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A broader look at today’s business Saturday 18,June 201425, Vol. 2015 10 No. 40Vol. 10 No. 259 Thursday,
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GLOBAL BRANDS PICK MANILA AS THEIR 13TH MOST PREFERRED DESTINATION IN CBRE SURVEY
Manila joins list of top retail havens
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HE country’s capital, along with other cities in the Asia Pacific, made it to the list of most preferred destinations for expansion of global retail brands.
BUSINESS TRIP We owe everything
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E can claim to the highest because this is the God in whom we believe, whom we worship and love. To Him we owe everything that we are. In His name, we have been baptized. In His name, all our life should be lived. In His name, our earthly life will end and our endless life will begin. We must be grateful to God because we owe everything from Him. Amen. WORD AND LIFE, FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com
Life
TAYLOR SWIFT SPEAKS AND APPLE LISTENS... »D3
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Thursday, June 25, 2015
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PACKING FOR A BETTER BUSINESS TRIP M B M T Tribune News Service
aintaining productivity during business trips can test the patience of even the most disciplined professional. Flight delays, meeting prep and limited luggage space frequently combine to push many entrepreneurs to their limits. And with so many people juggling multiple clients from the road as opposed to enjoying the long-term salaried positions of old, that extra time has to be made up somewhere. Hotel administrators are all too aware of this fact. According to Jeff Arman, general manager of Country Inn and Suites by Carlson in Milwaukee, “Business guests not only want to be comfortable during their stay, they expect certain amenities that allow them to be productive on the road.” Free high-speed Internet, equipped business centers and increased electrical outlets in rooms are becoming standard, even with budget hotel chains. Once you’ve booked accommodations with key services included, however, what’s left to be done in order to limit your travel stress? ■ Grooming: Staying polished and pressed on the road is absolutely easier said than done. Chipped nail enamel, wrinkled clothing and last-minute networking events after a lengthy workday can all combine to make even the most coiffed travel connoisseur feel frumpy. Wrinkle-resistant wardrobe items and travel-sized grooming solutions will go a long way toward making you look your best. For instance, Cutex makes nail-polish removal pads for roughly $5 per box that come individually wrapped in moisture-retaining packets. One or two slid discreetly into a slot in the side of your handbag will help you handle minor manicure malfunctions without needing to pack an additional bottle of liquid product. Similarly, four-way nail buffers come in a variety of different widths. Choose the thinnest one available to handle your nail-care needs while still packing light. Substituting flat cotton pads instead of puffs to use with your facial toner is another precision strategy for saving space on grooming supplies. While wrinkle-resistant women’s clothing for business trips has gotten a bit easier to find, ferreting out similar menswear items can still prove problematic. One pants solution that’s popped up on the market is Bluff Works. A basic flat-front pant that comes in a variety of colors including basic khaki, brown and black, it’s designed to transition easily from trail trotting to terrace dining and backpacking to boardroom meetings. The price? About the same as a good pair of conversion pants or dress slacks. (Uniqlo also has a collection of Easy Care tops and bottoms for men and women.—Ed.) If your road warrior wardrobe is comprised of more traditional fabrics and your history with hotel irons leaves something to be desired, you may want to try packing your own travel version. For instance, Rowenta offers a fairly sturdy solution for $50. Weighing in at less than 2 pounds and folding to less than 8 inches, it provides a simple way to freshen your clothes while taking up minimal luggage space. ■ Packing: Staying ready to hit the road at a moment’s notice has been refined to an art form by some, and remains a constant struggle for others. Speaking for myself, I try to stay as prepped for departure as I can while still being able to access necessary items at home with ease. One thing I use religiously to accomplish this is packing cubes. They work as well for organizing dresser drawers as they do for keeping things sorted in your luggage.
So in addition to using them to keep things such as nylons, intimate apparel, camisoles and socks organized, I keep a few prepacked for short business and adventure trips. There are several brands on the market that are affordable for the average person. For example, I’ve seen the TravelWise sets of three go for as low as $20 bucks on Amazon with free shipping. Messenger bags are another smart way to stay at least partially packed for business travel, and are a nice unisex solution. If you have a favorite one you use regularly for commuting and coffee shop workdays, it will already hold all of your extra cords, chargers, notepads and pens. Depending on how much extra space yours provides, you will have additional space for items that don’t fit easily into your wheeled suitcase. An interesting messenger design I ran across recently was the trident bag by ECBC. Wide enough for larger laptops with tech slots located in the exterior portions, it has a decent amount of space in the middle for things such as shaving kits, hanging toiletry bags, extra clothing or even camera gear. It also has hidden straps that convert it to a temporary backpack, in case your business trip takes you to a place in Southeast Asia where taxis often take the form of small motorcycles. ■ Supplies: We all have a few extra things we don’t feel we can live without, but it’s important to make sure those personal faves don’t take up too much of our precious packing space. Personally, I like to carry a reasonably posh pocketbook for evening events and dinner meetings. Since I can rarely justify giving up my tote or computer pack to carry a large one, I’ve made a clutch my go-to solution for years. Packing one in a larger bag makes it easy to plug and play when it comes to combining work with pleasure, and the small size lets you indulge in a more luxurious brand for a fraction of what you’d pay for a fullsized purse. Blu Salt makes one with RFID-blocking card slots, multiple compartments and a detachable cross-body strap for those who prefer to keep both hands free. Snacks are another critical travel supply you don’t want to forget. Stocking something to fill your tummy can keep you from having a hunger meltdown or stopping for a greasy value meal between flights. However, choosing the right snacks is about more than grabbing some of your favorite foods. Choose something too bulky, and you could find yourself short on space. Pack nothing, and you could find yourself stranded with no options during an overnight layover. Portioned packets and resealable food bags can help you stay streamlined. Oatmeal, nuts and even sunflower seeds can be purchased this way, and snack-sized lunch baggies from the grocery store will let you create your own preportioned yummies prior to departure. A fun breakfast option for travelers is Viki’s granola packs. At less than $1.50 per bag, roughly the cost of your average individually priced power bar, they have a comparable calorie count and offer a gluten-free meal replacement that’s devoid of dairy products. Their sleek size makes them super easy to pack, as well. Automobile and train travelers who’d like a beverage alternative to water might want to explore the selection of drink flavors from Sparkling Ice. With zero calories and no added sugar or salt, they offer a fun change for your taste buds. They’re only a buck a bottle, and the narrow shape makes them easier to slide in the side pocket of your day bag.
LIFE
■ Myscha Theriault is a best-selling author and avid traveler. Having just finished a yearlong trip throughout the United States with her husband and Labrador retriever, Theriault is busy planning her next long-term adventure. Readers can keep up with her adventures on Twitter by following @MyschaTheriault.
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The Associated Press
SPIETH hits from the 14th tee during the »thirdJORDAN round of the US Open. AP
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Chambers Bay deserves another shot at hosting the US Open for no other reason than the finish it produced. Jordan Spieth, with a big assist from Dustin Johnson, did more to put this course on the map than views of Puget Sound or the design of Robert Trent Jones Jr.
IVE me a three-shot lead down the stretch of an important golf tournament and I likely would have done exactly as Jordan Spieth did on Sunday at the US Open. Which is to say I, too, would have cut my tee shot on the 17th hole way right into a gnarly lie and later threeputted for double bogey. And that, folks, is where the similarities end. With a threeshot advantage disintegrated, my ball would have come out of the 17th cup and would have been hurled right into Puget Sound. My putter head would have been embedded deep in the greenside soil. And my brain would have been so fired that the inevitable 12 I would post at 18—plus the tirade sequel—would have scarred anyone within 3 miles. Spieth? He swallowed his double and the resulting indigestion and simply proceeded to the 72nd hole with a plan. Relax, focus, make birdie. Par 5, 601 yards? Spieth went driver, 3-wood, casual two-putt and captured his second consecutive major championship. Yes, he needed the golf gods to suplex Dustin Johnson with a haunting three-putt from 12 feet, causing him to lose the US Open, literally, by a couple centimeters. But Johnson’s failure—proof of the pressure that strangles the denouement of most majors—should only heighten Spieth’s accomplishment, not cheapen it. To top it off, Spieth exhaled after his four-day rollercoaster ride with a telling admission: He didn’t have his best stuff. With his game dialed in at Augusta National in April, Spieth shot 18-under par and led wire to wire at the Masters. Without his best stuff, he was still capable of conquering another major, this time on a craggy course with mini-golf ramps all over its bumpy greens. Some of the field’s best players couldn’t help but spend their energy ripping Chambers Bay’s flaws. Spieth? “We got over it,” he said on Sunday. “Someone had to hold the trophy.” At 21, such aplomb is not only abnormal, it might be downright alien. Realistically, golf will fail miserably in its search for the next Tiger Woods, a wunderkind whose popularity will launch the game’s. Woods’s talent, on-course fire, social impact and timing was transcendent in a way that can’t be replicated. But the sport certainly appears to have found its next major star, an engaging and humble Texan who offers plenty to rally around. Spieth’s latest major triumph came with an approach he and his caddie called “free rolling.” It’s the golf equivalent of hakuna matata, a way to always remain present and worry-free. And it’s a catchphrase Under Armour may want to corral ASAP for its inevitable Spieth marketing blitz. After all, the kid’s going to be around awhile.
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‘SPIETH WILL DO FOR NOW’
Based on a recent study of property consultant CBRE, dubbed “How Global is the Business of Retail?,” Manila ranked 13th in the Top 15 target cities globally, with 24 new entrants in the pipeline this year. Other preferred sites in the region are Tokyo, with 63 upcoming retail brands; Singapore, 58; Abu Dhabi, 55; Taipei, 49; Dubai, 45; Hong Kong, 45; Beijing, 34; Doha, 30; and Istanbul, 21. Meanwhile, only a few cities outside of the Asia Pacific are on the list, such as Moscow, with 41 new entrants; Paris, 40; Berlin, 29; Toronto, 25; and Stuttgart, 21. According to the study, retailers from the Americas and the Asia Pacific are mainly keen
on the region’s market. “The Asia-Pacific retail market is gaining more ground as a top spot for expansion of international brands. In the Philippines alone, the demand and interest from the local retail market and the affordable rates drive more investors into the country. When this trend continues, the Asia Pacific can even compete with the bigger EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] and American markets,” said Rick Santos, chairman, founder and CEO of CBRE Philippines. The real-estate consultancy company reported in February that lease rates in Manila are the lowest at $38 per square meter (sq m) when C A
NEW RESORTS WORLD M.I.C.E. FACILITY Resorts World Manila (RWM) continues its aggressive expansion with the opening of its newest Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) facility—the Marriott Grand Ball (MGB)—which can accommodate 2,500 people for banquet functions and 4,000 people for a theater setup. The MGB will formally open on July 1 with a special dinner, highlighted by a concert of soul music icon and multi-Grammy award-winner James Ingram. Present during the news conference are (from left) Food and Beverage Operations Asia Pacific Vice President Ralph Frehner, General Manager Bruce Winton and RWM CEO Steven Riley. ALYSA SALEN
AYALA LAND TO OPEN AT LEAST 5 NEW MALLS
NIVERSITY PLACE, Washington—The course that was built for a US Open needs a makeover. And when that’s finished, then it can fix the greens. For all the complaints—a tradition nearly as old as the US Open—the lasting image is the guy holding the trophy. It helps when the winner is a 21-year-old with polished manners and a tenacious short game who made “Grand Slam” a summer topic for only the third time in the last 50 years. Throw in some heartache and it’s an ending that won’t be forgotten. The real mystery is how Johnson’s 5-iron into the 18th green
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didn’t come off that slope instead of leaving a 12-foot eagle putt that was like putting down a luge track. That’s ice, not broccoli. Golf courses don’t always define great players. Sometimes it’s the other way around. Valhalla, for example, cannot be considered on the A-list of championship courses. But it gave us Tiger Woods winning in a playoff for his third straight major, and Rory McIlroy holding off Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson in the dark. The greens at Chambers Bay were terrible. Everyone could see that. A few players—Billy Horschel comes to mind—couldn’t wait to say it. But they weren’t that much worse than Pebble Beach in 2010 (“These greens are just awful,” Woods said that year). They were only slightly more dead than those at Shinnecock Hills in 2004.
Go back and watch that 12-foot putt Woods made at Torrey Pines to get into a playoff and try to count the bounces. This is the US Open, not the Immaculate Open. It is meant to be the toughest test in golf, even when it gets a little extreme. The greens should be an easy fix. Poa annua crept into the fescue, which led to Henrik Stenson’s reference that it was like putting on broccoli. Up close, it even looked like broccoli. It was difficult to make putts, though Spieth and Johnson made their share. So did Louis Oosthuizen, with six birdies on the last seven holes (one with a wedge from the fairway). Or maybe they all just got lucky. The overhaul has more to do with an aspect of the US Open that was sadly overlooked this year—the spectators. For 50 years, the only way to see a US Open in the
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Pacific Northwest was on television. And once the fans got onto the course, they were so far away from the action that the players looked about as big as they once did on a 19-inch TV screen with a knob to change the channels. Adding grandstands isn’t the answer. At midday on Saturday, the 18th bleachers already were filled and the line was nearly 50 yards long, and not moving. Sounds like a fun way to spend the afternoon at a US Open. Phil Mickelson’s wife was standing near the first tee in the opening round. She looked down the fairway and didn’t see fans on either side. The 18th fairway was on the left. A massive dune was on the right. “Where am I supposed to go?” she inquired. Back to the house would have been the most
| THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
practical answer. The eighth fairway had no room on either side for spectators. For a course that was built with hopes of landing a US Open, there was no reason it couldn’t have cut viewing areas through the dunes without risking spectator safety. It’s worth going back to Chambers Bay no matter who won. The US Golf Association (USGA) wants to move its championship around the country. The Pacific Northwest had to wait 120 years. It’s also important for the US Open to be held on a public course every now and then, so that ticks two boxes. But too many majors are trending toward made-for-TV events (Kiawah Island in 2012 and Whistling Straits this summer, both sites for the Professional Golfers’ Association Championship, are examples of that). The atmosphere only adds
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to the event. What a shame for someone who qualifies for the US Open, and his family or friends can’t walk the whole way around with him. It sounds minor. It’s a big deal. And it should be fixed if the US Open ever returns to Chambers Bay. And if it does, golf fans will recall Spieth going birdie-double bogey-birdie to capture the second leg of the Grand Slam. They will recall Johnson having a 12-foot putt to win and then missing a 4-foot putt to lose, all in a span of 48 seconds. They probably won’t think of Chambers Bay as the course where players lost respect for the USGA because the greens weren’t pure.
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ROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. is planning to open at least five new shopping malls in the next few years, in line with its goal of booking a net income of P40 billion by 2020. Ayala Land Senior Vice President Junie H. Jalandoni said these malls will be in Santa Rosa, Laguna; Manila Bay area; Circuit Makati; and Pasig City. He said it will also open another one next to the TriNoma mall in Quezon City in 2017. “We like growing our mall business because it’s anchored on consumer spending…. From 1.2 million square meters of gross leasable area, we plan to triple this to 3.8 million square me meters over the next couple of years,” Ja Jalandoni said during an investors’ conference organized by the Bank of the Philippine Islands. Ayala Land currently has the Glorietta
PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 45.0260
JALANDONI: “We like growing our mall business, because it’s anchored on consumer spending….”
and Greenbelt malls in Makati, aside from those in Quezon City, Alabang, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Subic, Bacolod, Pampanga and Iloilo City. Apart from expanding its mall network, Jalandoni said the company is expanding its business-process outsourcing (BPO) portfolio. “For us, we continue to grow our BPO business because of the growth of the BPO sector. We will build more offices....
We actually have land bank already for all of our BPO expansion plans, so all we have to do is actually execute. We have locations there in Metro Manila and all over the country,” he said. Jalandoni said they aim to triple in the next five years the office portfolio catering mostly to the BPO market, from 600,000 sq m to 1.8 million sq m of gross area. “Aside from tourism, we’re actually very bullish about the BPO industry.... It’s one of the economic drivers of the country,” he added. As part of Ayala Land’s “2020-2040 Plan,” Jalandoni said that the property developer is also expanding its new businesses, like hospitals, retailing and convenience stores. Under the plan, he said, Ayala Land targets to post a net income of P40 billion by 2020 at an annual growth rate of 20 percent. PNA
Anticipated flood of Chinese high rollers not materializing
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N February 2014 Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. Cochairman James Packer described the construction of the City of Dreams casino in Manila as a “bet on China.” Sixteen months on, the gamble hasn’t paid off. Instead, the anticipated flood of high rollers from China to Manila’s three casino resorts has so far failed to materialize, and the market value of operators, like Melco Crown Philippines Resorts Corp. and Bloomberry Resorts Corp., has been shredded as investors fled, making Philippine casino stocks among the world’s worst performers this year. Profits will tumble 56 percent across the industry in
2016, JPMorgan Chase & Co. forecast this week. “ T he c ha in react ion f rom Macau hit everyone,” said Noel Reyes, chief investment officer at Security Bank Corp., which manages the best-performing Philippine equity fund in the past year. “Expectations VIP players will come in large numbers didn’t happen. The stocks have fallen quite significantly but not everyone is rushing back in, and there’s no clear light at the end of the tunnel.” Casino shares have crashed, even as the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index has climbed 4.4 percent this year, peaking at an C A
■ JAPAN 0.3649 ■ UK 71.2581 ■ HK 5.8089 ■ CHINA 7.2512 ■ SINGAPORE 33.7021 ■ AUSTRALIA 34.8849 ■ EU 51.0685 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.0069 Source: BSP (23 June 2015)
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Manila joins list of top retail havens
Anticipated flood of Chinese high rollers not materializing
compared to its counterparts in the region. In fact, according to CBRE Philippines Senior Director for Global Research and Consultancy Jan Paul Custodio, this actually gets attraction from most international retailers. Normally, he said, rates paid by retailers are probably “two or three times” higher than what they pay here. At least half of the 164 cities surveyed saw more than five new openings last year, the report shows. Also, the number of retail brands wanting to penetrate new markets increased by 14 percent based on a like-for-like comparison and in terms of cities reviewed. With the inclusion of new entrants in the list—Manila, Doha, Toronto, Stuttgart and Istanbul— the study indicates that retailers are looking into new markets for their growth and investment. Category-wise, mid-range fashion retailers are the most active globally, focusing on the EMEA. Those in the luxury and business fashion segments, on the other hand, keep tab on the Americas and Aspac.
all-time high in April amid official forecasts for two straight years of 8-percent economic growth.
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Examining 50 countries and 164 cities worldwide, the study identified globalization, technology and demographic change as core elements affecting the business of retail. It noted that the recognition of global brands in various countries, the use of technology in assessing a market, and the growing appetite and buying power of consumers the world over constantly drive retailers to expand. As long as they continue to flock the malls and shopping centers for leisure, the expansion of more brands will, likewise, remain, it added.
More rooms for expansion in PHL
THE country’s continued economic progress, complemented by the strong spending power of the people, are the main factors that attract global retail brands to set shop here, according to CBRE’s Metro Manila Market View report for the first quarter of 2015. For instance, Gap opened two more stores in Fairview Terraces and Shangri-La Mall, while international food franchises, such as Burgoo and Coffee Bean widened their scope with new outlets at
Starmall Prima in Taguig. Big fashion brands, such as Old Navy, Gap, Aeropostale and Cotton On, were, likewise, driven by the increasing purchasing power of consumers on the back of robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers and employment in the business-process outsourcing industry. The ever-evolving retail sector also has prompted 24/7 fast-food chains and convenience stores to locate in the domestic market to cater to the fast-growing community. To wit, the second phase of UP Town Center began operating during the quarter, adding around 26,000 sq m to the retail-space inventory. Global fashion brands here include Penguin, Onitsuka Tiger, Stansbury and Sperry. Food and beverage shops are Mad Mark’s, Ramen Nagi, St. Marc Café, Sbarro and Pepper Lunch. The Industria Mall inside Circulo Verde in Quezon City also opened in the first qurter of the year, adding about 14,000 sq m to the total retailspace supply. Meanwhile, the ex panding gaming industry also opened a wider door for retail players in
the local market, particularly the luxury segment. The City of Dreams Manila, which is owned by Melco Crown Entertainment, started hosting global premium brands into the country—Rolex, Stuart Weitzman, Linda Farrow, Rimowa, Paul and Shark, BCBGMaxazria and Porsche Design—in the first quarter of 2015. According to CBRE’s report, retail product exenditures will continue to rise throughout the year as the rate of inflation remains manageable. Retail rents, it added, are seen to remain stable, with anticipation of upward pressures due to the continued expansion of existing brands and entry of new foreign brands engaged in food and apparel business. In general, retail market businesses will stay profitable for the rest of the year, as the Philippine economy and middle-class consumption continue to strengthen, the CBRE said. The Philippines is hosting this year’s edition of the biennial AsiaPacific Retail Conference and Exhibition (APRCE) at the SMX Convention Center. The APRCE is the biggest gathering of retail-industry leaders in the region.
SM Prime eyes Asean markets for expansion. . .
Ong stressed that the expansion plan is not yet factored in SM Prime’s five-year road map to double its income to P32 billion by 2018. The firm allotted P400 billion in capital expenditures until 2018 to grow its office, mall, leisure, hotel
and residential portfolio by twofold. It will construct 26 new SM malls and 20 residential projects in the Philippines and six malls in China. SM Prime will also expand its offices, hotels and leisure businesses. Ong said he expects no change in
terms of revenue mix from the current levels, as SM Prime works to double its income. “We expect that we will continue with the 60-percent revenue contribution coming from our malls, 30 percent coming from our
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residential and the rest should be coming from our commercial and the hotel and convention centers. In the next four years leading to 2018, we are looking at the same trend in terms of revenues,” he added . PNA
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China arrivals
Shares of Bloomberry, which operates Solaire, have lost 27 percent this year, and Resorts World Manila operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. has slumped 35 percent. Melco Crown Philippines tumbled 56 percent as earnings disappointed investors, outpacing even the 36-percent loss at Wynn Macau Ltd., the Chinese territory’s worst-performing casino stock. Bloomberry added 0.1 percent to P9.02 at 9:54 a.m. in Manila, while Travellers was unchanged and Melco climbed 3.2 percent to P6.20, poised for its first gain in eight days after slumping to the lowest level since December 2012 on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Melco’s stock to underweight from overweight in a report dated June 21, and cut its 12-month price target by 63 percent to P5.80.
China arrivals
Arrivals to the Philippines from China, the country’s fourth-biggest tourist market, fell by about 33 percent to 93,043 in the first quarter as the Chinese government stepped up its anticorruption drive. A simmering territorial dispute between the two nations over islands in the South China Sea also deterred travelers. Geopolitics “seems to be getting
in the way of seeing planeloads of tourists,” Cristino Naguiat, chief executive officer of the Philippine amusement and gaming industry body, said earlier this month. Bloomberry fell to a first-quarter loss of P533 million ($11.8 million) as costs spiked with the expansion of the Solaire casino, increased marketing expenses and provision for bad debts. Travellers’s profit rose 1.6 percent to P1.74 billion, while Melco Crown Philippines, which opened City of Dreams last December, posted a record P3.09billion loss. “The first-quarter results raised the question; can there be aggressive growth without the numbers coming from China?” said Richard Laneda, an analyst at COL Financial Group Inc. in Manila. “The growth in earnings didn’t match the pace most wanted to see. The market isn’t overreacting, there’s genuine uncertainty.”
‘Too optimistic’
Some investors are overestimating the impact of the China market, and the slump in Philippine gaming stocks is excessive, according to Marc Reyes-Lao, an analyst at BPI Securities Corp. in Manila. Combined profit at Bloomberry, Travellers and Melco Crown Philippines is forecast to jump 47 percent to P13.61 billion next year from 2015, and to P15.59 billion in 2017, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Based on shareprice forecasts, Philippine gaming stocks will return at least 40 percent in the next 12 months. Bloomberg News
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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, June 25, 2015 A3
Zambales fishers file HR case vs China before UN
Zambales fishermen and lawyer-supporters raise clenched fists on Wednesday as they sent an urgent petition against China to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
By Henry Empeño | Correspondent
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UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Thirty-eight fishermen from Zambales, who are among those displaced by China’s intrusion into the Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, on Wednesday made history by filing a case against the government of China, accusing the aggressor at the West Philippine Sea of violating their basic human right to adequate food.
Assisted by activist-lawyers from the University of the Philippines Law Center, the “Zambales 38” filed an urgent appeal before the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to seek a declaration from the body that China is violating their human rights by preventing them from accessing their only means of livelihood. The fishermen, who come from the fishing towns of Masinloc and Subic, e-mailed the petition to the
UN committee after a forum was held at the Pista sa Baryo restaurant here to explore various international remedies available to local fishermen who lost their livelihood because of the maritime dispute. Lawyer Gilbert Andres, who sent the petition on behalf of the group, said the committee has confirmed receipt of the e-mail just minutes after it was sent. Prof. Harry Roque Jr., director of the Institute of International Legal Studies at the UP Law Center,
Palace rejects calls for Aquino Cabinet bets to resign early By Butch Fernandez
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alacañang cast aside calls for Aquino Cabinet officials poised to run in the 2016 elections to resign early to avert allegations of misusing public funds in their political campaign. Secretary Edwin Lacierda, President Aquino’s chief spokesman, on Tuesday shot down pleas for Cabinet secretaries known to be eyeing coveted posts at stake in the 2016 national elections for president, vice president, senators and congressmen, including Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva and Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, among others. The Palace official insisted these potential Palacebacked candidates need not tender their resignations right away, as did Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, a declared 2016 presidential aspirant, who resigned his two Cabinet posts early this week. “While we understand that the the campaign season seemed to have started early for some, the Aquino administration continues to focus on the mandate to serve our countrymen by focusing on people, health, education and infrastructure, among others,” Lacierda said. He indicated that prospective Aquino administra-
tion candidates occupying appointive positions will eventually step down as required by law once the official campaign period begins. “In due time, the political campaign season will start but until such time, the government will focus on governance,” Lacierda said. In a separate statement, Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. clarified that no election laws are being violated by the Aquino Cabinet men staying in office even as they are set to run, saying “no Cabinet member has yet declared formally as a candidate” for coveted national posts in the 2016 national and local elections. “Cabinet secretaries and all other government officials are expected to abide by the norms of good governance and ethical conduct. This implies adherence to the election code and other related laws and conducting themselves in such a way that their actions will not be perceived as being tantamount to engaging in partisan political activity,” Coloma explained. Coloma added: “For the record, no member of the Cabinet has formally declared the intention to be a candidate in the 2016 elections. Those that may be inclined to do so would be well advised to conduct themselves in a manner that would not be misconstrued as “politicking” by our bosses, the Filipino people.”
Korea test flight first FA-50 fighter jet for PHL
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By Rene Acosta
he first lead-in fighter jet for the country had its maiden flight last week in South Korea, hastening the much-needed rearming and equipping of the otherwise moribund Armed Forces, amid the dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). The test flight of the newly manufactured FA-50 fighter aircraft was conducted on June 19 by the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI), the company that bagged the delivery of a squadron of FA-50 for the Air Force. The test flight followed an earlier statement by the Department of National Defense (DND) that it expected delivery at the end of this year the first two aircraft from the 12 fighter jets ordered from KAI. Defense Undersecretary for Finance, Modernization and Materiel Fernando Manalo said KAI will deliver the two aircraft by December as defense officials scramble to strengthen the military. The squadron of fighter jets from South Korea was procured at the cost of P18.9 billion through a contract signed with KAI in March 2013. Earlier, KAI said it could deliver two of the 12 fighter jets within the first six months next year and the succeeding deliveries, at least in two pairs, in succeeding months until the squadron is completed.
But Manalo said KAI would deliver the first two of the FA-50s at the end of this year, which could immediately go into service with the Air Force. “They will be combat and mission ready upon their arrival this December,” he said. The procurement of the 12 brand new fighter jets was the most important acquisition of the Air Force from its long list of needed assets and equipment under the military’s modernization program. This was only matched by the Philippine Navy which stands to get two frigates, possibly from South Korea also. The frigates and the fighter jets are seen forming the country’s first line of defense, particularly in the WPS where the country is warding off civilian and military air and navy units of an increasingly aggressive China. Manalo also said they expect the delivery of at least two Bell combat utility helicopters this year, ahead of their first scheduled delivery. “A minimum of two and a maximum of six,” he said of the delivery. The acquisition of eight combat utility helicopters from the Canadian firm with a contract price of $106.8 million was signed in March last year by Canada Commercial Corp., owner of Bell, and the DND. The eight Bell 412EP combat utility helicopters should beef up the air power of the military.
said the filing of the case is an historic undertaking because it was the first time that people of one country filed a complaint against the government of another. Typically, he said, complaints of human-rights violations were filed by citizens of a country against their own government. But Roque said the case filed by the Zambales fishermen was meant to send the message that territorial disputes are not just between nations, but also impact on the lives of people who seek sustenance from the resources inside those territories. “The disputed islands and shoals are only important because there are people, like these fishermen here, who benefit from them,” Roque pointed out. He added that, unfortunately, the case filed by the Philippine government with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) concerns only the territories claimed by the country and not the basic rights of local fishermen to livelihood and life. “We have the duty to defend the human rights of these people, even if the violators are governments,” Roque added. According to Miguel Detana, the
former captain of the fishing boat F/B Marvin I based in Masinloc, Zambales, the virtual takeover by China of the Scarbrough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, has robbed local fishermen of income of about P7,000 per week. “I have been fishing at the Scarborough since 1991 and we always had a bountiful harvest because there was so much fish in the shoal. Now we get so little from the sea,” Detana said. Detana and the crew of F/B Marvin I had not ventured into Scarborough since April 26, 2014, when their boat was hit with water cannon by a Chinese coast guard vessel. Now the owner of the boat is selling it to cut his losses. Inocentes Forones Jr., who also owned boats that once fished at Bajo de Masinloc, said the locals can now only safely fish in municipal waters where they manage to catch about 1 kilo or 3 kilos of fish a day. The displacement of their income, lawyers said, clearly illustrates how the fishermen’s right to adequate food has been violated by Chinese incursion into that part of the country’s exclusive economic zone. Lawyer Celeste Cembrano-Mallari, a UP Law Center expert on Unclos, said because the Scarborough
Shoal is just 124 nautical miles from the mainland of Luzon, the Philippines as a coastal state has every right to explore, exploit, conserve and manage the resources in its waters, as well as the seabed and subsoil. Andres also explained that various international conventions guarantee the fishermen of Zambales the right to standard of living adequate for their health and well-being, as well as the right to adequate food. Roque also said because it can be proven that the fishermenvictims suffered economic losses because of the violation, there should also be compensation for the income they have lost because of China’s incursion. Roque added they have high hopes that the case against China would prosper, because it can be proven that Scarborough has long been a traditional fishing ground for local fishermen, and that the Philippines exercised control over it before it was forcibly taken over by China in 2012. He said that at least two precedent cases are on record, wherein the UN committee had decided to respect traditional fishing rights of one country over the claims of another who encroached upon it.
Economy
A4 Thursday, June 25, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
BusinessMirror
PAL, Cebu Pacific oppose planned air talks with UAE
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By Lorenz S. Marasigan
he government is mulling over the prospect of further liberalizing air-traffic rights with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but local carriers are not too keen on the proposal, as this will give gulf carriers a competitive edge against homegrown airlines. Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said the Philippine air panel will meet on July 6 to deliberate on the possibility of negotiating for more traffic rights with the Middle East, assuring that the government will listen to the arguments of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific.
“The government is considering the talks, and we are deliberative, so we will hear out the opinion of local airlines. But, at the end of the day, the government will still decide whether to pursue this or not,” he said in a phone interview. He explained that competitors Cebu Pacific and PAL are jointly op-
posing the air talks, given that there is no need for additional flights. “They said that there is already an abundance of flights to the Middle East,” Arcilla said. Cebu Pacific Spokesman JR Mantaring said his company is not totally in opposition of the talks, but reminded the government that it should optimize first the current frequencies before getting new ones. “Given the significant increase in capacity over the past year, Cebu Pacific believes that a new round of air talks with the UAE should not be held until all available Manila-use entitlements are fully utilized by Philippine carriers, who are ready, willing and capable of operating routes to the UAE, including Cebu Pacific,” he said in a text message. Under the the air-services agreement between the Philippines and the UAE, each nation is given the privilege to operate 28 flights per week between
Manila and the states under the Arabian bloc. The entitlements of the Philippines are held by PAL with 14, its sister carrier PAL Express with seven and Cebu Pacific with seven. Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways equally share the coefficients of the UAE. Top officials of gulf carrier Emirates earlier said the DubaiManila route has remained underserved since the airline’s third daily flight was suspended in December. Emirates currently operates twicedaily flights between Dubai and Manila. It’s third daily flight was suspended after PAL refused to renew its code-share agreement with the Middle Eastern aviation company. The UAE is the Philippines’s third-largest trading partner in the Middle East, with agricultural products, manufactured textiles and packing wares among the top exports to the Middle East.
DOE releases guidelines for ILP bilateral contracts
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he Department of Energy (DOE) has laid down the g uidelines for the sub mission of bilateral contracts among Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participants. Department Circular 2015-060003 provides the interim manner of declaring bilateral contract quantities (BCQ) in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and directing the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) to establish necessary protocols to complement the ILP. In a nutshell, the circular is intended to complement the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) Resolution 5, which expanded the scope of ILP to include contestable customers (CC), directly connected customers (DCC) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. “Basically, the DOE circular allows for the accommodation and WESM market treatment in the event ILP is activated. This ser ves as the instruction for PEMC and framework as well,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said when sought for comment. The circular states that trading participants, which deliver electricity pursuant to bilateral contracts with CCs and/or DCCs that participate in the ILP and those bilateral contracts to be accounted for in the WESM settlement as bilateral contracts quantities of the distribution utility (DU) that implemented the ILP, shall submit the schedule of bilateral quantities of the said CC or DCC. “The schedule of bilateral quantities in favor of participating CCs or DCCs for intervals when the ILP was activated maybe submitted no later than seven days from the end of the relevant trading day,” the DOE said. The DOE, likewise, directed PEMC to formulate the protocols to allow for the transparent adjustment of the WESM processes during the implementation of the ILP. “PEMC shall submit to the DOE a report on the implementation of ILP, particularly on the impact of the extended bilateral contract quantities declaration to WESM processes, not later than one month after the final settlements have been issued following activation of ILP,” the circular stated. The agency said it will assess the impact of the implementation of the ILP on the WESM. Lenie Lectura
news@businessmirror.com.ph
Energy dept OKs EDC solar-power projects in Visayas and Mindanao By Lenie Lectura
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he energy department has approved the solar-power projects of the Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) in the Visayas and Mindanao. The department has approved EDC’s solar project in Bago, Negros Occidental, but the company was ordered to submit additional requirements relative to its declaration of commerciality and compliance with the milestone approach. The department also approved the Murcia solar project of EDC, also in Negros Occidental. The project is undergoing pre-development activities. EDC also received approval for the President Roxas solar-power project in North Cotabato, which is also presently undergoing predevelopment activities. EDC officials earlier said the company is looking at 100 megawatts (MW) to 150 MW of solarpower projects in the medium term as part of its diversified renewableenergy portfolio. Erwin Avante, EDC vice president for corporate finance, earlier said the challenge for solar power projects is simply making it work. “That’s the aspiration for the solar company in the medium term. But it all depends on the FiT [feed in tariff] if it’s still feasible for us,” Avante said. EDC owns a 4-MW solar project in
the same area of its 150-MW Burgos wind project in Ilocos Norte. “The challenge to make it work [solar expansion is that] you need to have the perfect formula, which is high irradiance, good site close to a transmission line and cheap land,” Avante noted. “It seems that a lot are posturings but let’s see how it ends up. The panels more or less will give you the same level of efficiency so, I think, the battle now is where we can harvest more solar resources,” he said. EDC President Richard Tantoco said other countries subsidize solar-power generation, but the Philippines is facing different challenges aside from the P8.69-perkilowatt FiT rate. “For us, we have to factor in things that the others do not. For example we have so much taxes and we need to build our own transmission lines. In other projects in Chile when they are built, it’s the government that builds to them and the cost of land acquisition is different,” he said. Avante, meanwhile, added that the Burgos wind project has one of the best solar and wind resources. “With the flat area that is already available, that would [translate to] 30 MW in Burgos.” The existing 4.1-MW solar project can generate a full-year revenue of P50 million to P60 million,” he said.
briefs trade dept recommends filing of raps against unscrupulous bakers, millers
Preparing for the rainy dayS
An elderly woman shops for an umbrella at a sidewalk stall in Quiapo, Manila, on Tuesday following the weather bureau’s announcement of the start of the rainy season. Alysa Salen
Recto presses strict implementation of anti-lemon clause in procurement By Recto Mercene
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S the government embarks on a building and shopping spree this year, it should make sure that completed infrastructure projects meet specifications and, likewise, require contractors to repair defects or refund the government for money spent. Sen. Ralph Recto said the government should start implementing the anti-lemon provision in the Government Procurement Reform Act, which effectively puts a warranty on all goods procured by government agencies. Recto said that the “no return, no exchange policy” does not apply on government purchases as the said law, or Republic Act (RA) 9184, mandates suppliers to replace substandard goods or face court cases, penalties and blacklisting. “Kung meron, halimbawa, piyesa sa MRT [Metro Rail Transit] train na palpak, kelangan palitan ng supplier. O kung ang bagong footbridge ay gegewang-gewang kaagad, obligasyon ng kontratista na ayusin iyon [If, for example, an MRT part is defective, it should be replaced by the supplier, or if a new footbridge is unstable, it’s the obligatioin of the contractor to repair it],” Recto said.
“This means newly built roads which show cracks, new classrooms which soon develop roof leaks, or irrigation canals which are tattered with holes not long after they have been inaugurated should be repaired by the contractor,” Recto said. Under RA 9184, which the civil service uses as the bible for procurement, even official supplies, car parts, appliances bought for the government must pass quality testing. If an item is found defective or substandard, the law requires the purchasing unit to demand a replacement from the supplier, he explained. “If a car plate gets easily crumpled, or the color of the numbers fades soon, then the replacement clause in RA 9184 can be invoked once it established that it is not the fault of the end user. “Even textbooks riddled with mistakes or lemon lab equipment or substandard hospital beds must be returned and replaced,” Recto said. If the contractor or supplier refuses, he will be banned from joining any future bidding for government contracts, which should be the least of his worries because he will also be hailed to court for violating procurement rules.
RECTO: “Even textbooks riddled with mistakes or lemon lab equipment or substandard hospital beds must be returned and replaced.”
According to Recto, the strict implementation of the warranty provision in RA 9184 will deter the construction of substandard infrastructure and the delivery of supplies made of inferior quality. “To ensure that the government has something to hold on to during the trial period of a delivered good or project, the latter must be covered by a performance bond, which can only be withdrawn if the said good or project has proven its worthiness,” Recto stressed. This year the national government is buying an estimated P63 billion worth of supplies and materials. The 2015 national budget has allocated P437 billion for the construction of various public works. On top of this is the local government infrastructure spending of P78 billion, while government corporations have programmed P47 billion.
The trade department will recommend to the National Bureau of Investigation the filing of profiteering and collusion charges against unscupulous millers and bakers who allegedly refuse to lower the prices of bread and flour. At a news briefing on Wednesday, Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said the trade department has strong suspicions that there may be collaboration between millers and bakers to keep prices high. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has recommended two cases of profiteering, one for bakers and millers, and a third case of collusion for both. The trade official maintained that wheat prices have gone down almost 28 percent from the January-to-April period of 2015, and that prices of bread and flour should reflect this decline. The DTI-CPG group said it has sent its third and final letter to 12 bakers and 16 millers last week requesting sales invoices from bakers and explanation from millers. Of the 12, seven bakers responded. Of the 16 millers, five did not respond. Catherine N. Pillas
bill strengthening govt scholarship programs hurdles bicam–angara
A bicameral conference committee has reconciled on Tuesday the Senate and the House of Representatives’ versions of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Act, which seeks to improve efficiency of, and ensure equitable access to, student financialassistance programs. “We’ve been filing this bill since my days in Congress and we welcome that this measure is finally nearing passage. I thank the good sponsors, Sen. Pia [Cayetano] and Rep. [Roman] Romulo, for working tirelessly to come up with the best version of this landmark legislation,” Angara, principal author of UniFAST, said. “With UniFAST in place, we can finally make sense of all the money the government gives for education—to give it more direction, and make sure that the country really benefits from public funds being spent in the field of education,” he added. Among the amendments that the bicam committee has agreed on is the prioritization of the beneficiaries under the Iskolar ng Bayan Act. Under the Iskolar ng Bayan Program, the top-10 graduates of every public high school is entitled to admission to state universities and colleges of their choice within their province, without having to pay for first-year tuition and miscellaneous fees. Recto Mercene
asia’s taipans set meeting with duterte today
Asia’s business leaders, who belong to an association called Asian CEOs, will meet Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte in Makati City today (Thursday) to hear the story of the transformation of the southern city from a murder capital to one of the world’s safest cities. The captains of industry of Asia have sought the face-to-face dialogue with Duterte to know if the business-friendly policies implemented in Davao City could be adopted as national policies when he becomes president of the Philippines. The Asian Chief Executive Forum will be held at the Makati Diamond Residences, a new five-star complex at the heart of Makati City on Legazpi Street just across Greenbelt shopping malls. Under the stewardship of Duterte, Davao City has implemented a “72Hour Processing Period” for all business transactions where business permit applications are released within 72 hours from the time these are submitted to the city government.
Economy BusinessMirror
news@businessmirror.com.ph
Thursday, June 25, 2015 A5
PHL among top 10 FDI recipients in East, Southeast Asia–UNCTAD
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he Philippines is one of the top 10 foreign direct investments (FDI) recipients in East and Southeast Asia regions, the World Investment Report (WIR) 2015 of United Nations Conference on Development and Trade (UNCTAD) said on Wednesday.
The WIR 2015 showed that the Philippines has attracted some $6.0 billion worth of FDI in 2014 from $4.0 billion in 2013. This lifted the country’s ranking in East and Southeast Asia from 10th highest FDI recipient in 2013 to rank nine in 2014. The Philippines advanced Macau in WIR 2015 which the latter ranked 10th with $3.0 billion worth of FDI inflows.
Consumer advisory: Expect late delivery of July power bill
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ustomer of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) may receive their July bills on a much later date as it awaits the regulator’s issuance of an order allowing the utility firm to implement a lower tariff. “We are currently studying how long the start of billing can be delayed, but we hope that we can get guidelines from the regulator by around July 10,” said Meralco Utility Economics Head Larry Fernandez on Wednesday. Meralco filed on June 10 an application before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to implement a lower distribution rate of P1.39 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Meralco was targeting to have this implemented in July but it could not do so until the ERC gives its green light. The ERC strictly observes the 30-day rule, in which an application for any rate adjustment should be filed at least one month before the intended date of implementation. As such, Meralco should have filed its application before June if it wanted to implement the lower adjustment starting July. Meralco sends the billing to its more than 5 million customers in batches. “Towards the end of the first week, we issue the bills for the first batch which comprises about 200,000 to 250,000. The bills usually start to come out around the fifth day of the month. If and when we receive the order from the ERC the delay would hopefully be a couple of days to a week,” company Spokesman Joe Zaldariaga said. The planned P1.39 per kWh temporary
tariff is 10.4 percent less from the current distribution, supply and metering charges. The proposed 10.4-percent reduction, if approved, will be applied across all customer classes of Meralco. This translates to the following reductions in the total bill of residential customers at varying consumption levels: 200 kWhP52; 300 kWh-P89; 400 kWh-P134; and 500 kWh-P201. Meralco said the lower rate it is asking for is the result of the removal of the second regulatory period (RP) under-recovery-component which formed part of the average distribution prices approved by the ERC in Meralco’s Final Determination for the third RP. Meralco clarified that it will be undergoing a reset process for the fourth RP under the Performance-Based Regulation (PBR) rate setting methodology. Pending the issuance of applicable rules that would govern the fourth RP reset filing, it will be implementing an interim rate, effective upon approval by the regulator. According to Meralco, the distribution-related components of the electric bill have not changed since July 2014 and are lower than the rate in the same period last year. Together, the overall distribution charge accounts for only 17 percent of the average customer bill. The rest are pass-through. Meralco said that it has sought a provisional approval from the ERC so that it may immediately apply the lower charges to its customers. Lenie Lectura
safety first
Construction workers use body harnesses to ensure their safety while installing steel bars to serve as concrete posts of a high-rise building under construction at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City. PNA
EU to announce result of safety test on PHL air carriers today
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he European Union (EU) is expected to announce at 6 p.m. today (Thursday) the result of its assessment of the country’s air carriers through a phone patch by EU officials in Brussels during a news conference to be conducted at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) headquarters in Pasay City. The EU safety assessment team that visited the Caap is composed of the European Commission, the European Safety Agency and memberstates of the EU. After a three-week study, the EU is reported to be ready to divulge the names of the airlines that have passed the safety assessment. In April this year, a group of EU delegation came over to the Philippines to assess the safety systems of Philippine air carriers still on the list of carriers banned from
flying over the skies of Europe. Some of the airlines who joined the inspection to be able to fly to Europe are AirAsia Inc., AirAsia Zest, Air Philippines Corp., Island Aviation Inc. Magnum Air (Skyjet Airlines), South East Asian Airlines and South East Asian Airlines International. Only Philippine Airlines(PAL) and Cebu Pacific Air are out of the EU’s list of airlines that fail to meet international aviation standards. The EU also checked if the Caap had already addressed the previous problems in the air industry. In 2010 the EU banned Philippine carriers from flying to Europe after the Philippines failed to comply international safety standards. The country gained back its Category 1 rating last year, allowing PAL to mount flights to Europe. Recto Mercene
The UNCTAD report said China remained the highest recipient of FDIs in 2014, amounting to $129 billion followed by Hong Kong with $103 billion. The country’s Asean neighbors that topped the Philippines in terms of attracting FDI in 2014 were Singapore, $68 billion; Indonesia with $23 billion; Thailand, $13 billion; Malaysia, $11 billion; and Vietnam, $9.0 billion.
South Korea’s FDI inf lows amount of $10 billion in 2014 ranked seventh in East and Southeast Asia. For East Asia alone, the region’s FDI inflows in 2014 increased by 12 percent to $248 billion. On the other hand, Southeast Asia has attracted FDI worth of $133 billion in 2014, which went up by 5.0 percent over a year. “Combined FDI inflows to East
and Southeast Asia grew by 10 percent in 2014, despite a slowdown in economic growth, to reach to a historical high of $381 billion,” UNCTAD’s WIR 2015 said. The report added that global FDI inflows in 2014 declined by 16 percent to $1.23 trillion brought by fragility of the global economy, policy uncertainty for investors and elevated geopolitical risks. PNA
Opinion BusinessMirror
A6 Thursday, June 25, 2015
editorial
Kicking the transfat habit
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N a long-awaited step, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDI) last week set a 2018 deadline for the American food industry to stop using the artery-clogging transfats that are the nation’s leading cause of heart disease.
The FDA has known for years that transfats lead to higher risk of heart attack and death, and that they have no health benefits. The real question is, why it’s taken the government so long to act. By finally banning these harmful substances, the agency has put the nation on track to save thousands of lives a year, as well as an estimated $140 billion in health-care costs over the next two decades. Transfats, which are manufactured from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, rarely occur in nature. They were invented around a century ago as less-expensive substitutes for butter, beef tallow and lard than the main dietary fats in use. Since then, transfats have found their way into a wide variety of processed foods, from cake frosting, baked goods and coffee creamers to microwave popcorn and stick margarine. They’re often used to enhance the taste or texture of products, but they’ve also been found to increase levels of “bad” cholesterol in the body while lowering “good” cholesterol—hence their association with coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. Food manufacturers had already begun to reduce their reliance on transfats in certain products in 2013, when the FDA issued a preliminary finding that partially hydrogenated oils were not “generally recognized as safe.” The agency announced at the time that it would hold public hearings on the matter to determine whether any amount of transfats in foods was safe for consumption. The announcement last week came after investigators determined that even trace amounts of the substance posed serious health risks. Over the last decade manufacturers have cut the amount of transfats in their products by 78 percent, according to the FDA. Under the agency’s new rule, that level must now decline all the way to zero over the next three years, after which food companies will have to petition the government for a special exemption from the rule by showing that their products are safe to consume. Since the FDA has already determined that no amount of transfat can be considered harmless, most experts believe it’s highly unlikely such appeals will be successful. Until then, the biggest problem consumers will face may be figuring out which of their favorite foods on the shelves still contain transfats, and what products they can substitute for them. Manufacturers have been gradually replacing the transfats they once used to give their offerings a distinctive taste or texture with other ingredients, so consumers won’t necessarily notice any sharp differences between the newer, healthier versions of the products that will be on the shelves and the processed foods they’ve been buying up to now. Restaurants like McDonald’s and other national fast-food chains have eliminated transfats from their fried-food menus over the years. Moreover, the benefits of a healthier diet will show up at customers’ doctor’s offices in the form of lower cholesterol and blood-pressure levels, and reduced risk of illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, liver damage and Alzheimer’s disease, all of which are associated with eating transfats. Because the FDA’s rule won’t go into effect for another 36 months, food manufacturers will have plenty of time to tweak their products, and officials expect the change will cause minimal disruption to the industry. It’s a relatively rare occurrence when government regulators and private industry find themselves able to work cooperatively on a public-health issue in which they both have a huge stake. But they seem to have pulled it off this time. What they’ve come up with is a plan that’s good for business, good for consumers and good for the nation’s health-care system. The Baltimore Sun editorial
Stock-market game theory John Mangun
OUTSIDE THE BOX
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ITTING at the back of a recent investment conference, I listened as one of our local stock-market experts opened the floor for questions. Predictably and almost on cue, an attendee raised a hand and asked if the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) would continue its six-year bull run, “assuming that there are no negative external developments.”
The speaker replied after a moment of thought that it “was a very good question.” He went on to talk about the domestic economic situation, how companies that had a positive fundamental trend would be the issues to buy, as they would continue to go higher and that all was good in PSE-land for the long-term uptrend. He sounded very smart and knowledgeable, and the questioner was most satisfied with the answer. Actually, it was not a “good question.” In fact, the question was totally useless. A genuine stock-market and economic analyst I know reacted this way. “That question is like asking a forestry expert how big a tree can grow if there aren’t any storms, droughts, fires, blights, lightning, insects, or anything else that can stop a tree’s growth. The correct answer is, “Really big.” But the “right”
answer is, “Who cares?” I spend my working day advising people about stock-market strategies. You do not need my advice if the stock-market world is operating in a perfect paradise, where we can assume “there are no negative external developments.” Likewise, what good can I offer for a doomsday scenario like a multinational shooting war in the South China/ West Philippines/Really, Really West California Sea? The real world is usually somewhere on the ruler between paradise and doomsday often moving toward either end, but not quite getting to the extreme. The stock-market advice that we need is: Where are we on the ruler, and how should we be reacting to the movement on that path. It is never a matter of predicting the future—as I keeping saying— but figuring out what to do “if” a
particular scenario unfolds. I wanted to ask the expert if continuing to “peso-cost average” my stock buying made sense if China fires on a Japanese airplane flying over the Ayungin Shoal. Now, that would have been a good question. We seem to want to know what to do in the event of a major earthquake, for example. But, when it comes to something similar for the stock market, most investors—and experts—seem to prefer to leave it all in Divine Hands. The biggest problem for stock investors, though, is that there are not that many major earthquakes where it is obvious that dramatic action needs to be taken quickly. Philex Mining Corp. was priced at about P28 per share just four years ago. Now it is selling at about P6. The stock price has continued to deteriorate, but it was not in a straight line. Further, the earnings had been growing continuously until 2014. The government occasionally said that a resolution to the mining industry-tax rules was soon to come. But every investment strategy, other than “sell and run away as fast as you can,” would have lost you money to this point. The only “benefit” of “peso-cost averaging” the price is that you would now own a lot more losing shares. Other examples of this are Belle Corp. and Eastwest Bank. Using Game Theory, stock-market investing is like a game of “chicken,”
where two drivers race their cars head-on toward each other. If neither swerves away, they crash. If one swerves, he is considered a “chicken” and the loser. Obviously, investors are not playing chicken against another person. But they are playing against the reality that prices go down faster and easier than they go higher. Because the loss of swerving is so small compared to the crash, the reasonable strategy would be to swerve before the crash or to take a smaller price loss. But what actually happens is that both parties believe that the other will turn away—because it is the sensible thing to do—and each holds on to the deadly end. The stock-market equivalent of that strategy is embodied by the following thoughts. “The price will eventually go back up.” The company is still making money, and has sound fundamentals.” “The economy is good.” “The price being down means it’s a bargain.” “It’s only a correction.” However, “chicken” is not the only game played on the stock market. Other popular favorites are “Catch a Falling Knife” and “Bottom Fishing for Basura [trash].” E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
Samsung has South Korean investors in its pocket William Pesek
BLOOMBERG VIEW
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AMSUNG is giving South Korea’s National Pension Service an offer it can’t refuse: Support the nation’s biggest conglomerate in its fight against a foreign hedge fund, or else.
The Lee family that rules Samsung wants affiliate Cheil Industries to take over Samsung C&T at a price far lower than investors like New York-based Elliott Associates say it’s worth. Elliott is rallying support to block a deal it alleges is less about good business than the children of hospitalized CEO Lee Kun-hee wanting to solidify their claims to the company’s throne. As the biggest shareholder in Samsung C&T, with 10.15 percent of common shares, the state-run NPS arguably has the final say. On the merits, the NPS should vote “no.” The mission statement of South Korea’s largest investor—its “principle of public benefit”—gives it a responsibility to promote better
corporate governance. That requires working to reduce the influence of the Lee family, which has lorded over Samsung for decades, at the expense of the company’s stock valuations. But NPS is almost certain to side with Samsung—and for reasons that sum up everything that’s wrong with Asia’s fourth-largest economy. NPS is already in far too deep with the Lee family. In addition to its ownership of Samsung C&T shares, it holds stakes in at least 11 other Samsung affiliates, worth $18 billion. That means that what’s good for the Lees—including a low purchasing price for C&T—is good for NPS’s returns, and vice versa. To be fair, no one outside Chairman Choi Kwang’s inner circle knows how NPS
will vote at the July 17 extraordinary general meeting. But the extent of NPS’s involvement with Samsung suggests Choi will have little choice but to back the Lee family. President Park Geun-hye, for her part, has done little since her election 28 months ago to rein in Korea’s family-owned conglomerates, the so-called chaebol. Her plans to empower small and midsize enterprises, tighten antimonopoly laws, and tax-excess cash hoards haven’t gone farther than the drawing board. And when the economy slowed, Park actually turned to the very magnates she pledged to curtail to ask for their help boosting the economy. It’s entirely possible she will turn to the chaebol anew, as the fallout from South Korea’s outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) continues to slam retail sales and tourism. (Even here there’s a Samsung connection. On Monday [June 22] heir apparent Lee Jae-yong apologized after one of the company’s hospitals was identified as a source of the MERS outbreak that has killed at least 27 people in the country. Surprised to hear Samsung owns hospitals? You shouldn’t be.)
The Samsung name, meanwhile, has arguably become the global face of the South Korean economy. That’s why lawmaker Kim Ki-sik is so worked up over Samsung’s brawl with Paul Elliott Singer’s hedge fund, which Kim sees a litmus test for global confidence in the country. “Samsung’s reaction so far has been disheartening in that it doesn’t seem to have put in much effort to convince its shareholders of the validity of the merger,” Kim, an activist-turnedlegislator, tells Bloomberg News. If Samsung succeeds in merging two of its units under such questionable circumstances, it would send a terrible message. Other chaebols will be sure to follow the Lee family’s example. The Lees, too, would surely feel emboldened to see what else they could get away with. As these family affairs play out, global investors, who already assign lower valuations to South Korean companies than their peers in other countries, might begin leaving the South Korean economy entirely. Meanwhile, the biggest domestic investment pools would get in even deeper with the chaebol. It would be a heartening surprise if NPS said “no” to Samsung. Sadly, it has 18 billion reasons to say “yes.”
Opinion BusinessMirror
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Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act
Grief turned into relief
reminds or argues with God that He has already in His graciousness changed his mourning into dancing, his sorrow into rejoicing. The psalmist hopes then that God’s loving kindness will continue in his regard. The Lord can be counted on to come to the help of those who cry for assistance. And so the psalmist intends for his part to give thanks to the Lord without ceasing.
an outcast. The woman has heard about Jesus and she has developed an openness to Him. Of her own accord she gets near Him and touches His cloak, believing that a minimal contact with Jesus would be sufficient to bring her divine help. And it happened. Both Jesus and the woman know it: Divine power has gone out and has been taken in. But Jesus wants the saving work of divine mercy made conscious and public; He asks: “Who has touched my clothes?” It is to enable her to come forward and acknowledge the “whole truth.” In fear and trembling before the divine presence, the woman falls down before Jesus and speaks of the whole truth about her communion of consciousness with Jesus. And Jesus completes the truth by highlighting her spiritual identity: She is a suffering “daughter” of God and her faith is her salvation. He pronounces her cured of her affliction and tells her to go in peace, returning her to the community.
Be cured in your affliction
I say to you, arise
Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr. Atty. Julie Ann L. Aranda
Tax Law for Business
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ENATE Bill 2669, also known as the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (Timta), was voted favorably on its third reading. This is aimed to promote fiscal accountability and transparency in the grant and management of tax incentives availed businesses. The bill introduces the concept whereby the incentives administered and implemented by various investment-promotions agencies (IPAs), such as the Board of Investments (BOI), Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Clark Development Corp., John Hay Management Corp., Poro Point Management Corp., Bataan Technology Park Inc., Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority, Philippine Industrial Authority, Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and other government agencies (OGAs) shall be strictly monitored. The amounts of the tax incentives granted to registered business entities shall be reported in the Tax Incentives Information (TII). In the TII, the aggregate data related to incentives availed of by registered business entities and qualified individuals shall be reported. Once implemented, the registered entities and private individuals shall submit annual report to the respective IPAs and OGAs, where they are registered. In the report, they will have to state the amount of tax incentives availed of for the year and other relevant information that may be required, such as project profile, employment, investments made, and taxes and licenses and fees paid. Annual reports submitted by the registered entities and private individuals shall be consolidated in the TII. The failure of a registered entity or a private individual to file the reportorial requirements shall be a ground for suspension of the incentives being enjoyed for a particular taxable year. The suspension of incentive may be a harsh penalty though. Instead of a suspension, imposition of fines may be reasonable considering that the same information are already available in other reportorial or filing requirements, such as in the incometax returns and audited financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives also passed House Bill 5831, which is also titled Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act. However, unlike the
The Timta is part of economic reform which the government is aiming for vis-à-vis public accountability and transparency, since these incentives granted by government promotion agencies constitute loss or reduction from revenue collections. In addition, it will help the government analyze and rationalize the fiscal costs, and to optimize the economic and social benefits of these incentives. Senate bill, the reportorial requirements imposed upon the registered entities and private individuals are more strict. Unlike the Senate bill, the House bill provides that in order for the registered entities to avail the income-tax holiday and other tax incentives with the BOI and other IPAs, the entity must apply within six months from the statutory deadline for the filing of tax returns. Otherwise, this will result in the forfeiture of the incentives for the same taxable period. The Timta is part of economic reform which the government is aiming for vis-à-vis public accountability and transparency, since these incentives granted by government promotion agencies constitute loss or reduction from revenue collections. In addition, it will help the government analyze and rationalize the fiscal costs, and to optimize the economic and social benefits of these incentives. This article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. Atty. Julie Ann L. Aranda is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices, a member firm of World Tax Services Alliance. To reach the author of this column: e-mail Atty. Julie Ann L. Aranda at julie.aranda@bdblaw. com.ph or call 403-2001 local 312.
Dynasties are harmless
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By Jamelle Bouie | Los Angeles Times/TNS
ILLARY Rodham Clinton is the front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary, and Jeb Bush is a frontrunner in the Republican one. And although there is a lifetime of politics between now and the next election, there’s a good chance that, on November 8, 2016, Americans will choose between a Bush and a Clinton for the second time in 25 years. We could have our third Bush presidency or another turn for the Clintons.
To many Americans, this is troubling. Last year, former First Lady Barbara Bush said that “there are more than two or three families that should run for high office in America.” Sixty-nine percent of Americans agree with that statement, according to a 2014 poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. This March, in another NBC News/WSJ survey, 39 percent of voters said they would think more or somewhat more favorably of a candidate whose last name was not Bush or Clinton. Similarly, a majority said that electing Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush would represent a return
to the policies of the past. There’s no denying that the status quo—of a White House claimed by one or the other family—is unusual, and I won’t criticize anyone disturbed by a pattern of “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Bush” or “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Clinton.” But I also don’t think it’s as bad as it looks. Observers have called this a “dynastic” election. This headline from a January edition of The New York Times, is typical: “Are Two Dynasties Our Destiny?” “Dynasty” might apply to the Bush family. Indeed, Jeb Bush, in his announcement speech, described
Alálaong Bagá
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he Lord is to be extolled, for He delivers from the netherworld, and He turns mourning into dancing and His goodwill lasts throughout life (Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13). The synagogue official and the woman with bleeding both believed in Jesus, and he turned his mourning and her grief into rejoicing and relief (Mark 5:21-43).
You changed my mourning into dancing THE psalmist promises to praise and thank the Lord before the assembly for delivering him from the peril of death, the netherworld, the pit. The Lord snatched him clear as though out of a grave. The enemies who would have threatened his life and rejoiced at his descent to the netherworld could have been an illness or a misfortune or death itself. But God intervened and spared him. The psalmist invites the faithful ones to join him and extoll God as well and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger lasts but for a moment, His favor however throughout life. With the Lord “weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” With insistent, threefold plea, the psalmist turns again to God and prays and begs for the divine mercy to continue for him: Hear me! Be gracious to me! Help me! The psalmist
Thursday, June 25, 2015
The gospel account’s two intertwined stories of life and death both end with the manifestation of divine mercy and power in Jesus Christ. On the way to the official’s daughter who is at the point of death, Jesus has an encounter with an unknown woman who has been suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years and for whom physical cure has not worked. In fact, financial collapse has compounded her physical malady, which makes her
The synagogue official Jairus has asked Jesus to lay his hands on his very sick daughter. Jesus is most willing to accommodate: the young girl of 12 is also God’s daughter threatened by death. Synagogue officials are critics of Jesus whom they look upon with disapproval for not observing the Sabbath strictly and for consorting with people who do not measure up to the purity code. But the man’s love for his dying daughter made him seek out Jesus and falling
Women’s soccer owes little to Fifa
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By Andrew Zimbalist | Los Angeles Times/TNS
HY isn’t Sepp Blatter in Canada? Blatter, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) president who said he would step down in the wake of a corruption scandal, likes to take credit for the global growth of women’s soccer over the last two decades. In an interview with the BBC, he even described himself as the “godfather” of the sport. But he has yet to appear for a single game of the women’s World Cup in Canada. Indeed, he has not even dispatched his chief lieutenant, Fifa General Secretary Jerome Valcke, to attend. By contrast, both Valcke and Blatter were in Brazil for the entirety of the 2014 men’s World Cup. Despite his godfather claims, Blatter has nothing to do with the surging popularity of the women’s game. True, he once urged the players to wear tighter shorts—a ploy to grab the attention of a potential male audience—but they wisely ignored his advice. Blatter’s absence reflects Fifa’s not-so-benign neglect of the women’s World Cup. Fifa’s latest annual financial report touts the $5.7 billion it brought in during the 2011 to 2014 quadrennium. Although the 2011
women’s World Cup in Germany contributed significantly to this sum, you wouldn’t know it from reading the report; it sounds like every last penny came from the men’s 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Given that Fifa does not explicitly recognize the women’s World Cup’s financial contribution to its coffers, it is not surprising that the women get the short end of Fifa’s prize money. According to the BBC, the total prize money offered to the men’s teams in the 2014 World Cup was $576 million; the total that will be offered to the women’s teams in 2015 is $15 million. Do the math: The men’s prize money is 38.4 times larger than the women’s. For more evidence of unequal treatment, look no further than the ground on which the players compete.
himself as “a guy who met his first president on the day he was born and his second on the day he was brought home from the hospital,” before declaring that “not a one of us [presidential candidates] deserves the job by right of resume, party, seniority, family or family narrative. It’s nobody’s turn.” But that term doesn’t apply to the Clintons. Hillary Clinton neither came from a political family nor joined one. Instead, she entered politics as a partner to Bill, and after two decades as a political spouse, set out on her own career, first as a senator, then as a presidential candidate, then as a top diplomat, and now— again—as a presidential candidate. Given the degree to which she’s built her career in tandem with her husband’s, Clinton isn’t a dynastic candidate as much as she’s a tightly connected one. For some, of course, this is a distinction without a difference, which is why it’s important to note that national political dynasties are a recurring part of American life.
George W. Bush was a very different president than his father, and if elected, Hillary Clinton will be a different president than her husband. Hillary faces a different Democratic Party than Bill did, and has to make different choices for different ends. The same is true for Jeb and the Republican Party. Their surnames aside, neither is “more of the same.” The first father-son presidential duo, in the 19th century, was John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, the second and sixth presidents of the US. The Harrison family also produced two presidents, William Henry and Benjamin. The Breckinridges dominated Kentucky politics and sent senators, House members and a vice president to Washington. Two other antebellum presidents—John Tyler and Franklin
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at his feet repeatedly to plead with Him to come to their assistance. In his desperation he acknowledges that God works through the hands of Jesus. The girl dies before Jesus could get to her. But divine healing is more than just physical cure. Jesus knows that divine love can turn death into sleep, and one who sleeps can be awakened. He tells Jairus just to have faith. But He sends away the people who venerate death with loud wailing and ridicule him for saying that the girl is just sleeping. In the presence of her parents, Jesus takes the young girl by the hand saying, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” And He returns her to her family. Alálaong bagá, one stronger than death is now among the people, according to the psalmist, one who can turn mourning into dancing. Openness to Jesus is the key to access divine mercy. The ailing woman was convinced that God’s unsolicited love is in Jesus and a mere touch of the hem of His cloak would suffice. Jairus, his wife and the followers of Jesus too needed to have the interior disposition in order to be part of the manifestation of God’s power and goodness victorious over death. It is in Jesus’ own death and resurrection that this saving love would be fully revealed and not until then. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.
The men’s World Cup is played on grass. But for the women’s World Cup, Fifa said Canadian venues could use artificial turf. The women protested, to no avail. Fifa even succeeded in creating some bad publicity for the women’s games by manipulating attendance figures. Each of the contests during the group stage in Canada took place as part of a doubleheader. Fifa counted the number of tickets sold to each doubleheader twice, artificially inflating the true figure. Nevertheless, the Canadian Soccer Association has experienced very strong demand for tickets and expects to sell close to 1.5 million seats before the competition ends. Anyone who doubts the appeal of women’s soccer needs to know that it was the women’s World Cup final between the US and China in 1999 that reaped the highest US TV ratings of any soccer match ever, attracting 11.4 percent of US television households. In a distant second was the men’s 2014 World Cup match between the US and Belgium at 9.8 percent. Perhaps Blatter would like to take credit for the 1999 ratings record, even though he became Fifa’s
president just a year earlier. More properly, the credit should go to Title IX—the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program—to charismatic players such as Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, and to soccer’s escalating popularity among young athletes in this country. There is, at least, one hero of the women’s game within Fifa: Sunil Gulati, the president of US Soccer. After the failure of two women’s professional soccer leagues, first by poor design and second by the great recession and a weak financial model, Gulati committed millions of dollars from US Soccer to found the National Women’s Soccer League in 2013. US Soccer has spent over $10 million so far in supporting the league. US Soccer covers the league’s front-office expenses, its television costs and the salaries of all the national team players. It is now running two marketing campaigns to promote the women’s World Cup. Women’s soccer, internationally and in the US, does not need Blatter. It needs leaders like Gulati and the positive attention from the media that it richly deserves.
Pierce—came from distinctly political families. The 20th century brings more familiar names: Theodore Roosevelt and his cousin Franklin Roosevelt; William Howard Taft, his son Sen. Robert A. Taft, his grandson Sen. Robert Taft Jr., and his great-grandson, former Ohio Gov. Robert Taft III. Most famously, there’s the Kennedy clan. The fact that dynasties are normal—that Senate seats and governorships and presidencies have moved between and within families with ease—may be alarming (America isn’t especially meritocratic) but it’s also mostly harmless. American democracy wasn’t stronger after two Adams presidencies in quick succession, but it wasn’t weaker, either. Besides, despite the frequency of dynasties, the vast majority of powerful positions in national politics go to people who aren’t connected to political families. One last point. George W. Bush was a very different president than
his father, and if elected, Hillary Clinton will be a different president than her husband. Hillary faces a different Democratic Party than Bill did, and has to make different choices for different ends. The same is true for Jeb and the Republican Party. Their surnames aside, neither is “more of the same.” When you vote for president, you’re voting for an administration of bureaucrats and assistants and a whole host of appointees. What matters most is the party and its network of operatives, activists and policymakers, not the individual at the head of that party. If Clinton had won in 2008, her administration would have looked a lot like the one Obama put together. And on the same score, a Jeb Bush White House probably wouldn’t look too different than a Scott Walker White House or a Marco Rubio White House. The aesthetics of another Clinton or Bush presidency don’t look great. But optics have little bearing on what either candidate would do in office.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
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BSP concerned over uneven growth in top export markets
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By Bianca Cuaresma
he uneven pace of growth in countries around the world, particularly in developed economies, are a threat to the country’s economic expansion that could impact the country’s exports, as well as cause volatilities in the local financial markets. “Against the present global outlook, a key challenge to the Philippine economy is the downside risks to external demand, which could affect the country’s export activity
as growth in advance economies remains uneven,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in latest report on the economic and financial developments in the country.
Global growth this year was seen “soft and uneven” at the recent World Economic Outlook report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at only 3.5 percent this year, in terms of the gross domestic product, and 3.8 percent next year. The so-called economic powerhouses as Germany and France, among others, were seen moving in divergent directions. “The recovery in the US could boost the country’s external balance through export receipts and remittance inflows. However, this could be moderated by the growth outlook for the European Union and Japan, as well as the relatively subdued prospects in EMEs, par-
ticularly China,” the central bank said. The final item pertains to emerging market economies. “In addition, the global economy could enter a new mediocre era should the current low-growth conditions persist, which could drag down external demand in the medium term,” the IMF added. In the first three months this year, the Philippines reported below-consensus growth of just 5.2 percent, attributed to low government spending and weak export numbers during the period. Aside from emasculated exports, slow and uneven global growth was also seen impacting on capital flows, the BSP said.
SM Prime eyes Asean markets for expansion
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roperty firm SM Prime Holdings Inc. plans to expand into Southeast Asian markets, like Thailand and Malaysia, to seize the opportunities offered by the forthcoming Asean economic integration. SM Prime COO John Ong announced plans to expand outside the Philippines and China during
an investors’ conference organized by the Bank of Philippine Islands. “Apart from China, because there is certain affiliation in China, but we continue to accept, we continue to receive invitations in other Asean countries like Thailand and Malaysia. So we continue to entertain those opportunities and we look at synergy,” Ong said.
He said they are looking to expand within the business segments the conglomerate is engaged in, particularly malls and residences. “We continue to entertain those opportunities. We would definitely entertain [these] and we would be glad to go to other areas in the Asean region,” he added. With the establishment of an
Asean Economic Community (AEC), the region will be characterized by free movement of goods, services and investments, as well as freer flow of capital and skills. The Asean groups Indonesia, Malaysia,thePhilippines,Singapore,Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia. Continued on A2
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SENATE VOTE MOVES TPP TO BRINK OF ENACTMENT
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resident Barack Obama’s longpursued trade agenda took a giant step toward becoming law onTuesday, and opponents grudgingly conceded they now must fight on less-favorable terrain. A key Senate vote greatly brightened Obama’s hopes for a 12-nation Pacific rim trade agreement, a keystone of his effort to expand US influence in Asia. The trade pact would be a high point in a foreign policy that has, otherwise, been consumed by crisis management, and would give Obama a rare legislative achievement in the Republicancontrolled Congress. The Senate voted 60-37 to advance his bid for “fast-track” negotiating authority. That was the minimum number of votes needed on the procedural question. But final passage, expected no later than Wednesday, needs only a simple majority, which would let Obama sign fast-track into law. The president also wants to continue a retraining program for workers displaced by international trade. the House and the Senate support appears adequate, but even if that measure stumbles, the long-coveted fast-track bill will be on Obama’s desk. “This is a very important day for our country,” said Mitch McConnell, a top Republican Congressman. The big majority of Democrats, especially in the House, the lower chamber of Congress, oppose free-trade agreements (FTAs), as do the labor
unions that play important roles in Democratic primaries. They say FTAs ship US jobs overseas. Obama, major corporate groups, Republican leaders and others say US products must reach more global markets. They say anti-trade forces have exaggerated the harm done by past FTAs. Previous presidents have enjoyed fast-track authority. It lets them propose trade pacts that Congress can reject or ratify, but not change or block. Obama wants to complete negotiations for the 12-nation TransPacific Partnership (TPP). Members include Japan, Mexico and Canada. He would ask Congress to ratify it, following weeks or months of public scrutiny that will give opponents another shot. Several such organizations said they will regroup and fight on. For all the bitter politics over trade, many economists say new trade agreements like the TPP might affect the US economy only modestly. Jobs lost to trade might be roughly offset by jobs created, they say. Still, Obama and others say greater US assertiveness on world trade will lessen China’s influence in Asia and elsewhere. Obama says China could eventually join the Pacific rim pact, but China would have to abide by its environmental, economic and workplace rules. White House Spokesman Josh Earnest praised the vote. AP