BusinessMirror July 22, 2015

BusinessMirror

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A broader look at today’s business Saturday 18, 2014 Vol. 102015 No. 40Vol. 10 No. 286 Wednesday, July 22,

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COMPETITION ACT, NEW CABOTAGE LAW BOOST PHL’S A.E.C. PREPAREDNESS

P-Noy signs key economic laws

INSIDE

MICROSOFT OFFICE Our children remember

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EAR Lord, knowing that our children remember all the material things we are giving them, like toys, gadgets for education, homes built for them, travel opportunities, money properly budgeted and many more is very comforting.

Our children remember much more the time we spend with them, feelings that show we cherish them, concern that they are always safe and unending prayers that they become good children of God. May our children remember that we treasure them until time permits with God’s grace and love. Amen.

RICHARD L. EVANS, YETTA L. CRUZ AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

THIS product image provided by Microsoft shows Microsoft Word for Mac, part of the new Microsoft Office 2016 Mac suite. MICROSOFT

Life

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RESIDENT Aquino on Tuesday signed into law the Philippine Competition Act and the Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act—as landmark measures that would further boost trade and fair competition in the country.

HOW TO JACK UP PRICES AT ART AUCTIONS »D4

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

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VIA AP

RECEIVING the awards for PLDT Home and Smart are (from left) PLDT/Smart Executive Vice President and Consumer Business Group Head Ariel P. Fermin, Smart Department Head for Brand Equity Management Carlo Endaya, PLDT Vice President and Head of Home SSC and Retention Management Paolo Lopez, and PLDT Vice President and Home Marketing Head Gary Dujali.

PLDT HOME AND SMART WIN IN FIRST-EVER SHARE OF VOICE AWARDS

Microsoft Office in a world of multiple devices B A J The Associated Press

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EW YORK—Microsoft’s new Office apps do a good job of helping us navigate a world in which we frequently switch from one device to another—from a Mac to a Windows PC, with a smartphone or tablet along the way.

The company released Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac on Thursday and new apps for Android phones two weeks ago. New ones for Windows phones and tablets are coming this summer and for Windows PCs this fall. They join apps for iPads, iPhones and Android tablets.

An Office 365 subscription gets you all this—$70 for a single Mac or Windows PC at a time, or $100 for five.

Mobile apps are free, though a subscription unlocks advance features that most people won’t need. Mac and Windows versions are sold the traditional way, too, with a one-time payment, though you can’t use Office on another PC without buying it again.

Here’s a look at what’s available: OFFICE FOR MAC IT took five years, but the Mac version of Office no longer feels second-class. The new Office 2016 for Mac is very similar to the existing Windows version, which will get its own Office 2016 update this fall.

Tabs such as “Home,” “Insert” and “Design” are in the same order in both versions, unlike Office 2011 for Mac. The Mac gets various keyboard shortcuts I’m used to on Windows. No longer do I have to navigate menus to get to things I use often.

New to Office 2016 is a quick-access sharing button to collaborate more easily. If you keep files on Microsoft’s OneDrive storage service, changes made by others will sync with your copy. No more looking for the latest version of a file in e-mail.

Again reflecting the multidevice nature of our lives, the “Recent” button will get you the files you recently opened, regardless of the device (at least if you use OneDrive). And with one click in Word, you can jump to where you left off on the previous device.

For spreadsheets, the new version brings a “Recommended Charts” feature from Windows. You’re shown previews of charts that make the most sense for a given data set. For presentations, the Mac gets advanced transitions and other animations previously restricted to Windows.

Those with an Office 365 subscription can get the

THE country’s leading residential digital services provider PLDT Home, and wireless leader Smart Communications topped industry awards in two different categories at the first-ever Share of Voice Awards (Sova) presented by digital agency AllFamous Digital.

PLDT Home won the Best in Customer Service award, while Smart bagged the Most Positively Talked About plum, both for the telecommunications industry.

According to AllFamous Digital’s web site, Sova is the “first annual industry awards show of its kind that’s based on what millions of netizens in the Philippines say about brands on social media and various online channels.”

Share of Voice is an industry-accepted social-media metric that measures a brand or a company’s online presence through netizen’s posts and conversations. The recognition was based on a quantifiable measure of public online sentiment, using the Salesforce Radian 6 listening and social analytics tool.

Over a 12-month period, Radian 6 culled brand mentions on social media and other online channels like blogs, news and forums. It then computed the percentage of positive mentions versus the total number of mentions received by each brand across 11 industries.

“This recognition is meaningful to us because it was given not by a selected group of people but by millions of Filipino netizens who are happy with our service. It is very heartwarming to know that a lot of netizens have taken time to say positive things about PLDT Home and Smart,” PLDT/Smart Executive Vice President and Group Consumer Business Head Ariel P. Fermin said.

Mac Office starting Thursday at http://office.microsoft. com. Microsoft will sell Office for a one-time payment starting in September. Prices haven’t been announced; previous versions started at $140 for a base package that doesn’t include Outlook.

Word for writing, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations, Outlook for e-mail and OneNote for organization are available for the Mac and all other devices, while less-used apps such as Publisher and Access are for Windows desktops and laptops only.

OFFICE FOR WINDOWS THERE will be two versions of Office for Windows— PC and mobile. You can run both at once, but I don’t recommend it. Sometimes a document will open in one version when I really want the other. Choose one and stick with it.

■ Office 2013, to be replaced by Office 2016 this fall, is designed for desktops and laptops. While it can also run on tablets, it is better for devices with keyboards and mouse controls.

■ Mobile versions are designed for tablets and optimized for touchscreens. But they can also run on desktops and laptops—at least those that get Windows 10 when the free update comes out July 29. (Windows 10 phones will also get new mobile apps.)

OFFICE ON MOBILE MOBILE apps are complementary rather than substitutes for the PC versions. They have limits, regardless of whether you use Windows, Android or Apple’s iOS. For instance, you can open only one document at a time, making cutting and pasting between documents cumbersome. They aren’t meant for writing novels, at least without a physical keyboard accessory. Phones have even fewer features than tablets.

But mobile is great for proofreading and editing existing documents. You can add comments and sync changes across devices through OneDrive.

I’ve turned to the tablet on trains and planes, even when a laptop is in my backpack.

Documents preserve fonts, formatting and page breaks from device to device. Text is tiny when fitting a full page on a phone’s screen, but there’s a “Reflow” button to temporarily reformat text for the smaller display.

Some devices require manual saving, and locations change for tasks such as search and Excel text wrap. The iPad app is the most complete, though the upcoming one for Windows tablets comes close. ■

LIFE

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GRATEFUL. HUMBLED. THANKFUL. Sports

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| WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

GRATEFUL. HUMBLED. THANKFUL. Zach Johnson joins Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo as the only players to win the Masters and a British Open on the Old Course.

B S DM USA Today

AINT Andrews, Scotland—Zach Johnson’s not too big, not too strong, not the most talented guy in the room.

But he has plenty of grit and guts and he works and he works, on the golf course and in the gym. He’s also one of the best putters on the planet. Not too bad with a wedge in his hands, either.

And the man who says he’s just an ordinary guy out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, now has a Claret Jug to go with a green jacket.

Johnson made birdie from 28 feet on the 72nd hole to polish off a 66 on the Old Course in the Auld Grey Toun on Monday and earn a spot in a three-man, four-hole playoff in the oldest championship in golf. He then promptly birdied the first two holes—both from 15 feet—and defeated Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen to win the 144th British Open.

Johnson, who began the championship with a sterling 6-under-par 66 in the worst conditions on Thursday, finished regulation at 15 under. He stood off the 18th green as Oosthuizen, who won the Open here in 2010, struck a 10-footer for birdie that would have forced sudden death. The putt lipped out.

Thus Johnson, who won the Masters in 2007 in frigid cold on a rock-hard Augusta National, joins Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo as the only players to win the Masters and a British Open on the Old Course. That’s some pretty good company, indeed.

“I’m grateful, I’m humbled, I’m thankful,” said Johnson, who won his 12th Professional Golfers’ Association Tour title and moved to No. 12 in the world. “I’m honored. This is the birthplace of the game, and that jug means so much in sports, specifically this tournament and golf.”

It was a week of patience, perseverance, trust and bravery, as this Open was forced to go to a Monday finish for only the second time since 1860 due to torrential rains and gale-forced winds. But Johnson was the last man standing before the imposing Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews that looms over the first tee, surviving some of the biggest names and games in golf, including Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose.

Johnson is a man of faith who cited Scripture written in his yardage book all-week-long. He’s a devoted husband and father of three (Will is 8; Wyatt, 5; and Abby Jane, 2). He likes to say he lives a simple life in Saint Simons Island, Georgia, where he goes to high-school football games on Friday nights and soccer games on Saturday.

He is who he is and doesn’t try to be anything he’s not—on and off the course.

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AINT Andrews, Scotland—Not surprisingly, Texas tough Jordan Spieth went down fighting in his march toward history on an ancient links hard by the North Sea. Surprisingly, however, it was his putter that did in his bid for history.

The world’s No. 2-ranked player and winner of the first two majors of 2015 needed four whacks with the shortest and best club in his bag on the eighth hole of the hallowed Old Course in Monday’s final round of the 144th edition of the British Open to make a double-bogey 5. The blemish on the scorecard proved to be too much to

“I feel like God gave me the ability to play a game. I try to take it very seriously. I realize it’s just a game,” said Johnson, who made sure to thank his team around him, including his wife, Kim, and trusted sidekick caddie Damon Green. “...But this isn’t going to define me or my career, at least, I hope it doesn’t. It’s not my legacy.

Granted, as a professional athlete and as a golfer I’m going to relish this. I’m going to savor this.

I’m humbled by this. But my legacy should be my kids, my family.”

He’s 39 with a bald spot but said as he’s aged he’s come to enjoy practicing more and working out in the gym, “even if it doesn’t look like it.”

This week on the ancient Old Course softened by weeks of rain, Johnson was tested even more as the longest hitters had a huge advantage. At almost 5-11 and “be generous, I’m 165,” Johnson knows he can’t bang with the big boys on Tour.

While tempted to take more aggressive—and dangerous—lines with his tee shots, he stuck to his strengths: patience, accuracy off the tee, a superb wedge game and an envied putter.

He made eight birdies in the last round— most set up by his wedges—and made huge pars on the inward nine that muscles up as it goes back toward town and into the wind. He remained true to his talents and stuck to his game plan.

Sports psychologist Moe Pickens works with Johnson and said one of his main strengths is his mind game. Pickens said the last time he saw Johnson make a mental mistake on the golf course was in the 2007 US Open at Oakmont, where he used 3-wood far too often instead of driver and ended up further back in the rough as a result. In other words, he played too safe, instead of relying on his straight driving abilities.

Pickens also said Johnson’s temperament is key.

“The more you play these majors, the better you get,” Pickens said. “He doesn’t get too high on the golf course. And he doesn’t get too low.”

And Johnson certainly won’t get a big head. He knows what he did on a magical Monday in the rain, in the winds, on a place they call the Old Course. But come Tuesday, he’s back to being Zach Johnson.

“I’m just a guy from Iowa,” he said, “who lives in southeast Georgia who has a green jacket and something that not most guys don’t have to drink out of right now.”

overcome, and Spieth fell one shot short of a playoff and one major shy of joining Ben Hogan as the only players to win the Masters, US Open and British Open in the same year.

“Although we came in wanting to be two shots better than what we finished, with everything that went on this week and the momentum we came in with it, yeah, I’m very pleased with the way we battled,” said Spieth, who won the John Deere Classic for his fourth Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour title of the year before taking the red-eye to Scotland. “Today was a really tough day. Just made a mental mistake on No. 8, and it seemed to have cost me as well on 18, just

ZACH JOHNSON takes his place in history with Masters and British Open wins. AP

JORDAN SPIETH says he won’t let British Open, end of Grand Slam haunt him. AP

‘Putter giveth, and putter taketh away’ not giving myself a chance.... I just wish I had given myself a little better opportunity.”

With history hovering above him all week, Spieth, despite needing 37 putts in the second round, came to the eighth tee just two shots shy of the leader. But in strong winds and rain coming down sideways, he pushed his tee shot 100 feet to the right, then putted the ball 15 feet off the green. He compounded the error by taking three more to go in for a 5.

He came right back with a birdie No. 9, and another on No. 10. He nearly chipped in for birdie on the 13, the ball falling a bit before bouncing off the flagstick and out of the hole.

Then he holed a monster putt from 50 feet on

16 to get into a share of the lead.

But on the toughest hole on the course— the par-four 17th known as the Road Hole— Spieth missed a par putt from 7 feet to fall back. Needing a birdie on the last, he hit a poor drive and then spun his approach off the green into the Valley of Sin. His bid for the playoff fell inches shy.

The putter giveth, and the putter taketh away.

“We stepped on that tee box, and you’d like to maybe have a downwind hole where it doesn’t really make that much of a difference, but when you look up from the ball and you’re getting pelted in the face, it’s a hard shot, and I just tried to sling one in there and I left

it 40 yards from the pin on the green there, and it’s just a no-brainer. If you make bogey, you’re still in it. If you make double-bogey, it’s a very difficult climb, and there’s absolutely no reason to hit that putt off the green,” Spieth said. “ ...My speed control was really what cost me this week, the five three-putts the second round, and then just my speed control in general wasn’t great.”

Spieth said he won’t let coming so close haunt him as he heads to a two-week break.

Instead, he’ll relax, practice and get ready to make history in a different way in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Instead of going for the Grand

Slam, he’ll try and join Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players in the modern era to win three majors in a season. Hogan won three in 1953; Woods did it in 2000.

“That would be the next goal as far as the history goes,” he said. “...I really played a solid round of golf. I didn’t miss many chances, other than No. 8. Obviously, 17 and 18 could have been a little different, but I struck the ball phenomenally well, I drove the ball as well as I’ve driven it this entire year, including the other majors and every other tournament. “...I won’t beat myself up too much. It was a great week.” USA Today

SPORTS

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To be known as Republic Act (RA) 10667, the Competition Act aims to strengthen existing antitrust regulations, creating what its authors prescribed as “a competition policy that outlaws and penalizes anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominant position, and anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions.”

On the other hand, RA 10668, or the Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act, embodies amendments to the cabotage law, allowing

DO YOU STILL SHOP IN A‘PALENGKE’? 7 OF 10 PINOYS DON’T B M M  M L Special to the BM

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Conclusion

INDO REYES was forced to close his stall in the Imus Public Market, as his regular customers no longer buy from him. Reyes said all his customers shop in nearby supermarkets, which have sprouted all over Cavite.

Reyes opened his stall in the Imus Public Market in 2001 and business was good, at least until 2009. When supermarkets started dotting the province, Reyes saw his sales plummet. Efforts to win back his regular customers, he said, were all in vain.

In just a few years, five supermarkets were built near the public market. Because they can afford to offer more goods, even Reyes was forced to instruct customers to head to the supermarkets for some grocery items that he does not offer.

C  A

C  A

Megaworld allots ₧20B for 12 new office bldgs B VG C

BusinessMirror

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B B F

SPECIAL REPORT

EGAWORLD Corp. on Tuesday said it will spend some P20 billion to build a dozen new office buildings in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Megaworld said the amount will be spent in a span of three years, consistent with its plan to more than double its current 300,000 -square-meter officespace inventory in the Fort Bonifacio area alone by 2018.

“We remain upbeat in maintaining our leadership as the biggest developer and lessor of office spaces in the country.

By 2018 ou r tot a l of f ice space inventory in Fort Bonifacio alone will reach around 650,000 sq m, still making us

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 45.2590

the leading office developer in this booming district,” said Jericho Go, the company’s senior vice president.

About four office towers are cur rent ly being bu i lt in Up town Bonifacio, the company’s 15.4-hectare integrated township in the northern part of the former military camp.

These are the 15-story Uptown Tower 1 at 30,000 sq m; the 15-story Uptown Tower 2, 30,000 sq m; the 20-story Uptown Tower 3, 40,000 sq m; and the 25-story Alliance Global Tower, 50,000 sq m, which will serve as corporate headquarters of the companies under Alliance Global Group Inc., the holding firm of businesses owned

by Andrew L. Tan. C  A

MEGAWORLD Senior Vice President Jericho P. Go shows to the media the ongoing construction of its three towers, which will soon be open for office spaces. The company announced the opening of 12 new office buildings in three of its four townships in Bonifacio Global City in the next three years during a news conference held in Taguig City. Megaworld is spending P20 billion to construct the towers. ALYSA SALEN

■ JAPAN 0.3642 ■ UK 70.4547 ■ HK 5.8394 ■ CHINA 7.2884 ■ SINGAPORE 33.0165 ■ AUSTRALIA 33.4138 ■ EU 49.0019 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.0681 Source: BSP (21 July 2015)

A2 Wednesday, July 22, 2015

BMReports BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Do you still shop in a ‘palengke’? 7 of 10 Pinoys don’t Continued from A1

“’Yung mga items na talagang wala dito, sa supermarket na lang din namin itinuturo,” Reyes said.

In a survey conducted by the BusinessMirror, 100 out of 153 respondents, or nearly 70 percent, said they prefer buying groceries from supermarkets than in public markets. Respondents cited convenience and the availability of the grocery items they need as chief reasons for shopping in supermarkets.

Social anthropologist Maria Carinnes Gonzales said this may be due to the fact that Filipinos are now being exposed to other cultures and communities.

“A lot of Filipinos [have developed] global tastes,” Gonzales said in an interview.

While public markets will not disappear anytime soon because of changing consumers’ preferences, experts said their decline is lamentable. Public markets, experts said, serve as venues where young people are exposed to Filipino culture.

Gonzales said public markets

allow people to develop a sense of cooperation among people in their community. Also, while Filipinos practice haggling or tawad, Gonzales said it is not the amount of money that mattered during the process, but the fact that someone was able to convince another person to lower the price of a product.

She said the public market is also considered to be a venue where people not only purchase items but also learn the goings on in the community. “It’s like a barber shop where you get all the juicy stories.”

Al Faithrich Navarrete, chairman of the Business Economics department of the University of the Santo Tomas, said public markets remain an important part of the country’s economy.

This, despite the increasing preference of Filipino consumers for one-stop shopping in supermarkets.

Unfortunately, Navarrete said there is a dearth of official data to support this claim.

Because of the ease with which people can put up a stall, many Filipinos go into buying and selling in

public markets to feed their families.

With rising costs, enterprising Filipinos, such as Reyes, are now finding it more difficult to stay afloat.

Rodolfo Dalangin, former chief executive officer of the National Market Vendors Confederation of Cooperatives, said vendors and stall owners in public markets are having a hard time adjusting to their bigger counterparts.

“Public markets are dying. Lumiit ang stalls, tumaas ang presyo ng stalls ng 100 percent. Wet markets are not being supervised and there is lack of support from the government,” Dalangin said.

Reyes agreed with Dalangin that the government should support public markets. He said one of the strategies that the government can look into is to encourage public markets to offer popular products in one particular area.

“Dapat tutukan ng government [’yung public markets] na nagpoprovide ng basic at well-known products ng naturang lugar,” he said. “Kailangan doon mo makikita at mabibili ’yung produkto na kilala sa bayan na ’yun.”

THE onset of monsoon rains in Northern Luzon caused a marked increase in the prices of vegetables sold in public markets in the city. NONIE REYES

P-Noy signs key economic laws. . .

foreign cargo vessels to transport and co-load foreign cargoes for domestic transshipment, liberalizing coastwise trading throughout the Philippines and opening the market to competition to bring down cost of transportation by sea.” It also enables the country to fully utilize the supply chains for products.

In a brief speech at the signing rites in Malacañang, President Aquino noted that the Competition Act aims to enhance economic proficiency and promote free and fair competition in trade, industry and other commercial economic activities. “Ngayon, sa wakas, maliit man o malaki ang negosyo, ang labanan ay nasa paglalabas ng dekalidad na produkto sa pinakamakatuwirang presyo, imbes na under the table, or paramihan ng koneksyon…everybody wins.”

The President noted that the bill took 25 years to be passed by Congress. At the same time, Mr. Aquino noted that the Liberalization of the Philippine Cabotage Law upholds the same principle.

“Itong Cabotage law ay hango sa Tariff and Customs Code of 1978 at ngayon lang naibabagay sa ating pangangailangan,” he said, recalling that the original law was crafted in a bid to boost the shipping industry and provide means for it to remain competitive. “Ang problema, kakarampot ang dumadagdag na mga barko natin na nagresulta sa absurdong sitwasyon kung saan kontrolado ng iilan lang ang takbo ng merkado.”

President Aquino said it reached a point that the government had to act in order to correct the situation. He explained that under the approved amendments to the Cabotage law, “malayang makakapangalakal ang mga banyagang barko sa kanilang imported at exported na kargamento sa kanilang napiling port of destination.”

Davao del Norte First District Rep. Anthony del Rosario said the new laws are “a game changer” in the Philippine economy.

Del Rosario, who is among the principal authors of the antitrust law, said the measure will greatly boost the country’s preparedness

for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) that is set to begin in endDecember. He is happy that the oldest economic bill was finally passed into law to level the playing field and protect consumers, besides allowing the country to partake of the untold benefits of globalization.

“The comprehensive competition law will allow us to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the Asean market integration,” he said.

Del Rosario is also a coauthor of the amendments to the Cabotage law. “The law will relax our cabotage restrictions to lower the shipping cost and make our shipping industry competitive,” he said, stressing its favorable impact on the nation’s economy in view of the regional integration.

According to a Palace statement, the Competition Act was designed to prevent economic concentration that will control production, distribution, trade or industry that unduly stifle competition, distort, manipulate or constrict the discipline of free markets; and penalize all forms of anticompetitive agreements, abuse of dominant position and anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions, with the objective of protecting consumer welfare and advance domestic and international trade and economic development.

To oversee its implementation, the new law signed by Mr. Aquino will create a Philippine Competition Commission whose chairman, four commissioners and executive director will be appointed by the President.

The law also empowers the soonto-be-formed commission to impose administrative fines of P100 million for the first offense and P250 million for second offense for “abuse of dominant position and prohibited merger.”

The same law prohibits agreements between and among competitors, which have the object of substantially preventing, restricting or lessening competition.

On the other hand, the Palace

Continued from A1

noted that the approved amendment to the Cabotage law, or the Foreign Ships Co-Loading Act, was designed to assist importers and exporters in enhancing their competitiveness in the light of intensifying international trade and to lower the cost of shipping exported cargoes from Philippine ports to international ports and import cargoes from international port.

Under the law, foreign vessels arriving from a foreign port would be allowed to carry a foreign cargo to its domestic port of final destination, after being cleared at the port of entry.

The foreign vessel will also be allowed to carry foreign cargo by another foreign vessel calling at the same port of entry to the Philippine port of final destination of such foreign cargo.

“We thank both leaderships of Congress and President Aquino for giving due consideration to these laws. The swift enactment of these laws is a victory for the average Filipino who will benefit the most from improved market policies,” Senate President Franklin Drilon said. “For nearly three decades, lawmakers have been trying to pass both of these laws, and now under this reform-oriented 16th Congress, we finally enacted these measures.”

“A new antitrust law and an amended Cabotage law is just what the doctor ordered, so to speak, since our laws and policies need to be more than capable if we are to fully capitalize all the prospects for economic growth that the AEC will bring,” he added.

According to Drilon, the Philippine Competition Act, a commitment by the country under the AEC blueprint, will address the nation’s long-standing lack of a comprehensive competition law.

“Before this law was signed, the Philippines remained as the only original member-nation of the Asean region without an antitrust law. Now we are much closer to being at par with our neighbors in preventing unfair trade behavior within our markets,” he said. With Recto Mercene

The Nation BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, July 22, 2015 A3

Gov’t agency pursuing ‘Bulag na Daan’?

Seniors hit PhilHealth move to scratch free cataract surgeries

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By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

SENIOR citizens group on Tuesday denounced the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.’s (PhilHealth) unilateral decision to withhold payment to opthalmologists and eye clinics for cataract operations that have been performed allegedly because of some irregularities, saying that such decision is tantamount to letting hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, including many senior citizens, go blind.

Hernan Nicdao, legal counsel of the Senior Citizens party-list group, said senior citizens and all members of PhilHealth in good standing have the right to avail themselves of the free cataract

operations offered by private eye clinics since these are benefits that come with membership in PhilHealth.

“PhilHealth’s decision to stop processing payments to eye clinics

for cataract operations that have been performed due to alleged irregularities is very suspicious and is very detrimental especially to senior citizens, many of whom suffer from cataract,” he said. “I think the real reason for PhilHealth’s refusal to pay the eye clinics is that it is running out of funds.”

Nicdao said PhilHealth’s “Bulag na Daan” policy must be fully investigated by Congress because it will lead to more blindness in the country. He said authorities must also look into PhilHealth’s finances to determine its ability to pay for the claims of its more than 86 million members.

“What is the actuarial life of PhilHealth at present? Did it conduct a study on the financial impact of the claims from its tens of millions of members? Is PhilHealth being mismanaged and are the so-called padded billings it accuse the eye clinics of committing actually the works of people inside the agency?” he asked.

Senior citizens, Nicdao said, will be the most severely impacted sector should PhilHealth pursue

its suspension of payments to eye clinics and doctors because government health facilities do not have the capability to serve the needs of cataract sufferers nor the doctors to perform such highly specialized procedure.

The Department of Health (DOH) has said that cataract is the No. 1 cause of blindness in the Philippines and that there are more than 400,000, mostly poor Filipinos, who have cataract.

Nicdao said government facilities alone could not accommodate the number of people seeking cataract operations, and that private eye clinics are the ones that have taken up the slack, operating on PhilHealth members for free in exchange for PhilHealth reimbursement.

“Now, PhilHealth is saying that it will not pay private eye clinics because of alleged irregularities. I think the real irregularity is PhilHealth’s cruel decision to leave cataract patients in the dark, with nowhere to go.

“All of these simply because PhilHealth, in my opinion, is suffering financially and did not expect that

there will be a groundswell of cataract patients demanding free operations,” he said.

PhilHealth’s web site shows that it has more than 86.2 million members, and more than half, or 43.7 million, are indigents. There are also more than 4 million senior citizens and dependents, lifetime members and others who, as PhilHealth members, are all entitled to free cataract operations.

“PhilHealth should not stop the free cataract surgeries, and must pay the doctors and clinics that have performed such operations. In the first place, PhilHealth accredited these clinics and doctors, and gave clearance to every cataract patient that underwent the procedures in these clinics,” Nicdao added.

Just last September, the DOH said it was pushing for a package with PhilHealth to provide free cataract surgery to poor Filipinos.

“PhilHealth is trying to evade its responsibility; it has taken the bulag na daan [blind path] and is merely using the supposed irregularities in some eye clinics as smokescreen,” Nicdao added.

Ramos launches latest book

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HE Ramos Peace and Development Foundation Inc. (RPDEV) and the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. are set to launch Giving Back: Service and Legacy, Volume X in the Fidel V. Ramos “Sermons” series, on Tuesday at the Champagne Salon of the Manila Hotel at 3:30 p.m.

Ramos’s latest book is about leadership, citizenship and responsibility—“our responsibility to serve our beloved Philippines and to care, share and dare for others, particularly the marginalized.” The former president once again reminds us of the basic tasks that we have to do to move our country ahead to attain a better life for all: (1) consolidate the Philippine national team; (2) continue building on the gains; (3) compete to win; and (4) clean up the messy things in the government and in society.

Economy

A4 Wednesday, July 22, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Business groups draw up ‘wish list’ for Aquino’s farewell Sona

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By Catherine N. Pillas

ocal and foreign business groups have drawn up their “wish lists” for President Aquino’s farewell State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday that reflect several concerns which, the groups said, remain unaddressed by the Aquino administration five years into the presidency.

Businessmen enumerated the issues they want mentioned in Mr. Aquino’s farewell Sona on Monday and be included in the administration’s last push for reforms for the remaining year in office.

Management Association of the Philippines President Francisco del Rosario urged Palace action on broad issues that include tax reforms, the creation of the proposed the Depart-

ment of Information and Communications Technology and the longawaited merger of the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Alfredo M. Yao, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a previous interview, said Customs reforms must also be addressed in President Aquino’s Sona.

Local business groups, including

the Makati Business Club, are also pushing for the Freedom of Information Act, comprehensive tax reform, and the amendments to the buildoperate-transfer law.

This menu of reforms is included in a previously sent letter of the Philippine business groups with the Joint Foreign Chambers to President Aquino.

Speaking for employers, Edgardo Lacson of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) sought changes to the labor code, which, he said, has remained unchanged since the martial-law era.

“It has always been Ecop’s advocacy to amend the restrictive and punitive provisions in the four-decade-old labor code crafted during martial-law years to align our labor policies with the rest of Asean and enhance our competitiveness,” Lacson said via text message.

On the upside, exporters are lauding President Aquino’s signing on Tuesday of the Cabotage law, saying it is one issue crossed off the list of businessmen.

“The signing today [Tuesday]

of the Cabotage law is one out on the wish list but we would like that some budget be allocated for export development,” Philippine Exporters Confederation President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said in a text message.

Ortiz-Luis was referring to the P1.8-billion fund for export promotion promised to exporters but which has yet to be approved

by Malacañang.

Exporters’ main blueprint for their sector’s competitiveness, the Philippine Export Development Plan, has also yet to be approved by the President. It was submitted in the third quarter of last year.

Speaking for the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Chamber President Michael Raeuber said several issues continue to worry European businesses.

Among these is the slow or even noncompliance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to release their value-added tax (VAT) refunds.

“The government is not honoring some of its commitments under VAT refund and is thereby withholding

large amounts of working capital from investors,” Raeuber said.

The sudden halt of change in economic provisions of the Constitution

by Congress was also mentioned as a lingering concern.

“The unexpected decision by the House leadership not to proceed with House Resolution 1 as the first step to open the country to more competition by amending the economic provisions of the Constitution is a concern too, but we still hope it moves forward during this Congress and administration,” he added.

Sona security

The secretary-general of the House of Representatives on Tuesday said high security will be implemented starting on Friday at the Batasan Complex for Mr. Aquino’s last Sona and for the opening of the third regular session on July 27.

House Secretary-General Marilyn Barua-Yap, in an interview with reporters, said at least 7,000 security forces are set to deploy to secure the Batasan Complex.

Yap said the opening of the third

DOTC sets full rollout of LRT 2’s AFCS in next two weeks

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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ransportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya has imposed a two-week target for the complete rollout of the automated fare collection system (AFCS) at the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 2.

His statement came a day after the successful testing of the new contactless payment system, which, according to him, had a few minor issues.

“Our target is to activate the system at all 11 stations of LRT 2 in about three weeks’ time. So we have two weeks to work on the 10 remaining stations and to address the minor glitches encountered. As always, we look forward to receiving more feed-

back from passengers,” Abaya added.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has lined up the activation of the remaining stations in the following order: Betty Go-Belmonte; Katipunan; Pureza and J. Ruiz; Cubao; Anonas and Gilmore; Recto; V. Mapa; and Santolan.

Under the testing phase, a limited number of new single-journey and stored-value tickets branded as “beep cards” will initially be sold for P20 at the line’s stations.

Commuters may purchase them at designated windows and at two ticket vending machines inside each station.

Minor glitches encountered typically involved the ticket vending

machines, such as the rejection of old and very crumpled peso bills. No major issues were experienced at the new turnstiles.

“The response we got from commuters was very positive. They are as excited as we are to finally have a tap-and-go system just like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. There were a few glitches, but these were all minor and unsurprising considering that we are still testing the system,” the transport chief said.

The Cabinet official also assured the public that AF Payments Inc. will work on the glitches encountered, as the new system is refined further throughout this limited public trial stage.

This shift to a contactless ticket-

ing system aims to enable seamless transfers from one metro line to another by unifying their ticketing schemes, and to shorten queuing time for the riding public.

A transition period before completely rolling out the system is needed to identify any possible bugs in the system and to familiarize passengers with the new payment scheme.

Upon its completion, commuters can expect faster payment processes and reduced queuing time for buying tickets, as well as seamless transfers from one rail to another.

All three railway lines will fully transition to the new system by September.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., the lead proponents

of AF Payments, are interested in expanding this payment system beyond transport to make money out of their over P3-billion investment.

Peter Maher, the chief executive of AF Payments, earlier said his company will not make profit out of the facility installed in the overhead railway systems.

So, what needs to be done is to expand the system to retail and other transport modes such as taxis, buses and among others.

But the challenge in doing this remains. Maher said his company will need to entice merchants and consumers to embrace the new payments technology, which is essentially a virtual wallet, much like the Octopus Card of Hong Kong.

regular session will be done at 10 a.m., while the main event, the address, is estimated to start at 4 p.m.

She said 289 representatives and 21 senators, as well as former presidents, former members of Congress, heads of the diplomatic community and Cabinet officials are expected to attend the event.

Yap added that an estimated 2,700 guests are expected to fill the galleries of the lower chamber’s plenary hall, while 3,000 to 6,000 guests are expected to gather in different conference halls of the House of Representatives for the live streaming.

According to Yap, the event will cost the lower chamber around P2.3 million, with the bulk of the budget allotted for the food.

Ten-year-old Gwyneth Dorado, one of the Filipino finalists in the just-concluded Asia’s Got Talent search show will do the honor of singing the Philippine National Anthem (“Lupang Hinirang”), preceding the much anticipated Sona of President Aquino before a joint session of Congress. With Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

briefs dbm releases provisions for ogd implementation The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released the provisions for the Open Government Data (OGD) to guide agencies on allowing public access to government transactions to boost transparency and accountability.

The OGD will initially cover the 2015 General Appropriations Act, where digital version of transactions will be online.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the joint memorandum circular issued by the DBM will guide agencies on how to implement the OGD. “This is also in keeping with our commitment to the Open Government Partnership, as well as the mission of the Open Data Philippines,” said Abad in a news statement on Tuesday. Estrella Torres

south cotabato eyes more investments from e.u.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The provincial government of South Cotabato is targeting to attract more investors from the European Union (EU) in the next three years with the rollout in the area of the EU and Germany-backed Partnership for Integrity and Jobs Project or Project I4J. South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said on Tuesday that they consider the initiative as a vehicle that could draw major investment and business ventures to the province from companies based in the EU. The program’s implementer, Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS) had chosen South Cotabato as one of its eight pilot areas in the country.

Cofunded by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through KAS, Project I4J focuses on the development of integrity mechanisms and business-promotion procedures in all its pilot areas through the help of the private and business sectors.

“The program mainly aims to create model local government units for integrity. The key result is to have a local government system that is free of corruption and red tape,” Fuentes said.

The governor said Project I4J chose the province as among the pilot areas when it was launched last year after passing the requirements.

The local government also signified to implement the necessary reforms that will facilitate the establishment of a model LGU for integrity, she added. PNA

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

briefs bcda remitted p8.84 billion last year–casanova The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has remitted a record-high P8.84 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) for the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s (AFP) Modernization Program since 2010.

In a news statement released on Tuesday, the BCDA reported that its total remittances from July 2010 to June 2015 stand at P8.8 billion.

“In the past five years of the Aquino administration, the BCDA has remitted more for the modernization of our armed forces compared to what the BCDA had remitted from 1993 to June 2010, or for a span of 17 years,” said Arnel Paciano D. Casanova, president of BCDA. A significant portion of the revenues generated from the sale, lease and joint-venture agreements form the BCDA’s contribution to the AFP Modernization Program.

Casanova said the all-time-high remittance of P8.84 billion in cash to the BTr continues to play a major role to procure the much-needed military hardware and equipment to defend and protect the Philippines. Catherine N. Pillas

one dream execs behind new multibillion-peso scam face raps

A SYNDICATED estafa complaint was filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the officers of a multilevel networking company allegedly behind a new investment scam that duped thousands of people in the amount of almost P3 billion.

Named as respondents were One Dream Head Arnel Gacer, Vice President Jobelle de Guzman and other officers, identified as Ariel Gacer, Richard Ramos, Jay-Ar de Guzman, Marlon de Guzman, Judith Itoh, Jun de Guzman, Lui de Guzman, Linda de Guzman and Joel de Guzman.

The 18 complainants were accompanied by Batangas Vice Gov. Mark Leviste and Lipa Mayor Meynardo Sabili in filing the complaint.

Based on the complaint, One Dream's operation and recruitment of prospective investors were administered using the system profit scheme.

The complainants recounted that Gacer and the other officers of One Dream that they were thousands of people who already profited from the scheme. Joel R. San Juan

Wednesday, July 22, 2015 A5

Over 11M Filipinos unemployed, underemployed–Ibon report

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By Cai U. Ordinario

here are around 11.2 million unemployed and underemployed Filipinos in 2014, according to research group Ibon Foundation Inc.

Ibon said the unemployment and underemployment situation worsened under the Aquino administration.

It stated that another 100,000 Filipinos joined the ranks of the unemployed and another 1.5 million became underemployed under the current administration.

“The best sources of decent jobs that could contribute to national development are those created from locally strong agriculture and manufacturing

industries,” Ibon said.

“But the worsening of the jobs situation is expected with the administration’s gross neglect of the country’s production sectors in favor of elite and foreign interests,” it added.

Ibon said official unemployment figures do not include discouraged job-seekers and have also excluded the calamitystricken Eastern Visayas region.

It added that employment in the country is comprised of mostly part-time and

low-income jobs in the informal sector.

Ibon said around 90 percent, or some 918,000, of the 1.2 million additional work in 2014 comprised of part-time jobs or those who worked less than 40 hours a week.

Ibon added that the reported increase in official employment figures in April 2015 consists of some 544,000 additional informal work and 137,000 full-time jobs lost.

“This only shows the poor quality of the jobs created, while regular jobs are lost as the country’s production sectors lose their capacity to create meaningful jobs,” Ibon said.

In June the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s unemployment rate slowed to 6.4 percent in April 2015, from 7 percent of the same month in 2014.

This translated to 495,000 more em-

ployed Filipinos, and reduced the total number of unemployed to 2.7 million Underemployment also improved to 17.8 percent, from the 18.2 percent registered in the same period in 2014.

This accounts for the 44,000 Filipinos who are no longer underemployed, reducing the total number to 7 million employed persons who want more work for the period.

However, the PSA said the labor and employment data for the April 2015 LFS round still exclude Leyte. Due to large number of households displaced in the province by Supertyphoon Yolanda, a new sampling frame for the province of Leyte has to be created for it to be included in the survey.

The old listing of households for Leyte used as sampling frame for the 2003 Master Sample is no longer usable, according to the PSA.

Lina confident Customs to meet 2015 collection goal

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ustoms Commissioner Alberto D. Lina is confident of attaining the agency’s P436.6-billion collection goal for 2015 even with the drop in oil prices.

Lina said his optimism is buoyed by the rise in volume of oil imports, as well as higher collection from other items like construction materials.

”Construction of power plants continues and this helps in our collection,” he said.

The agency’s May 2015 collection fell 7 percent to P26.7 billion from year-ago’s P28.8 billion.

However, its revenues in the first five months this year rose 1 percent to P147.1 billion from the P146.1 billion from same

period last year.

The agency has been generally posting improvements in revenue-generation efforts due to reforms, such as computerization of its processes.

Lina disclosed that their June 2015 collection is at a record high but declined to give figures.

Asked whether they agree with the

rise in their target, Lina explained that they cannot question the decision of the Development Budget Coordination Committee because it was based on both cash and noncash collections in the previous years.

Relatively, Lina is considering tax losses from drop in oil prices to reach about P75 billion this year. PNA

A6 Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Making our justice system work

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hatever can be said against it—that it is not colorblind, for instance—the United States justice system works, and works efficiently. The latest proof of this is a recent report that the US Justice Department has moved to seize $12.5 million worth of US properties belonging to Philippine scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. US Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell is quoted as saying that the US Justice Department “will not allow the US to become a playground for the corrupt, or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”

Earlier, the US Justice Department had seized wealth that Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia plundered in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and attempted to conceal in the US. In addition to assisting the Philippines prosecute these cases of plunder by its citizens, the US Justice Department is showing the Philippines how a justice system works. It investigates, it prosecutes and it arrives at decisions, all within a reasonable period of time.

Why cannot the Philippine justice system function in any way approaching the efficiency of the US justice system? The Philippine Ombudsman began its case against Napoles in 2012, expanded it to include Sens. Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. in 2013.

But, since then, has produced nothing.

The latest evidence of the dysfunction of our justice system is the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, in which 57 innocent persons were murdered in cold blood. The other day, after six years of no perceptible progress in the case, Andal Ampatuan Sr., the suspected mastermind of the gruesome crime, died of natural causes, to the anger and disgust of the victims’ families and millions of fair-minded Filipinos who felt that justice has not been served.

At this point, we dissociate ourselves from the political opportunism of Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Neri J. Colmenares, who, instead of expressing appreciation for the US assistance or using this assistance as a motivation for figuring out how to improve our own justice system, is “demanding” that the proceeds of the Napoles assets be forfeited to the Philippine government “to provide medical attention and education to thousands of poor Filipinos”—harrumph!

As if the US will not turn over the proceeds to us to use as we see fit, but only the insightful words of the congressman will convince it to do what is right. Contemptible. What else can you call this shameless populist posturing?

Surely, our justice system is not hopeless. Some magistrates may be hostages to the authority that appointed them, many may even be “hoodlums in robes,” but the vast majority, we dare say, are intellectually qualified and morally upright individuals, whose dedication is only “to do justice to every man.” Where the weakness lies, we suspect, is in the procedures and methods adopted by the system in the pursuit of its mandate. This weakness must be corrected.

Perhaps, it’s time that we organize a management and nonlawyer-dominated commission to take a close look at our justice system and recommend ways to make it work.

The convenience of the automatic-debit arrangement Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

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id you know that if you are a self-employed or voluntary member, household employer and overseas Filipino worker, there is a more convenient way for you to remit your contributions to the Social Security System (SSS)? Called the automatic-debit arrangement (ADA), all you need to do to enroll under ADA is to open an account—savings or current—in any of the banks participating under the program, and make sure to maintain a deposit that will be sufficient to cover the amount needed to pay for your SSS contributions and/or loan amortizations.

By enrolling in ADA, you are effectively authorizing the bank to debit from your account your contributions or loan amortizations, and remit these amounts to the SSS, in accordance with your instructions in the enrollment form.

The enrollment form shall be approved by the SSS as to the amount of monthly contribution and/or loan amortization to be debited.

If your enrollment is approved by both the SSS and the bank during the first day to the 20th day of

the month, the effectivity of the automatic-debit scheme will be on the same month. If the enrollment to ADA is approved on the 21st day onward, the effectivity of the payment scheme will be in the succeeding month. In any case, the SSS will inform you when the automatic deductions from your bank account will begin.

If you wish to make any changes to the amount you are paying, just fill-out the ADA amendment form, which is available at the bank or the nearest SSS office. You may also download the form from the SSS web site at www.sss.gov.ph.

You can request a certificate of payment from your bank for your own record. In case of discrepancies between the amount advised and the amount debited per SSS record, or any complaint arising from ADA, proceed to the nearest SSS office.

The ADA participating banks include Bank of the Philippine Islands,

Banco de Oro, Development Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Philippine Savings Bank and United Coconut Planters Bank.

By joining the ADA payment scheme, you not only save time, money and effort—your payments get posted faster, too! You don’t need to go to the bank every month and queue up to make your payments and, subsequently, submit a report to SSS regarding these payments.

With ADA, your bank takes care of reporting your payments to the SSS.

For more information about the SSS and its programs, call our 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_relations@sss.gov.ph.

Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the Social Security System. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.

What Europe should learn from Asia’s own crisis William Pesek

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BLOOMBERG VIEW

sian leaders could be excused a degree of exasperation over the ongoing Greek mess. China’s slowdown and stock-market chaos are worry enough; the last thing the export-dependent region needs is a Europe in chaos. Worse, European leaders seem intent on misreading or ignoring lessons from Asia’s own brush with collapse.

Of course, the circumstances in 1997 were quite different. Where Greece is insolvent, Asia then was illiquid. As capital fled, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea suddenly couldn’t pay foreign-currency debts, much of them short term. Still, there are at least three lessons officials in Athens and Brussels can learn from Asia’s postcrisis repairs.

One: The debate over austerity is a distraction. Pundits quarreling over Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s motivations, or whether German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a heart, are missing the real issue: structural reform.

Asian countries are “watching the Greek crisis unfold with a mixture of envy and schadenfreude,” Korea University economist Lee Jong-wha wrote in a recent op-ed. “When they

experienced their own financial crisis, they received far less aid, with far harsher conditions. But they also recovered much more strongly.”

They did so not because of the harsh conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which caused great pain among ordinary citizens, but despite them. For all the differences between their economies, Greece shares many similarities with 1997 Korea: endemic corruption, widespread tax avoidance, rigid labor movements, huge underground economies and oligarchs hoarding national wealth. Korea recovered by openly admitting the magnitude of its public and private debts, and the amount of available cash in government coffers. Weak corporate links and politically connected banks were allowed to fail. Efforts were made to

introduce greater transparency to the family-owned industrial groups known as chaebol, whose profligate ways had helped topple the economy.

Tax collection became a national obsession, as did sacrifice: Millions of Koreans donated heirlooms, wedding rings, gold bars and artworks to help replenish the treasury. In April Deutsche Welle ran a piece headlined “Koreans’ Gold Donations—a Model for Greeks?”

Two: Smaller economies are collateral damage. As Ian Bremmer predicted correctly in 2012 with Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World, the biggest players get their way. The US borrows, spends and exports its profligacy around the globe. Tokyo’s 35-percent devaluation has turned Japan’s yen into Asia’s answer to the peso, neighbors be damned. Predatory trade practices mean China will long export infinitely more than it imports.

Germany calls all the shots in Europe.

That’s why, like Thailand, Indonesia and Korea, Greece’s only choice is to modernize its economy.

Here, Malaysia presents a cautionary tale. The country managed to avoid an IMF bailout by imposing Greece-like capital controls. But 18 years later, the perceptions of cronyism, dysfunction and opacity that prompted capital to flee persist in many quarters. The mushrooming scandal surrounding state

investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) seems to underscore the lack of reform in a resource-rich nation with as much potential as any in Asia.

Even if Prime Minister Najib Razak is innocent—as he insists—of charges that nearly $700 million in 1MDB funds flowed into his personal accounts, the government’s handling of the crisis suggests Malaysia is stuck in the 1990s. Greece can leave the euro, or stick it out. What it can’t do is defend the status quo and hope to remain competitive or relevant.

Three: Bite the bullet now, not later. In 1998 Korea’s real gross domestic product plunged 6.7 percent.

In 1999 it surged 9.5 percent. Money returned because investors saw Seoul acting boldly to build a more open and sustainable economy. The reforms didn’t go far enough; the chaebol are still too dominant and stymie innovation. Yet, by 2003, as Korea University’s Lee points out, the government had shuttered some 776 financial institutions. Five years into its crisis, how much has Athens done to purge its excesses?

The rest of Europe can go ahead and write more checks to Greece, demand that Athens cut this and slash that. But things will end badly for the euro zone if Greece doesn’t address its underlying problems. Asia’s experience is proof that denial and ill-timed austerity fix nothing.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

A7

Understanding the Compulsory Yellen’s 7 reasons to expect a 2015 rate increase Third-Party Liability insurance Mohamed A. El-Erian

BLOOMBERG VIEW

Atty. Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM Part 1

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hapter 6 of the Amended Insurance Code (AIC) provides for the law on Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance (CMVLI). The CMVLI has two main components. The first pertains to public-utility vehicles (PUVs); and the second pertains to owners of motor vehicles in case of liability for death or injury to third parties (Section 387). With respect to PUVs, Section 387 requires “any land-transportation operator” to acquire an insurance policy to indemnify any passenger for death or bodily injury. This law, together with Executive Order 202, laid the legal basis for the Passenger Personal Accident Insurance Program (PPAIP) of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

On the other hand, Section 387 to 390 of the AIC established the basis for the Compulsory Third-Party Liability (CTPL) insurance. Under Section 389, no motor vehicle may be registered or renewed for registration without proving that it has acquired an insurance coverage. Section 390 affords the motor-vehicle owner the option to choose between securing an insurance policy, securing a surety bond or making a cash deposit. In actual practice, however, securing an insurance policy is the only option being implemented. Section 390 also allows the Insurance Commission (IC) to fix the amount of indemnities in case of death or bodily injuries.

Genesis of CTPL insurance

The CMVLI, which includes the CTPL insurance, was first enacted into law under Presidential Decree (PD) 612 of the Insurance Code on December 18, 1974. PD 612 has been amended by PD 1455 and 1814. To put the CTPL program in operation, Letter of Instruction (LOI) 291, dated July 8, 1975, was issued and deferred the implementation of the CTPL program to July 1, 1975, pending the organization of an insurance pool, which will be known as the “Philippine Motor Vehicle Liability Pool” (PMVLP).

Hence, LOI 291 provided: “In order to provide some sufficient time for nonlife insurance companies authorized at present to engage in the casualty insurance line of business, aware of their duty and obligation to extend the compulsory insurance coverage required, but incapable to do so individually and independently considering the underwriting pitfalls attendant to the enormous risk involved coupled with the need of continuous coverage to start, organize and form a pool among themselves and combine their facilities and resources to discharge effectively such duty and obligation.” The PMVLP existed until it was terminated on October 31, 1981. Henceforth, the insurance companies operated individually.

The CTPL program today

AS of 2013 the CTPL, as implemented by the Organization of Insurance Companies of the Philippines, with 13 insurance companies, generated premiums totaling P1,443,093,206.89 with 4,519,784 Certificates of Cover (COCs). Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (Pira), on the other hand, with 65 insurance companies, generated premiums totaling P1,587,259,520 with 2,918,095 COCs.

Issues hounding the CTPL program

Insurance Memorandum Circular (IMC) 3-81, dated October 7, 1981, (Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Coverage), explained that the “CMVLI is a social legislation envisioned not only to assist traffic accident victims and extend the immediate relief but also intended not to create unnecessary difficulties to insurance companies extending the CMVLI covers.” IMC 3-81 also

terminated, effective October 31, 1981, the insurance pool existing then, called the PMVLP. Since the implementation of the CTPL, the program has grappled with various issues, such as: a) alleged proliferation of fake CTPL policies, which, in turn, resulted to; b) alleged tax leakages and nonpayment of correct taxes (specifically documentary stamp tax and value-added tax); c) proliferation of fake insurance agents; d) alleged kickbacks to certain public officers; e) overpricing of insurance premiums; and f) lost income to government agencies in terms of fees.

With respect to spurious CTPL policies and COCs, several measures have been put in place over the years with varying effectiveness. For example, in Circular Letter (CL) 13-94, dated May 12, 1994, it was provided: “It is hereby required of all nonlife insurance companies to submit to this commission the names of their authorized signatory to such policies and COCs together with their specimen signature.” The weakness of this policy is that it implies that the signature appearing in the insurance policy can always be subjected to a handwriting analysis to establish whether it is genuine or fake.

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evelopments in the Greek crisis justifiably diverted attention from Federal Reserve (the Fed) Chairman Janet Yellen’s semiannual testimony to Congress last week.

Most of the coverage tended to focus on Yellen’s valiant efforts to parry attacks on the autonomy and accountability of the central bank (past, present and future). Yet, the Fed chief also provided important insights about the future of interestrate policy: Timing: Based on what she knows today, Yellen is inclined to initiate the Fed’s hiking cycle this year and perhaps, as early as September. Instead of waiting until 2016, when she might have to raise interest rates more aggressively, she would rather lead a gentle campaign of increases that starts this year and proceeds gradually, as new economic data warrants.

Rationale: A lthough wage growth remains too muted, Yellen anticipates the labor market will

strengthen further, carried by robust job creation. Combined with moderate growth in domestic demand, the brighter employment picture is expected to underpin the continued rebound from disappointing firstquarter growth.

Not just cyclical: Yellen seems to be warming to the notion that the US economy faces more than cyclical headwinds. By taking into account the role of structural issues, including moderate productivity growth and sluggish supply responsiveness, she can be less worried about inflation persistently undershooting the Fed’s objective.

International context: Although the Greek crisis is of concern, Yellen doesn’t believe that its effects are limited to the downside. She also

Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 16, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on: “The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress.” AP

sees upside risk for Europe.

Format: The Fed chief provided further indications that this would not be a traditional cycle. Instead, it is likely to involve a new kind of stopgo pattern. Previous Fed chairmen have preferred to set hikes at each meeting until their desired rate destination is reached. Yellen will adopt a more conditional approach.

Terminal point: Yellen also is warming to the idea that the

increases could end with a policy interest rate that is well below historical averages, but she has offered no further details.

Global divergence: While concerns about the strength of the dollar could reemerge, they weren’t described as an impediment to initiating the interest rate hiking cycle this year. At this stage, Yellen isn’t overly worried that the Fed, with a policy of reduced monetary accommodation, will diverge even further from other central banks (particularly the European Central Bank).

Even though she provided these guideposts on her thinking, it also was obvious that Yellen wishes to retain significant policy flexibility. This was clear in her reluctance to attempt to manage market expectations more aggressively.

Over the last few months, some investors have erred in anticipating that the rate hikes would begin in 2016. They would pay more attention to Yellen’s seven points and change their expectations if, as is likely, the US economy continues to heal, and if the latest Eurogroup deal rapidly restores some sense of normality to the imploding Greek economy (which is possible, but much less likely).

Use of information technology: Real-time validation of COCs

With the advent of information technology (IT), it was eventually decided that IT be used to combat the proliferation of spurious CTPL policies. In a Joint Memo Circular (JMC) dated March 14, 2002, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the IC agreed to “eradicate” jointly the problems plaguing the CTPL insurance. It was agreed that the “solution” is the establishment “of a system of registration and verification on real-time basis of CTPL insurance COC using modern and effective IT.” Hence, the JMC directed that “all CTPL COCs issued must be registered and verified on [sic] realtime basis under the IT system laid down in” this circular. This was disseminated through CL 8-2002 dated March 22, 2002.

This policy would eventually give birth to the Insurance & Surety Association of the Philippines COC Authentication System (Isap-COCAS). Isap was the forerunner of Pira. Under CL 9-2004, dated May 4, 2004 (Authentication and Verification of Motor Vehicle Certificate of Cover), the Isap-CO-CAS was adopted as a COCs verification system “by having all issued COCs authenticated by SQL* Wizard Inc. and enjoining the vehicle owners-clients to have their COCs verified by DTech [D Tech Management Inc.].”

CL 11-2007, dated June 26, 2007, constituted the Compulsory Insurance Database System, to “build a capacity in the IC to monitor and authenticate CMVLI transactions;” “to establish a system for the sharing of information between the IC and the LTO on authenticated CMVLI transactions and motor-vehicle registrations.”

To be continued

Ukrainians suspect Obama-Putin cooperation

By Leonid Bershidsky Bloomberg View

I

t’s rare that official representatives of the US visit foreign parliaments to persuade lawmakers to vote a certain way on some piece of legislation. Yet, last week, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland traveled to Kiev and did just that, as the Ukrainian parliament prepared to vote on amendments to the country’s constitution.

Nuland was interested in just one line of the bill that President Petro Poroshenko submitted to the parliament, on page 7: 18. The particulars of local government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are determined by a special law.

It may sound like a bland provision, but it was worth Nuland’s airfare, because the line was actually very controversial. Many legislators refused to vote for it. Mustafa Nayyem, a member of Poroshenko’s parliamentary faction, explained that the “special law” might enable a future legislature to grant the rebellious, pro-Russian regions in eastern Ukraine powers amounting to legal secession.

“I am convinced such a norm doesn’t reflect the will of the Ukrainian people, which has already lost thousands of soldiers and continues to fight a bloody war to bring those regions back under Ukrainian jurisdiction,” Nayyem wrote.

Nuland’s job was to persuade Nayyem and

like-minded legislators to change their minds.

Before the vote, she invited the most recalcitrant of them for a meeting at the US Embassy. One of the invitees, Leonid Yemets, said afterward that the American diplomat “insisted that this had to be a demonstration of Ukraine’s compliance with the Minsk agreement,” a cease-fire deal reached last February, which did indeed call for a special status for the rebel-held eastern areas, including the right to form their own militias. “It followed from her words that here, we’d make a sacrifice and then we’d fight corruption in the rest of the country,” anotherattendeeofthemeeting told Theinsider.ua.

But some of those who took part in the long conversation came away questioning Nuland’s motives. “Why does the world want to impose on us a ‘special status’ for the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics?” Deputy Speaker Oksana Syroyid wrote on Facebook. “The world just wants this to become an ‘internal conflict’ because it’s tired and it wants to get rid of this extremely uncomfortable topic.”

It’s true that Ukraine is off the front pages of global news media, and that’s not good for a country that’s dependent on Western aid and sympathy and, at the same time, coveted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a satellite state or at least a buffer against further expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Some Ukrainian and anti-Putin Russian commentators saw

Nuland’s Kiev visit and her attempt to persuade the legislators as a sign that the US is selling out Ukraine to Putin in exchange for his support for last week’s nuclear deal with Iran.

“What exactly has Russia bought with its signature under the deal to close down Iran’s nuclear program?” former Ukrainian legislator Taras Stetskiv said. “At least a special status for the Donbass in the constitution and that’s why Nuland came to control the vote.” Andrei Illarionov, Putin’s former advisor turned political foe, suggested that further Russian support on Syria and Iran was part of the deal “made without Ukraine’s participation at Ukraine’s expense.”

Despite these warnings on Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament voted to send the amendments as proposed by Poroshenko to the Constitutional Court for its anticipated approval. Poroshenko reacted angrily to his opponents’ rhetoric.

“I know a lot of patriotic poems and songs,” the president said at one point, “and my wife says I’m a good singer.” Then he launched into the national anthem. Nuland was there, as was US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt and she applauded when the vote went her way.

The Kremlin, for its part, has disparaged Poroshenko’s constitutional proposals. Moscow and its proxies in eastern Ukraine wanted Ukraine’s basic law to directly spell out a broad autonomy for the rebel-held regions. But that isn’t evidence

enough to quell the conspiracy theories. After all, the Ukrainian parliament would never vote for anything that Putin and his people support, so disapproving noises from Moscow only helped the legislation’s passage.

Most likely, there was no such blatant deal.

Yet, it’s not hard to believe that the US and Russia might have the beginnings of a tacit understanding on Ukraine. Obama last week praised Putin for “compartmentalizing” helpfully on Iran. Putin, however, never gives anything away for free.

At the same time, Ukraine has overplayed its hand in demanding more international aid and sympathy. Russia’s aggression in the east has stalled, yet, Ukraine remains unruly, corrupt, economically supine and rife with armed groups. The ultranationalist organization Right Sector, which was active and useful in fending off the pro-Russian rebels, has recently started a mini war to control cigarettesmugglinginwesternUkraine,something Poroshenkohasstruggledtoextinguish.Nowonder Nuland was dispatched to Kiev to protect the shaky Minsk ceasefire: Washington wants Ukraine to be stable. The Kremlin, for its part, is losing interest in the armed conflict it helped create: It wants to move on from military interference in Ukraine to quieter political destabilization.

When the big players’ interests largely coincide, it doesn’t take a conspiracy to get them to cooperate.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, July 22, 2015

PHL to exit demographic sweet spot in 3 yrs–S&P T

By Bianca Cuaresma

he Philippines was seen exiting in three years a demographic sweet spot that for now allows the $272-billion economy to post sustained growth, considered one of the fastest in the region and around the world.

That exit was seen precipitated by a combination of internal and external issues by the sovereign credit watcher Standard and Poor’s (S&P).

Data from S&P show growth slowing down to around 5 percent and inflation rising to around 4 percent over the medium term.

In particular, S&P projects growth averaging only 5.4 percent three years down the road, or significantly lower than expansion of

some 6 percent the past four years.

Similarly, S&P sees inflation in the country rising to 4.3 percent in 2018 from forecast of 2.1 percent this year. S&P said this was its assessment of the Philippines, which, in the first quarter this year, reported local output—measured as the gross domestic product (GDP)—averaging 5.2 percent.

In a webcast it hosted on Tuesday, S&P said the Philippines ranks low

in terms of GDP per capita compared to similarly rated peers.

“The key factors that we are following in the Philippines’s case is the very strong external position.

We look principally to its quite high and rising foreign-exchange reserves and its relatively low external debt burden. That said, it is a relatively low income sovereign for us in its current ratings category and this is something that we [are looking at],” S&P economists said.

The New York-based credit watchdog also said they are keenly interested in how the next administration will continue the reforms put in place by the current Malacañang occupant.

“The outcome [of the elections] is relatively unclear but, nonetheless, if we see a weakening in the government’s commitment to consolidate its fiscal position, if we see the new

administration weakening the pace of reforms, such that the lowering in the government’s operating deficits turn around and we see much higher deficit getting back to where we were, say, two to three years ago, and if that ties with a rising debt burden, these would be things that we would be identifying as bringing pressure to the ratings,” S&P said.

Still, its baseline forecast still show continuity of reforms that should prove a positive boost to the economy and to overall investor confidence.

“At the moment, that is not the direction the government is moving in. We think that coming out of the elections next year, we’ll be more than likely to see a continuation of the government’s broad strategy to pay debt and to continue to consolidate its fiscal position,” S&P said.

Megaworld allots ₧20B for 12 new office bldgs. . .

“We envision Uptown Bonifacio to rise as a bustling central business district of Fort Bonifacio. At present, several multinational companies have already signed up to set up their operations here. Uptown Towers 1, 2 and 3 are now 90-percent leased out even before we have completed the delivery of the said towers. These office towers are all LEEDregistered,” Go said. LEED is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The company is also building six more campus-type office

towers in its new township, the 34.5-hectare McKinley West: One West Campus, Two West Campus, Three West Campus, Five West Campus, Six West Campus and Eight West Campus. Each tower is five stories high with 10,000 sq m of leasable office spaces.

“There is a remarkable demand for sustainable campustype office buildings, especially after we built 8 Campus Place in McKinley Hill, the first LEED Gold-certified business-process outsourcing office building in the country. We look forward to our LEED certification for these new office buildings in McKinley

Continued from A1

Wes,t as well,” Go said.

Within three years, two more office towers are in the pipeline for Megaworld in Fort Bonifacio. These new office towers will add around 140,000 sq m to the company’s office-space inventory.

Megaworld now has 19 office towers in McKinley Hill covering around 300,000 sq m of office-space inventory. The company remains to be the country’s biggest office developer and landlord, with around 712,000 sq m of office-space inventory, mostly leased to information-technology and BPO companies.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ICC APPROVES 2 BIG PROJECTS WORTH P124.7B

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

he interagency Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) recently approved P124.71 billion worth of public-private partnership (PPP) projects, according to the PPP Center.

The PPP Center said the amount covers the P74.56-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Development Project and the P50.15-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 4 Project of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

The Naia Development Project aims to improve, upgrade and enhance the existing terminals of the Philippines’s primary gateway.

One of the primary responsibilities of the private-sector partner will be to increase the capacity of the three terminals.

The private-sector partner will also handle the operations and maintenance covering both landside and airside aspects, except air-traffic services, to increase operational efficiency and improve quality of services.

Meanwhile, the LRT Line 4 is an 11-kilometer rail project that will run from SM City Taytay to the intersection of Ortigas and Epifanio de los Santos Avenues.

The project will also address con-

gestion along the Ortigas Avenue corridor and improve local transportation to western parts of Metro Manila.

The proposed alignment covers six stations: Ortigas Avenue (Robinsons Galleria), transfer station with the Metro Rail Transit; Meralco Avenue; Rosario, Pasig; Bonifacio Avenue; Taytay Diversion Road; and North Manila Road (SM Taytay).

“It [the project] covers the provision of railway infrastructure, stations, depots, rolling stock, signaling, electrification and communication, automated fare-collection system, and other necessary machinery and equipment,” the PPP Center stated.

To date, the government has awarded 10 PPP projects costing around P189 billion. These projects include the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, Southwest Terminal of the Integrated Transport System, LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension and the MactanCebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building.

The list also includes the Automatic Fare Collection System, Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center, PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phase I and II, Naia Expressway Phase II Project and the Daang HariSouth Luzon Expressway Link Road.

With Elisse Leonne Perez