BusinesMirror July 12, 2015

The Greek vote and the E.U. miscalculation

Greece ballout proposal Greece has proposed tax hikes, spending cuts and pension reforms to fund a new three-year, 53.5 billion euro bailout package to save the nation from bankruptcy. Here are some main points:

Greek referendum results

I

TAX REFORM

61.31%

n a result that should surprise no one, the Greeks voted to reject European demands for additional austerity measures as the price for providing funds to allow Greek banks to operate. There are three reasons this should have been no surprise. GlobalEye»C3

• Tax increase of 23% on restaurants and catering.

• Scrapping 30% tax break for Greece’s wealthiest islands. Only the most remote islands will get to keep the breaks.

FISCAL REFORM • Military spending will be slashed by 100 million euros this year and double that in 2016.

• Corporate tax will increase from 26 to 28 percent.

• Shipping industry will have tonnage tax increase.

• A luxury tax of 13% for yachts over 5 meters

PENSION REFORM • Standardizing the retirement age to 67 by 2022 — except for those performing “arduous jobs” and mothers raising kids with a disability.

• Supplementary pension funds will be financed by employees’ own contributions.

• Phase-out solidarity grant for pensioners by 2019

How How Greeks Greeks voted voted in referendum in referendum on on austerity austerity measures. measures.

Registered voters

9,858,508 Turnout

38.69%

NO

63%

YES

Source: Ministry of Interior, Graphic: TNS

Source: AP, BBC Graphic: Staff Tribune News service

three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. Media Award 2008

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, July 12, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 276

Govt, Metro Pacific sign Calax contract

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

M

ETRO Pacific Investments Corp.

(MPIC) may now start the construction of the CaviteLaguna Expressway, as it signed the concession agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) late Friday.

Signing of the 35-year contract also means that MPCALA Holdings Inc. has already remitted 20 percent, or P5.4 billion, of its P27.3billion concession fee to the government.

The balance of the premium payment is payable over a period of nine years from the signing of the contract.

The tollways unit of Metro Pacific won the contract during its rebidding.

The rebidding delayed the implementation of the project by more than a year.

MPIC offered P27.3 billion, more than the P22.2billion premium offer of San Miguel Corp.’s Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc.

MPIC’s offer is the highest single premium that the government has received from a public tender, thus far.

It was the second time that the government tendered the deal. The first one, although successful, was voided by President Aquino. Team Orion of Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. topped the original auction, with an P11.6-billion offer on top of the project cost. MPIC trailed behind by a hairline difference.

The rebidding was done to accommodate the petition of San Miguel, which allegedly See “Calax,” A2

Peso seen to remain weak vs US dollar

By Bianca Cuaresma

T

HE local currency is poised to maintain its relative weakness against the dollar up until 2017, as the United States’ recovery gathers pace, an international credit watcher said.

In its most recent review on Asia-Pacific growth, Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Ratings said that the peso is likely to end the year clinging to the last thread of the 44 territory at 44.9 to a dollar on average for 2015, based on their baseline scenario.

However, if unforeseen developments in the local and

global arena happen, S&P has laid a downside forecast of up to 46 to a dollar—meaning the peso could reach that level, depending on the gravity of negative sentiment on the local currency; and an upside forecast of 44.5 to a dollar, which means that the peso can reach that level against the greenback, depending on the gravity of positive sentiment on the Philippines owing to possible developments in the coming months.

For next year, the peso is seen to end the year at 45.2 to a dollar and for 2017, the peso will likely hit 45.1 to a dollar, according to the major creditratings institution.

Its forecast on the movement of the peso mirrors largely the movement across the Asia Pacific.

PESO exchange rates n US 45.1700

At present, the local currency trades at 45.125 to a dollar in its latest closing value, with an average traded volume during the day at $456.9 million.

Likewise, data compiled by the BusinessMirror showed that the average value of the peso from the first trading day of the year up to July 10 is at around 44.58 to a dollar, which means that the peso still has room to weaken in the coming months.

S&P further said that the US economy will continue to grow in the coming months and recover with the backdrop of a normalization in its own interest rates—which will largely dictate movements in other Asia-Pacific countries.

The future of China is also seen See “Peso,” A2

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

Fed’s Yellen maintains outlook for first rate increase this year

week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW

n Previous week: The peso still dwelled in the 45 territory during the week and averaged slightly weaker during the week at 45.154 to a dollar, from the pervious week’s 45.113 to a dollar. The peso hit 45.1 to a dollar on Monday’s trade, which fell further to hit 45.175 to a dollar on Tuesday. The peso then hit 45.16 to a dollar on Wednesday and 45.21 to a dollar on Thursday, and ended the week at 45.125 to a dollar.

The total traded volume was at $2.411 billion.

n Week ahead: Markets are still to remain cautious in the coming week, after developments on the global front swayed the peso—particularly the crisis in Greece. Players are also seen to watch local data for fresher leads, as traders expect foreign exchange to range sideways in the week.

OFW remittances (May) July 15 Wednesday

n April remittances: The growth of cash sent by Filipino migrant workers normalized in April this year after posting volatile expansion rates in the first three months of 2015, the Bangko Sentral reported.

Data from the central bank released last week showed that the growth of overseas Filipino workers’ remittances hit 5.1 percent in April this year—expanding from the $2.128-billion remittances sent home in See “Outlook,” A2

F YELLEN

AP

ederal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, speaking after weeks of financial-market turmoil over China and Greece, maintained her call for an interest-rate increase this year as the US economy improves.

“I expect that it will be appropriate at some point later this year to take the first step to raise the federal funds rate and thus begin normalizing monetary policy,” Yellen said in her first public remarks since the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Yellen added a note of caution, saying that “the course of the economy and inflation remains highly uncertain, and unanticipated developments could delay or accelerate this first step.” In her only mention of Greece in a 14-page speech delivered on Friday in Cleveland, she identified

that nation’s debt crisis as one cause of uncertainty.

Yellen, 68, is moving cautiously toward the first rate increase in almost a decade, as the economic expansion enters its seventh year and unemployment falls. In a generally upbeat assessment of the economy, though, she said the job market “still has not fully recovered.”

“Given the level of market consternation surrounding Greece, Yellen could have been much, much more dovish,” said Jacob Oubina, senior US economist at RBC Capital See “Yellen,” A2

n japan 0.3724 n UK 69.5076 n HK 5.8276 n CHINA 7.2752 n singapore 33.4692 n australia 33.5937 n EU 49.8315 n SAUDI arabia 12.0453 Source: BSP (10 July 2015)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, July 12, 2015

Peso...

continued from A1 to weigh down on the region.

“While Asia Pacific remains the highest growth region globally, the outlook continues to be subdued. The effects of the two largest economies in the world are, each in their own way, weighing down on activity,” S&P said.

S&P forecast a 6-percent growth for the country for both 2015 and 2015, and 6.1 percent for 2017.

All forecasts are below the government’s target growth range for 2015 and 2016 at 7 percent to 8 percent.

Calax...

continued from A1 offered P20.1 billion in premium payment to the government.

Aquino, who is the nephew of San Miguel’s chairman, decided to cancel the results of the initial auction, so the government could generate higher revenues from the bidding. This was tagged by businessmen as a money-milking initiative that ultimately places ordinary commuters at the losing end.

Calax is a 47-km highway that will link the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway aimed at enhancing trade and socioeconomic activities in the region.

The private partner will take on the financing, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of the entire four-lane toll road.

The project will also include the construction of centralized toll plazas, a toll-collection system, viaducts and bridges.

Construction of the tollway is expected to start by July 2016, and should be completed by 2020.

Dizzying week for stocks ends with rallies from Europe to US continued from A8

5.8-percent surge. With more than 1,300 companies still halted on mainland exchanges, trading was limited to 53 percent of the market.

Official measures to support shares became more extreme during the week as declines deepened.

They included a ban on stockholders and executives from selling stakes in listed companies for six months, an order for companies to buy equities and an investigation into short-selling.

The rebound pared losses by the Shanghai Composite since its June 12 high to 25 percent. While the median price-to- earnings ratio in China has dropped to 57 from 108 at the height of the rally, valuations are almost three times as high as those on the S&P 500.

US volatility

U.S. equity investors watched stocks slip below a support level untouched since October, only to climb back to enter the weekend with the strongest momentum in two months.

The S&P 500 ended flat, masking a volatile week. Stocks had the fourth-biggest drop of the year on Wednesday that sent the benchmark gauge below its average price for the past 200 days, a move that has sparked rebounds in the past.

Equities rallied 1.2 percent on Friday, the best showing since May 8.

The VIX, which jumped 19 percent in the first four days of the week, erased nearly all of that on the last day as the gauge retreated the most since December.

“It was a volatile week, that’s for sure,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist in New York at BTIG Llc. “Clearly, investors are focused squarely on Greek negotiations and the Chinese stock market, but the ramifications of both appear to be limited, hence the end-of-the week rally.”

China and Greece diverted attention from US economic data and the path of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, as investors grow concerned about global growth.

Fed minutes

While the IMF on Thursday cut its forecast for global growth this year, citing a weaker first quarter in the US, it expressed confidence that market turbulence from China to Greece won’t cause widespread damage.

Minutes of the Fed’s June meeting published on Wednesday indicated officials thought tighter monetary policy was warranted, despite concern over risk from abroad.

Fed Chairman Janet Yellen said on Friday she still expects to raise interest rates this year.

Alcoa Inc. unofficially kicked off the earnings season on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among S&P 500 firms reporting results next week. Analysts project earnings for companies on the gauge dropped 6.4 percent in the second quarter.

“We could end up with some positive surprises,” said John Manley, who helps oversee about $233 billion as chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York. “If we don’t, I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”

Bloomberg News

Outlook... continued from A1

April 2014 to $2.233 billion sent in April this year.

n May remittances: The slower growth of remittances in the first four months of the year is expected to firm up toward the middle of the year and expected to get stronger toward the year-end, JPMorgan Research said earlier. However the optimism, the bank said the ability of remittances to prop up the economy through higher consumption may be at risk due to the relative strength of the peso against the US dollar.

Bianca Cuaresma

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Yellen...

continued from A1

Markets Llc. in New York. “What this speech did was put Greece into context,” he said. “What she basically told us is that the fundamentals in the US matter much more.”

Stocks rise

Stocks remained higher after her remarks on optimism Greece will clinch a bailout deal. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.2 percent to 2,076.56 at 4:01 p.m. in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was up eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 2.40 percent.

Fed policy-makers in June forecast two quarter-point rate increases this year. The pace of tightening next year will be more gradual than they expected in March, the latest forecasts show. Since the June meeting, the labor market has shown further gains, along with housing and manufacturing, adding to evidence the economy is overcoming a first-quarter slump.

Yellen said her outlook for the economy and inflation is “broadly consistent with the central tendency of the projections submitted by FOMC participants at the time of our June meeting.”

The Fed chairman devoted a large section of her speech to explaining how labor markets still haven’t met her criteria for full employment. The unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in June.

Seeking work

“A significant number of individuals still are not seeking work because they perceive a lack of good job opportunities,” she said. “While the labor market has improved, it still has not fully recovered.”

Yellen said the share of workers in part-time jobs who would prefer full-time work “remains

higher that it would be in a fullemployment economy.”

She said there have been “some tentative hints” of a pickup in wages that “may indicate that the objective of full employment is coming closer into view.”

In her overall assessment of the economy, Yellen was similarly cautious but upbeat.

“Many of the fundamental factors underlying US economic activity are solid and should lead to some pickup in the pace of economic growth in the coming years,” Yellen said in her address to the City Club of Cleveland. “In particular, I anticipate that employment will continue to expand and the unemployment rate will decline further.”

Dollar, oil

She noted two specific drags on the US economy: the strengthened dollar’s impact on exports and the decline in business investment linked to lower oil prices.

“We expect the drag on domestic economic activity from these factors to ease over the course of this year, as the value of the dollar and crude oil prices stabilize, and I anticipate moderate economic growth, on balance, for this year as a whole,” she said.

Greece moved closer to a deal with creditors on Thursday after the government of Alexis Tsipras submitted a new set of proposed spending cuts and tax increases that was well received by some European officials.

The Fed has said it won’t raise rates until it is “reasonably confident” that inflation will move back toward 2 percent over the medium term and sees further improvement in the labor market.

Bloomberg News

EconomySunday

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

BusinessMirror

Proposed FiT rate to benefit three wind-power projects

By Lenie Lectura

T

HREE wind-power projects, with a total capacity of 144 megawatts (MW), are expected to benefit from the second batch of proposed feed-in-tariff (FiT) rate of P7.93 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), in a letter to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), said the likely projects eligible under FiT2 are the 54-MW Guimaras wind project of Trans Asia Renewable Energy Corp.; the 36-MW Petrowind Nabas project; and the 54-MW Pililia project of Alternergy Wind One Corp.

The assumed engineering, construction and procurement cost for FiT2 eligible projects is $1.836 million per MW. NREB is the body tasked by the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 to recommend policies, rules and standards to govern the implementation of the law, which granted fiscal and nonfiscal incentives to renewable-energy (RE) projects.

FiT, meanwhile, is the per kWh rate that will be guaranteed to RE developers to ensure the

viability of their projects. Consumers shoulder the tariff through a new line item in their electricity bills. They are now paying an additional P0.0406 per kWh. The current FiT rate for wind projects is P8.53 per kWh. The rate is linked to an installation target issued by the Department of Energy of 200 MW. However, the total capacity of wind projects built and commissioned or to be commissioned within the year exceeds 200 MW. To accommodate the increased capacity allocation of wind power projects from 200 MW to 400 MW, NREB filed for an adjustment in FiT rates.

NREB initially applied for P9.49 per kWh and later on revised the proposed rate to P7.93 per kWh for the second batch of wind power projects that have been commissioned or are to be commissioned within the year, totalling to 393 MW. The following projects have obtained FiT Certificate of Compliance under the approved FiT for the first batch: EDC Burgos project, 150 MW; Northwind Power Phase 3, 18.9 MW; and BLREC Caparispisan project, 81 MW.

Sunday, July 12, 2015 A3

Lawmaker to Aquino: Your ‘bosses’ want to hear tax reforms in your Sona

S

en. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara is asking President Aquino to push for tax reform in the latter’s sixth and last State of the Nation Address (Sona) this coming July 27.

Angara told reporters that the Filipino people, whom President Aquino called as his “bosses,” would want to hear that the Chief Executive pushes for a progressive and equitable tax system in the remaining months of his presidency.

“We’re asking the President to put tax reform in his Sona,” he said.

Angara has been pushing for lower tax rates both for corporate and individual income taxes, as

ANGARA: “On tax bracketing at the very least. If we cannot lower rates, let’s rebracket and make the tax system more progressive.”

tax rates in the Philippines are the highest in Asean and neighboring Asian countries.

Maximum individual rate in the country is at 32 percent for a cap of P500,000 annual earnings, or some $11,000.

The senator noted that the country’s case is high income-tax rate with low bracketing.

Compared to other Asean countries, Singapore’s top tax bracket is at $250,000 with a tax rate of 20 percent; Indonesia’s is at $43,000 at tax rate of 30 percent; Malaysia with $30,000 taxed at 26 percent; and Thailand with $123,000 at 35 percent.

“Make a strong statement on income taxes,” Angara said.

“On tax bracketing at the very least,” he stressed. “If we cannot lower

rates, let’s rebracket and make the tax system more progressive,” he said.

On the other hand, the local corporate income tax of 30 percent is offsetting the competitive advantages of the Philippines to be an investment hub for companies.

Angara added that other bills pending in the Senate and the House of Representatives which are related to tax reforms will possibly move faster if President Aquino gives it a push in his Sona.

This would include the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act and the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives.

He said both upper and lower houses are not giving up to pass bills regarding taxes until the last day of Mr. Aquino’s term on June 30, 2016. PNA

Cebu shipbuilder delivers 201st ship

T

Cultured milkfish Sen. Cynthia Villar holds a cultured bangus (milkfish) at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department in Tigbauan, Iloilo. PNA

By Roderick L. Abad

SUNEISHI Heavy Industries (Cebu) Inc. (THICI) has recently surpassed the 200mark shipment with the delivery of an 81,600 deadweight metric ton (MT) type Kamsarmax bulk carrier to its Japanese client at an undisclosed price.

Called Belgrano, this is the 201st vessel of the shipbuilder since its inception in 1994, whose category is the first of its kind in the international maritime industry to increase the deadweight of Panamax bulk carriers (vessels whose structural dimensions make them capable of traversing the Panama Canal) from the 70,000-MT class to more than 80,000-MT, and is responsible for increasing sea transportation efficiency.

“Our shipbuilding business, led by Tsuneishi Shipbuilding-Japan is continuously seeking for a way to build a ship which is competitive in price, quality, delivery lead time and an ecofriendly performance,” said Akihiko Mishima, president of THICI. “Over the past two decades we have completed 201 ships and that is because of the trust from our clients, the dedication from our employees and the support from the community.

We thank you all for sailing with us together and for building a future full of ideals,” he added.

Prior to Belgrano, THICI already delivered SC-220 MV Elenita in March—the first TESS58 Aeroline in the Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Group.

TESS stands for Tsuneishi Economic Standard Ship, while Aeroline is a new technology that reduces wind resistance by 10 percent as it combines the cut-corner design for the

accommodation corner in previous models with a newly developed streamlined shape for the fore upper bow.

Earlier this year, the shipbuilder had delivered two vessels in January—an 82,000 D/W MT type Kamsarmax bulk carrier, SC-226 M/V Capricorn Trader; and a 58,000 D/W MT type Handymax bulk carrier, SC-231 M/V Kellet Island, respectively.

The latter went to Hong Kong, while the former was bounded to Singapore for bunkering then cargo loading in Australia. Both ships are Japanese-owned nationals.

With the upcoming deliveries this year, including the completion of seven TESS58 Aeroline vessels, THICI continues to be one of the top shipbuilders in the world, with a total shipment volume of 209 by end of 2015.

It is a joint venture between Tsuneishi and Aboitiz Groups, with a shipyard based in Cebu that has an area of around 1.47 million square meters, with main facilities, including two building slipways, one building dock, and two 1,300-ton floating cranes, among others.

Manned by 13,000 workers, THICI builds ships of up to 200 meters long, with either 58,000 tons or 82,000 tons.

The shipbuilder delivers bulk, pure car and truck carrier vessel types to Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.

For 20 years, it has already delivered 191 ships, including 20 vessels delivered in 2014, with revenue of ¥600 billion or around P250 billion. Total accumulated investment in its two decades of operations has reached up to ¥70 billion.

ERC approves Meralco’s lower distribution charge

By Luzel L. Danganan Philippines News Agency

T

HE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has temporarily allowed the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to lower its distribution charges by 17 centavos per kilowatthour (kWh) from the current rate.

“The ERC granted on July 10, 2015 [Friday], the Meralco’s prayer for provisional authority to implement lower distribution, supply and metering charges,” the regulatory

body said in a news statement released on Friday.

The ERC noted the 17 centavos/ kWh reduction is 11.26 percent of the current average rate of Meralco at P1.56 that expired last month.

The billing item, distribution charge, consists of the plain distribution charge, supply charge and metering charges.

For the distribution charge, the new rate is 1.01/kWh, supply charge is 22 centavos/kWh and metering charge is 14 centavos/kWh.

Thus, the total updated Meralco distribution charge amounts to P1.38/kWh. The ERC said the new rates are applied to the July billings.

Meralco initially applied for a P1.39/kWh rate, but the ERC added a reduction of P.013/kWh to remove the allowance for net efficiency that was charged due to the former rates.

T h e E RC s a i d it e n s u r e d Meralco would not overcollect from its customers.

ERC Chairman Zenaida G. Ducut said the lower distribution charge “will surely mitigate possible increases in the other components of Meralco’s rates.”

She cited the new rate would tame the high power bills last month, which occurred due to the tight supply and the Malampaya’s gas supply restrictions.

Last year the ERC also approved a lower distribution charge from P1.65/kWh to P1.56/kWh that was also petitioned by Meralco.

Bill imposes higher penalties for nonpayment of 13th-month pay

A

MEASURE providing higher penalties for nonpayment of workers’ 13thmonth pay has been filed at the House of Representatives.

House Bill (HB) 4196, or “An Act Penalizing the Nonpayment of the 13th Month Pay as Required by Presidential Decree 851,” was filed

by Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro and Party-list Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr. of Abamin.

In their explanatory note, the two said that they filed the measure after the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) revealed that currently companies who fail

to comply will either be only fined P1,000 to P10,000, or penalized with one to three years imprisonment or suffer both penalties.

Under the proposed law the non-payment of the mandatory 13th- month pay will be penalized by a fine equivalent to three times the amount, “which is supposed to be paid to the employee representing his or her 13th-month pay as computed based on prevailing guidelines issued by the Dole and imprisonment for a period not less than three years nor more than six years or both subject to the discretion of the court.”

The bill said that “if the violator

is a corporation or any other juridical entity, the president, other officers and the members of the board of directors shall be the ones held liable to suffer the penalty of imprisonment.”

Likewise, the penalties provided

by HB 4196 “do not preclude the payment of the 13th-month pay to the employee concerned.”

The measure is now under consideration by the Committee on Labor chaired by Liberal Party-list Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City.

Moreover, the lawmakers said that despite PD 851 mandating the payment of a 13th-month pay for all employees, the DOLE continues to

receive complaints of nonpayment of the 13th-month pay for their employees.

Employers are required to pay their workers not less than onetwelfth of the total basic salary earned by an employee in a calendar year.

The employers may provide half of the 13th-month pay before the opening of the school year and the remaining half on or before December 24.

“It is, therefore, necessary to enact measures that would ensure payment of the 13th-month pay through the imposition of higher penalties for violators,” the authors said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Change readiness index

A school girl from the Philippines rides on a bicycle as she maneuvers the floodwaters that often accompany raging typhoons visiting the country. A recent study

by KPMG International ranked the Philippines 33rd in the 2015 Change Readiness Index of different countries around the world.

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, July 12, 2015

editorial

The Chinese stock market meltdown

W

HILE the eyes of the world were riveted on Greece and its desperate efforts to ward off bankruptcy, the Chinese stock market was going into free fall, losing in two weeks 30 percent of its value, a loss estimated at $3.7 trillion, greater than the $2.7-trillion gross domestic product of France.

For background, from June 2014 to June 2015, prices in the Chinese stock market rose steadily, stimulated by the experience of a rapidly expanding Chinese economy, and the exhortations of a political leadership that the Chinese people put their savings in stocks rather than in banks. As the economy sputtered from the average annual 10-percent growth rate to 7 percent in the last few months, production in all sectors slowed down.

Exuberance turned into pessimism. Before anybody knew it, the stock market was crashing.

Unlike stock markets in developed countries, the Chinese stock market is numerically dominated by individual investors rather than institutional investors. Corporate investors took a big hit, but some 90 million Chinese individuals, mostly barely literate, fixated by official propaganda, lost their lifetime savings. To stem the hemorrhage, the regulators (read the Chinese communist party) prevented all state enterprises listed in the exchange, numbering more than 1,300, from selling over a six-month period. They also made short-selling punishable, affecting mainly the big operators.

Result: The collapse of prices halted and the market began showing signs of recovery. Today, for all practical purposes, the Chinese stock market is back to normal, albeit at an extremely reduced level.

The fact is that whatever will be its economic consequences, a stock-market deterioration will undermine the credibility of the political leadership who has made the growth of the stock market some kind of symbolic indicator of its success in guiding the ship of state. President Xi Jinping will do everything to prevent it.

At an assembly in late 2013, the Chinese communist party declared that it would let market forces play a decisive role in resource allocation. Market forces are impersonal, the result of decisions made by numerous buyers and sellers to exchange commodities and services at prices freely determined by themselves. Many governments in the past have tried to subvert them and have failed. Theory and practice do not support a Chinese exemption.

What will be the likely impact of any meltdown of the Chinese stock market on the Chinese economy and the economies of foreign countries? In both cases, the impact will depend on the extent the various sectors of the economies involved are interrelated through the stock market. Depending on this extent, the impact will be more or less destructive. Any stock-market collapse in any market economy can have only negative repercussions on the economies linked to it one way or another.

Meanwhile, whether the stabilization that set in beginning two days ago will last forever or will be good only for the next few days or weeks, time will soon tell.

Pantawid vows to reduce poverty

By Richard Bolt

Special to the BusinessMirror

I

T ’S time to set the record straight on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), or the Conditional Cash-Transfer (CCT) Program—one of the biggest of its kind in the world, and an increasingly effective weapon in the fight against poverty in the Philippines.

Recent media reports have created false impressions of the 4Ps “leakages,” despite evidence that it is achieving its goals—improving health, education and job opportunities for poor households. The Philippines has pioneered the development of the CCT in Asia, largely through 4Ps, and should be proud of its achievements.

Unfortunately, old data—dating back six years—has been used to incorrectly calculate that P19 billion of current program funds did not go to intended beneficiaries. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has responded to these assertions, so I won’t go over that ground again.

Suffice it to say that this figure overlooks work and improvements in beneficiary targeting of the 4Ps, which is acknowledged as among the best in the world.

So, what is the real story behind the 4Ps? Launched in 2008 at 380,000 poor households, the 4Ps had reached more than 4.4 million poor households by the end of 2014, making it the world’s third-largest CCT Program in terms of people reached, after Brazil (8.8 million) and Mexico (6.5 million).

Much more than a cash handout, this program seeks to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by encouraging parents to invest in the improvement of their children’s health, nutrition and education.

The program provides regular cash grants to poor households, which are identified by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction, or Listahanan.

In return, the households must meet obligations on regular school attendance and health-clinic check-ups,

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Sunday, July 12, 2015

A

as well as participation in family-development sessions, in which households learn a range of important skills, such as how to manage their finances. By early 2015, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported compliance of beneficiaries with conditions to be high: 93 percent for health, 98 percent for education and 96 percent for familydevelopment services.

After obligations are verified, households receive their grants every two months through Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) cash cards or through other conduits authorized by LandBank.

Does the 4Ps deliver the intended results? The evidence says “Yes.” The Listahanan targeting system has steadily improved. The latest rigorous impact evaluation in 2014 shows that the 4Ps is on track to make children of poor families healthier and keep them in school for longer.

Cash grants have helped to bring about near-universal enrollment of elementary-age children (6 to 11 years old). 4Ps mothers are more likely to seek pre-and postnatal care and deliver babies in health facilities. Child labor among participating households has decreased by an average of seven days per month.

In 2014 4Ps benefits were extended to high-school students aged 15 to 18. This is an important measure, as the Philippines has a major gap in high-school completion rates between children of the poorest income quintile and the richest. By 17 years of age, nine out of 10 of the richest children have completed high school, compared with just three in 10 of the poorest. Early results show the enrollment rate for children aged 12 to 15 was six percentage points higher among 4Ps households than non-4Ps ones.

These evaluations are independently scrutinized. The evidence also shows that the grants do not encourage dependency; there is no evidence of a work disincentive among adults in 4Ps families. Self-rated poverty is lower by seven percentage points.

Also, 4Ps parents express more optimism about their children’s future.

nd He called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

And He said to them, “Where you enter a house,

The 4Ps is helping to close the gaps in access to social services, helping young people maximize their potential, which, in turn, will help the country prosper. And Listahanan is being used by 14 other national programs and more than 1,000 local government units (LGUs) throughout the country.

No one is saying there aren’t challenges in the 4Ps implementation.

A margin of error in targeting the poorest households is inevitable in any large CCT Program. There are cases where households that should have been included are excluded from the program, and there are also cases where households that should have been excluded are included.

This is a survey and targetingsystem issue rather than one of funds misappropriation.

The DSWD, the ADB and other partners are working continuously to improve its targeting and delivery systems and accountability.

Better means testing has reduced targeting errors together with public validation by communities themselves that the poor-household lists are accurate. More important, the grievance-redress system enables feedback on the program, and better tracking of complaints and their resolution, including issues of beneficiary identification.

Multiple and widespread payment and verification systems are in place, with LGUs encouraged to support payment of beneficiaries in remote areas. Biometrics systems, using fingerprints for identification, are being piloted for payments, and fiduciary management strengthened as the program expands. The targeting efficiency of the Philippines CCT makes it one of the top-ranked among comparable programs in other countries.

We look forward to the day when there will be no need for programs, like the 4Ps in the Philippines. Until then, the fight against poverty will continue—with the strong support of the ADB. Richard Bolt is the country director of ADB Philippines Country Office.

stay there until you leave the place. And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.”

So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.— Mark 6:7-13

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essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, July 12, 2015 A5

Same sex opens door?

U Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. dissented from the majority decision recognizing same-sex marriage throughout the United States, and warned that legal recognition of same-sex marriage opens the door for polygamy. By the way, nobody has argued for polyandry—or one wife and many husbands.

Polygamy is legal in the US if based on religious belief, but Roberts means the right of the randy person to have more than one woman in bed or several at the same time—and deduct her (and each one) from his income tax.

William Slaten in Slate—the pioneering and still best online magazine—rebuts the Chief Justice. And he does not do it with the benefit of hindsight. On the contrary, he uses the very words and ideas of Justice Kennedy’s majority decision.

K e n ne dy de ve lop e d long , elegant arguments for same-sex marriage and, in the process made passing remarks that anticipated and demolished potential dissent. Studies show, Kennedy remarked, that homosexuality is an unchangeable condition and not a choice. If a person in that condition falls in love, it will be with someone of the same sex, and their love is entitled to the same legal permanence, protection and advantages as the love of opposite sexes.

Polygamists are not born that way, said Kennedy. Polygamy is not a state of being. It is a succession of sex-mad choices. For example, a man eats only as much as he wants or more than he needs to, but it is always a matter of choice. A pig will eat more because it is in his nature to be a pig and it fulfills his destiny as pork chop. “Polygamous” can-

not describe a person the way the word homosexual can. Polygamous merely describes what he is getting away with.

Marriage, Kennedy said, “responds to the universal fear that a lonely person might call out only to find no one there. It offers the hope of companionship and understanding, and the assurance that, while both still live, there will be someone to care for the other. Gays legally excluded from marriage are condemned to live in loneliness,” Kennedy said.

You can’t say that about polygamists. The law can condemn them to just one wife, says Slaten, “but never to solitude.” When a widower with many wives calls out in the dark, he will be answered by the remaining chorus. My friend may run for president again and says that wives are not to be divorced but added.

When laws forbid gay marriage,

same-sex couples are denied all the benefits accorded opposite-sex couples, like tax breaks for married with children. On the other hand, Slaten says, polygamous parents need only to pair up—the same husband with one wife to qualify for deductions and then with his other wives, in turn. I didn’t know that was possible. But Kennedy said that marriage embodies “the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family.”

True, polygamy can embody those ideals, as well, Slaten says, but they will be watery. Fidelity and devotion are condensed virtues, which are diluted by spreading. This happens even with monogamous couples with many children; each child equally loved and for that reason so much less.

Chief Justice Roberts said that polygamists can be polyfidelitous.

“They don’t date outside their

ménage.” With the word ménage, Roberts shows his contempt for polygamy, and that’s the end of his own argument.

And, finally, if it is hard to get along with one spouse, imagine with three or more, each one vying to be first in your affection. If, you divorce one, argued a lawyer for the same-sex couple who took the case to the high court, does that mean the remaining wives continue to share parental authority over her children. Roberts is wrong to argue that jumping to legal polygamy is a shorter leap than it is to jump to same-sex marriage. Slaten says it is easier to move on from opposite-sex monogamy to same-sex monogamy.

Monogamy is one on one; polygamy is one of many; each one demanding what no one can give in a fidelity relationship that by definition is exclusive.

FfD must deliver for least developed countries

By Gyan Chandra Acharya Inter Press Service

U

NITED NATIONS/ADDIS ABABA—Three years ago, the United Nations initiated a conversation on a successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how the global community can lay foundations for an ambitious endeavor to eradicate extreme poverty, protect the planet, reduce vulnerability to shocks, and ultimately raise the dignity of all humanity.

This conversation is set to result in the adoption of wide ranging targets by heads of state and government when they meet next September at the UN General Assembly. We can only measure our success based on how we support the most vulnerable members of the global community by translating all-encompassing aspirations into concrete and life-changing realities on the ground.

This is, indeed, a noble endeavor, as the new agenda will not only continue with the unfinished business of MDGs, but sets the tone for an integrated and comprehensive approach, whose time has come.

Despite the aspirations of the post-2015 development agenda, it must be recognized that the goals and targets will be fully and effectively realized only if we make them inclusive of all.

Adopting the right vision is key, but implementation is what makes all the difference. In least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDC) and small island developing states (SIDS), the capacity and resources to deal effectively with the intertwined challenges of poverty eradication, inclusive and rapid economic growth, and environmental sustainability and structural vulnerability are limited.

They need to show a strong and coherent leadership, and it is equally important that the global community steps up to the plate.

The Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), to be held in a few days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, represents a real opportunity to address these challenges.

Holding the FfD Conference before reaching agreement on a development agenda for the next 15 years raises the stakes higher. An ambitious and forward looking FfD outcome will set the tone for the adoption of a holistic, transformative and integrated global development framework, with sustainable development at its center.

Furthermore, owing to this chronology but also because of the centrality of the means of implementation, commitments contained in the outcome document of the FfD Conference will largely determine the de-

gree to which the world, in particular, the most vulnerable countries, will fulfill the aspirations to end extreme poverty, achieve sustainable economic and social development, protect the planet and build resilience to shocks. The fundamental principle of equity demands that their issues remain at the core of our discourse.

A business-as-usual approach will clearly not be enough. Undertaking the investments needed to steer the most vulnerable countries toward sustainable development will require that traditional sources of finance be scaled up and targeted more clearly.

And access to new forms of development finance should be expanded to provide them with a wider pool of resources. LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS must, therefore, be extended an additional, preferential, concessional and most favorable support in areas, such as market access, finance, technologies, know-how and other resources.

Efficient and effective use of these resources will be equally critical. Currently most of the aid distributed in the world does not go to the poorest countries. As the global community meets in Addis, LDCs are calling for commitments that would channel the equivalent of at least 50 percent of net overseas development assistance to LDCs by 2030.

The world has not only a moral responsibility to ensure that the

most vulnerable are sufficiently supported, but also to track where aid spending is going in a transparent and accountable manner.

LDCs will commit themselves to exhibit stronger national leadership and ownership for inclusive and transformative sustainable development. Their institutions and strategies need to be supported for effective delivery of services.

An increase in resources going into productive sectors and infrastructure will be a game changer for them in the medium term. It also creates a stronger base for domestic resource mobilization. LDCs are asking that commitments already made by development partners are delivered, along with effective market access for their goods and services and an enhanced share of aid for trade.

Integrating sustainability in their development strategies will help build better resilience. Setting up crisis mitigation and a resiliencebuilding fund for LDCs are key to putting vulnerable countries on a positive course for sustainable development through the next 15 years.

This is urgent, as climate change, environmental degradation and external shocks are affecting them disproportionately.

Mutual accountability should clearly inform the next development agenda.

These actions will also ensure

universal recognition and a stronger voice and participation for LDCs in global decision-making and normsetting processes.

They will also restore hope to almost 1 billion people living in the LDCs and send a message that emancipation from a life of deprivation and moving toward a resilient and dignified future is a true possibility.

It will bring economic and social progress to the far corners of the world that have not yet reaped the equitable benefits of globalization in a truly transformative manner.

These countries have the potential to make powerful contributions to a stable and peaceful global order based on shared prosperity.

Of course, these actions have some costs. But these costs should be considered as investments for a better and stable future, and are largely within the existing means of humanity. Global resolve and clear pathways are required. To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose.

This is a time for actions, and we have a purpose worthy of our collective commitment. We have a lot at stake. We must not miss this opportunity staring at us in Addis.

Gyan Chandra Acharya is undersecretary-general and high representative for the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states.

Republicans wake up to the legacy of racism

By Francis Wilkinson Bloomberg View

C

AMPAIGNS, as political operatives and television pundits eagerly agree, are about the future.

But as the recent bout of wrestling over the Civil War has made clear, they’re also shaped by the past.

Last week former Texas Gov. Rick Perry added a new perspective to the 2016 Republican presidential race— by explicitly grappling with history.

Perry’s address at the National Press Club about economic opportunity had a remarkable opening. He spent the first few paragraphs recounting the “unimaginable horror” of the 1916 lynching in Texas of 17-year-old Jesse Washington.

Perry spared neither grisly details nor their significance: Washington was tortured to death, Perry said, “because he was black.” As Perry proceeded to discuss poverty and progress, race remained a central theme.

“We cannot dismiss the historical legacy of slavery, nor its role in causing the problem of black poverty,” Perry said. “And because slavery and segregation were sanctioned by government, there is a role for government policy

in addressing their lasting effects.”

Brian Beutler and Jonathan Chait have each analyzed the speech, from different angles, sizing up the conundrums Republicans confront: Opposing the federal power that has been the sole guarantor of black rights, and seeking nonwhite votes while promoting policies that cut public investment, which enables the poor to rise, and while making the tax code a bonanza for the already wealthy, who are overwhelmingly white. Perry’s speech did not square that lumpy circle. But liberal cities have failed—often flagrantly—to provide opportunity to poor black residents.

Perry noted that the rate of poverty among blacks is lower in Texas than in high-cost blue states. Black voters have consistently preferred Democrats’ clumsy helping hand to Republican contempt. If Republicans could free themselves of disdain, the high bar on competing for black votes would begin to descend. Acknowledging real American history, the most vile along with the sublime, may be a necessary prerequisite to that task.

Republicans don’t talk much about lynchings. They rarely mention discrimination or racism. Research

shows a Republican base both eager to deny that racism is a significant factor in American society and prone to “explicit anti-black attitudes.” When blacks gained civil-rights protection in 1964 after more than three centuries of brutalization, millions of white Americans concluded that whites were the true victims, abused by federal power. Those resentments have eased, but they endure. Democrats have reached a general consensus on their party’s recent past. The prosperity gospel of unionization, the glory of the civil-rights fight, the violent buffoonery of the New Left, the postMcGovern wilderness, the return to power in 1992 following the ideological return to the mean. When it comes to their history, Republicans are cafeteria conservatives, choosing whatever suits present appetites.

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, a former aide to President George W. Bush, wrote earlier this week on the electoral challenges that Republicans face in 2016 and beyond.

He cited the Republican “Southern strategy,” the decades-long process of stoking white resentment for electoral gain, and the racial “ugliness” beneath Donald Trump’s xenophobic appeals,

as if they are obvious facts requiring no explanation. On the same day, The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn wrote a column that simply excised the Southern strategy from history.

In McGurn’s telling, segregationist Democrats fomented racism in the South, then circa 2015, Republicans rescued the South from Democratic confederate symbolism. The intervening decades exist outside space and time, floating untethered from Strom Thurmond or Jesse Helms or the pitiful confessions of Lee Atwater.

In 2005 then-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, at a convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, apologized for his party.

“Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization,” he said. “I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”

The speech received scant attention. But it fit the posture of the George W. Bush administration, which made quiet progress on race. Now, arguably for the first time, a concerted battle is being waged not in the White House or at a National Association for the

advancement of Colored People convention, but in the heart of the Republican base—the white South. Confederate flags coming down in Alabama and South Carolina, at conservative insistence, confirm that Republicans have neither a political death wish nor a void where their consciences should be.

A tearful Republican legislator demanding that South Carolina banish its symbol of racial “hate,” and winning the fight, is a watershed in American politics. (And yet, reactionaries in the House Republican Conference this week resorted to a rearguard action on the same flag.)

Perry’s speech is best understood not as a disjointed defense of local government or conservative economic policies, but as another downward tug on white supremacy. If racism was as real and deep and vicious as Perry contended in his speech, and if it is important enough to be the stuff of Republican presidential campaigns, then it may have not only twisted the American past into ugly shapes previously ignored by conservative orthodoxy. It might still cast a grim shadow over the party and the nation. Perry acknowledged that government has a role in addressing that. That’s a start.

NewsSunday

A6 Sunday, July 12, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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LRT 2 to build three more Manila stations

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

HREE stations will be added to the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2, once its westward extension has been completed.

Bayside enterprise A mother and her son take a breather after collecting recyclable materials washed up on the shores of Manila Bay after days of heavy monsoon rains on Friday on Roxas Boulevard in Manila. PNA

Chinese workers at NGCP expected to leave on July 15

By Lenie Lectura

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HE 18 Chinese working for the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) are set to leave by July 15, paving the way for the turnover of the grid’s technical operations to Filipinos employed at NGCP. “They will leave by July 15. It’s not because of any other factors, like the ongoing dispute at the West Philippines Sea, but they just have to simply follow the Bureau of Immigration rules,” former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said.

The Chinese workers could still reapply, provided that NGCP opens up an apprentice program. “The program is some sort of transfer of technology. So they may reapply for visas with the immigration, and the DOE [Department of Energy] could endorse it, pro-

vided that there is an apprentice program in place,” the resigned official explained.

NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits highvoltage electricity through “power superhighways,” which include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations and related assets.

The consortium holds the 25year concession to operate the country’s power-transmission network, and is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by Henry Sy Jr.; Calaca High Power Corp., led by Robert Coyiuto Jr.; and State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC), as technical partner.

SGCC sent its experts to be in charge of the technology that is currently being adopted by the country’s

transmission system.

However, their presence has alarmed the office of the National Security Adviser that said that powertransmission grid should have been kept solely in the hands of the Philippine government.

The working visas of the 18 Chinese are valid until July 2015, Petilla said. However, two Chinese board members of NGCP will remain. “Two visas will remain in their capacity as board of directors.”

This development will not change the corporate structure of NGCP, in which SGCC still owns 40 percent of NGCP. “Management and technical are separate from ownership. They still ow n 40 percent. If NGCP makes money, then they make money; but in terms of running the show, they are not involved,” Petilla said.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said the three stations will be in Tutuban, Divisoria and Pier 4.

The station in Tutuban will be next to the Cluster Mall on Claro M. Recto Avenue. The one in Divisoria will be near the intersection of C.M. Recto Avenue and Asuncion Street.

The Pier 4 station, on the other hand, will be built 50 meters north of Zaragoza Street in the port area.

“After recently breaking ground for the LRT 2 East Extension, we are now moving to, likewise, extend the railway up to the port area, to serve more riders,” Abaya said.

The westward extension’s detailed engineering design contract has been placed on the auction bloc, with the agency earmarking P200 million for the required engineering consultancy services.

“We continue to modernize our rail systems by building intermodal-transportation facilities for convenient and efficient commutes,” the transport chief added.

The west extension deal was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board in May. It involves the design and construction of the 3.02-kilometer extension of the existing system from the current end-station on C.M. Recto Avenue to Pier 4.

Opening and submission of bids is expected to take place next month, while awarding is targeted for the fourth quarter of this year. The completion of the detailed engineering design will take around four to six months.

A detailed engineering design is the basis for the construction of the civil-works component of the project, which will be auctioned off once the design has been completed.

It will cover the three new stations, the tracks, viaduct and electromechanical requirements, and five new

four-car rolling stocks.

Once completed, the westward extension will bring the LRT 2’s stops to 15. Currently, the line has 10 stations, another two to the east are expected to be operational by 2017.

In June the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Light Rail Transit Authority broke ground for the LRT 2 East Extension Project, which will ABAYA extend the system by 4.2 km to Masinag in Antipolo City.

It will be commercially operational by the third quarter of 2017 and is expected to cater to an additional 75,000 daily passengers living in densely populated areas of Rizal.

The government is also working toward the privatization of the youngest train line in Manila. The transport department has prequalified four bidders for the operations and maintenance contract of the railway system.

They are the Aboitiz Equity Ventures-SMRT Transport Solutions Consortium, DMCI-Tokyo Metro Co. Ltd. Consortium, Light Rail Manila Consortium and the San Miguel Corp.-Korail Consortium.

This project will give the winning concessionaire 10 to 15 years to operate and maintain the existing LRT 2, as well as the future extension projects currently in the works.

The key infrastructure project aims to infuse private-sector efficiencies into the operations of the LRT 2 to provide better service levels to the riding public.

The contract is being auctioned off under the government’s flagship infrastructure program.

Proposed airport bus service to charge P300 per passenger

T

HE proposed airport bus service, once implemented, may charge passengers a hefty P300 for a 24-kilometer ride from Manila’s busy aviation hub in Pasay City to the capital’s seaside avenue, where many hotels are located.

It may also charge the same fee for the shorter Makati City-Ninoy Aquino International Airport route, which is 18 km, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Winston M. Ginez added.

These, he noted, are “still suggested fares.” The actual fares shall be announced once the bus service starts operating.

The agency recently invited interested applicants and companies to participate in bidding for the premium airport bus service that will conveniently and safely transport airline passengers.

The LTFRB has initially identified two airport bus routes. The first is the Naia-Roxas Boulevard area, including the Mall of Asia and Entertainment City, while the second is the Naia-Makati Central Business District route.

Each route will have two subroutes, with one serv-

ing Naia Terminals 1 and 2 and the other serving Naia Terminal 3. Each route variant and subroute will have no more than five stops, all within the “target zone,” to ensure efficient travel times for passengers.

“Marami sa ating mga overseas at domestic airline travelers ang nagkakaroon ng problema sa pagtungo sa ating mga paliparan, kaya ang LTFRB, under the direction of the Department of Transportation and Communications, ay naglabas ng kaukulang guidelines upang imbitahan ang mga interesadong kumpanya na may technical and financial capability na mag-offer at operate ng airport bus service,” Ginez said.

Interested applicants must submit their legal, technical and financial qualification documents to the LTFRB on or before August 3.

Under the guidelines, the airport bus units will have a 24-passenger seating capacity that will operate from 4 a.m. to 12 midnight, and can only pick up passengers on designated off-street stops.

It will be equipped with onboard closed-circuit television camera, Wi-Fi, onboard automated bus-arrival electronic display and announcement system. Lorenz S. Marasigan

SSS deploys mobile E-Centers in far-flung areas

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he Social Security System (SSS) said on Saturday that its offices in the Western Visayas region have extended their resources to remote communities.

The extension was meant to enable residents in the areas to have easier access to social-security services, including registering as members and updating their membership.

SSS Officer in Charge for Western Visayas Division Raul A. Casiano said SSS branches in Kalibo, Dumaguete and Iloilo deployed mobile E-Centers—or temporary SSS desks usually put up in far-flung areas.

Under the temporary desks, the available services are SSS registration, salary-loan application, ID capture, member data-change request and status inquiry within reach of potential and existing members.

“We had set up mobile E-Centers on the islands of Siquijor and Guimaras, and the cities of Bayawan and Passi from November last year to April of this year. With this project, we expect to see more active membership, as well as improved collections,” Casiano said.

The deployment of mobile E-centers, which in total accounted nearly 3,000 transactions from the areas, is part of the SSS’s initiative to cover hard-to-reach and informal sectors, the official added.

“We will set up a mobile E-center in Siquijor again this coming September, which will be handled by our SSS Dumaguete branch,” Casiano said.

He added that the SSS will also participate in the monthly Gobyerno sa Baryo, a joint program of the Aklan provincial government and Congressional District Office for the benefit of the province’s constituents in remote and rural communities.

As of April SSS members in Western Visayas inched up by 3.4 percent from 1.78 million in 2014 to 1.84 million, of which about 70 percent, or 1.25 million, are regular and household employees. The SSS recorded about 351,384 self-employed members and 241,812 voluntary members.

“There is a modest increase in the number of selfemployed and voluntary members, which grew by 6.7 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively. So we want to focus on those sectors under the informal economy, considering that the vast number of micro and small businesses engaged in crop production and active fishery activities around the area,” Casiano said.

Moreover, he noted that the thriving tourism, specifically in the Municipality of Malay, has prompted the SSS to closely monitor employment activities in the province.

“We have conducted a saturation drive for 11 days in Boracay this month to comb the area for erring employers and employees who are still not reported for SSS coverage.

From that alone, we were able to compel around 250 employers with about 1,300 employees to register with the SSS,” Casiano added. PNA

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Incentive bonus for ARMM employees

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—When it rains, it pours.

After having their pay slips corrected and upgraded, and their government-pension contributions updated, more than 30,000 regular and casual employees of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would receive, starting next week, their Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) pay for the current fiscal year.

Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary, announced that the Department of Budget and Management has released to the region P583 million for the bonuses, and the money is now being transferred to the 25 offices and line agencies under the ARMM. Alamia said the “one-time grant is the first in the region’s history.”

The PEI is a component of the government’s Performance-Based Incentive System, pursuant to Executive Order 181.

The ARMM Bureau of Public Information said, “In order to qualify for the PEI, agencies must pass certain requirements to include achievement of at least 90 percent of their 2014 targets, compliance with the Transparency Seal under the General Provisions of the 2014 General Appropriations Act, and compliance in posting, or publication, of the Citizen’s Charter.”

“We qualified for this grant because we passed the good governance conditions set by the national government because of the reforms in governance agenda that the current administration has been doing as well as its political will to upgrade and level up professionalism and ethical standards of the employees,” she said.

A total of 29,997 regular and 145 casual employees in the region would receive the incentive that ranges from P5,000 to one-month basic salary. The information office said, however, that an employee must have rendered at least four months of service as of May 31 this year and has obtained at least a satisfactory performance rating.

It said that employees who have served less the specified length of service may still be paid the full amount of the PEI upon completion of the four months and satisfactory service rating requirements before the end of the year. Those hired after May 31 may be paid the full amount of the PEI only upon completion of the four months and satisfactory service rating requirements before the end of the year.

It added that consultants and experts “hired to perform specific services with expected outputs and individuals engaged in job orders, or contracts for specific services are not entitled to such incentive.”

It said that the grant of PEI “is a move of the national government to promote higher productivity among public servants.”

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Camp John Hay 3rd-party investors reject BCDA demand for renegotiation of contracts

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HIRD-party investors at the 247-hectare Camp John Hay have junked the demand by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) for them to renegotiate their leasehold contracts in order to avoid eviction from the former American recreational facility in Baguio City.

During the continuation of the Court of Appeals (CA) summary hearing on the petition by the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco) and third-party investors seeking to stop BCDA from evicting them, Howard Calleja, counsel for 59 property owners, informed the CA justices that his clients would not agree to the demand of the BCDA to abandon their leasehold contracts, and instead renegotiate them with the agency.

Calleja argued that it would be tantamount to “double compensation” on the part of the BCDA if third-party investors would give in to the BCDA’s demand to renegoti-

ate their lease contracts, considering that they have fully paid their obligations until the end of their 50year leasehold agreement in 2046.

“Such negotiation is illegal and ultra vires [beyond the powers]. It is our submission that being a government property, it is not subject to renegotiation but for bidding,” Calleja stressed.

According to the lawyer, the BCDA should not go beyond the ruling of the arbitral panel, which orders it to compensate CJHDevco in the amount of P1.4 billion and for the latter to vacate the leases premises upon receipt of payment.

Calleja noted that arbitral award

Congressman seeks government help for fishermen affected by WPS row

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PART Y-LIST lawmaker over the weekend urged the government to extend assistance to the communities affected by the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute with China, as the latter’s reclamation has caused the local economy P4.8billion losses, while local fishermen from Zambales who were barred by the Chinese coast g uard lose about P300,000 worth catch weekly.

Party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis, citing Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources records, said that the West Philippine Sea accounts for 26 percent of the country’s fishing grounds, and is the source of livelihood of around 12,000 fishermen from Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan and Palawan.

“We are focusing on the arbitration in the Netherlands, but we should not ignore that each day they are unable to fish, fisherfolk families face the immediate threat of starvation,” said Hicap as the Philippine delegation is at The Hague, Netherlands, before the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea. “The effects of Chinese incursion into our territory violates our national sovereignty and the people’s basic rights to food and livelihood; but amid all this

and Malacañang’s grandstanding, the Aquino administration is actually still giving favors to China,” Hicap said.

The lawmaker also cited the awarded contract worth P3.75 billion to a largely Chinese state-firm Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of CNR Group (formerly the China North Locomotive and Rol ling Stock Industr y Corp.), for the supply of new train coaches for the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

T he g roup has a lso long b e e n de m a nd i n g to c a ncel all mining permits of Chinese companies across the country, as well as its share in the strategic power sector firm National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, he added.

“China has established itself in our strategic sectors such as power, mining, and now transportation, which, it seems, is just normal business for the Aquino administration as it continues to recognize and even encourage all of these Chinese enter prises despite the abuses of China against the country and the Filipino people, Hicap said.

He added that the government should include the adequate relief and assistance to the affected fishermen’s communities in the proposed 2016 P3.002-trillion national budget. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Enhancement of protected area management system eyed by DENR

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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will hold a two-day conference starting on Monday to enhance protected area (PA) management system in the country.

Sen. Loren Legarda and Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje will lead the gathering of more than 100 members of various Protected Area Management Boards (PAMBs) during the event.

The DENR said the National PAMB Conference will pave the way for DENR Regional Offices and PAMB representatives to discuss accountability in planning and carrying out conservation activities in PAs.

Sunday, July 12, 2015 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo A7

Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, will keynote the event and give an update on Senate Bill 2712, or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System bill.

Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the Biodiversity Management Bureau said PAMB representatives will report ongoing programs and share experiences and challenges in managing PAs in their respective areas.

“We will also discuss the automatic retention law of Ipaf [Integ rated Protected A reas Fund], which grants PAMBs authority to retain 75 percent of

the revenues generated by PAs. We hope to operationalize it this year,” Lim said.

The BMB has administrative authority over PAMBs, which is the highest policy-making body of declared PAs. There are currently 240 declared PAs in the Philippines, of which only 13 are backed with legislation. Legarda seeks to include 100 of these PAs on the list of those backed with legislation.

These 240 PAs cover close to 5 million hectares.

Lim said the PAMBs play a crucial role in protecting the country’s PAs and conservation of the country’s rich biological diversity.

binds only the BCDA and CJHDevco and not the third-party investors.

“It is our desire that the BCDA respects our peaceful possession and ownership until 2046,” Calleja pleaded the CA justices.

In the same hearing, another intervenor, the CJH Golf Club with 850 investors, also asked the court to stop the BCDA from implementing its eviction notice on them.

Camp John Hay Golf Club’s lawyer Joel Bodegon told the appellate court that it was not a party in the arbitration proceedings, thus, the arbitration panel award is not binding on its client.

Bodegon said the BCDA’s assertion to include third-party investors in the implementation of the decision of the arbitration panel is a clear violation of their right to due process.

“An actual possessor of a property enjoys a legal presumption of just title in his favor, which must be overcome by the party claiming otherwise. Thus, petitionerin-intervention CJH Golf, as actual possessor of the golf course, enjoys a presumption of just tit le in its favor. The burden of proving otherwise is upon the respondents, who seek to evict them from the golf course, which is in the actual possession of petitioner-in-intervention

CJH Golf,” Bodegon added.

“In sum, petitioner-in-intervention CJH Golf may be ejected from the property only after it had been given an opportunity to be heard conformably with the time-honored principle of due process,” he pointed out.

The lawyer said that CJH Golf can be dispossessed only after the BCDA files and wins in a proper suit against it.

“To insist otherwise, as what public respondents assert, would certainly go against the tenets of the constitutionally protected right that no person shall be deprived of his property without due process of law. Surely, to proceed in the manner taken by public respondents constitutes a grave abuse of authority, which can only be cured by the extraordinary writs of certiorari and prohibition,” Bodegon argued.

The CA wrapped up its four-day hearing on the petition filed by CJHDevco seeking to enjoin the BCDA from enforcing even on third-party investors the Writ of Execution and Notice to Vacate issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Baguio City against the Camp John Hay developer.

Camp John Hay Trade and Cultural Center (JHTCC) is a copetitioner in the case, while the CA has

ruled to admit CJH Golf Club and the individual property owners at Camp John Hay to intervene in the petition.

Meanwhile, Associate Justice Noel Tijam, chairman of the CA’s Special Fifth Division handling the Camp John Hay ownership dispute, admitted that “it might be very difficult for the court to resolve the issue.”

Tijam noted that the new problem between the CJHDevco and the BCDA arose from the failure of the two parties to include the interest of the third-party investors in their arbitration proceedings.

“It seems as far the arbitral award it is clear that there is no more dispute. The only contention is the biggest elephant of the room you chose to ignore is here,” Tijam said.

The CA earlier directed the parties to maintain a status quo once the 60-day temporary restraining order it issued on May 19 expires on July 19. The status quo would prevent the BCDA from enforcing the notice of eviction issued by the RTC in Baguio City on CJHDevco and its investors until the resolution of the petition on the merit.

Tijam assured all the parties that the CA would resolve the petition not later than the end of July. Joel San Juan

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, July 12, 2015

Balisacan issues call for more ‘responsive’ post-2015 devt agenda

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EW YORK—The Philippines called for the post-2015 development agenda to be “responsive” to the needs of the poor and marginalized, particularly in developing countries.

Speaking at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Friday afternoon at the United Nations, Economic Planning Secretary and Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Arsenio M. Balisacan said much has been achieved over the last 15 years to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but that “there is a long path ahead.”

“Sustainable development has to be responsive to the essential needs of developing countries, especially the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable. This means that we have to make sure that our next steps will still prioritize those who are in need. At the same time,

we have to be mindful of the needs of the future generations,” he said.

World leaders will gather at the UN in September to adopt a new agenda for sustainable development, as the MDGs reach their deadline this year. The new development agenda will adopt Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and will guide global policy and funding for the SDGs in the next 15 years.

Balisacan said sustainable development also means managing the limitations that technologies and societies bring upon the environment.

“Indeed, it is important to recognize the urgent need to build resilience and improve the capaci-

ties of countries to prepare for and recover from disasters. Almost two years ago, our country was hit

by Typhoon Haiyan [local name Yolanda], the strongest tropical cyclone to ever make landfall in recorded history. Hence, I would like to reiterate our call for a revitalized global policy framework in disaster preparedness and response,” he said.

Balisacan also said the new development agenda should strengthen the means for implementing sustainable development; promoting investment in people and natural capital; and building South-South cooperation.

“It is important that we prioritize pursuing green growth, public–private partnerships, adequate financing, capacity building, technology transfers, sustainable consumption and production, data availability and better accountability in measuring progress. At the same time, we acknowledge the need to strengthen global and regional partnerships to support countries as they move toward sustainable development,” he said.

Balisacan reaffirmed the commitment of the Philippines to actively participate in the process of

both the post Rio+20 and the post2105 development agenda.

The Rio+20 is the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, which resulted in a focused political outcome document containing clear and practical measures for implementing sustainable development.

“We are happy that the draft outcome document puts people at the center of sustainable development; incorporates the unfinished business of MDGs; and recognizes the various challenges of the UN member-states,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan was joined at the forum by Ambassador Lourdes O. Yparraguirre, permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations; Assistant Director General Rosemarie Edillon of the Neda; and officers and staff of the Philippine mission.

Aside from the High-level Political Forum, Balisacan will also present the Philippine report on its accomplishments and recommendations in the implementation of the MDGs and in managing the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs at the Ecosoc Annual Ministerial Review. PNA

www.businessmirror.com.ph

No power shortage in Luzon for rest of the year–Umali

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riental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, on Saturday said that barring unforeseen events, there will be no more power shortage in Luzon until the end of the year.

Umali, who is also the cochairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission, said that Luzon had already surpassed the expected critical periods for 2015.

He said that the most critical were during the Malampaya shutdown, which covered the period March to April and mid-May. Since the rainy season had begun, hydropower plants were Meralco linemen do maintenance work expected to return to their origion power lines in Malibay, Pasay City.

NORIEL DE GUZMAN nal capacities and, thus, increase power supply.

According to Umali, the predicted power shortage did not happen, as the Luzon grid maintained a steady supply of electricity, contrary to expectations of the energy department.

Earlier, the panel had tried to vest President Aquino special powers—through a joint resolution—to address the projected 782-megawatt (MW) power shortage in Luzon from March to July 2015.

But the congressional bicameral committee failed to break the stalemate, until Congress went on recess in March.

Moreover, Umali also said that the Luzon grid has 2,000 MW of power reserves to use anytime when a critical period occurs.

Based on established protocols, the Interruptible Load Program is implemented during a red-alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of 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. PNA

Another Dizzying week for stocks ends with rallies from Europe to U.S. oil-price S cut seen

By Lenie Lectura

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OTORISTS may expect another round of oil-price cuts in a few days, Eastern Petroleum Corp. said over the weekend.

Fernando L. Martinez, Eastern Petroleum chairman and chief executive, said diesel and gasoline prices may decrease by more than P1 and more than P0.50 per liter, respectively, based on price movements at the end of Thursday’s trading.

Martinez said trading in the world oil market continues to be weak, owing to Greece’s debt crisis, uncertainty in the Iranian nuclear deal and the bearish stock market in China.

“These geopolitical factors, coupled with the oversupply of petroleum products, affect world oil prices to slide further, thus pushing local oil prices to go down, as well,” Martinez said.

On July 7 the price of gasoline went down by P0.70 per liter.

Diesel and kerosene prices also declined by P0.65 per liter.

Last week’s downward adjustment reflects movements in the international petroleum market.

“Geopolitical factors, according to analysts, such as the debt crisis in Greece and the uncertainty in the Iranian nuclear deal, may have weakened trading last week, thus resulting in lower local prices of petroleum products,” Martinez earlier said.

With the consecutive decreases, the total net increase-todate for gasoline reduced further to P3.94 per liter. Similarly, diesel lessened to P0.76 per liter. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has a net decrease of P7.05 per kilo.

The prevailing local pump prices are as follows: P27.90 to P31.15 per liter of diesel; P40.55 to P46.70 per liter of gasoline; and P475 to P675 per 11 kilogram of LPG.

tock investors got jolted in a zigzag week, with plunges around the world giving way to the biggest rallies in at least three years for China and Europe.

Spurred by optimism on Greece, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 4.3 percent on Thursday and Friday, erasing earlier losses with the biggest two-day advance since 2011. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index jumped 11 percent in two sessions, the most in almost seven years, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1.2 percent on Friday to wipe out a weekly decline.

While investors have sometimes come to regret bouts of bullishness of late, the end-of-week gains defused global markets where turbulence has ruled for the last month. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index decreased 16 percent on Friday, the biggest drop of the year.

“We’re clearly ending the week with a loud sigh of relief,” said Daniel Murray, head of research at EFG Asset Management in London. “It’s been interesting, but I think we all look forward to moving on.”

Stocks are advancing in a global economy that, while not exactly surging, is still growing.

Morgan Stanley predicts world-

surged 6.7 percent since Tuesday’s close, the most since 2012, while Portugal’s PSI 20 jumped 8.7 percent, the biggest three-day advance since 2010. In Italy the FTSE MIB added 9.4 percent.

The Athens stock exchange will stay closed through July 13.

A US-listed exchange-traded fund tracking its stocks climbed 3.8 percent for the week, paring its loss since the bourse closed on June 29 to 4.4 percent.

The prospect of a deal to end a standoff between creditors and Greece’s Syriza-led government brought relief to financial markets.

After months of escalating tension and price swings, Greece offered to meet most of the demands made by creditors in exchange for a bailout of €53.5 billion ($60 billion). The proposal still faced a weekend of political wrangling.

A woman looks at a tablet in front of an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo on Friday. Asian stock rose for a second day on Friday as the Greek government proposed a broad financial overhaul to its creditors and Beijing’s attempts to arrest a sharp slide in the Chinese market appeared to be working. But most Asian markets were still in the red from a week earlier. AP/Koji Sasahara

wide expansion of almost 4 percent in the second half of this year, up from 2.9 percent in the first six months. The International Monetary Fund sees 2015 growth of 3.3 percent.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose

1.4 percent for the week amid speculation that Greece may finally secure a bailout. Shares had earlier tumbled to the lowest level since February, flirting with a correction, as Greek voters rejected austerity.

China markets

Peripheral markets

Equities in Europe’s so-called peripheral markets saw the biggest swings—first bearing the brunt of a two-day selloff following the Greek vote, then rebounding.

Spain’s IBEX 35 Index has

Aiding global sentiment was the rebound in China, where unprecedented government intervention helped curb a stock rout that erased $3.9 trillion in less than a month.

The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 4.5 percent to 3,877.80 at Friday’s close, adding to Thursday’s continued on a2

Regina Capital sees PSEi trading between 7,380 and 7,500

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By Genivi Factao

EGINA Capital Development Corp. sees the Philippine Stock Exchange index trading between 7,380 and 7,500 this week, with a downward bias.

Regina Capital Head of Sales Luis Limlingan said the market is waiting for the outcome of the China and Greece situations. The longer the situation of the two countries persist, the longer it will take for the stock market to consolidate.

“The PSE index started the

year at 7,300. In April it reached 8,100. Our target, by the end the year, is for it to hit 8,200. It’s doable,” he said.

Limlingan said, “The Greece debt crisis is an isolated case, while China is a trading partner of the Philippines.

We’re hoping for spillover of the gambling business in China. Generally, the stock-market movement is driven by foreign outflows.”

He said they hope to attract international funds in Southeast Asia.

Top stock picks were SM Prime Holdings, Robinsons Land and

Megaworld for consumer sector; and First Gen Corp. and Energy Development Corp. for the power sector.

For banks, they prefer Security Bank, which has a low nonperforming loan.

BDO Unibank Inc. and Bank of the Philippine Islands were trading two times the price-to-book value, while Metrobank is trading 1.7 to 1.8 times.

“Banks are facing increased competition, which led to a decrease in net interest margin. It’s

hard to replicate the trading gains they had in the previous years.

We’re neutral on banks,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Regina Capital Development Corp. and MFT Group of Companies Inc. relaunched the Regina Online Investing (ROI) on Saturday.

ROI is an online stock-trading service for investors who are willing to invest and create their own stock portfolios. Through the ROI, investors can make their watchlist and monitor foreign flows.

ROI is one of the first to lever-

age on the user-friendly PSETradex platform, a Web-based trading-management system which allows users to trade shares of stocks, monitor their order status, and create and manage their own stock portfolio using either their computers or smartphones. It also boasts of providing dedicated managers for every client and services even on a weekend.

“In ROI, the options are tailoredfit to the specific needs of investors,” said Mica Tan, president and CFO of the MFT Group.