Belmonte admitted that there is no assurance that the House of Representatives will pass the BBL on third and final reading before Congress goes on sine die adjournment on June 11.

“It looked like a good working target [in June], but nobody can guarantee anything we need to settle first the sentiments of a lot of people on SAF 44 issue, but we will try to do it,” Belmonte said.

Earlier, House Ways and Means Chairman and LP Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina said that the BBL should be passed on June 11, otherwise it would be considered as dead.

PRA board cries foul over ‘wrong’ filing of plunder rap before Ombudsman

By Joel R. San Juan

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girl power in business, governance

Left photo shows Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, Sen. Cynthia Villar and noted businesswoman Tessie Sy-Coson at the Women in Governance Forum during the Seventh GoNegosyo Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit on Friday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. The summit gathered more than 5,000 students and women aspiring to be involved in business and industry. PNA

State think tank calls for women empowerment

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

S

tate think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) underscored the need for the government and the private sector to empower women and womanentrepreneurs in the country.

PIDS consultant Lucita Lazo, in a policy note released in time for the observance of Women’s Month this month, stressed that the economic contributions of Filipino women are not being harnessed to the fullest because of cultural and economic setbacks.

“The rate of women who leave the country seeking better jobs for their family offsets the notion that the Philippines is a progressively equal opportunities country. Women often take on the lowest paying jobs with the lowest security, not just in terms of employment continuity but also in terms of health and well-being,” she said.

Lazo’s observation summarizes two policy notes on woman-entrepreneurs as outputs of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference 2015 Research Project commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which explored the different obstacles woman-entrepreneurs face in the Philippines.

The policy notes outline challenges and opportunities for policy-makers to boost womanentrepreneurs especially against the backdrop of the Asean integration and freer trade.

Lazo shared experts opinion that even as Filipino women outperform Filipino men, translating their capabilities into business leadership opportunities remains “a work in progress.”

“There are more educated Filipino women, yet men’s employment still exceeds women’s

significantly. The Philippines boasts of having the highest ratio of female-to-male business leaders, yet experts believe that opportunities for women continue to be held back by oppressive conditions, and most of all, by persistent economic inequality,” she said.

In her policy note titled “Challenges in the Economic Participation of Women as Entrepreneurs,” Lazo warned that the sustainability of the positive recognition of Filipino woman-entrepreneurs is hindered by several factors.

These include access to resources, sustainability of their businesses, lack of a business discipline, preparation and readiness for changing economic outlooks, lack of woman representatives on decision-making levels, lack of access to health and socio-legal protection; and a simple lack of information for a nuanced understanding on the part of leaders and policy-makers.

She said that women are most vulnerable to cultural and economic hindrances that often force them to choose their families over their businesses.

“Their independent access to finance is restricted without their husband’s consent, as indicated by the Family Code. More women register businesses, according to the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] citation, but more men renew licenses. Women’s decision are affected the most by health risks, economic instabilities and catastrophes, making them altogether less able to sustain their businesses,” she said.

This, she added, may also be because of the lack of organization and representation of woman-entrepreneurs in the government.

In another policy note, titled “Promoting

Women’s Participation in the Apec Economies: Some Recommendations,” Lazo said: “Where agency heads perceive gender as inconsequential or unrelated to their respective agency mandates, the talk of gender will not walk far enough to reach the frontlines where it matters.”

She said that policy-makers should see the link between gender and national productivity and wealth creation. Lazo identified three goals for policy-making at the national level: empowerment, enhancing competitiveness, and ensuring sustainability and resilience.

She underscored the need to eliminate barriers to accessing resources, promote skills, protection, and other opportunities that allow women to build up the readiness, sustainability, and competitiveness of their businesses.

Lazo said that local leaders play an important role in empowering woman-entrepreneurs, as well.

“Getting woman-entrepreneurs organized is essential, not only to help them share the wisdom and knowledge of doing business with other women in their category, but also making it easier to inform each other of the opportunities and challenges affecting them,” she said.

Specifically, Lazo recommends incentivizing business registration with access to “the supply chain of government procurement programs.”

National policy-makers, she added, have to create social-safety nets, such as improving access to credit and healthcare, to encourage women to sustain their business ventures and withstand threats of instability and catastrophes.

oard members of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) have cried foul over reports that plunder charges have been filed against them before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly defrauding the government in an anomalous sale of a 4-hectare reclamation property along Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City in 1988 which is now valued at over P41 billion.

PRA Acting Corporate Secretary Arnold Moralejo indicated that the present PRA board members and officers should not be blamed for the sale transaction that took place 27 years ago. “That since the original transaction 27 years ago, the composition of the PRA board has changed several times under the last five administrations, and that the current members of the PRA board assumed office only in 2010 or later,” Moralejo said in a letter sent to the BusinessMirror.

Moralejo also noted that newspaper reports failed to note whether the Ombudsman had determined probable cause to warrant the filing of any case against the PRA or its board members on the basis of a complaint raised by the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (UFCC) and Water for All Refund Movement (WARM).

“Neither the PRA nor the individual board members have received an order or a copy of the complaint from the Ombudsman,” he said.

Media reports, however, said a plunder rap was just filed before the Ombudsman against the PRA board members and officers.

The Ombudsman is expected to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether there were sufficient evidence to establish probable cause to warrant the filing of the case before the anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan.

Moralejo also pointed out that the 1988 sale transaction entered into by the Public Estates Authority (now PRA), which gave rise to the complaint filed by UFCC/WARM, is the subject of an intercorporate disputes still pending in the courts.

He pointed out that when Uniwide Sales Realty and Resources Corp. came out with a paid newspaper advertisement appealing, for the first time, to the present PRA board and management to take back the property sold to the Manila Bay Development Corporation (MBDC), there was already a pending civil case against MBDC and PRA on the same issue, thus, preventing the PRA from taking any action.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

paMTci chief says ched ‘whitelist’ to improve maritime education

Despite the exclusion of some maritime institutions in the soonto-be announced Commission on Higher Education (CHED) “whitelist,” the Philippine Association of Maritime Training Center Inc. (PAMTCI) said that affected institutions could still apply for accreditation once they secure the essential equipment and facilities needed for inclusion.

PAMTCI Head chief Engr.

Fred Haboc said the whitelist is expected to be released anytime within the quarter.

Out of the 94 maritime schools and higher institutions of learning, only 64 are found to be compliant with the recent Standards of Training and Certification and Watchkeeping release by the International Maritime Organization.

“The whitelist will serve as an awakening of sorts to administrators of maritime schools that they need to comply with the training, equipment, and facilities requirement set [by the international bodies dealing with seafarer education and training],” Haboc said. PNA

AFP THANKS DBM FOR MODERNIZATION FUNDS

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has expressed gratitude to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for allocating funds for its ongoing modernization program.

“This is a welcome development that would truly enhance the AFP’s capacity and capability in order to effectively accomplish our mission areas, such as in internal security operations; humanitarian assistance and disaster relief; territorial defense operations; peacekeeping operations; and international defense and security engagements,” newly appointed AFP Spokesman Brig. Gen. Joselito Kakilala said in a text message to the PNA. The DBM earlier said that AFP Modernization Program will receive a budget of P20 billion from the allotment of the AFP General Headquarters, as well as P10 billion from the 2015 Unprogrammed Funds.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and AFP General Headquarters were allotted with a total of P95.8 billion. PNA

driver’s education program in 4th-year high school proposed

Senior students in all private and public secondary schools all over the country may soon acquire the skills and knowledge required in driving a motor vehicle.

Rep. Antonio F. Lagdameo Jr. of the Second District of Davao del Norte filed House Bill 5425, which seeks the inclusion of the driver’s education program in the senior year curriculum to educate the youth on the importance of being responsible drivers.

Lagdameo noted that road accidents are now one of the leading causes of death globally. Hence, there is a need for the youth to ensure their own safety, the safety of their passengers and the pedestrians as well through the driver’s education program.

The Mindanao lawmaker said in the Philippines, most deaths in traffic-related accidents are attributable to lack of skills and knowledge in driving in an otherwise demanding road environment.

“According to the data from the Philippine National Police-Traffic Management Group, driving error, overspeeding, using of cell phone while driving, bad overtaking and turning, among others, are the causes of road accidents,” Lagdameo said. PNA

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RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

Discovery of ‘Musashi’ wreck surprises Romblon governor

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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HE discovery of the wreck of World War II Japanese battleship IJNS Musashi by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and his team recently came as a surprise for the governor of Romblon.

While saying that the recent discovery of the WWII battleship is a welcome development, Romblon Gov. Eduardo C. Firmalo said in a statement that the local government of Romblon was not aware of the presence of Allen’s yacht and his team on Sibuyan Sea. Allen’s team claimed that they have been searching for IJNS Musashi for more than eight years, but Firmalo said “there has been no information shared nor coordination with the local authorities.”

He also said that even the Coast Guard and the Navy were also unaware about the exploration conducted by Allen’s team.

“Since there may be artifacts which are historically significant, government institutions, like the National Museum and the National Historical Commission, must also be informed,” he added.

He said that, the Musashi being a Japanese ship, it is also proper to inform the Embassy of Japan.

“As reverence to their fallen soldiers, there may also be ways how to regard the issue with utmost traditional sensitivity. We hope that national laws and international protocols be observed for proper coordination and collaboration,” Firmalo said.

Accord ing to Fir ma lo, t he Musashi, one of the largest and most heavily armed warship ever

launched, was sunk by American forces during the Battle of Sibuyan Sea. The Musashi is one of the three Yamato class battleships that fought in WW II. The Yamato class battleships displace 72,000 tons at full load. The IJNS Yamato and the Musashi remained as battleships, while the third ship of the class, the Shinano, was converted into an aircraft carrier.

All three were sunk by Allied forces, led by the US. Romblon’s local government, in collaboration with civic organizations and the local governments on Tablas and Sibuyan islands, has been commemorating the event to promote peace, unity and prosperity among Americans, Japanese and Filipinos.

WW II memorials, he said, have, in fact, been erected in memory of the fallen soldiers who fought during the Battle of Sibuyan Sea. The President, through Proclamation 45, Series of 2010, has declared October 24 of every year as Battle of Sibuyan Sea Day, and ordered the Department of Education, National Historical Commission “and all other pertinent government agencies to rectify history herewith in their respective institutional capacities.”

Firmalo said there have been initiatives of the private sector, local and national governments to preserve the historical integrity and significance of the Battle of Sibuyan Sea for all concerned to embrace reconciliation and peace through historical tourism, cultural exchange and international cooperation.

T

EASY DRIVE

In a petition for confirmation of final award by PDRCI, CJHDevCo asked the court to confirm the final award, enter judgment in accordance with the award, issue the writ of execution for the P1.42-billion money award and appoint a commissioner to oversee the turnover of the leased property to the BCDA after BCDA pays the P1.42billion money award to the developer

Hot and dry summer days are here. Soon, city dwellers will plan outof-town trips where they can enjoy fresh cool air of Tagaytay—a great place for rest and relaxation. To help motorists coming from Metro Manila, Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc., operator of South Luzon Expressway (Slex), points to four easy routes to Tagaytay via Slex exits to Southwoods, Carmona, Santa Rosa and Eton. Motorists traveling via the Star Tollway, on the other hand, may take the scenic route toward Tanauan Exit.

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Friday battles vs BIFF: 7 renegades killed, 13 soldiers wounded

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By Priam F. Nepomuceno Philippines News Agency

HE Armed Forces announced that the number of soldiers wounded in the series of clashes with members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on Friday has climbed to 13.

BIFF casualties consist of seven dead and 13 wounded, Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, Armed Forces Public Affairs Office chief, said on Saturday.

Among those wounded was a UH-IH “Huey” helicopter pilot who was hit by ground fire while providing covering fire to the troops he just inserted in the combat area.

Cabunoc said that another series of encounter took place on Saturday but declined to give exact locations as operations are still ongoing.

Earlier, the AFP reported that nine soldiers from the Army’s Sixth Infantry “Kampilan” Division’s (6ID) Task Force Central were wounded, while six members of the BIFF were wounded following a firefight in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao, on

Camp John Hay developer seeks confirmation of ₧1.42-B award

HE Camp John Hay developer, CJH Development Corp. (CJHDevCo) filed on Friday with the Regional Trial Court in Baguio City a petition for the confirmation against the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) of the P1.42billion money award to the company by the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. (PDRCI).

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Sunday, March 8, 2015

of the former American military recreational facility.

CJHDevCo also submitted to the court a list of third parties with vested rights in the leased property.

“BCDA is expected to continue to honor and respect all the rights and interests of third parties, such as locators, sub-lessees, unit owners, lot owners and golf club members since they acquired their interests in good faith and are not covered by the arbitral award to vacate,” said Alfredo Yñiguez, chief operating officer of CJHDevCo, in a statement.

The PDRCI final award rendered on February 11, adjudged CJHDevCo as not liable for the P3.3-billion back rental claimed by BCDA and instead, ordered BCDA to pay CJHDevCo by way of damages for breach of contract, P1.42 billion, effectively returning to CJHDevCo all rental payments for the former American rest and recreation center since 1997.

“The decision of PDRCI is a vindication of our position that we do not owe BCDA any rentals,” Yñiguez said.

“PDRCI also confirmed our position that we are the aggrieved party in the relationship with BCDA, and for this reason, awarded our prayer for damages which PDRCI set at P1.42 billion,” Yñiguez added.

The filing of the petition confirms CJHDevCo’s earlier commitment to abide by the Final Award of the PDRCI, he said.

The arbitral body earlier ordered the BCDA to pay P 1.42 billion to CJHDevCo, representing rental payments made by the company to the BCDA since 1998.

In its 274-page Final Award, the three-man PDRCI also declared CJHDevCo as “not liable for any unpaid back rent” after it found both the BCDA and CJHDevCo of mutually committing breach of their contractual obligations, in connection with the development of Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

Friday afternoon.

The clash took place at 2 p.m. and ended early morning Saturday.

Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, 6ID spokesman, said those wounded were immediately evacuated for treatment. None of the wounded suffered by government forces are life-threatening.

The troops are still conducting pursuit and clearing operations as of this press time.

At 2:50 p.m., Friday, the troops of Task Force Central who were conducting clearing operations in the boundary of barangays Dabunayan and Liab, Datu Piang town,

and arrested four BIFF gunmen identified as Aladin Panaydan, 22; Daud Balogat, 23; Ebrahim Oraw, 40; and Abdul Madalidaw, 33.

Also captured was the BIFF camp in the area.

Recovered from their possession were a caliber .45 pistol and one magazine containing si x rounds of ammunition; a caliber .45 Thompson submachine gun, materials used in making homemade bombs, four cellular telephones and assorted war materials and documents.

“The capture of the camp only proves that the BIFF is involved in the manufacture of homemade bombs and is establishing strongholds in the different areas in the vicinity.

The current operation will greatly affect the BIFF as this is already the third encampment that has already been captured in less than a week,” Petinglay said.

ARMM governor calls for more aid for Maguindanao evacuees

GOV. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), on Saturday appealed for more help for the thousands of families trapped in evacua-

tion centers owing to the ongoing clash between government forces and the BIFF. Hataman said the evacuees are currently asking and is badly needing for more aid.

“They have been in evacuation centers for days, some of them are starting to get sick,” Hataman said.

He earlier led the distribution of relief goods to thousands of evacuees in Maguindanao.

Hataman and his team have been delivering packed rice and canned goods to the evacuees. A medical mission for the thousands of evacuees in areas, such as Datu Salibo, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha and Mamasapano was also conducted.

However, Hataman believes much more is needed by these families trapped in evacuation centers.

Some 8,300 fami lies f rom five Maguindanao towns have evacuated to safer areas such as schools to avoid getting caught in between the crossfire.

The military offensive against the BIFF started days after the January 25 Mamasapano gun battle that resulted in the killing of 44 troopers from the National Police’s Special Action Force.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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Sunday, March 8, 2015

JEEPNEY OPERATORS, DRIVERS URGED TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF DBP LOAN TO MODERNIZE P.U.J. UNITS

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B J L. M

LEAN-AIR advocates on Saturday urged owners and drivers of passenger-utility jeeps (PUJs) to avail themselves of the automotive loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to buy new jeepney units “with cleaner emissions” to reduce air pollution, particularly in Metro Manila.

In a news statement, the Coalition for Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines (CCAAP) said the DBP has come up with a loan program for owners or operators, as well as drivers, of PUJs who have never filed an income-tax return (ITR).

ITR is a document usually required by banks from applicants of automotive loans.

The CCAAP said that it was assured during a multi-sector meeting on Friday by DBP First Vice President Daniel Gonzalez that the bank now accepts automotive-loan applications of PUJ operators and drivers without the usual banking-loan requirement involving an ITR, a document usually the marginalized PUJ drivers cannot comply with.

Attendees of the meeting at the DBP’s central office in Makati City include top officers of the DBP; representatives of the CCAAP; League of Transport Operators of the Philippines (LTOP); Alltesdaphil, a nationwide association of Technical Education Skills Development Authority-certified motor-vehicle driving instructors; and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

According to CCAAP, PUJ operators and drivers have to submit to the DBP a cash-flow document together with the bank’s “usual requirements.”

A cash-flow document would show how much is the average “take home” earnings of the applicant, minus the household and operational expenses, multiplied by 12 months, minus depreciation and maintenance costs.

LTOP National President Orlando Marquez said the DBP’s easing of loan requirement for PUJs is a welcome development, saying that the loan program will enable those granted with loans to buy new jeeps with cleaner emissions, which supports the government’s PUJmodernization plan.”

During the meeting, CCAAP President Herminio Buerano Jr. expressed support behind the PUJ-modernization plan.

“Air pollution is an urgent problem that society needs to immediately put to a stop, because it victimizes everybody without an exception,” Buerano declared.

The LTFRB is looking at the potential of electric vehicles toward a cleaner and greener option for passenger-jeep operators and drivers in Metro Manila. It is currently studying the concept of “franchise dropping and substitution” as part of the PUJ-modernization plan.

CCAAP blamed the worsening air pollution in Metro Manila to the smoke-belching motor vehicles plying the roads.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

House sticks to ‘limited’ grant of emergency powers to Aquino

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B J M N.  C

HE leadership of the House of Representatives vowed to push for a no-pass-on scheme and limited special powers under the joint resolution giving President Aquino emergency powers to address the projected electricity shortfall this summer.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in an interview with reporters over the weekend, said the joint resolution on emergency powers, which is under congressional bicameral committee deliberations, should be limited to the country’s current needs.

“I think our [House version of the resolution] is still the better [one].... We acted on the information that we have been given by [the Department of Energy] that this is not going to be a long prob-

lem,” the House Speaker said.

Both chambers want the government to mainly use the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) in generating additional power capacity.

But during last week’s bicameral conference on emergency powers, members of the bicameral committee expressed different views on the no-pass-on and time-frame provisions of the joint resolution.

The Senate said the adoption of the ILP scheme would cost consumers P7 to P8 per kilowatt-

BELMONTE: “Why should we make a law that lasts until the end of the current president and the beginning of the term of a new president? I don’t understand their logic.”

hour under its version of the emergency powers.

On the other hand, the lower chamber is pushing for the nopass-on scheme in using the ILP, as it is eyeing to tap Malampaya Funds as subsidy.

On the time frame, the Senate wants the special powers to be extended until 2016, while the House wants it from March to July only.

“It will last only until July, [according to the Department of Energy], so why should we make a law that lasts until the end of the current president and the beginning

of the term of a new president? I don’t understand their logic,” Belmonte said.

Belmonte, quoting the DOE and the House version of the emergency powers, said that the projected power shortfall from March to July is 782 megawatts.

Under House Joint Resolution 21, the authority granted to the President shall be valid from from March 1 to July 31, to cover additional generating capacity required for the period of the critical power shortage.

House Committee on Energy data showed that 955 MW have been committed under the ILP. Based on established protocol, ILP is implemented during a red-alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the power utilities informing ILP participants to deload from the grid.

The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses, such as malls and factories, that have their own generators can be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply, and can sell any excess power they generate to distributors.

DBM allots ₧8 billion to rebuild fire bureau’s firefighting capacity

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MID the rising number of summer fire incidents, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allocated P8 billion to build additional fire stations and purchase new fire trucks for prompt emergency response.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said a budget raise for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is part of the priorities of the national government in the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA) to increase security, protection and safety of the population.

He said that the budget is aimed to assist the BFP to meet its goal of limiting fire incidents to one per 10,000 population and casualties to one per 200,000 population for the coming year.

“Because of this, the BFP received a total budget of P8 billion to support firefighting and emergency response activities, and this will be complemented by the construction of 110 fire stations and the purchase of 116 fire trucks,” Abad said in a statement released over the weekend.

The government has declared March as Fire Prevention Month, but fire incidents have been on the rise in the last two weeks. These include the huge fire in Parola compound in Tondo, which displaced 10,000 people.

Meanwhile, the DBM has also allocated increased budget for both the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

S “F,” 

A VISITOR checks out the exhibit organized by iAcademy, showcasing its students’ works, entitled Shift, at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall in Makati City. ALYSA SALEN

‘Overwhelming’ public demand prompts BSP to mint more special-edition Pope Francis coins

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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced recently that it would be producing more special-edition papal coins, in response to an “overwhelming public demand.”

The central bank said late Friday that it is minting more specialedition coins commemorating the state and pastoral visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January, amid public clamor declaring the Pope Francis papal coins as “the fastest-selling so far among the special coins minted by the BSP.”

The additional Pope Francis commemorative coins will be available in the next few months, according to the BSP, as the materials needed for the minting and packaging have to go through public bidding.

“The increase was also approved by the Vatican under an amended licensing agreement with the BSP,” the central bank said.

As such, to avoid oversubscription beyond the amended agreement with the Vatican in view of the sustained demand, the central

bank will close the period of reservation for papal coins of Friday (March 13) next week, which is earlier than the original deadline of June 30.

Those who place their orders after March 13 will be served, depending on the actual remaining inventory of papal coins.

Also, the central bank said that the e-mail address papalcoins@ bsp.gov, as initially announced by the BSP, was already deactivated at the end of January this year.

“Orders may be placed online

by going to the BSP web site www. bsp.gov.ph, and clicking on the link “Reservation for Papal Coins,” under the Public Advisories column,” the central bank said.

The commemorative coins are all legal tender and being sold at higher prices to cover for production, packaging and other costs of minting.

The four denominatins include a 5-piso coins, sold at P100; a 500piso coin, sold at P1,000; a 1,000piso silver coin, sold at P3,500; and a 10,000-piso gold coin, at P25,000.

Bianca Cuaresma