BusinessMirror August 7, 2015

BusinessMirror

THREETIME ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business Saturday 20147,Vol.2015 10 No. Vol. 40 10 No. 302 Friday,18, August

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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

■ ■

TOKYO PLEDGES $2B O.D.A. PACKAGE TO MANILA’S COMMUTER RAILWAY PROJECT

Japan to finance $6.27-B rail GOVT POSTED P72.7B T DEFICIT IN JUNE, BUT B L S. M

OKYO has pledged a $2-billion official development assistance (ODA) package to Manila’s $6.27-billion North-South Commuter Railway initiative.

INSIDE

RACHEL McADAMS

Life

Let us be free for goodness

D

EAR Lord, help us to be free people so that we are able to think what we do, being able to assess what is good and what is bad. These are the types of conduct that lead to development; it means always opting to be good. Let us be free for goodness.

And in things we do, let us not be afraid to go against the tide even it is not easy. Being free to choose goodness is demanding but it will transform us into people with a backbone who can face life with patience and unending service for others. Amen.

MAGNIFICAT AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

ON THE MENU: RED FISH GRILL’S CRAB CAKES »D3

BusinessMirror

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

Friday, August 7, 2015

D1

Rachel McAdams as a movie star?

She opts to be busy working actress

T

B A K Los Angeles Times

HERE’S a story that always comes up when people talk about Rachel McAdams, one that reveals her ambivalence about the machinery of Hollywood.

A decade ago, after she’d just starred in three huge hits in a row—The Notebook, Mean Girls and The Wedding Crashers—she was asked to pose on the cover of Vanity Fair Fair. She was supposed to be photographed by Annie Leibovitz alongside two other beautiful and popular young actresses, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley.

But when she arrived at the photo shoot, she learned that the other women had agreed to pose nude. She did not want to take off her clothes, so she passed up the opportunity. “I didn’t see any other way,” McAdams says now, reflecting on the decision. “It wasn’t something I could ever possibly see myself doing. I have no issues doing it for a part if it makes sense, if it’s not gratuitous, and I think it’s adding to the story. But not as myself on the cover of a magazine about Hollywood’s most powerful young women.”

After her turn as a beguiling ingénue in The Notebook, studio executives branded her as the next Notebook Julia Roberts. She had that same huge smile and nononsense attitude; she was believable in commercial fare and indie dramas.

And though she was private, she knew how to give fans just enough to maintain intrigue—famously running into then-boyfriend Ryan Gosling’s arms for a dramatic lip lock while accepting Best Kiss prize at the MTV Movie Awards.

But 10 years later, at 36, McAdams isn’t Roberts.

She’s a busy working actress—often popping up on red carpets and non-Vanity Vanity Fair magazine covers—but not quite a movie star. In the past five years, she’s worked with high-end directors, like Woody Allen, Terrence

Malick and Brian de Palma.

Now she has a brief but pivotal role in Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw Southpaw, playing opposite Jake Gyllenhaal as a devoted wife who meets with a tragic fate that throws the athlete’s life into chaos.

She’s also on the latest season of HBO’s True Detective, starring as Ani Bezzerides, a hard-edged, tenacious investigator trying to crack a complicated murder case. All of her costars on the program—Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Vince Vaughn—have had trouble opening movies at the box office but are still respected actors. As a result, the series has been viewed as a sort of career rehab—a place to regain industry credibility playing very serious characters.

But should McAdams be a part of that group? Sure, she once passed on being a Bond girl, as well as Anne Hathaway’s role in The Devil Wears Prada. But it’s not as if she’s only made quirky indies. She’s starred in accessible love stories, like The Vow Vow, and big-budget action flicks, like Sherlock Holmes, and has certainly made more conventional choices than Gosling, whose career was also launched by The Notebook Notebook. But nobody’s writing essays about why he isn’t a movie star; they’re likely too busy making “Hey Girl” memes to post on Tumblr.

“What is this movie-star thing? I say that without bitterness, even though people will probably say I’m projecting,” says her True Detective costar Farrell, who is one part heartthrob, one part character actor himself.

“It’s just kind of ridiculous and pointless. Rachel is navigating her career in a really interesting way. It feels like she’s seeking out the potential of what we do for a living.” And by the way, does McAdams herself even want to be a movie star?

“I think it was sort of a vague idea in my mind when I was a kid, when you think, ‘What would that be like?’” she says. “But it wasn’t something I really meditated on or planned for in any way. I really thought I’d be doing theater in Canada. I’d grown up doing children’s theater

there, and I always imagined myself being artistic director of a children’s theater company.”

That may sound like one of those actor-y things actors say, but Gyllenhaal thinks that there’s a big part of McAdams that doesn’t want to be acting at all.

“Deep down inside, I know she wants to be home and go to her local co-op,” says the Southpaw star. “I think if you told her she would live a life where she wasn’t an actress, exactly half of her would be genuinely fine with that. Actors say that but deep down want to be the star of the show. But she’s a really private person.

“Even when you’re working with her, it’s like, ‘We’re all going out to dinner. Do you want to come?’ And she’s like, ‘I’m OK. I have my friends.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, OK, I’ll see you on set tomorrow.’ She very clearly has her life and her work life.”

McAdams does seem to revel in being kind of unknowable. She still lives in Toronto, about two hours from the town she grew up in, and does most of her Hollywood meetings over Skype. And she has a reputation for being a hard interview—polite but serious and withholding. She can be difficult to draw out, sometimes pausing for 30 seconds before answering a question. It’s hard to imagine gossiping at the nail salon with her but somehow easy to envision spending hours talking about good movies and books and music. She’s thoughtful—that’s something you hear people say a lot about her.

“She’s a very thoughtful actress, and I guess that can be seen as superpicky, but someone like she has a lot of opportunity,” says Tom McCarthy, who directed the actress in his upcoming film Spotlight Spotlight, in which she plays a Boston Globe journalist investigating the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal. “Her time is valuable, and I think you get to a point where you can afford to be a little picky.”

“It’s often out of my own insecurity,” McAdams admits. “If I’m picky, it’s for that reason. I want to be able to bring my best to the table. So if I’m not connecting to

something, then I’m not going to hold up my end of the bargain, and that’s really embarrassing.”

She’s not, however, embarrassed by Aloha, the Cameron Crowe drama she costarred in with Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone earlier this year that was a critical and financial bomb. The Hawaii-set drama, which has grossed just $20.9 million since May, was up against difficult odds at the multiplex: In e-mails leaked during the Sony Pictures hack, former studio cochairman Amy Pascal wrote, “It never not even once ever works.”

“I think it was judged unfairly. There was a lot of weird stuff around it that I think had nothing to do with the film itself that clouded things,” McAdams says. “I thought there was some tough criticism on Cameron that I don’t think he deserved. He really puts his heart and his soul into everything, and I know that was a real passion project for him.... I thought it was a beautiful script, and I loved playing that character and shooting in Hawaii. It was really quite magical. It was one of the top moviemaking experiences I’ve had.”

Despite that misfire, McAdams is still up for the biggest Hollywood roles—it just seems to be a matter of whether she wants to take them. She is considering playing the female lead in Marvel’s Doctor Strange, which is set to star Benedict Cumberbatch, though she is careful to note, “it’s still super-early days, and I don’t know where that’s going to go, if it’s going to go anywhere at all.” But she’s not a “comic-book snob.” (Or a reality-TV snob, for that matter: She says she’s been watching this season of The Bachelorette.)

Big-name actresses have been taking roles in comicbook franchises for years now—Johansson, Natalie Portman. But McAdams is repelled by the idea that she should follow any prescribed path.

“I try to shut out ideas about why you should do things,” McAdams says. “Trying to do good architecture and really designing a career? There’s some attention to be paid to that, but I don’t think it’s everything.” ■

LIFE

D1

If this pushes through, this would be the single-biggest yen-loan program that Japan has ever extended to a development partner.

The pledge comes after Tokyo firmed up its commitment to cooperate with Manila in developing the Philippines’s transportation

infrastructure. Manila will use the amount to build the first phase of the much-needed rail facility.

The first phase of the facility will involve the construction of a 36.7-kilometer narrow-gauge elevated commuter railway from Malolos, Bulacan, to Tutuban in Manila. It is seen to be

completed by the third quarter of 2020.

The second phase, which will extend the commuter rail to Matnog, Sorsogon, will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019. This will be auctioned off under the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.

Essentially, the whole project aims to revive the Bicol line of the Philippine National Railways (PNR), while improving its decades-old facilities that are far below the train systems of its peers.

The two-phase project is part of the P4.76-trillion Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and its Surrounding Areas, otherwise known as the Dream Plan, which was formulated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

S “J,” A

RED FISH GRILL Cook&Dine BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, August 7, 2015

D3

Red Fish Grill’s crab cakes CORN MAQUE CHOUX

B N C | Los Angeles Times

R

ICH and generously sized, each tender crab cake from this recipe (courtesy of Red Fish Grill in New Orleans) is large enough to work as a meal. It is served atop very creamy corn maque choux—cooked with more cream and milk than I’m accustomed to, it’s extra rich—and topped with homemade grilled green onion tartar sauce and tomato relish.

It’s a bit of a project, but well worth the extra effort.

This recipe calls for raw egg. Although many recipes call for raw eggs, the US Department of Agriculture recommends that diners—especially children, seniors, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems—avoid eating them.

Total time: 1 1/2 hours | Serves four GRILLED GREEN ONIONS TARTAR SAUCE Ingredients: 1/2 bunch green onions Oil, for brushing the onions 1 egg yolk 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp dry mustard 1/2 tsp sugar 2 tsp lemon juice 1 tbsp cane vinegar or rice vinegar 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 tbsp sweet pickle relish Procedures: Grill the onions: Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat until hot. Lightly brush the green onions with oil, then grill, turning every minute or so, until charred on all sides.

Remove from heat and set aside until cool, then slice crosswise into small rings.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together the egg yolk, salt, mustard, sugar, lemon juice, cane vinegar and Worcestershire sauce until

PHOTO BY GLENN KOENIG/LOS ANGELES TIMES

Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 3 ears of corn, shucked 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper (from about 1/2 pepper) 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper (from about 1/4 pepper) 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced 1 cup diced onions (from about 1/2 large onion) 1 1/2 tbsp chopped garlic, from 6 to 7 cloves 2 tbsp flour 1 1/2 cups milk 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 2 tbsp hot sauce, or to taste 1 tsp black pepper 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

incorporated. With the mixer running, slowly add the oils until you reach a mayonnaise-like consistency. Fold in the green onions and sweet pickle relish.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. This makes about 1 cup tartar sauce, which will be kept, covered and refrigerated up to five days.

TOMATO RELISH Ingredients: 1 tomato, finely diced 2 tbsp minced red onion 4 large basil leaves, cut in thin strips Kosher salt and pepper to taste Procedures: In a medium bowl, combine the tomato, red onion and basil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before using to give the flavors time to marry.

JUMBO LUMP CRAB CAKES Ingredients: 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked of any shell

2 large green onions, finely diced 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1 1/2 tsp salt Pinch ground black pepper 3/4 to 1 cup bread crumbs Seasoned flour (1 cup flour seasoned with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper) Procedures: In a large bowl, gently combine the crabmeat, green onions, lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and three-fourths cup bread crumbs, carefully fold the ingredients together to avoid breaking up the lumps of crabmeat.

Divide the mixture into fourths and mold each into a crab cake (if the crab cakes are too delicate to hold together, add the remaining bread crumbs to make them firmer).

Flour both sides of each cake with the seasoned flour.

The crab cakes can be made up to 1 day ahead, and should be refrigerated and covered until ready to cook.

If making it ahead, wait to flour the crab cakes until ready to cook.

Procedures: In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over mediumhigh heat until its hot. Stir in the corn, bell and jalapeño peppers, onions and garlic, and cook until the vegetables are softened, six to eight minutes.

Stir in the flour and continue to cook, stir constantly until the flour begins to smell nutty for two to three minutes. Slowly stir in the milk and cream, and simmer, stir it constantly until the liquid reduces and the mixture begins to thicken, about 20 minutes. (If it thickens too quickly, the mixture can be thinned with a little chicken broth or water.)

Stir in the Worcestershire and hot sauce, along with the pepper, salt and cayenne pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

ASSEMBLY Ingredients: 2 to 3 tbsp oil 4 crab cakes Corn maque choux 1/2 cup green onion tartar sauce 1/4 cup tomato relish Sliced green onions for garnish Procedures: Heat a skillet over medium-high heat until its hot.

Add a tablespoon or two of oil to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet, and gently place one or two crab cakes in the pan (this will need to be done in batches).

Brown the crab cakes on one side, then carefully flip over and brown the other side.

Remove the crab cakes to a rack and continue cooking until all of the crab cakes are done.

On each of four plates, ladle one-fourth of the corn maque choux. Place a crab cake in the center of each and spoon 2 tablespoons of the tartar sauce on top of the cake. Finish each dish with a tablespoon of tomato relish and garnish with green onions. Serve immediately. ■

COOK&DINE

CRISPY Pata

DOING RIGHT BY FILIPINO FLAVORS

FORMERLY known as Ang Kan-anan ni Kuya J, Kuya J Restaurant started as a humble eatery along the streets of Cebu. With its scrumptious offerings, however, it didn’t stay under the radar for long as Cebuano foodies happily spread the word around, making Kuya J one of the well-loved restaurants in Cebu. Its main branch in Escario Street continues to enjoy full-house patronage.

Today, Kuya J is satisfying the Filipino palate beyond the boundaries of

D3

DEREK SHEPHERD Show BusinessMirror

D4 Friday, August 7, 2015

www.businessmirror.com.ph

MEGA producer Shonda Rhimes (left) and Ellen Pompeo of Grey’s Anatomy during the recent 2015 Summer Television Critics Association Tour.

GABBI GARCIA and Ruru Madrid

‘LET THE LOVE BEGIN’S HEARTWARMING FINALE

THE GMA prime-time drama Let the Love Begin concludes its run with a heartwarming finale tonight, August 7, after Pari ’Koy ’Koy. The soap is topbilled by Ai-Ai de las Alas with the network’s fast-rising loveteam of Ruru Madrid and Gabbi Garcia.

As the series comes to a close, Ai-Ai, Ruru and Gabbi, together with costars Gardo Versoza and Donita Rose, share their most memorable scenes, the things they will miss, and what to expect in the finale.

Ai-Ai reveals that working anew with her close friend Gardo and her scenes with Gladys make for her most unforgettable moments on the show. “Kung paano kami naging close ulit ni Gardo dahil nagkasama ulit kami sa trabaho. Nakakatuwa kasi nag-reunion kami kami. And si Gladys, malapit sa puso ko ’yan, nakakatawa, maraming kwento at chika. Bago kami mag-take, ang tagal kasi hindi natatapos ang kwentuhan namin.”

Ruru says his most memorable scene was his confrontation with Ai-Ai who plays his mother in the drama.

“Memorable para sa akin ’yung sinampal ako ni Mama Ai kasi sobrang heavy talaga ng scene na ’yun at ang ganda ng kinalabasan.” He will definitely miss “the happy set at ang mababait na staff at crew at ang lahat ng coactors ko sa show na ito.”

Gabbi says that she will never forget one of her scenes with Ruru: “It was when I slapped him because it was the first time I ever did that.” She adds that she will miss their happy cast as they have built a strong relationship off-camera. For his part, Gardo reveals that playing Tony, the DJ who shares a past with Ai-Ai’s character, has been most memorable. “Mami-miss Mami Mami-miss ko ’yung pagiging DJ ko, ’yung character ko—at abangan din ng viewers ang pagtatagpo namin ni Celeste [Donita Rose] at kung paano ko siya lulumpuhin.”

Playing Pia’s wicked stepmother Celeste, Donita says she will certainly miss having Anne Villegas as her acting coach. “She has been my greatest inspiration doing this soap and has helped me to not just enjoy the process but to study it further and possibly pursue even more roles.”

As the soap arrives at its final, many questions remain unanswered. Will Pia choose Erick over Uno? Will Jeni and Tony let the love begin for Pia and Erick? Under the direction of Gina Alajar, the answers will be revealed tonight.

The Derek Shepherd effect that’ll get you back into ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ B N S | Los Angeles Times

T

HANK God it’s Shonda Rhimes.

ABC is banking on the mega-producer and Shondaland’s twisty female-led dramas—Grey’s Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder—to carry Thursday’s prime-time programming.

Joined by the leading ladies of her Thank God It’s Thursday lineup—Viola Davis, Kerry Washington and Ellen Pompeo—Executive Producer Betsy Beers and How To... cocreator Pete Nowalk during the Television Critics Association panel in Beverly Hills—Rhimes on Tuesday remained tight-lipped about the shows’ upcoming story lines, but did tease to Meredith’s rebirth on the next season of Grey’s Anatomy after the death of her husband (Patrick Dempsey) and noted that Scandal and its Season 4 cliffhangers would pick up right where they left off.

The shows return and air back to back on September 24. Rhimes’s long-running medical soap Grey’s Anatomy is going into its 12th season, despite its exodus of

numerous original lead characters. Season 11 saw the departure of Dempsey, whose Dr. McDreamy met his end in a car crash. Rhimes said that move was the only way they could preserve Meredith and Derek’s love story and she is excited about the show’s “lighter tone” moving forward.

“We ended last season in which we said the sun is going to rise again,” Rhimes said. “We do have this world, in which Meredith is single and she is living this life that she hadn’t thought she was going to be living again. She’s living in a house with her sisters, and she’s surrounded by women who are dating and having a whole life, and she’s not into any of that and starting to wonder if there’s a there a second life here or are the best years of your life behind you.”

The writer and producer said she’s excited about the medical growth of the character as a leader and the evolution of that woman.

Pompeo said that it’s an important human story to tell. “So many people lose their spouses in a myriad of different ways and a lot people feel like they can’t get up again,” the actress said. “To tell that story about how life does go on after what you think is impossible is something that so many people can relate to.”

The Grey’s Anatomy star said that it’s a story worth telling if it can provide even one person comfort.

Washington political drama Scandal enters its fifth season by hitting the ground running. “Gladiators” will have to stock up on their wine and popcorn and settle in to see what becomes of several of the Season 4 finale’s cliffhangers. With the successful arrest of Papa Pope in the finale, Olivia (Washington) finally—and passionately—reunites with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), the president of the United States, on the White House terrace after he gives the first lady the boot.

“We are picking up almost pretty much where we left off, which is a pretty harrowing place, where the world had been fairly blown apart for everybody,” Rhimes said.

Cyrus (Jeff Perry) is fired as the president’s chief of staff, the president’s wife, Mellie (Bellamy Young), loses Fitz’s support after getting a grand jury massacred, Jake (Scott Foley) walks away from Olivia, and Quinn (Katie

Lowes) is considering killing Huck (Guillermo Diaz) after he’s revealed as the grand jury murderer.

How To..., a law school-set murder series, is the newest of the trio and is going into its second season.

The whodunnit sophomore drama already clinched a lead actress Emmy A Award nomination for Davis’s role as complex, no-nonsense criminal defense attorney Annalise Keating, a law professor who finds herself and her students at the center of a campus murder. Guest actress Cicely Tyson, who plays Annalise’s estranged, house-burning mother, also received a nod.

The series picks up about a week after Rebecca’s surprising murder. “The big question for Annalise is what has she wrought and the consequences of the first season,” its show runner, Nowalk said.

They would delve into several characters’ back stories, including how they met each other and “what dark and twisted things that happened to them in the past,” he said. “There’s these fresh new strorylines for these people you think you know at this point in the show but don’t really know anything at all.”

At the network’s upfronts presentation in May, ABC announced a midseason order for yet another Shondaland drama: Shondaland drama: a fraud investigation thriller called The Catch, spotlighting Mireille Enos of The Killing as the female lead.

None of the Shondaland’s dramas are without sex, murder, twists and strong female leads, but the producer said that she is just drawn to projects she thinks are good rather than female-led procedurals.

Scandal’s ’s success is believed believed to have given rise to more empowered African American characters on television (see: Empire), but Rhimes declined to comment on that being her legacy.

“I don’t think we spend our time focusing on awards or accolades,” she said. “I’m focusing on work that I do as a writer. I certainly don’t spend any time thinking about legacy because we’re still doing this... staying in the present is way more useful to me.”

Despite her Emmy nomination, Davis chimed in, saying: “If you’re in this business for awards, you’re in the wrong business.” ■

Nora Aunor’s ‘Taklub’ opens Cinemalaya filmfest BRILLANTE MENDOZA’S award-winning Taklub will open the 11th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition, which runs from August 7 to 15 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Greenbelt 3 in Makati City.

Taklub tells the story of Bebeth, Larry and Erwin, whose lives intertwine after Supertyphoon Yolanda ravaged the city of Tacloban, leaving survivors to search for their dead, while keeping their sanity intact and protecting what little faith they may have left.

Superstar and showbiz icon Nora Aunor plays Bebeth, who searches for the remains of her three children from those buried at the mass grave. Julio Diaz is Larry, who lost his wife and consoles himself by joining a group of devout Catholics carrying a lifesize cross around the city. Aaron Rivera is Erwin, who together with his elder brother tries to hide the truth of their parents’ death from their little sister.

Taklub will be shown at 7 pm, August 7, following the Cinemalaya opening ceremony. The event is open to the public. Cinemalaya (www.cinemalaya.org) www.cinemalaya.org) is a project of www.cinemalaya.org the Cinemalaya Foundation Inc., CCP and the Ayala Malls Cinemas. Established in 2005, Cinemalaya is an alldigital film festival and competition that aims to discover, encourage and honor cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers. To date, Cinemalaya has supported and promoted the production of 118 full-feature independent films and 96 short films. Many of these have won awards in local and international competitions and festivals.

SHOW

D4

NORA AUNOR

10% NETINCOME HIKE SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) officials (from left) Frank Gomez, senior vice president for finance; Jose Sio, executive

SURPLUS KEPT IN H1 B D C

T

HE fiscal authorities finally reported on Thursday a budgetary shortfall in June, with expenditures overtaking revenues

by P72.7 billion for the month.

But since the government’s fiscal position remained in surplus in the first half, this development failed to dispel speculations the government could be underspending again.

According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the government incurred a P72.7-billion budget deficit in June, bringing its fiscal position to a surplus of P13.7 billion in the first half.

The DOF attributed the budget surplus to higher revenues this year, saying that the government’s fiscal position in the first half of 2014 was a deficit of P67.7 billion.

Total revenues from January to June amounted to P1.085 trillion, or a growth of 16 percent, compared to the same period last year.

“As we close out the first half of the year, we continue to see robust growth trends across the board— be it from the revenue-generating agencies or the expenditure side.

June shaped up to be a good month for our fiscal story as performance at the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] and the BOC [Bureau of Customs] jumped by double digits,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said.

Of the total revenues the BIR

collected P705.9 billion, or a 10-percent growth from the agency’s collection in the first half of 2014.

The BOC collected P178.6 billion for the first half, or a 3-percent growth from its collection during comparable periods in 2014.

The Bureau of the Treasury contributed P67 billion in revenues for the first half.

On the expenditures side, Purisima allayed fears that the government’s budget surplus automatically meant that it was spending less. He cited that expenditures for the first half of this year grew by 9 percent from the expenditures made in the same period last year.

Disbursements for the first half already breached the trillion-peso mark at P1.072 trillion.

Interest payments also constituted less out of the total amount of expenditures, suggesting that more cash is freed up to spend for projects that have social and economic impact.

Interest payments for the first half amounted to P156.1 billion, or 15 percent of the total expenditures.

“Pumping productive spending with adequate fiscal space is expected to help propel even higher broad-based growth. We are confident that improving revenue collections and the highly liquid tone of the market can respond to our funding requirements,” Purisima said.

vice president and CFO SMIC; and Jeffrey Lim, executive vice president, report a 10-percent hike in SMIC’s first-half net income. Story on B1. NONIE REYES

Gozon ready for out-of-court settlement with a ‘reasonable’ Ang GOZON: “I am a reasonable person, and I suppose that he is also reasonable. I suppose if there is any reasonable proposal for a settlement, we might agree on that.

In short, I am open.”

G

MA Network Chairman Felipe L. Gozon said his doors are still open on the possibility of settling his row with San Miguel Corp. President Ramon S. Ang outside the courts.

The magic phrase he used, however, is this: Ang needs to be reasonable. “I am a reasonable person, and I suppose that he is also reasonable.

I suppose if there is any reasonable proposal for a settlement, we might agree on that. In short, I am open,”

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 45.7380

Gozon, a lawyer, said.

Ang charged the network’s chief executive with syndicated estafa— a nonbailable case—after the botched acquisition of a significant minority stake in the broadcasting firm.

He claims to have been swindled with P1 billion, as Gozon refuses to return the amount—paid as down payment to the deal—despite the collapse of negotiations between the two parties.

But for the broadcasting company’s

bigwig, he has the right to keep the money until the court decides how to address this issue, as it is deemed as payment to lost opportunities.

The other parties forming the triumvirate of GMA were spared from the case, as they signified their intention to return Ang’s down payment. According to Gozon, the Jimenez and Duavit families have “special relationships” with the COO of San Miguel.

A ng was not available for

comment. However, he issued a statement early Thursday morning, claiming that Gozon’s assertions on Wednesday afternoon validate that he, indeed, committed estafa.

“Yet, and perhaps, unwittingly by his own admission, Atty. Gozon has reinforced my complaint for estafa,” he said. “He received the P1 billion for the Gozon Group and in trust for the Duavit and the Jimenez groups.

Yet, notwithstanding the directive of the Duavit and the Jimenez groups,

he still refuses to return the money or any portion thereof, and instead appropriated the entire P1 billion all for his own and for the Gozon Group.” The money, Gozon said, is kept in a bank.

“While the money is in the bank, the bank account is under his name.

Thus, the money is still under his full control to the exclusion of everybody else. That is appropriation, as well,” Ang said.

C  A

■ JAPAN 0.3664 ■ UK 71.3696 ■ HK 5.9005 ■ CHINA 7.3657 ■ SINGAPORE 33.0620 ■ AUSTRALIA 33.6086 ■ EU 49.8819 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.1981 Source: BSP (6 August 2015)

A2

News

BusinessMirror

Friday, August 7, 2015

Gozon ready for out-of-court settlement with a ‘reasonable’ Ang. . .

Continued from A1

Gozon’s refusal to return the money after ending the negotiations with Ang’s camp “is the essence of estafa by misappropriation” as stated in the latter’s complaint.

“Atty. Gozon claims to have received the P1 billion on behalf of the Gozon Group, yet, in the same breath, he is denying that he is keeping the same for the benefit of the group,” Ang concluded.

Open to more suitors

Despite this legal tussle, Gozon said his group is still open to negotiate with other interested parties who want to invest in the network, for instance the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom Inc. The two telecommunications giants have signified their interest in investing in the television company. “I have consistently taken the position that we are not really sharing our shares, but if there are good

DOTC. . .

Bottom line hits P1 billion

The broadcast giant reported a net income of P1.1 billion for the first half of 2015, up 89 percent over the same period last year, as revenues rose by 15 percent to P6.7 billion, while expenses grew by a slower 3 percent to P5.1 billion.

“In the first semester alone, we have not only breached the P1-billion mark in terms of net income, but have also exceeded last year’s full-year bottom line performance by at least P89 million. We are optimistic that the rest of 2015 will also bring positive results for our company,” Gozon said. Shares of GMA rallied by 2.04 percent to close at P6.49 apiece on Thursday. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Continued from A8

“We still have the decision. What we can do is to shoulder the cost,” he said. Cabinet official added that his group is not bent on passing on the brunt to consumers.

“We are inclined to pay them, not to pass

Japan. . .

offers, we will listen and take them very seriously,” he said. “The offer must be good. Ramon Ang might have struck the good price, but the transaction did not push through because of other matters.”

the cost to the commuters. It is the government’s obligation, so we have to comply,” he said. Under the 32-year concession agreement, LRMC is allowed to raise fares for the LRT 1 by 10.25 percent every two years.

Continued from A1

The Dream Plan lists the transport-infrastructure requirements of the Philippines, facilities that are expected to alleviate potential losses and gain from prospective savings.

If the the transport road map would not be implemented through 2030, the Philippines stands to lose roughly P6 billion daily in traffic costs. Currently, it

loses P2 billion a day in transport costs.

A large chunk of the list will be implemented under the PPP scheme, which has been gaining traction since its launch in 2010.

The government has awarded 10 deals so far. It aims to award, at most, 13 more contracts before President Aquino bows out from office in 2016.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Services in US expand at fastest pace in a decade

A

merica’s service providers, from restaurants to real-estate agencies, expanded in July at the strongest pace in a decade, putting the US economy on track for faster growth.

The Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index jumped by 4.3 points to 60.3, the best reading since August 2005 and well above the most optimistic projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists, the group’s report showed on Wednesday. All major components of the gauge, including orders and employment, advanced.

Steady hiring, a recovering housing market, reduced fuel expenses and cheap borrowing costs are benefiting service producers, while the nation’s factories battle tepid global sales and slower capital spending.

Resilient domestic demand helps explain why Federal Reserve policy-makers will probably raise interest rates this year for the first time since 2006.

“The economy is in good shape,” Brian Jones, a senior US economist at Société Générale in New York, said before the report.

“The consumer is fine because of the strong labor market. We have the luxury that so much of our activity is determined within our own national borders.”

Readings above 50 for the Tempe, Arizo-

na-based ISM’s index signal expansion. The median forecast in the Bloomberg survey was 56.2 after 56 in June, with estimates ranging from 54 to 58. The survey covers industries that make up almost 90 percent of the economy, including utilities, retailing and health care. It also factors in construction and agriculture.

In contrast, American manufacturers were off to an uninspiring start to the second half of 2015, according to the group’s survey released on Monday. The factory index dropped in July to a three-month low of 52.7.

Manufacturing comparison

The 7.6-point difference between the ISM’s nonmanufacturing gauge and the factory index was the biggest since January 2009, six months before the last recession ended.

Within the services repor, the employment gauge jumped to 59.6 from 52.7, the biggest one-month advance since records began in July 1997. The new orders measure climbed to 63.8 from 58.3. Both measures were the highest since August 2005.

The group’s measure of business activity, which parallels the ISM’s factory-production gauge, advanced to 64.9 last month from 61.5. That marked the strongest reading since December 2004.

Demand in the US remains steady. Gross domestic product climbed at a 2.3-percent annualized rate in the second quarter after eking out a 0.6-percent advance in the prior three months, Commerce Department figures showed on July 30. Consumer spending grew 2.9 percent last quarter, also accelerating from the start of the year.

Job market

Sustained job creation is driving household purchasing power. A report on Friday may show payrolls rose by about 225,000 in July, while the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Fed policy-makers last month said the job market continues to make strides, keeping them on track to raise their benchmark interest rate.

“Economic activity has been expanding moderately in recent months,” the central bank said in their July 29 policy statement. “The labor market continued to improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment.

The Fed ‘‘anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen some further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term,’’ according to the statement.

Bloomberg News

The Nation BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Defeated senatorial candidate petitions Poe’s disqualification

By Jove Marie N. dela Cruz

A

candidate who lost twice in senatorial elections filed on Thursday a quo warranto petition before the Senate Electoral Tribunal to unseat Sen. Grace Poe. The Internet defines quo warranto as medieval Latin for “by what warrant?” It is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right or power (or “franchise”) they claim to hold.

Rizalito David, who lost in the 2010 and in the 2013 senatorial elections, said in his petition that Poe should be unseated because she is a foundling and not a natural-born Filipino.

On Wednesday David attempted to file a case to unseat Poe but failed because he did not have the P50,000 filing fee.

Moreover, in his filed petition, David argued that Poe is not a natural-born citizen and the senator once held an American citizenship, adding “she is using an American passport since 2009.”

According to him, Poe, who topped the 2013 senatorial elections, is a foundling or stateless, saying no law in the Philippines gives a natural-born status to a foundling.

“Being a foundling, her parents are not known and cannot be presumed as Filipino citizens, hence she cannot claim or acquire the status of a natural-born citizen,” the petition said.

Poe was reportedly abandoned in a church in Iloilo and was later adopted by actor Fernando Poe Jr. and actress Susan Roces.

Article VII, Section 2 of the Constitution states that “no person may be elected President unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least 40 years of age on the day of the election, and a resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years immediately preceding such election.”

Meanwhile, David said he plans to file the citizenship complaint against Poe with the Commission on Elections and, at the same time, eyeing the filing of another complaint against Poe over her previous chairmanship of the Movie and Television Review and Classifications Board.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Friday, August 7, 2015 A3

CA tells DOJ to prosecute 2010 Bar exams bomber

T

By Joel R. San Juan

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has given the go-signal for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute a member of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity for multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder in connection with the grenade explosion outside the De La Salle University during the 2010 Bar exams that left at least 50 persons wounded.

In a 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Francisco Acosta, the CA’s Special Fourth Division denied the petition filed by Anthony Nepomuceno, the alleged grenadethrower, seeking the nullification of the resolution issued by the

prosecution attorney on April 27, 2011, which found probable cause to file criminal charges against him before the trial court.

The appellate court held that the DOJ did not commit grave abuse of discretion in recom-

mending the filing of information against Nepomuceno.

The CA noted that Nepomuceno’s defense, that the affidavits of the witnesses presented by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are inconsistent and the positive identifications were questionable, are matters that should be addressed during the trial proper.

“Thus, the perceived inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses are not sufficient to debunk the investigating prosecutor’s finding of probable cause against Nepomuceno,” the CA explained.

“In fact, considering the suddenness of the incident and the overall ruckus attendant at the last Sunday of the Bar examinations, the slight inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses are deemed natural,” it ruled.

The CA also agreed with the investigating prosecutor that Nepomuceno relied on denial and alibi but was not able to demonstrate that it was physically impossible for him to be at the place of the

crime when it happened.

“We are not preemptively judging the merits of Nepomuceno’s case nor are we ruling on his culpability or the lack thereof. At this point in time, these matters are best left to the proper court which is tasked to assess the merits of a party’s accusation or defense, as well as the weight and probative value of evidence presented,” the CA emphasized.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Noel Tijam and Agnes Reyes Carpio.

Aside from multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder the DOJ also found probable cause to indict for illegal possession of explosive.

In its resolution, the DOJ held that Nepomuceno’s submission of a photocopy of a receipt issued by an automated teller machine of Metrobank, Baranka, Marikina Branch, is not sufficient to support his claim that he was not at the crime scene.

It noted that Nepomuceno

failed to prove that the receipt belonged to his account and that the date and time indicated in the said receipt is September 26, 2010, at exactly 19:49:29, or 7:49 p.m.

The DOJ noted that the bombing happened at 5:10 p.m., thus, there was a two-hour window from the commission of the crime and the issuance of the said receipt.

Likewise, the DOJ did not give weight to the affidavits of witnesses submitted by Nepomuceno considering they are either members of his family, friends or fraternity brothers and sisters.

It also did not give credence to the statement given by a certain Marissa Despe, allegedly an independent witness for the respondent, saying that the person whom she saw being chased by a group of individuals after the explosion occurred was not Nepomuceno.

The DOJ said Despe’s claim failed to overcome the positive identification of the witnesses of the complainants.

MMDA chief says Calabarzon trade gains from Daang Hari-Slex road Taguig’s Cayetano, city official

indicted for locking session hall

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

G

C

HAIRMAN Francis N. Tolentino of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the newly opened 4-kilometer four-lane Daang Hari to South Luzon Expressway (DH-Slex) Link Road is a boon to commerce in the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon) provinces.

DH-Slex connects Bacoor, Cavite, to the Slex. The MMDA’s authority, on the other hand, spans only the cities of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Valenzuela, Malabon, Taguig, Navotas and San Juan and the municipality of Pateros.

In a statement, Tolentino noted that the alternate route to and from Metro Manila and Cavite has addressed the perennial traffic congestion problem in Cavite and the cities of Las Piñas and Muntinlupa. Traffic congestion has been reduced considerably in these areas, he added.

Tolentino said the privatepublic partnership toll-road project of the Department of Public Works

fake rice

National Food Authority Administrator Renan B. Dalisay (left) and Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Secretary Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan field questions during the news conference on alleged fake rice held at the Sugar Regulatory Administration office in Quezon City. NONOY LACZA

and Highways is very beneficial to commuters, motorists and the general public since its July 24 opening.

He cited reports reaching the MMDA that travel time has been reduced by an average of 45 minutes from Daang Hari to Alabang Interchange.

The project involves the construction of a paved toll road that passes through the New Bilibid

Prison (NBP) reservation. Segment I starts at Daang Hari junction—Daang Reyna Elliptical Road/Rotunda, while Segment II covers Slex near Susan Heights Interchange.

It also aims to provide new access to the NBP property which is intended to be redeveloped into a mixed commercial, residential and institutional estate.

OVERNMENT prosecutors indicted on Thursday Mayor Maria Laarni Lopez Cayetano and Officer in Charge City Administrator Jose Montales for padlocking the session hall and preventing members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP, or city council) to hold regular sessions.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, in a statement, said that Cayetano and Montales were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman for violation of Article 143 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Article 143 of the RPC penalizes persons who, by force or fraud, prevent or tend to prevent the meetings of local legislative bodies.

The Office of the Ombudsman said the case arose from the eviction of the SP from its traditional venue and its transfer to a small room at the city auditorium in August 2010. Due to limited space, the SP was constrained to hold its proceedings on the staircase of the city hall on its maiden session and in various venues inside and outside the city hall for the next 14 sessions. The SP members said the padlocking of the session hall was an act of hostility, premeditated and executed with undue haste, affording no prior consultation and no prior notice.

Morales junked Cayetano and Montales’s explanation that the move was part of the city’s reengineering and reorganizational plan, noting that there was no plan nor a semblance of a project study that would validate the necessity of effecting immediate change in the layout of the city hall offices.

“The documentary evidence, as well as respondents’ own admissions, belied their claim that any ‘reorganizational or reengineering plan’ with respect to city hall offices actually existed,” she said.

The Ombudsman also established that respondents failed to comply with Section 45(b), Article I, Chapter III of the Local Government Code, which requires that the power bestowed upon the local chief executive to assign and allocate office spaces must be exercised for the purpose of promoting efficient and economical governance, for “the exercise of any power, whether express or implied, must be rational. The exercise necessarily precludes any arbitrariness or abuse.” Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Economy

A4 Friday, August 7, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Camp John Hay developer insists CA decision protects third parties

P

By Joel R. San Juan

RIVATE developer Camp John Hay Development Corp.

(CJHDevCo) on Thursday urged the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to fully comply with the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals (CA), compelling it to respect the 50-year leasehold contracts of third-party investors in the 247-hectare leased premises in Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

In a memorandum to all Camp John Hay locators and enterprises, CJHDevCo Executive Vice President Alfredo Yñiguez III accused the BCDA of trying to mislead and confuse the public in assailing the CA order isued on July 30, 2015.

CJHDevCo denied the BCDA’s claim that the CA ruling is “irregular” considering it merely affirms the February 11, 2015, decision of the arbitral tribunal directing the BCDA to compensate the company in the amount of P1.42 billion before it gives up control

of the property.

“There is nothing irregular about the July 30 decision of the CA, which ordered the BCDA to respect and not to disturb the contracts of third parties occupying the leased premises. In fact, the CA decision merely affirms the arbitration award, which the BCDA has been trying to illegally modify,” Yñiguez said.

“What the CA found irregular, amounting to grave abuse of discretion, are the acts of the Regional Trial Court [RTC] in Baguio Branch 6 under

Judge Cecilia Corazon Dulay-Archog...in enforcing and implementing the March 27, 2015, Order of Confirmation of Arbitral Award, the April 14, 2015, writ of execution and the April 20, 2015, Notice to Vacate against Third Parties, who were neither included nor informed of the arbitral proceedings between the BCDA and CJHDevCo,” he addedd.

CJHDevCo also branded as “maliciously misleading” the statement of the BCDA that its lease agreement was only for 25 years, subject for renewal for another 25 years, and not an automatic 50 years.

The Camp John Hay developer stressed that the BCDA intentionally omitted in its statement that per contract, “renewal for another 25 years is at the sole option of CJHDevCo,” whiich it has already exercised.

“In fact, the BCDA itself accepted residential units, condotel units and golf shares from CJHDevCo with a term of 50 years, and further resold one unit for a 75-year lease period,” CJHDevCo added.

CJHDevCo also accused the BCDA of lying, when it claimed that the final award released it from obligation for the unpaid lease payment due the BCDA in the amount of P3.4 billion.

CJHDevCo clarified that the final award ruled that the P3.4-billion alleged unpaid rent claimed by the BCDA is not due to the agency, since it was found to have also breached its obligations to its former partner.

“The BCDA has deliberately kept mum on the portion of the final arbitral award, which considered moneys and benefits received

by CJHDevCo [from third parties] shall be

deemed compensation [to CJHDevCo] for the interest due from the BCDA for the BCDA’s use of CJHDevCo’s money,” the company said.

Thus, the payments of third parties on the sublease contracts extinguished the obligation of the BCDA to pay interest to CJHDevCo for the BCDA’s use of CJHDevCo’s money.

This is the compensation of third parties to the BCDA, which makes it incumbent on the BCDA to respect the contracts of third parties,” the Camp John Hay developer explained.

CJHDevCo also called as “absurd and laughable” the statement made by BCDA CEO Arnel Casanova, accusing CJHDevCo of “using the courts to delay the government to develop government property.”

CJHDevCo pointed out that Camp John Hay is a developed property because of the company ’s and third parties’ investment in the property. It noted that during the oral arguments conducted by the CA, the BCDA was asked about its development plans for the property in the event it is returned to it, but it could not state any.

The appellate court held that the RTC in Baguio City committed grave abuse of discretion in allowing the enforcement of the arbitral award against third parties occupying the leased property.

It noted that final award directed only CJHDevCo to vacate the leased property and to surrender the improvements and constructions it made during the existence of the lease, but did not make any categorical statement that it should be enforced against third parties.

Meralco bills drop by another P0.26/kWh

By Lenie Lectura

E

lectricity bills for July dipped by P0.26 per kilowatt- hour (kWh), translating to a reduction of about P52 for a typical household consuming 200 kWh. The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said this is the fourth consecutive downward adjustment in the past four months, bringing the total reduction to P1.56 per kWh. This month’s reduction also marks the sixth time this year that rates have gone down.

The reduction in the overall rates was primarily due to the generation charge, the largest component of a Meralco bill, which declined by P0.19 per kWh from last month. At P4.55 per kWh, this month’s generation charge is the second lowest since October 2010.

The generation charge reduction was largely driven by lower charges from power plants under independent power producers (IPPs) due to lower fuel costs resulting in the quarterly repricing of natural gas and lower condensate cost due to fewer gas restrictions requiring these plants to use the higher-priced condensate.

Charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) also registered a reduction. This was due to lower demand caused by weather disturbances that affected several days of the July supply month.

As such IPPs and WESM registered reductions of P0.19 and P4.20 per kWh, respectively.

Lower dispatch of plants under the power supply agreements (PSAs)—particularly Calaca and Ilijan— due to sustained outages and natural-gas curtailment largely contributed to the P0.12-per-kWh increase in the average PSA cost.

The share of IPPs, PSAs and WESM to Meralco’s total power requirements stood at 46 percent, 43 percent, and 11 percent, respectively.

Transmission charge also registered a reduction of P0.04 per kWh due to a decrease in power-delivery charge and ancillary charges. Taxes, likewise, went down by P0.04 per kWh. Other charges, meanwhile, increased by P0.01 per kWh. Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges remain unchanged after registering a reduction last month.

Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

DOE clears one bidder for e-trike supply deal

O

nly one of the five bidders for the supply and delivery of 3,000 electric-powered tricycles (e-trike) was cleared by the Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday.

At the opening of financial bid proposals for the e-trike project, only Uzushio Electric Co. Ltd. of Japan and its local partner Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines Inc. complied with the technical and financial requirements set by the bids and awards committee of the agency.

The other four bidders are Teco Electric & Machinery Co. Ltd. of Taiwan, Mulan Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd. of China, local firm CAMEC JCB Corp. and the joint venture of Invenic Inc. and China’s Jiang Siu Hansen.

“There were five bidders but the other four were nonresponsive, meaning the documents required of them were lacking,” Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos said.

Uzushio and BEMAC’s financial bid amounts to P364.17 million. This is the amount that the DOE would pay to the lone bidder. However, the lone bidder’s financial proposal would still have to be cleared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) before the contract is awarded to it.

“The post evaluation of the bid will start next week. It will be up to end of this month. The ADB will still have to clear this,” said Marcos, adding that there is also a possibility that the lone bidder’s financial bid could be lowered, subject to negotiations.

If declared as the winning bidder, Uzushio and BEMAC have three months to deliver the first 1,200 e-trikes, plus another three months for the remaining 1,800 units. These will be delivered across the National Capital Region, Regions 4A and 4B. The e-trike project, Marcos said, is a joint undertaking of the DOE and the ADB. The objective is to replace some 100,000 gasoline-fed tricycles by 2017.

According to Donato, the ADB will provide $300-million financing for the $504-million project. The government will fund $99 million, with the Clean Technology Fund adding $105 million.

The e-trike project aims to promote sustainable transport, address the increasing carbon emissions in major cities and reduce oil dependence of the local transport sector. The project also aims to transform the public tricycle sector and jump-start a new industry in the transport sector.

The DOE, Marcos said, is looking at another round of bidding for 17,000 e-trikes within the year. “We will post the bid invites this month,” Marcos added. Lenie Lectura

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

DTI, FPI to meet anew on new ICC regulation

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be meeting with the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) next week to discuss a recently issued Department Administrative Order (DAO) that is said to be giving problems to the private sector.

Early this month, the DTI issued DAO 15-01, containing the “Measures to Facilitate the Issuance of the Import Commodity Clearance [ICC]” to hasten the processing of ICC applications of importers by the DTI’s Bureau of Product Standards.

FPI Chairman Jesus L. Arranza expressed concern that the DAO, which is deemed immediately implemented, will allow uncertified products currently held at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to be released to importers.

“In our last meeting with DTI Undersecretary [Victorio Mario] Dimagiba, we basically asked what will happen in the intervening period between the effectivity of the DAO and the time when they will be ready with the new system [of mandatory labeling]. They said that the DAO is already in effect even if the labeling system will only be ready within a period of 90 days,” Arranza said in a phone interview.

Arranza added that the local ceramic-tiles industry is particularly worried because the DAO also covers ceramic tiles. It may entail the release of the uncertified inventory of the commodity at the BOC to importers within the 90-day, period while the DTI is shifting to the new system of mandatory labeling.

“Before they implement a new system, they should be prepared. What they told us is that after the 90 days, they will just go back to the importers,” Arranza said.

Around 5,000 container vans of ceramic tiles are currently on hold at the BOC, Arranza said.

Another meeting with the DTI will take place on Monday, as the FPI continues to question particular provisions of DAO 15-01.

The DAO transferred specific products from the mandatory certification scheme to the list of mandatory labeling. These products are: ceramic tiles, plywood, flat glass, common nail, galvanized iron sheet, performance and labeling standards of self-ballasted lamps, single-capped fluorescent lamps, double-capped fluorescent lamps and magnetic and electronic ballasts.

The delisted products are subject to the mandatory markings and labeling requirements such as trade name/ brand name, trademark, model or type, name and address of importer or manufacturer, country of manufacture and direction for use.

Friday, August 7, 2015 A5

‘Differences’ on South China Sea threaten Asean meeting message

F

oreign ministers from Asean have been unable to agree on a joint statement from their meeting in Malaysia due to disputes over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).

“The joint communique is a work in progress,” Singapore Foreign Minister K Shanmugam told reporters on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur. “It was supposed to be completed yesterday [Wednesday], but there were some differences.”

Asean, whose 10 member-nations work by consensus, has been criticized for failing to take a united stance on key issues facing the region, including tensions in the South China Sea. During the 2012 Asean meeting in Cambodia, ministers failed to issue a joint communique for the first time in the bloc’s 45-year history due to disagreements over the disputed waters, where China has gone on to build artificial islands.

China has reclaimed 2,000 acres of land in the Spratly islands, according to US officials. A runway China is constructing on Fiery Cross Reef may reach 3 kilometers ($1.8 miles) in length and be capable of landing a range of military aircraft, IHS Jane’s reported in April.

Asean members often tread carefully with China since much of the region is heavily dependent on investment and trade with its northern neighbor, which claims sovereignty over about 80 percent of the sea according to a 1940s map. China’s stepped-up efforts to assert its control in recent years, has prompted protests from some other Asean states such as the Philippines and

Vietnam, with the US calling for all sides to end construction.

The Philippines has taken its dispute with China to the United Nations for arbitration, a process China has declined to be involved in.

Past statements

Past Asean statements on the sea dispute, including the most recent issued in April after a summit of the bloc’s leaders, have failed to mention any country by name. The April statement said Asean leaders have “serious concerns” about land reclamation in the sea, noting that it “has eroded trust and confidence and may undermine peace, security and stability.”

Despite not mentioning China by name, Beijing expressed its own “serious concern” over the statement.

China agreed to talks with Asean over a code of conduct for the South China Sea in 2013, though little progress has been made.

Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said on Wednesday that land reclamation in the sea was complicating negotiations over such a code, as well as the overall situation.

“There has been eroding of trust to find a solution for this issue,” he said. Still, Asean sees China as a “very important trading partner and we have our ambitious objectives of wanting to achieve trade at $500 billion by end of 2015 and $1 trillion by the year 2020. Asean also has ambitious plans to work with China in many other areas.”

Joint meeting

U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Kuala Lumpur to meet with Asean and each other.

Kerry told Wang on Wednesday that the US wants to see competing claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea “resolved peacefully,” according to a State Department official traveling with Kerry. He encouraged China and other claimants to “create space for diplomacy,” said the official, who asked not to be identified in line with departmental policy.

Wang said China “is willing to see the US play an active role” in Asia, though nations outside of the South China Sea region shouldn’t escalate tensions in the area.

While China says its artificial islands will be for civilian use—from search-and-rescue operations to marine meteorological forecasting—it also says they’d have military purposes, and it reserves the right to declare an air-defense identification zone over the area.

Freedom of navigation

The US has said protecting freedom of navigation in the waters— which hosts more than $5 trillion of shipping each year and is home to about a 10th of the world’s annual fishing catch—is in its own national interest.

Kerry on Thursday also urged China and other claimant states to stop “problematic actions” and end land reclamation. Wang said that China has completed its reclamation work and anyone could fly a plane over the area and see.

In May when a US surveillance plane flew over the area with a CNN crew on board, the Chinese navy issued eight warnings for the flight to leave the area saying the aircraft was approaching a “military alert zone.” Bloomberg News

Palace debunks Eagle Watch claim that P-Noy lacks long-term vision

By Butch Fernandez

M

alacañang on Thursday debunked an Ateneo Eagle Watch report claiming President Aquino’s lack of longterm vision as among the main weakness of his administration.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. disputed the findings at a news briefing on Thursday, citing Mr. Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) before Congress last week in which the President, himself, traced the trajectory of the country’s economic growth under the current administration.

“Kung maaalala natin ang Sona ni Pangulong Aquino, doon sa huling bahagi nito, nagpakita siya ng isang graph, iyong graph na ipinapakita ’yung trajectory ng Philippine economic growth sa ilalim ng daang matuwid,” Coloma told reporters.

He noted that the graph presented by Mr. Aquinobeforelawmakersalsoshowedadownward projection of economic growth under an administration that will veer away from the straight path.

“Sinabi niya doon na ayon sa mga dalubhasang ekonomista at ayon na rin sa kongkretong karanasan ng mga maunlad na bansa, kinakailangan ’yung mahabang panahon ng tuluy-tuloy na mataas na paglago ng ekonomiya. Iyong tinatawag na high growth—long -term high growth trajectory na kinakailangang matamo,” Coloma added.

The secretary explained that President Aquino gave full credit to daang matuwid for the five-year average gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 6.2 percent, acknowledged as the highest ever re-

cord over the past four decades, even as the administration is aiming for 6.8-percent GDP this year.

“Kaya nga sinabi ng Pangulo na ’yung natamo natin ng 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 at 2014 na fiveyear average GDP growth na 6.2 percent ay pinakamataas na sa loob ng nakaraang apat na dekada at kung matatamo natin ’yung 6.8-percent growth ng GDP para sa kasalukuyang taon, iyon na ang pinakamataas na sunud-sunod ng anim na taong pag-unlad ng ekonomiya sa nakaraang anim na dekada, o 60 years,” he said Coloma added that the President also clarified in his last Sona that what is needed is to ensure the high growth trajectory would be sustained beyond his administration, which ends on June 30, 2016.

“Nilinaw niya [Mr. Aquino] sa kanyang Sona, hindi sapat ’yung lima o anim na taong sunud-sunod dahil sa karanasan ng mga maunlad na bansa, kinakailangan ay ’yung sustained high growth trajectory na tinatawag na pwedeng matamo kung maipagpapatuloy at magiging permanente ang mga reporma na alinsunod sa tuwid na daan,” the secretary said. “Kaya nga ’yung pinupunto natin dito,mahalaganamaipagpatuloyangmgareporma na sinimulan na sa kasalukuyang administrasyon.”

He noted that Mr. Aquino repeatedly stressed in his speech the importance of investing in “human development” to achieve the government’s goals.

“Maaalala din natin na makailang beses binabanggit ng Pangulo sa kanyang mga talumpati ’yung kahalagahan na dapat pagyamanin natin ang ating mga mamamayan. Our greatest resource is our people.

Kaya po number one sa puhunan ng ating bansa ay ’yunginvestmentinpeopleorhumandevelopment.”

NEW DISCOVERY SPORT Wellington Soong (left), chairman and president of LRPhils Motors Inc., and British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad, lead the launch of the world’s most-versatile compact SUV in the local market--The New Land Rover Discovery Sport. Its dynamic design combines 5+2 seating configurability in a more compact footprint than the traditional five-seat SUVs. NONIE REYES

ANTICIGARETTES CAMPAIGN

Health officials and antismoking advocates display T-shirts printed with a slogan during the launch of antitobacco campaign titled “Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive” on Thursday. The campaign, to start airing next week in local television networks, highlights the dangers of smoking and the health hazards caused to children and nonsmokers through exposure to secondhand smoke. AP

Drilon informs MBC of Senate’s priorities

T

he Senate pledges action on a package of economic bills long pushed by the business community—including Customs and Tariff Modernization Act (CTMA)— before the current Congress ends.

At a general membership meeting hosted by the Makati Business Club (MBC), Senate President Franklin M. Drilon bared the upper house’s legislative agenda in the remaining months of the Aquino administration.

For business-related bills, Drilon pledged to pass the CMTA, the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (Timta) and the national budget for 2016.

“In the last regular session of the 16th Congress, we will pass the CTMA that will introduce full automation of customs procedures and strengthen the Bureau of Customs’s risk management, revenue collection and enforcement systems,” Drilon said in his speech.

On the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) bill, the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), Amendments to the build-operatetransfer law and amendments to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.,

the Senate president promised that these will progress in Congress.

“We need to improve physical and digital connectivity to minimize transaction costs. The Senate passed on third reading the law creating the DICT to develop ICT systems and enhance communication services. I was told by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. that they intend to pass the counterpart measure this August,” Drilon said.

The BBL was also given a timeline—the committee report will be filed on August 10, and will be up for sponsorship on the following day. The BBL was tagged by the Senate president as the “first item” in their agenda.

Another legislation that has been endorsed by the President during this last State of the Nation Address (Sona)—the Anti-Political Dynasty bill—is being backed by the Senate head, as well.

“I support the enactment of an Anti-Political Dynasty law. This measure is long overdue. It’s time to end the long wait. I encourage my colleagues in Congress to give the bill a chance.

Let us provide an avenue that will allow for a constructive debate on this very important issue,” Drilon said.

Calling on the DTI and the DOF

Another contentious and longstanding bill mentioned by President Aquino in his Sona is the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives (RFI), which has failed to gain headway in the past 16 years.

On this, Drilon urged the two concerned departments—the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Finance (DOF)—to reconcile their positions to move it forward.

“The proposed Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives bill has been mired due to disagreements between the DOF and the DTI. This cannot continue. I call on Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima and the Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo to reconcile their differences in order to facilitate its passage,” he said. Domingo, in an interview last week, said this is the best time to pass the RFI, as the DTI and the DOF have already made progress in consolidating a draft bill.

“Baka back to the drawing board na naman sa susunod na administration, so now is the best time to pass it. By December dapat may action na kasi may budget hearings pa ang Congress,” Domingo told reporters last week. Catherine N. Pillas

A6 Friday, August 7, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Employment chickens and eggs

W

hich came first, the chicken or the egg?

Chickens create eggs and eggs create chickens, so if you cannot have both at the same time, which one is the best to start with? This is almost the same with job skills and job creation. We hear much about the fact that we need to have a more highly trained and skilled work force in order to create more high-paying quality jobs.

But is that necessarily true?

If we look at the increasing exodus of Filipino overseas workers in the last decade, we find that many skilled workers went abroad to find employment.

This was not the kind of diaspora that saw educated teachers go to Hong Kong to work as domestic help and caregivers for more money. It was a more troubling drain of people trained as engineers, computer specialists and nurses—all highly skilled—that could not find suitable employment in the Philippines.

They had the skills, but the jobs were not available.

Conversely, when the outsourcing business started to grow in the Philippines, there were not enough skilled and qualified employees. People tend to think of outsourcing only as a call-center agent answering a simple question in English about why a cell-phone bill is too high, but that is not accurate.

Our outsourcing sector now includes online technical services, medical transcription, high-level financial services, and skilled web-site development and maintenance.

When these companies first opened in the country, they had some difficulty finding qualified employees. But as the free market works even for employment, people started learning the skills needed to qualify for the job.

Several times in the last 15 years, call -enter companies have worried about running out of qualified English-speaking Filipinos to fill the positions. But every time, a year or so later, good-quality English speakers showed up to apply and fill up the job openings. These people saw good job opportunities, and they found ways to improve their skills or acquire new ones, either through special courses or individual effort.

High-level education is critically important, and any government or privatesector program that keeps young people learning and in school is crucial and must be increased. Advanced training programs are also vital and should be encouraged in every way. But to say that our major employment problem is the absence of enough skilled workers is naïve. This is a ridiculous example, of course, but assume that we took 100 students and trained them to be brain surgeons.

Would that mean that suddenly Johns Hopkins University or the Mayo Clinic would say, “Wow, look at all those Filipino brain surgeons. Let’s open a hospital”?

In truth, you need both chickens and eggs to create a poultry farm. The same goes for skills and employment. Start by slowly convincing companies that need particularly skilled employees to set up shop here while, at the same time, pushing for advanced education in the skill fields that the companies need. It worked for the outsourcing sector, and it can work for other industries, as well.

275 days to go James Jimenez

E

spox

veryone talks about social media’s impact on elections but if you look closely, you’ll quickly realize that they’re all talking about it from the point of view of politicians: social media as mobilizer, as motivator, as distribution channel for the politician’s message. From Barack Obama’s 2008 win onward, this is almost exclusively how social media in elections discussions have been framed. But in 2015, Nigeria showed that a different angle existed.

In March the presidential elections in Nigeria showed that social media is far more relevant to democracy than just a means of pushing campaign slogans and promises at voters. While it is true that the eventual winner of the elections did play a very savvy social game, the bigger victor was the electorate itself.

Here’s how it happened.

On election day, people stayed at the polling centers until the results were released. They took pictures of the election results pasted up on the walls of the polling centers or typed the results into their mobile devices and took to the Web. Using the hashtag #NigeriaDecides, posted the information—always with the caveat that the information was “unofficial”—on Twitter and Facebook, along with pictures they had snapped of various events that had taken place during the day. With so many people

posting their pictures, and even more people sharing those results, there was soon a very clear picture of what the official outcome would eventually look like.

Presumably because the results were already well known beforehand, there was very little chance for any post-counting manipulation. As it turned out, the elections were almost universally hailed as being a triumph of democracy. So, while social media didn’t exactly deliver a win for anyone, in particular, it did heighten the transparency of the whole process, allowed stakeholders to effectively manage expectations, and heavily influence the public’s perception of the elections as being clean and credible.

My first reaction to this development in Nigeria was, I have to admit, a kind of giddiness stemming from the feeling of being validated in my faith in social

media. It’s easy to see how the Nigerian experience could be possible here at home, too. After all, isn’t the Philippines the social-media capital of this sector of the known universe?

Consider these statistics from wearesocial.sg: Internet penetration in the Philippines is up from 36 percent to 44 percent in 2015. Social-media penetration has also increased from 32 percent to 40 percent, with 40 million active social-media accounts and 32 million active mobile social-media accounts.

Think about that: 32 million smartphones with social-media accounts. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that close to 20 million of those smartphones are in the hands of registered voters 18 to 35 years old.

That’s 37 percent of the estimated voting population in 2016!

To put that in the proper context, remember that in 2010, President Aquino got 15.2 million votes, beating the second placer by 5.7 million votes—or roughly 3.5 percent of the number of youth voters in the coming elections. Now, imagine the kind of reporting power possible with 20 million voters, armed with camera phones and social-media accounts.

The trick, however, is to convince those 20 million voters—or even just a tiny fraction of them—that their socialmedia accounts are good for so much more than just sharing selfies. nnn T h e Com m i s s ion on E le c t ion s (Comelec) has been pushing the #NoBioNoBoto campaign for one year,

two months and 30 days. That’s 457 days. On that day, there were 9.6 million registered voters who didn’t have biometrics with the Comelec and so risked being deactivated by the operation of Republic Act (RA) 10367, or the Mandatory Biometrics Law of 2013.

Section 7 of that law states: “Voters who fail to submit for validation on or before the last day of filing of application for registration for purposes of the May 2016 elections shall be deactivated.”

The same law, however, offers a solution.

Section 8 declares: “Those deactivated under the preceding section may apply for reactivation after the May 2016 elections following the procedure provided in Section 28 of RA 8189.

As of the 30th of June 2015, only 3,889,249 registered voters out of 50,828,958—or 7.65 percent—still have no biometrics in the system. This means that, in roughly 15 months, 5.8 million voters responded to the call put out by the Comelec and by various individuals and organizations, to whom credit must be given for stepping up to the challenge of promoting civic responsibility on a nationwide scale. But with only 84 days left until the deadline on the 31st of October 2015, there’s still some work to be done.

Incidentally, if you’re keeping track—and everyone should—there are only 275 days left before the May 9, 2016, elections.

James Arthur B. Jimenez is director of the Commission on Elections’s education and information department.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Coordination failures in ‘daang matuwid’

Friday, August 7, 2015 A7

Lessons in geography Tito Genova Valiente

Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr.

EAGLE WATCH

T

he last State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Aquino was a valedictory speech extolling what he perceives as achievements of his administration. Tagged as daang matuwid, the programs of the Aquino administration were guided by a commitment to good governance and a strong political will. Indeed, the administration has implemented a series of reforms aimed at reducing corruption, and subsequent social programs that are well received broadly even by the international community.

While there is much to be admired in daang matuwid, weaknesses are present. Its shortcomings stem from a series of coordination failures: a state in which social forces have failed to coordinate the millions of transactions that interact daily through a web of interconnected markets and institutions.

What Smith called the “invisible hand,” or Douglas North called the “rules of the game,” has not guided society to a condition where the benefits of the reforms are optimized. In other words, institutions have not changed adequately, and people are somehow led to act at cross purposes, failing collectively to take full advantage of potential gains from these reforms.

One clear case of these failures is the underspending of the government. The government’s budget deficit in 2014 was only 0.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), as the government missed its spending target for the entire year.

However, the deficit even narrowed in the first quarter of this year to P33.5 billion, lower than the P84.1 billion recorded in the same period last year, and was far below the P98.1-billion target for the period.

The main reason for the shrinking deficit is the government expenditures that fell below target. With government revenues reaching P470.5 billion during the three-month period, up by 18 percent from last year, expenditures in the first quarter only grew by 4 percent, and was 13 percent below what was expected. All of this occurred amid lower interest payments.

The administration tries to justify this situation as a necessary part of a virtuous cycle that intends to root out any form of misdoing in the budget process. But what it all amounts to is the absence of fiscal stimulus that would otherwise have complemented the increasing domestic private investments that the country experienced in recent years. In the first quarter of 2015, for instance, private investments in durable equipment rose by 14.3 percent. The underspending then reflects a profound coordination failure in the bureaucratic system that cannot respond to the needs and requirements of an expanding economy.

Another important indication of this incapability to coordinate programs is the government’s poverty political platform itself. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is the government’s primary project in assisting the poor. Under the expanded Conditional Cash-Transfer (CCT) Program, children of the beneficiaries get cash grants until they finish high school. As of this year, roughly 4.4 million families have benefited from the program with a budget of P62.6 billion last year. In his Sona, the President said 333,673 student-beneficiaries of the expanded CCT have already completed high school this year.

Further, it was noted that a significant decline in out-of-school children had been observed in the evaluation done by the government.

Despite the increase in population, the number of out-of-school children declined from 2.9 million in 2008 to 1.2 million in 2013, a difference of 1.7 million. The evaluation has also noted significant improvements in the hea lth

While there is much to be admired in daang matuwid, weaknesses are present. Its shortcomings stem from a series of coordination failures: a state in which social forces have failed to coordinate the millions of transactions that interact daily through a web of interconnected markets and institutions. What Smith called the “invisible hand,” or Douglas North called the “rules of the game,” has not guided society to a condition where the benefits of the reforms are optimized. conditions of mothers and children, another objective of the program.

While I am totally in favor of the CCT, and believe that budget for this program is money well spent, the important question remains: What is the effect of this program on poverty? Of course, as the administration will tell you, the CCT is based on human capital investments, such as health and schooling, which are long term in nature. Nevertheless, it is fair to ask at least if the local economy (where the beneficiaries reside) has improved, especially given the program’s huge budget.

In countries where the CCT has been proven to be successful, significant multiplier effects from the program have been observed in the local economy. In Mexico, for instance, they find that eligible beneficiaries in CCT (treatment) areas show significant increases in productive investment relative to eligible beneficiaries in non-CCT (control) areas. They are more likely to invest in land and livestock, effects that are more marked for households without agricultural assets. Beneficiary households are also more likely to engage in incomegenerating activities.

What these findings suggest is that, in these countries, other government programs, such as infrastructure and livelihood, were also earmarked in the CCT areas, which resulted in increased productivity, as well. These projects complimented the CCT, and provided the needed long-term growth that can be accessed by the beneficiaries. In turn, the coordination maximized and sustained the returns of the CCT. Households were able to invest their transfers to more productive ventures that would benefit them even at the end of the project.

Unfortunately, no such strategy seems to exist in the CCT program, especially since the growth remains situated mainly in the Luzon, Metro Manila areas. If ever such a synchronized plan exists, it would seem to be coincidental or at best unevaluated.

In fact, public construction has been declining in the last few quarters.

Whether pro- or anti-Aquino, the next government will have to deal with these and other forms of coordination failures. Otherwise, valid and sound social reforms and programs, such as daang matuwid, will not reach their desired ends.

Leonardo Lanzona Jr. is director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, and a senior fellow of Eagle Watch, the school’s macroeconomic and research unit.

annotations

P

resently, Victoria “Bambi” Beltran must be the busiest film concourse organizer this side of the moon. As one of the regional representatives in the National Committee for Cinema of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, now leading the preparations for the Cinema Rehiyon in Cebu starting on the 6th of August till the 10th, Bambi should be basking in the selection of films to be exhibited. While the films in the first six regional film festivals and conferences were lumped under the regions they represented by default, Bambi worked with Teddy Co, whose sense of film curating is respected in film exhibitions and conferences, to crystallize some categories that would house feature and short films of varied dimensions and persuasions.

Some 17 full-length feature films and 50 short films will grace the Cinema Rehiyon in Cebu.

Documentaries are well represented, with Baby Ruth Villarama’s Little Azkals, a deceptively feel-good documentation of young boys all out to learn the discipline and art of soccer. Lester del Valle’s Walang Raoe sa Bontoc is out to create a debate on concepts of violence and gender bias in our culture. The latter won the Best Documentary during the 38th Gawad Urian this year.

In the full-length film category, people will discover the acting sensibility of actors hitherto not known for acting supremacy. I am talking of Allen Dizon and Gladys Reyes in Jason Paul Laxamana’s Magkakabaung (The Coffin Maker). Dizon lets life and its pains and problems roll over his back. We gaze at him and wonder where he will gather his strength and where his weakness will bring him as he faces the prospect of losing his daughter because of ignorance and poverty. Reyes directs our attention to her portrayal of a woman who cannot deny her past not because of nobility in her heart but because she is a frail character trying to survive in another marriage.

Lem Lorca’s Mauban explores subsistence in a Quezon town. A rarity in Filipino cinema that usually pushes the plot on the strength of leads or main characters, Mauban is driven by an ensemble acting that paints the lowly characters in a small village. The ordinariness of the char-

acters are, in no small measure, attributed to actors who disappear in their respective role: Alessandra de Rossi, Sid Lucero and Jess Mendoza, to name just a few.

The seventh national gathering of regional filmmakers has tiny gems in its collection, and these are in the form of three short films: One is from Pampanga, Lisyun qng Geografia (Lessons in Geography). It is an endearing tale of two young men who cannot express their love or attraction to each other. They would not even call it attraction or desire. They seem to be at ease walking together home until one day, at dusk, the other young man cries out loud because he could not bear (or understand) what is in that frail heart of his.

The notion of “bromance” never had it noble and sweet and pure until this short film that says love is a map and we can be the mapmaker.

If bromance is a major category in any film conference, then the two leads of Lisyun qng Geografia—Earl Policarpio as Tib and Ross Pesigan as Tric—are two of its most promising love teams. The film is directed

by Petersen Vargas.

Another short film is calles Lafis ni Efung, a tender thesis on one of the most brutal phenomena in a child’s life, and that is bullying. Efung wakes up each morning to get one coconut that he could barter for a pencil.

He ambles through the greenest of woods. After a long walk, he reaches the school where a bully breaks his pen. Efung goes back to his home and

then wakes up the next day, secures a coconut and exchanges it for a pencil again. It is not good to say this but I wish a huge coconut falls on the head of the bully and render him speechless for the next schoolyear.

The third short film is a kind MTV that subverts that musical form. Randy Dagooc, a Media Studies graduate of Ateneo de Naga, photographs a rape scene involving a transgender. Light and shadow and lots of psycho action play before us while the luscious and loving voice of Ruben Tagalog sings the jnidima.

Violence is supported by the sweetest of melody: Madilim ang gabi/ noong tayo’y namamasyal/Ni isang bituin/Sa atin ay walang tanglaw/ Ngunit dahil sa ang kapiling ko/Ay palaging ikaw/Dilim man ng gabi/ Singliwanag na rin ng araw. (The night

was dark/When we were out walking/ But because the one I was with/Is you always/The darkness of the night/Is as bright as daylight.

Irony is alive in the works of these young filmmakers. Irony, of course, is the mark of a good cinema and, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, is never lost on the audience who can never be stupid before films that are truthful, sincere and do not sell their soul to evil commerce.

The last note from Bambi is an instruction for delegates to bring something warm because the site for the welcome party can get foggy and cold. No problem there, Bambi, as I know Cebu will always have a warm embrace for all of us. Which is one lesson in geography.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Boosting women’s health, powering women’s hearts and minds Monette Iturralde-Hamlin

Women Stepping UP

T

hey say people die of a broken heart. I must be walking dead then since it’s happened twice in the last three years. Seriously though, I was intrigued when the topic of the Women’s Business Council’s WomenBizPH Talks last month bannered “Boosting Women’s Health, Powering Women’s Hearts and Minds.”

Our first speaker was prominent cardiologist Dr. Maria Adelaida “Leni” Iboleon-Dy, chairman of the Philippine Heart Association Council on Women’s Cardiovascular Health. As her many accomplishments were mentioned, what struck me most was that here was a tall, gracious and beautiful woman who has made it to the top in a field dominated by men. What an outstanding testament to womanhood! And instead of just resting on her laurels, she has been campaigning for women’s health.

Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

That’s what they call the brokenheart syndrome, Leni shared. Most often seen in post-menopausal women, Takotsubo is brought about by recent severe emotional or physical stress. Emotional stress can be triggered by the death of a loved one, relationship breakups, arguments with a spouse, or constant anxiety due to financial problems. Physical stress examples include acute asthma, surgery, chemotherapy and stroke. First studied in Japan, this

stress-induced cardiomyopathy has symptoms similar to a heart attack.

It can be lethal, but could clear up in four months if treated right.

Leni urged us to take care of our health, as heart disease is the No. 1 leading cause of death in women regardless of race or ethnicity. In fact, she said one in three women dies of heart disease, compared to one of 30 who dies of cancer.

Leni was on a passionate quest to wake up women to the reality that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major public health issue, and to make them lead healthy lifestyles as a preventive measure. Because women have a higher tolerance for pain (due to childbirth), women are more difficult to diagnose, and are more likely not to get appropriate treatment following a first heart attack. As Leni said, we tend to “tough it out” more than men. Women also have different symptoms from men, ranging from a “doomed” feeling, or being “suddenly very tired,” vomiting or having indigestion.

Leni categorized the risk factors

for CVD into what can be changed and what cannot. The bad news is that we can’t do anything about heredity, about being women, or about getting older, especially when we hit menopause. The good news is we can adopt healthier lifestyles by quitting smoking (and staying away from secondhand smoke), eating healthier, exercising, controlling weight gain, and taking the necessary medication for conditions like high blood cholestrol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Leni recommended vigorous activities like brisk walking, running or swimming, or even dancing for at least 30 minutes, six days a week to get the heart and lungs in top condition. As for nutrition, it was best to avoid cholesterol-rich food and fad diets that promise quick results, and instead opt for a healthy, balanced diet.

Another casualty of aging is our minds. “My yesterdays are disappearing, my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment.”

Quoting neuroscientist and author of Still Alice, our second speaker Gina Lumauig, director of Communications of Neeuro Pte. Ltd., Singapore, highlighted the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention to close the treatment gap for dementia.

Dementia, a syndrome caused by different brain illnesses, affects memory, thinking, behavior and the ability to perform everyday functions. There are an estimated 44.4 million people worldwide suffering from dementia. Meanwhile, according to the Dementia Society

of the Philippines, an estimated 200,000 Filipinos suffer from dementia, with many more having to live with the problems the illness brings, not just as patients but as caregivers.

There are things that we can do to keep our brains fit, such as being fit physically, getting enough sleep, eating healthy, laughing and volunteering. Writing by hand is one of the best ways to sharpen our mind.

We all had so much fun while learning how important it is to keep our bodies, hearts and minds healthy.

But more than the fun and the learning, it was great bonding with other women at the Women’s Business Council (WBC).

WBC provides a platform for discussing women’s issues in business and finding solutions to challenges women face in the conduct of their business. WBC is working with the Department of Trade and Industry to organize the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation PublicPrivate Dialogue on Women and the Economy in September 2015.

And it looks like we’ll be very busy mounting this.

So, is it possible to die of a broken heart? According to Leni, yes.

Can it be cured? Yes. Can we delay the onset of dementia? According to Gina, yes. So, ladies, let’s start living healthy.

This article reflects the author’s opinion and is not the official stand of the BPW Makati. Women Stepping Up is a rotating column of members of BPW Makati and comes out twice a month.

For more information on BPW Makati, visit www.womensteppingup.org.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, August 7, 2015

DOTC hopeful of new common-station deal

P

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

ARTIES concerned with the construction of a station—or two— that will connect three overhead railway systems in Metro Manila will be forced to double their investment to accommodate the soon-to-be-signed compromise agreement aimed at settling legal issues hounding the much-needed project’s implementation.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said the government is bent on striking a compromise deal with the SM Group to move forward with the implementation of the infrastructure project.

In fact, Abaya was scheduled to present the draft trade-off document to the group of billionaire Henry Sy Sr. last night.

“Hopefully, it’s the right version they want; so by Friday, we could go to the courts and give them the copy of the compromise agreement,” the transportation chief said.

Under the draft settlement deal, the government and the private sector will jointly invest in building two common stations. One will be built near SM North Edsa and another near TriNoma Mall.

ABAYA said the government is bent on striking a compromise deal with the SM Group to move forward with the implementation of the infrastructure project.

The train station near SM will connect the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Lines 3 and 7, he said, while the one near TriNoma will link MRT 3 and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1.

“Total cost would be somewhere between P2.2 billion and P2.6 billion, which was the original cost of

the original three-in-one station approach,” he said.

The cost will be shared by the government, which will shoulder the investment requirements for the station near SM North Edsa, and San Miguel Corp., which will fund the station near TriNoma.

Building a single station in TriNoma would only cost P1.4 billion.

The compromise deal is aimed at ending the stay order issued by the Supreme Court and move toward the construction of the facilities.

To recall, the transportation department decided to change the station’s location from SM North Edsa to TriNoma after several reviews on the project’s technical and financial components. SM Prime Holdings Inc. sought the court’s intervention, as it initially paid P200 million for the naming rights of the station.

Abaya said he is confident Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) agrees with his camp’s proposed solution.

The private company is the concessionaire for the operations and maintenance, as well as the extension of the LRT 1. It is a joint venture, led

by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp.

LRMC seeks fare hike

In a related development, Abaya confirmed that the Metro Pacific-Ayala tandem has sought a fare increase for the LRT 1 before it starts to assume operations in September.

See “DOTC,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Malacañang still firm on stand vs Cha-cha

By Butch Fernandez

P

resident Aquino remains firm in his position and would not prod Congress to green light private sector-led efforts to amend economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution in a bid to lure more foreign investments to the country, Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said.

“The President believes it is not necessary to amend the Constitution,” Coloma told the BusinessMirror, when asked if Mr. Aquino is likely to reconsider the proposal of business leaders for the President to endorse moves to tinker

with the Charter to relax restrictions on foreign businessmen.

Coloma confirmed that Mr. Aquino has not wavered in his belief that Charter change (Chacha) is not the only way to increase investment inflows.

“With good governance and sound macroeconomic management, the investment climate is expected to improve further,” Coloma said, explaining where Mr. Aquino was coming from.

Earlier, businessmen, led by Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines President Francis Lim, who also served as former president of the Philippine Stock Exchange, expressed their “disappointment” over Mr. Aquino’s indifference to

their Cha-cha initiatives.

Lim had suggested that President Aquino ask Congress to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, pointing out that “despite good public governance for more than five years, we still badly trail behind other Asean countries in attracting much-needed foreign direct investments.”

The businessman argued that “good governance alone will not do the trick. Equally important is that the country must liberalize its investment climate.”

But Coloma indicated that President Aquino remains unmoved and is not likely to endorse Cha-cha during his term.

$6.5-B debt swap may include new 25-yr bonds

T

he Philippines plans to offer as much as P300 billion ($6.5 billion) of bonds in a debt swap, as it seeks to lengthen maturities amid record-low inflation.

The target is to conduct the exchange before the US starts raising interest rates, Treasurer Roberto V. Tan said in a phone interview from Manila on Thursday.

New 20- or 25-year notes, and possibly 10-year securities, will be offered to replace shorter-maturity illiquid debt, he said. Futures show a 50-percent chance the Federal Reserve will tighten policy at the next meeting in September and 75 percent odds before year-end.

“We want to refinance our short-

term maturing obligations while cleaning up the yield curve and taking away illiquid” securities, Tan said. “This is an opportunity for those that would like to move to longer-term debt.”

Philippine consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in July from a year earlier, one of the lowest inflation rates in Southeast Asia, barring those in the midst of deflation. The government’s last debt swap for P140.4 billion of 10-year bonds in August last year, when inflation stood at 4.9 percent, received orders for more than P200 billion.

Existing bonds fell on Thursday.

The 20-year yield climbed 23 basis points to 4.62 percent, based on

midday data from the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. The yield on the nation’s longest-maturity outstanding notes due in 2037 was at 4.72 percent on Wednesday, according to Tullett Prebon Plc. The Philippines hired Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc. and five local institutions for the swap, according to Roberto Juanchito Dispo, the president of First Metro Investment Corp., which is one of them. The others are BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., state-run Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines, Dispo told reporters in Manila on Thursday. Bloomberg News