Businessmirror september 09, 2015

APEC TO CUT BUSINESS RED TAPE BY 10% B C U. O

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EBU CITY—The ministers of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) member-countries recommended a region-wide improvement of 10 percent in five priority areas of the Ease of Doing Business in three years.

In a briefing on Tuesday, Structural Reform Ministers Meeting (SRMM) Chairman and Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan explained that the 10-percent improvement in the progress of countries will be measured

in terms of number of procedures, time, cost and other identified indicators.

“On Ease of Doing Business, or EoDB, we agreed with, and further recommend to Apec economic leaders to affirm, the new aspirational goal of a 10-percent improvement by 2018 in the existing five priority EoDB areas,” Balisacan said. “We also agreed with and endorse the Apec EoDB Action Plan 2016-2018 to Apec economic leaders for their consideration,” he added.

The five priority areas are in starting a business, getting credit, trading across borders,

enforcing contracts and dealing with permits.

The indicators for starting a business are the number of procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital, while the indicators for getting credit are strength of legal rights index, depth of credit-information index, and public and private registry coverage.

For trading across borders, the indicators are the number of documents, time and cost. In the area of enforcing contracts, the indicators are the number of procedures, time and cost.

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

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

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A broader look at today’s business

Thursday 18, 2014 Vol. 109,No.2015 40 Vol. 10 No. 335 Wednesday, September

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

DTI, DOF wranglings hold up RFI passage T

TELCOS NEED TO FIND NEW NICHE AS FREE WI-FI AT HAND

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INSIDE

HE Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives (RFI) bill is not progressing, thanks to the gaping difference in the positions of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Finance (DOF).

DIVE INTO SMARTWEAR

Life

Make a decision

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EAR Jesus, pour out Your grace upon us today as we make a decision to follow You all the days of our life. Make us realize that we, Christians, too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy. Inspire us make a decision sound enough to follow You in Your kingdom. Amen.

LIVING WATER, CT STUDD AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

‘THE MAKING OF ASIAN AMERICA’ IS A STIRRING CHRONICLE LONG OVERDUE »D2

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Wednesday, September 9, 2015

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SO YOU WANT TO MAKE THE DIVE INTO SMARTWEAR?

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NCE one of the more prominent purveyors of smartphones, HTC has seen its prominence take a nose-dive in recent years, as the Taiwanbased global company’s flagship offerings—last year’s HTC One M8 and this year’s M9—found little traction in the marketplace despite some positive reviews from the tech media. Just recently the company found itself ejected from Taiwan’s TWSE 50 Index after its share price fell to below “the amount of cash it holds on deposit, which means investors consider the rest of the company to be, in theory, worthless,” according to a BBC report.

Meanwhile, Huawei is one of two Chinese brands that have risen to prominence in the mobile-technology space, with the company finishing last year by making the list of the world’s top 100 brands, according to a report by brand-evaluation firm Interbrand. Its No. 94 ranking in the list may seem much ado about nothing, but not when you take into account that Huawei is the first Chinese brand to ever make the list.

Equally telling of Huawei’s astonishing rise is that, as of August, it now ranks as second biggest smartphone vendor in China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, behind Xiomi, another Chinese brand, and ahead of tech titans Apple and Samsung. Huawei’s rising stock has been fueled not just by its low-cost Android smartphones but also by its premium Ascend product line.

Now, Huawei is making an even more aggressive play in the nascent smartwear market. On September 3 Huawei, the leading global information and communications technology solutions provider, announced the availability of the Huawei TalkBand B2 in the Philippines. A stylish next-generation wearable device, it brings together the convenience of a Bluetooth earpiece and the functionality of a fitness tracker in one elegant design.

The company touts that in an era where multitasking has become more of a necessity rather than a skill, the TalkBand B2 is the perfect companion for your busy life, allowing you to continue working without having to fumble for your phone and miss that important call. Whether driving, working on the computer, or spending precious downtime with your family, the TalkBand B2 frees up your hands so you can keep them on the wheel, take down those important notes immediately and continue those conversations comfortably.

The smartwear vibrates to notify you of an

incoming call and shows the name/number of the caller on the screen. All you have to do is detach the earpiece to answer the call.

The TalkBand B2 is equipped with dualmicrophone, noise-reduction technology and quality Bluetooth connectivity. It is also equipped with smart detection to understand whether the Bluetooth earpiece is on the wristband or not, allowing it to automatically push audio (music/call) to the smartphone or B2 bracelet. You can even connect up to two smartphones to the TalkBand B2 so you don’t have to choose which of your phones to pair it with. With its superb battery performance, the TalkBand B2 can last up to five days, and support continuous call time up to six hours, and 12 days’ standby time. It is also equipped with a pager to search and locate your smartphone, regardless of the phone model, through vibration or ring tone alerts.

With its innovative six-axis motion sensor and compatibility with Jawbone’s Up tracking app (besides the company’s own Huawei Wear), the TalkBand B2 can automatically detect different activities with higher accuracy, such as walking, running cycling or climbing/ hiking. It can also calculate the amount of calories burned by different activities to help you plan your workouts, diet and more.

You can then sync the data with your mobile phone and even share your achievement with your friends via social networks.

The same six-axis sensor, likewise, allows the TalkBand B2 to automatically identify and record motions accurately, detect the duration of deep sleep and light sleep, and provide consumers with health tips on ways to improve their sleep pattern.

“As more Filipinos become healthconscious, so does the market for wearable technology and Huawei is at the forefront providing consumers with products that combine style and functionality with the latest technology,” says Charles Wu, country head for Consumer Business Group, Huawei Philippines.

The TalkBand B2 sports a 0.73-inch, 128x88 pixel, mono PMOLED touchscreen. All you have to do is sweep your finger to cycle through the various modes such as the time/date, steps taken, sleep time and calories burned.

It comes in two watchband styles: the environmentally professional TPU material in white and black, or the luxurious brown leather.

There is also the Gold TalkBand B2 Executive Edition that the company says will fit in well inside the boardroom. ■

LIFE

available for free with Platinum Lifestyle Plans 3799, 4999 and 7999.

These plans let users enjoy unlimited calls and texts to all networks, consumable roaming with unlimited data roaming service on the highest Platinum Lifestyle Plan, worry-free mobile data (up to 20 gigabytes every month), a built-in productivity pack for free use of Facebook, Viber, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Evernote without using up one’s data allocation, and a choice of access to Spotify Premium, HOOQ or NBA that’s already built into the plan.

Aside from a wide variety of call, text and data services included in the plan, the Platinum experience is made even more personal and exclusive with VIP privileges such as access to Personal Relationship Managers, priority in Globe stores, 24/7 Worldwide concierge and a dedicated Platinum hotline.

“Globe Platinum is certainly setting the bar once again in providing its signature premium customer experience to complement the arrival of Samsung’s coveted mobile phones,” del Carmen adds. Lauded as “the best big phone Samsung has ever made” and arguably the best-looking to date, the Note 5 has been receiving raves for its cutting-edge design and power-packed specs. The popular Samsung S6 Edge, on the other hand, gets a new incarnation and the “plus” treatment, with a significantly larger display, a bigger footprint and a bump up in specifications and features.

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ALVEO’S PORTFOLIO IN CEBU

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AERIAL perspective of Solinea

Alveo offers loaded portfolio in Cebu B R R R

LVEO Land Corp. (Alveo), a subsidiary of Ayala Land Inc., continues to become a dominant force in Cebu, especially in the Cebu Park District, by offering a diverse portfolio of office and residential developments.

SOLINEA master’s bedroom

VC Bacungan, project development officer of Alveo, shared that the company catapulted to the top of the Cebu property market in a span of five years after entering the market in 2010 with the residential project Sedona Parc.

“Less than one year later, it launched Solinea, a multitower residential development across Ayala Center Cebu. Solinea recently bagged the award for 2015 Best Condominium Development in Cebu from the Philippines Property Awards with its unique proposition of city resort living in Cebu Business Park. Alveo has successfully launched three towers in 2011, 2012 and 2014, namely, Cyan, Turquoise and Lazuli, respectively,” said Bacungan.

Bacungan said that Alveo launched the BPI Cebu Corporate Center, which is the first office for sale venture in Cebu—an 18-storey office condominium development located in the gateway of Cebu Business Park. It offers prime office units for sale rather than for lease.

The response on the first project of Alveo was overwhelming. Sedona

within the city and with their workplace nearby. We also cater to investors who are looking for an investment that will generate recurring income,” Bacungan said.

Bacungan said Lazuli will offer top of the line amenities in three different levels for increased privacy.

The lower level amenities include hammock cabanas by the Ultramarine, a Yin and Yang meditation pod, a function room, and a Me Nook.

Lazuli, the third tower in the development, will be especially attractive as it is the only single-tower development in Solinea, situated on the quiet side of the development. It will be directly adjacent to and oriented towards the Ultramarine. Lazuli Tower lies along Negros Avenue in Cebu Business Park.

The 31-story Lazuli offers a mix of studio, one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom units. He said Alveo offered special units called Urban Villas, which were immediately sold out. Lazuli offers a total of 605 units ranging in size from 25 to 133 sq m. Residences range from P2.6 million for a 25-sq m studio, to

BPI Cebu Corporate Center

Alveo because it wanted to give Cebu urbanites an opportunity to experience resort life without going to the suburbs. At the core of Solinea is the Ultramarine, a 6,000-(sq m) resort area that has a clubhouse; 1,000-sq m multi-experiential pool; and a rain tree play park and children’s play area. Furthermore, the Ultramarine clubhouse will also have a lobby, function rooms, gym, pocket garden, game room, dance studio and a roof deck. To allow residents to have shopping convenience,

Solinea will have its own retail spaces with several dining, shopping and leisure options.

Mid-level amenities on the seventh floor Garden Level include conversation pits, a meditation area, covered walk, open lawn, outdoor deck and board game area. The upper level amenities on the 25th floor include an outdoor lounge, hammock seating, and lounge areas.

“Solinea is aimed towards urban achievers, typically in their 30s to 50s, who are looking for a respite

P18.8 million for a 150-sq m threebedroom penthouse unit.

He said the target market for Solinea, which combines the Cebu IT Park and Cebu Business Park, presented the ideal location for such a development.

The 18-story BPI Cebu Corporate Center has a roof deck rising on a property 2,689-sq m large. It has 168 units serviced by five passenger elevators and one service elevator.

The building features 100-percent back-up power, closed-circuit television, fire detection and smokealarm systems and telecoms and broadband provisions.

Sustainable features include 70 percent glass ratio for maximized natural lighting, LED lighting for common areas, dual-flush common toilets and a materials recovery facility.

Meanwhile, Alveo has allotted the ground level to retail establishments. It has six levels of parking with 200 regular parking slots, 30 SUV parking slots and two handicap parking slots. Two sides of the building face the sea, and another side provides mountain views.

VERYTHING will be embraced by a melody of opulence like an affable tempo in a grand classical orchestra. That kind of rhythm in a vivace lifestyle is life’s greatest pleasure can one indulge in at the most exclusive residential community of Forbes Hill in Northill Gateway.

Megaworld, the country’s leader and pioneer in developing integrated urban townships, brings this sound of grandeur in Forbes Hill, which will rise at the 15-hectare prime property of the township.

Envisioned to be the most exclusive gated community located along the boundary of Bacolod City, Forbes Hill is poised to elevate the lifestyle of premier villages in the province by having an exclusive 197 available lots ranging from 449 to 916 square meters (approximately 13 lots per hectare).

The entrance gate also evokes exclusivity of living in an upscale residential community, where residents and guests will be welcomed by a unique European-

inspired courtyard with grandiose fountain adorned with sculpted stone statues.

“Forbes Hill is a residential masterpiece that gives the highest regard to exclusivity and opulence. Our future residents will experience a lifestyle where everything will be within easy reach because of what the township setting has to offer,” said Rachelle Peñaflorida, vice president for sales and marketing, Megaworld Premier Bacolod.

Future lot owners will have a free hand to design and decorate their own lofty homes in the village that boasts of the panoramic views of Negros mountain ranges and the vast sugarcane plantation.

Aside from having a very low density with larger lot cuts, the upscale residential village will give future residents a much bigger breathing space by alloting five hectares of open and green spaces for parks and garden landscapes. Meanwhile, the main road of the village will be 20-meters wide and the secondary roads

will have about 16 to 12 meters wide.

The upscale village will also dedicate half a hectare of the property for its lifestyle indoor and outdoor amenities. Its clubhouse complex houses a multifunction hall, fitness center, game room, audio visual room, as well as outdoor lap pool, children’s pool, gazebo, basketball court, among others.

and secondary University of St. La Salle School in Bacolod.

Aside from accessibility, Forbes Hill is nestled within the 53-hectare Northill Gateway, which is envisioned to become a refreshing urban integrated township that will further boost the Negrenses’ lifestyle.

A joint development of Megaworld and its wholly owned subsidiary Suntrust Properties Inc. in partnership with the Lacson Family, Northill Gateway will house upscale residential villages, mixed-use office and retail developments, leisure and recreational amenities, as well as institutional facilities.

Aside from the integrated urban township development, Megaworld has also been known for developing fastselling high-end residential villages in Metro Manila, such as McKinley Hill and McKinley West villages in Fort Bonifacio, Corinthian Hills in Quezon City, Pahara in Southwoods City, and Alabang West in Las Pinas.

PROPERTY

Amid the vast sugar plantation, Forbes Hill is conveniently accessible in different major spots of Bacolod and Talisay cities. It has a direct access to the new Bacolod Airport Access Road that leads to Bacolod-Silay Airport, and a direct link to the Circumferential Road going to The Upper East, Megaworld’s another township,

near the Bacolod People’s House.

It is also 10 minutes away from the Eastern District and downtown area and three minutes away from The Ruins, a famous tourist destination in Bacolod, as well as an access to C.L. Montelibano Avenue going to La Salle University-Bacolod.

Forbes Hill will soon be in close proximity to the upcoming primary

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ANDY’S QF STREAK ENDS Sports BusinessMirror

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| WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ANDY’S QF STREAK ENDS

ANDY MURRAY could not find his rhythm against 6-foot-7 South African Kevin Anderson (below). AP

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Often able to spur himself by letting out some anger, the two-time Grand Slam title winner Andy Murray only briefly managed to get into this match. The thirdseeded Murray lost before the quarterfinals at a major for the first time since 2010, beaten 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (0) by 15thseeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Monday.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS N

EW YORK—As Roger Federer so correctly noted, the exact score of a tiebreaker is not all that important. All that matters is who wins it.

Still, it was noteworthy that Federer became the first player to shut out John Isner in a tiebreaker—and later added a rare service break of the big-serving, 6-foot-10 American, too—while winning their fourthround US Open match, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (6), 7-5, on Monday night.

According to the Association of Tennis Professionals, Isner had never lost by a 7-0 score in 428 previous official tour-level tiebreakers.

“You’ve got to get a little lucky,” Federer said in an on-court interview, “but 7-love is a very good score, obviously, against John. As long as you win the ‘breaker, it doesn’t matter what the score is.”

Isner called the way that tiebreaker went “surprising.”

“That was a lot on me,” Isner said, covering his face with his left hand. “He had a lot to do with that, as well.”

Federer also broke to close out the match, ending the 13th-seeded Isner’s streak of 110

consecutive service holds at Flushing Meadows over the last two years.

“The break clearly was nice, but I kind of felt it was coming,” said Federer, who went 0-for-9 on break points until converted his 10th. “He was maybe not having as much energy anymore.”

Federer saved all five break points he faced, while finishing with an impressive ratio of 55 winners to only 16 unforced errors.

The second-seeded Federer, who has won five of his 17 Grand Slam titles in New York, has not dropped a set on the way to a quarterfinal against No. 12 Richard Gasquet of France.

Gasquet got past No. 6 Tomas Berdych, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

With losses by Isner and Donald Young on Monday, this is the 16th consecutive Grand Slam tournament without an American man in the quarterfinals. Isner and Andy Roddick made it that far at the 2011 US Open.

Isner did have his chances against Federer.

Six times, Isner was two points away from grabbing the second set.

But Federer was at his best down the stretch in that tiebreaker, too, after trailing

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5-3. Federer won one point by returning a 140-mph serve before smacking a forehand passing winner. On another, he produced a forehand return winner off a 128-mph serve to earn a set point. And he capped the set by flicking a down-the-line backhand winner.

“I really would have liked my chances against some other players out there. But he was too good,” Isner said. “That’s what I was up against. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

Mallorca’s regional government, meanwhile, said the grandfather of Rafael Nadal has died. He was 85.

The elder Rafael Nadal was born on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, where he was a prominent local musician who directed the choir of Palma’s Teatre Principal from 1983-1989. He became the patriarch of a renowned sporting family as his five children included football player Miguel Nadal, who played for Spain at three World Cups, and Toni Nadal, who has coached the younger Rafael throughout his tennis career.

The Mallorca regional government expressed its condolences in a statement on its web site without giving further details. AP

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The Associated Press

EW YORK—Andy Murray watched a 130-mph ace zoom by to create a two-set deficit at the US Open, and then sat in his changeover chair and cursed at himself, over and over and over.

A little later, Murray cracked his racket against the court once, breaking the frame, and went to the sideline and mangled his equipment even more, before meandering over to hand it to someone in the stands.

Often able to spur himself by letting out some anger, the two-time Grand Slam title winner only briefly managed to get into this match. The third-seeded Murray lost before the quarterfinals at a major for the first time since 2010, beaten 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (0) by 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Monday.

“Disappointing to lose because of that,” Murray said about his earlier-than-usual exit.

“Obviously that’s many years’ work that’s gone into building that sort of consistency.”

For the 6-foot-8 Anderson, known mainly for a booming serve but terrific off the ground in this four-hour, 18-minute victory, it marked a real breakthrough: He entered with an 0-7 record in fourth-round matches at majors, including when he had a two-set lead against Novak Djokovic before losing at Wimbledon two months ago.

This time, Anderson held it together, with the help of 25 aces and 81 total winners.

“I’m a little lost for words right

now,” said Anderson, who will face twotime major champion Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. “I just managed to keep my composure throughout.”

Murray, meanwhile, reached at least the quarters at his previous 18 Grand Slam tournaments, a streak that included championships at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013, along with four runner-up finishes. His last loss this soon also happened in New York, in the third round five years ago.

Roger Federer also pulled off a shutout in a tiebreaker on Monday, doing so in a 7-6 (0), 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory against big-serving No. 13 John Isner. According to the Association of Tennis Professionals, Isner had never been beaten 7-0 in 428 previous official, tour-level tiebreakers.

With Isner gone, and 68th-ranked American Donald Young eliminated, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, by Wawrinka earlier Monday, it’s the 16th Grand Slam tournament in a row with zero men from the US in the quarterfinals.

Isner had his chances against Federer, six times standing two points from evening the match at a set apiece. But Federer was masterful down the stretch in that tiebreaker, winning one point by returning a 140-mph serve before smacking a forehand passing winner, then using a forehand return winner off a 128-mph serve to earn a set point he converted with a backhand down the line.

Federer broke in the last game, ending Isner’s streak of 110 service holds in a row at the US Open, dating to the start of last year’s tournament.

Federer’s quarterfinal opponent will

be No. 12 Richard Gasquet, who got past No. 6 Tomas Berdych, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Two women’s quarterfinals will be No. 2 Simona Halep against No. 20 Victoria Azarenka, and No. 5 Petra Kvitova against No. 26 Flavia Pennetta.

Azarenka has won two Australian Open titles and twice was the runner-up at the US Open. Kvitova has won Wimbledon twice. Halep was the runner-up at last year’s French Open.

And Pennetta? Well, she is into her sixth US Open quarterfinal in the last seven years after a 6-4, 6-4 victory against 2011 champion Sam Stosur, the last woman to beat Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows.

Adept at comebacks—in the second round, he recorded his eighth victory in a match after dropping the opening two sets—Murray did push Anderson to a fourth set, but that was the extent of the rally this time.

Still, Murray kept trying to rile up himself— and his backers—as the fourth set carried on, even reaching over to slap the extended palm of a front-row spectator.

“I was trying to use the energy of the crowd as much as I could to help me,” Murray said.

Anderson limited his signs of emotion to one uppercut after winning a point by tracking down a lob and conjuring up a sky-hook winner from the baseline.

And he was perfect at the end, hitting one ace at 135 mph, another at 138 mph, while Murray couldn’t get his strokes to land in the right spots.

“I wish,” Anderson said, “I could play every tiebreak like that.”

ROGER FEDERER: As long as you win the “breaker, it doesn’t matter what the score is.” AP

SPORTS

Service improvement

Better statistics

MEGAWORLD TO BUILD UPSCALE VILLAGE IN BACOLOD

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Conclusion

ESSONS learned from the country’s progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are now fueling efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 17 SDGs are expected to have 169 targets and more than 300 indicators.

This is a herculean task for many countries, including the Philippines, whose efforts fell short in meeting the MDGs.

E1 | Wednesday, September 9, 2015 • Editor: Tet Andolong

Park, the first project, is virtually sold out. Finished in 2014 Bacungan said that 95 percent of the sold units have been turned over to and accepted by unit owners. It currently has a community of 47 residents.

Furthermore, Bacungan said the first and second Solinea towers are in the middle of construction. He noted Tower 1 is expected to be finished by the fourth quarter of 2016 and Tower is expected to be done by the third quarter of 2017. Preselling of Tower 1 is brisk with 88 percent sold while Tower 2 is 82-percent sold. Lazuli Tower, the third tower is 44 percent sold.

Meanwhile, Bacungan reported the BPI Cebu Corporate Center has been constructed 22 percent of the way. It is now 51 percent sold.

“After its successful launch in November 2013, we decided to hold on to the remaining units in the second half of 2014 to help build our leasing portfolio. Due to incessant demand, we opted to open selected units to the market at a 6-percent price premium,” he said.

Solinea is a special project for

Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. during the hearing bared four contentious issues: 1. Implementation of a uniform incentive package for all economic zones consisting of a four-year income-tax holiday (ITH), after which a choice of either a 5-percent reduced tax on gross income earned (GIE) or a 15-percent corporate income tax (CIT) for 11 years (total of 15 years).

PHL TO ADOPT NEW DEVELOPMENT TARGETS DESPITE DIFFICULTIES IN ACHIEVING MDGs B C U. O

BusinessMirror

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Instead of making progress and coming to an agreement on contentious points every time they meet, the two agencies are actually regressing, with the once touted “80-percent to 90-percent” consolidated bill returning to a mere 35-percent consolidated, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Rep. Romero S. Quimbo noted during the eighth committee hearing on the proposed measure.

SPECIAL REPORT

Another premium mobile experience GLOBE Telecom’s premium postpaid brand, Globe Platinum (goo.gl/W5lds3) goo.gl/W5lds3) is set to give customers goo.gl/W5lds3 a premium experience when they avail themselves of Samsung’s latest mobile marvels, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, with the new Platinum Lifestyle Plans.

“With the Platinum Lifestyle Plans, customers get access to superior and first-class servicing, as well as enhanced lifestyle plan options that can’t be found anywhere else. The Platinum Lifestyle Plans are specifically designed to address customer needs and passions for a richer and more relevant digital mobile experience by maximizing the new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 or the S6 Edge+ and all its amazing features,” Globe Platinum Director Kaisie del Carmen says.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 or S6 Edge+ is

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NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Assistant Director General Rosemarie G. Edillon said the country could have done better in achieving the MDGs. However, Edillon believes that the lessons learned by the country can be applied in meeting the SDGs by 2030.

For one, Edillon said the Philippines learned that it must be able to set annual targets in terms of achieving SDG targets and indicators. Edillon added that the government realized that using the MDG targets as end-of-plan targets did not help create a sense of urgency in terms of meeting the goals. She said the government must set periodic targets in terms of meeting specific SDG indicators.

This will enable the government to implement measures that will make it easier and faster to meet the targets.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 46.9130

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HE Philippines is planning free Wi-Fi services to half of its towns and cities this year and nationwide coverage by end-2016, limiting the data-revenue prospects for Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Globe Telecom Inc. The free Internet service will cost the government about P1.5 billion ($32 million) a year, and will be available in areas such as public schools, hospitals, airports and parks, said Monchito Ibrahim, deputy executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office.

“If subscribers move to using free public Wi-Fi, telecoms may need to lure them into getting higher-end services,” Ibrahim said in a September 4 interview in Makati City, referring to the country’s two main phone companies. The government’s “focus is on areas that absolutely don’t have access.”

The new service is expected to push data charges lower in the Philippines.

Access to the Internet costs about $18 a megabit per second in the country, more than three times the global average of $5, according to research firm International Data Corp. (IDC).

For the country’s two biggest phone companies, that means more expenses to boost their network for services offering higher speeds.

IN this September 6, 2010, file photo, 3-yearold homeless child Minerva Botongan bites a plastic spoon, as she takes a meal given to her and her family by good Samaritans on a street in Manila. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

“THE free Wi-Fi service would compel improvement of service of both telecoms,”said Lexter Azurin, research head at Unicapital Securities Inc. “Definitely, they might need more capex [capital expenditure] for that, which would impact earnings at the end of the day.”

The government’s free Wi-Fi service has its limitations. Speed is capped at 256 kilobits per second, enough for basic Internet searches or access to Facebook, Ibrahim said. The government’s initiative comes as lawmakers investigate slow and expensive Internet connection in the Philippines, where broadband connectivity is only ahead of Afghanistan in Asia, according to IDC. By contrast, Singapore started a free wireless service in 2006 that now offers speeds of as much as 2 megabits per second—eight times faster than the one planned in the Philippines.

That’s enough for phone calls on the data network or video streaming, with the access offered at public places, such as the airport, malls, hospitals and schools. Bloomberg News

■ JAPAN 0.3932 ■ UK 71.6643 ■ HK 6.0536 ■ CHINA 7.3694 ■ SINGAPORE 32.8660 ■ AUSTRALIA 32.4455 ■ EU 52.4018 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.5094 Source: BSP (8 September 2015)

A2 Wednesday, September 9, 2015

BMReports BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

PHL to adopt new development targets despite difficulties in achieving MDGs Continued from A1

“Dati it was just an end of plan target, so wala ’yung sense of urgency. [We think] we can [always] catch up later. But we realized, especially with respect to social outcomes, cumulative eh. Kapag nagkaron ka ng setback ngayon, talagang setback ’yun, mahirap balikan, so there really has to be a progression year after year after year,” Edillon said.

Apart from timeliness, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids) senior research fellow Celia Reyes said there needs to be better statistics to track poverty. In 2012 Reyes and her colleagues released a study, titled “Dynamics of Poverty in the Philippines: Distinguishing the Chronic from the Transient Poor.” The study found that poverty in the Philippines is not one-dimensional.

The study showed that poor Filipinos can either be “transient poor” or “chronic poor.” Transient poor are those that move in and out of poverty depending on their circumstance or shocks, like the 2008 riceprice crisis, while the chronic poor are those that have consistently been poor for a long period of time.

As such, lifting them from poverty will require different kinds of interventions.

Lifting the transient poor from poverty will require safety net,s such as emergency employment programs and disaster-related safety nets.

But lifting the chronic poor from poverty will require addressing structural issues

in the economy. These structural issues can be addressed through structural reform.

Structural reform requires changing government policies and regulations to improve the business environment, increase investment in human capital development and similar reforms.

“This calls for better information on poverty, which means we should be able to differentiate [in terms of what we call] chronic and transient poverty so that, if we have that kind of information, then I think we can say more confidently what’s happening to the poverty situation and be able to respond more appropriately,” Reyes said.

Improving data availability and timeliness will help the government target interventions to those who need it the most. It will also help prevent leakages, issues with resource constraints, and other problems with beneficiaries.

Apart from these, National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is open to using Big Data to help monitor the SDG targets and indicators.

Big data, Bersales earlier explained, does not only mean those on social-media sites like what is now being used in Africa, but also administrative data from public and private institutions.

The country’s national statistician said before Big Data can be used, the PSA must set the standards on data sampling, which is crucial in computing for index weights needed in statistical computations.

If the sampling design fails, Bersales said data obtained from private and public institutions, as well as social media, could be biased. For example, she said, socialmedia sites like Twitter or Facebook may not be accessed by the poor.

If there is limited access to certain data sources, such as the Internet, for some sectors of society, the data generated will not reflect a complete picture of the situation of the country with respect to certain indicators, such as poverty or education.

“In my opinion, we should be ambitious. Whether we will meet those targets or not, we really should target as we see what should be. We did not meet all the MDG targets but that’s not bad. What it really means is we should do more,” Bersales said.

Local governments Edillon added that another thing the government learned with the MDGs is the setting of accountabilities. She said that while former President Gloria MacapagalArroyo was clear in tasking agencies with responsibilities in terms of meeting specific goals, these were not enough.

She said this became a problem since not all government agencies are in charge of implementing interventions. Edillon and Neda Social Development Staff Director Erlinda Capones agreed that the devolution of certain social services was a major consideration in setting accountabilities for the MDGs. Under the Local Government Code of

1991, government services in the health, agriculture, sanitation and water sectors.

The devolution in the health sector covers access to hospitals, as well as doctors, for disease treatment and medicine for indigent patients.

In the agriculture sector, devolution meant that local governments will be responsible for agricultural support, extension, and on-site research services and facilities.

Sanitation, on the other hand, is part of the list of basic services that were devolved to local government units (LGUs).

This includes general hygiene, beautification and garbage collection.

Water mainly focuses on water-supply systems, which LGUs, like barangays, are responsible for maintaining. At the municipal level, LGUs are tasked also to spearhead the enforcement of fishery laws and conservation efforts.

As a result, the funding needed to provide these services must be obtained locally. This is where problems start, particularly for health and agriculture, because as early as 2001, studies such as the one released by Social Watch Philippines, showed that these services have largely been underfunded by LGUs. “Although there was a directive encouraging LGUs to integrate so hindi masyadong [na-cascade] so that’s also one of the things that we need to do. ’Yung responsibility has to be clear and it has to consider our governance structure and ’yung financing,” Edillon said.

Sufficient resources

At the heart of the country’s SDG work plan is financing. When the country embarked on its journey to meet the MDGs, there was no clear direction on how to proceed.

Edillon said this is something that the Neda intends to change starting next year.

Due to the lack of a plan, Edillon said, public spending on social services between 2000 and 2003 contracted on an annual basis. Between 2004 and 2010, the government’s social spending only increased 1.1 percent in real per capita terms.

Edillon said it was only under the current administration that there was a significant increase in social spending. She said social spending increased around 13 percent in terms of real capita spending year-on-year.

The Neda official said the government will start crafting the financial plan by 2016. This, Edillon said, may include LGU disaster-risk financing.

She said disaster-risk financing can help LGUs “climate-proof” their locales before disaster strikes. This will help them cope with the financial demands of meeting the goals, amid the dangers posed by climate change.

“All over the world, they estimate that we need over $3.4 trillion to finance the SDGs. Tapos ’yung available money is not even close to $1 trillion, kaya pinag-uusapan pa ’yung means of implementation,” Edillon said.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan also identified some of the

ways that the government could mobilize financing for the SDGs. Balisacan said this includes increasing investment and expenditure on poverty- reduction programs, social services and environment protection.

This, he said, can be done by allocating a portion of the country’s tax revenues, such as those collected from excise taxes , for SDG implementation and tapping private- sector resources through publicrivate partnerships for school buildings, health facilities and corporate social responsibility funds for environmental and conservation activities.

The government, Balisacan said, also plans to tap remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for development. OFW remittances accounts for 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Moving forward The government’s work on the SDGs has begun and by December 2015 would have a list of indicators that the country’s statistical system can monitor. Once the indicators are identified, it will look for innovative ways to finance programs and projects that will act as interventions.

While the country may not have met all the MDGs within 15 years, there is at least the hope that the next 15 years of work on the SDGs will be better. Looking back and learning from its mistakes, it is the Filipino people’s hope that the Philippines is now in a better position to meet its international commitments this time around.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Philippines ready to help in Europe’s refugee crisis

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he Philippines is ready to help in the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, since the country is signatory to the international convention on refugees, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday.

Foreign Affairs Spokesman Charles Jose said, “We will abide by our commitment under the United Nations framework, and it is our position that the international community should do all it can to help the countries from which these refugees are coming in order to address the issue at its source.”

Asked what kind of help the Philippines could extend, he said: “If ever it will be like we did before, as a processing center and transit area for eventual resettlement in third countries.”

Jose cited the country’s stand during the Rohingya crisis earlier this year, in which the Philippines shared best practices, not material aid, in an attempt to resolve Asia’s refugee crisis involving thousands of people from Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority.

“We abide by our commitment un-

der the international convention, but we also have to look at our resources and economic condition; we’re still in rehabilitation state post-Haiyan [Supertyphon Yolanda], which devastated the Visayas in November 2013, causing death to some 10,000 persons.”

Some Filipinos have asked why the DFA remains silent in the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe in the social media.

Thousands of refugees from Iran, Iraq and Syria have escaped on lifeboats and flimsy watercraft in the Mediterranean headed to Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Italy, seeking shelter and new lives to evade the wars in their countries. The crisis took on a human dimension, when the body of a 2-year-old boy washed ashore, after their boat sunk in the Mediterranean, along with his mother.

Although poor and economically wanting, the Philippines has a history of accepting refugees of whatever stripe. The most vivid of this is when the country accepted 1,350 Jews fleeing from Hitler in World War II. Recto Mercene

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, September 9, 2015 A3

Lawmakers demand Roxas to explain ESA distribution to Yolanda victims

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

AWMAKERS on Tuesday asked Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II to explain how the government distribute the Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) to families whose houses were damaged by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan).

Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello of 1-BAP, a senior member of the House Minority bloc, said Roxas owed the public an explanation, since he had earlier taken credit for the distribution of ESA to typhoon survivors in

Yolanda-affected areas.

“Secretar y Mar Roxas took credit for the distribution of ESA. He should man up, too, as the problem in the implementation is rising,” Bello said.

ESA provides cash assistance of P30,000 and P10,000 to families whose houses were partially or totally damaged, respectively, for the purchase of construction materials to repair or reconstruct their homes.

The local governments, which are under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, schedule and conduct the distribution of the cash assistance to their constituents; while the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) monitors the release of the funds to the beneficiaries.

However, reports said that there were complaints from beneficiaries that they only received P10,000, even if their homes were totally damaged, and that some of the funds went to “fake” or “ghost” beneficiaries.

Roxas during his recent visit to

Iloilo and Bacolod cities refused to answer question regarding the ESA distribution.

Yolanda slammed Eastern Visayas and parts of Western and Central Visayas on November 8, 2013, killing at least 6,300 people, dislocated a population of 4.1 million, and damaged or destroyed 1.1 million homes.

On his part, Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna said, “No amount of evasiveness and media spinning can erase what our people already knew: The criminal negligence of the administration in the Yolanda crisis is still continuing.”

In addition, Party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap of Anak Pawis said that there is a need for Roxas and the DSWD to explain the alleged corruption in the implementation of ESA.

DND says military modernization on track as DBM allocates ₧25 billion for 2016

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By Rene Acosta

HE Department of National Defense (DND) can now pursue its delayed capability upgrade for the military as it acquired additional bigger assets and equipment after President Aquino signed the Armed Forces modernization program.

Defense Undersecretary for Finance, Modernization, Installation and Munitions Fernando Manalo said Mr. Aquino’s approval of the modernization program allowed the defense department to pursue its acquisition of military hardware earlier lined up for procurement.

Some of these projects included the purchase of two frigates fo rthe Navy, air-surveillance radars, close air support aircraft, longrange patrol aircraft, night-fighting system, two C-130 “Hercules” transport aircraft and naval helicopters.

These assets and equipment have earlier been recommended by the defense department to be acquired in order to further beef up the capability of the military, but they hit a snag after Mr. Aquino

did not immediately sign the modernization program and ordered a review of the identified procurement.

Earlier, Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin said that 33 big-ticket projects have been lined up for implementation until 2017, with the procurement totaling for about P90.86 billion.

This included the procurement of a squadron of FA-50 lead in fighter jets from South Korea, two of which were scheduled to arrive in December this year, and eight units of combat-utility helicopters. Both projects have a contract price of P23 billion.

Gazmin said that P9.74 billion have been initially paid for the two projects.

The remaining amount, as programmed by defense officials, should be taken from the funds of the modernization program that Aquino signed.

Gazmin said that from July 2010 up to October last year, at least 46 capability upgrade projects have been “accomplished.”

Included in the 46 projects are eight brand-new combat utility helicopters, three

multipurpose attack craft, armaments, equipment, vehicles, force protection articles, coast watch requirements, utility trucks and various equipment.

It also included the acquisition of the frigates BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz and three units of naval helicopters.

The two frigates are 40-year-old US Coast Guard cutters that were sold to the Philippines.

There are still 52 ongoing projects with an approved budget of P26.92 billion.

DBM allocation

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allocated P25 billion for the modernization of Armed Forces for 2016.

During the budget hearing of the Department of National Defense (DND) at the House of Representatives, Manalo said that under the proposed 2016 budget the Armed Forces Modernization Program will get P25 billion programmed and P10 billion unprogrammed funds.

At least 30 projects are being lined up for the modernization of the Armed Forces, which will be implemented from 2014 to 2017 with a

total budget of P83.9 billion.

“The 30 projects that were approved by the President in July 2015 will be paid by multiyear obligational authority,” Manalo said.

In the same hearing, Gazmin said that the DND is allocated a total of P158.8 billion for 2016.

He said that the DND 2016 budget is P16.5 billion higher than its 2015 billion allocation.

Gazmin said that of the agency's total budget, P63.3 billion is for personnel services, P26.7 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses and P25.7 billion for capital outlay.

Gazmin said that the allocation for veterans and military pensioners, which is lodged under the pension and gratuity fund is P43 billion of the total budget proposal.

Not much to show

PARTY-LIST Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan, meanwhile, asked Gazmin to detail how the military spent the P82.48 billion plunked into the modernization program since 1995.

Ridon said the Armed Forces Moderniza-

tion Act approved that year contemplated on a strong Armed forces that can defend the national territory and sovereignty.

The law was envisioned to establish a modern military and not an Armed Forces that is engaged relentlessly in counterinsurgency.

“While the Department of National Defense is keen on emphasizing the need to strengthen our nation’s maritime defense, we have to put this budget request in context. Since the enactment of the Armed Forces Modernization Act in 1995, Congress has been appropriating billions for military modernization annually. It’s already 2015, and we still have weak maritime defense and creaking World War II-era ships. So, we need to ask the DND and the Armed Forces to report on where the billions sunk into the modernization program went,” Ridon said.

He revealed that President Aquino was the biggest spender at P50.73 billion, followed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at P26.22 billion spread over nine years, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada at P5.53 billion, and zero for former President Fidel V. Ramos, who pushed for the

enactment of the bill.

Ramos is a former Armed Forces chief of staff and defense secretary.

Ridon noted that while the Aquino administration invested heavily on modernizing the military arsenal, anomalies have hounded the procurement of equipment.

“The Armed Forces is still reeling from the P1.2-billion defective chopper deal.

And when it comes to financial accountability, the military is not exactly a shining example,” he said.

He referred to the recent scandal involving the purchase of 21 refurbished Huey choppers reported to be more than 40-year-old.

Ridon feared that the same thing might also happen to the P25 billion that the Armed Forces is requesting for the modernization program next year.

The budget will be reportedly used to purchase two frigates, two twin-engine long range patrol aircraft, three aerial surveillance radars and pay for the amortization of 12 South Korean FA-50 lead-in fighters.

With Jovee Marie dela Cruz and Marvyn Benaning

Economy

A4 Wednesday, September 9, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

briefs Tesda targets more scholars in 2016

With an increase in its 2016 budget, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) aims to enroll more scholars and get skilled workers assessed for certification.

Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva said that for next year, at least 231,579 scholars under the Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) are being eyed for enrollment. This is higher than the 210,526 scholars targeted for this year.

Of the target TWSP enrollees, he said, around 208,421 are expected to graduate.

“The additional scholars are possible because of the higher proposed budget for TWSP for 2016,” Villanueva said, noting the program’s budget increase from P2 billion in 2015 to P2.203 billion next year.

As one of Tesda’s major programs, the TWSP is directed toward filling up the skills gap and job requirements of priority industries and sectors with high-employment demand, improving the reach of quality technical vocational education and training to the grassroots and encouraging technical-vocational institutions to offer programs in higher qualifications catering to in-demand industry requirements.

This will be supportive of the government’s thrust of rapid, inclusive and sustained economic growth.

PNA, Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

533 Pinoys completes agrostudies course in Haifa, Israel

Five hundred thirty-three Filipinos were among the 1,400 recent graduates from Asia, Africa and South America of the Agrostudies On-the-Job Training (OJT) Program in Haifa, Israel.

The Department of Foreign Affairs Department (DFA) announced that the graduation ceremony was held on September 2 at the Haifa International Convention Center in Haifa.

In his keynote address, Philippine Ambassador to Israel Neal Imperial cited the positive impact of the Agrostudies Program on development cooperation between the Philippines and Israel and on the future career and employment of the graduates.

The Filipino students, who come from different agriculture university and colleges in the Philippines, completed their 11-month course of combined academic learning and practical work, which exposed them to the latest agro-based technology and techniques being utilized by farms in Israel.

The students were situated in the most enabling and stimulating learning environment, allowing them to benefit from the most advanced agricultural working methods. Recto Mercene

no politics in meeting with presidential wannabees–cardinal tagle Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has clarified that the meeting on Monday night with 2016 presidential aspirants—Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, Interior Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II and Sen. Grace Poe—did not involve politics.

Tagle isued the clarification over Radio Veritas that the “get together” was organized by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) “as part of pastoral care not only of voters, but also of potential candidates.”

“The program was simple: evening prayer, dinner, meditation on humble servant leadership in the Bible and role of servant leaders in promoting the common good. No political discussion,” Tagle stressed.

In a television interview, PPCRV National Chairman former Ambassador Henrietta De Villa said that during the dinner there was an “atmosphere of friendship.”“The cardinal reminded them that we hope, even when the rigors of the campaign reached fever pitch, that kind of atmosphere, that kind of interaction among the three of them will remain, so that the level of the campaign would be elevated," De Villa said confirming that the invitations were sent to the politicians weeks ago. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

BusinessMirror

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LRMC to take over LRT 1 operations on Saturday

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he Light Rail Manila Corp.

(LRMC) of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp. clarified on Tuesday that it has not received any payment from the government for managing the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 over the last few years.

It also stressed that it has not yet received any payment for the “deficit payment” for the proposed fare adjustments on the train line.

To recall, the militant group Bayan on Friday alleged that the Department of Transportation and Communications has sought for a P7.519-billion allocation as payment to LRMC. “ The concession agreement outlines the obligations of the grantors and the concessionaire.

If there is any shortfall, the extent and magnitude of such shortfalls will be determined after effective date. Any funds from the government to LRMC will be used to improve the efficiency, safety and overall riding experience of the Filipino public,” the company said in a news statement.

LRMC will start operating the LRT 1 on Saturday.

“We will refurbish existing trains and purchase new ones for the comfort of the passengers. To further improve the safety of the riding public, we will replace the

entire track system. We will rehabilitate all the stations to improve the overall ridership experience,” the company emphasized.

It won the P65-billion contract deal to extend, operate and maintain the oldest overhead railway system in the country under a 32-year concession agreement.

Under the contract, the consortium will operate and maintain the existing line and construct an 11-kilometer extension from the present end-point at Baclaran to the Niog area in Bacoor, Cavite.

A total of eight new stations will be built along this route, which traverses the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas up to Bacoor City, Cavite.

The extension is expected to enhance commercial development around the rail stations.

LRMC will start operating and maintaining the LRT Line 1 by October this year, and the construction of the additional stations to Cavite will start thereafter. It will take five years from now for the extension to be commercially operational.

Aside from this, the government

Express delivery A motorcyclist, with his two-wheeled vehicle fully loaded with different kinds of vegetables, rushes along the Alabang Service Road in Muntinlupa City to deliver his load of perishable goods to the market on Saturday. PNA

is also planning to further extend the train line all the way to Dasmariñas in Cavite.

It will cover 19 kilometers of service line, running from Niog, Bacoor City, to Dasmariñas City.

T he proposed right-of-way alignment is along the Aguinaldo Highway with seven stations, namely: Niog, Tirona, Imus, Daang Hari, Salitran, Congressional Avenue, and Governor’s Drive.

The project is expected to provide rapid and reliable access to and from the densely populated

residential suburban communities south of Manila, and the various strategic commercial, industrial and educational districts in the Metro.

It aims to provide vital access to central Manila, offering a more efficient transport alternative than road-based services.

Ultimately, the infrastructure aims to enhance the competitiveness of both Metro Manila and the Cavite province, spurring economic development along the extension corridor.

Aquino cites renewed confidence in PHL economy as ‘major accomplishment’

By Butch Fernandez

P

resident Aquino considers renewed confidence in the Philippine economy on top of the list of major accomplishments of his administration.

Fielding questions during a televised interview at the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Tuesday, Mr. Aquino said first on his “legacy” list is having developed during his watch the Filipino folk’s positive outlook that the economy would remain stable, or even do better.

Asked about his accomplish-

ments in the economic front, he promptly ticked off the Filipinos’s major shift in attitude “from apathy to deep involvement” that, he explained, fuels the economic aspect on what investors can expect from the Philippines.

For instance, President Aquino cited the increasing number of Filipino families who can now afford to buy brand-new cars. This growing number of car buyers, Mr. Aquino said, “Manifests their confidence” on the stability of the economy.

In the same interview, the President assured that the government

was acting on netizens complaints griping against “slow Internet” service, saying that regulators are “checking out” reports that telcos are oversubscribed, as well as reports on alleged mismatch between capacity and subscription.

Mr. Aquino, however, added that he does not see the need to create a separate informationtechnology department to address Internet-related problems.

At the same time, he confirmed he is set to appoint Liberal Party Rep. Mel S. Sarmiento of Western Samar as incoming interior

secretary replacing Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel A. Roxas II. President Aquino also took the opportunity to endorse Roxas’s presidential bid, saying the outgoing interior secretary is “more prepared than Grace Poe” to take on the job of being president of the country.

Mr. Aquino also listed the Bangsamoro bill, rationalization of fiscal incentives, as well as the P1.3-trillion pension benefits of the Armed Force of the Philippines as the top priority legislation being pushed for passage in Congress before he bows out of office next year.

DTI, DOF wranglings hold up RFI passage. . .

2. Renewability of either the 5-percent GIE or the 15-percent CIT for 15 years, upon review after 15 years.

This incentive is on top of the ITH and GIE/CIT combination, totaling to 30 years of incentives availment. While the DTI is in favor of the time-bound perks, the authority to renew or terminate incentives should lie with the investment-promotion agency boards.

3. Implementation of any change in the incentive package, either for export-oriented enterprises in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) or the Board of Investments (BOI), should be prospective.

4. Existing locators who enjoy the present package should be given an option to migrate to the new scheme.

Cristobal said keeping the incentive packages attractive is significant, now that other competing Asean membernations are offering better packages.

Vietnam, for instance, offered Samsung a 30-year ITH for the electronics giant to locate there. Indonesia, according to Peza, just doubled its ITH period from 10 years to 20 years.

The DOF, however, remained firm in its opposition, specifically on the second issue.

No walk in the park

Finance Undersecretary Jeremias N. Paul Jr. said the points of contention raised by the DTI has “changed the

complexion” of the discussions.

Specifically, the DOF prefers the renewability of the 5-percent GIE or the 15-percent CIT for 15 years, to be availed of only once, or simply a cap of 30 years on the enjoyment of incentives. An exception can be made only for Peza locators, Paul said.

Moreover, the DOF is averse to the DTI’s proposal for a uniform incentive package that includes the four-year ITH plus 5-percent GIE/15-percent CIT for other free ports and ecozones.

This would mean that existing ecozones that do not offer an ITH will be given that privilege, thus, adding to the revenue leak.

“From the very beginning we have been against the ITH because we view it as the most ineffective type of incentive...compared to this, the sin tax is a walk in the park,” Paul reasoned.

The ITH can only be an exception to Peza, he added. “We’re not throwing in the towel.”

The DOF, however, conceded to the repealing of select existing laws and is willing to revisit some 14 laws that mandate the giving of incentives to certain sectors.

Significant to services

The DTI also wants to make sure the ITH will be given to information technology and business-process outsourcing (IT-BPM) locators in

Peza and other ecozones.

“The services [sector] is the fastestgrowing sector, and it benefits from the ITH,” Cristobal added.

For the BOI, considering it mostly caters to industries that waste their ITH in the first few years of operation, it is agreeable to the 15-percent CIT for 15 years.

The harmonization strategy to offer the four-year ITH plus 5-percent GIE/15-percent CIT must be done to level the playing field among ecozones.

“Other ecozones feel that they must be given the same kind of package and give them a fair chance to attract investors,” Cristobal said, justifying the harmonization move.

The House Ways and Means Committee withheld the approval of the bill and is summoning Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima so he can present his agency’s comprehensive tax-reform proposal.

Quimbo said the conf licting views of the DTI and DOF are affecting the passage of the bill at the lower chamber.

The RFI is one of the priority bills of the Palace and the 16th Congress.

“Before, they [DTI and DOF] said that they are 80-percent done with the drafting of their unified version of RFI. But now [as I see] they’re now down to 35 percent. It’s a step backward,” Quimbo said. “What we’ve

continued from a1

seen today is they are still far off from the finish line.”

According to Quimbo, the passage of the RFI is now “on the hands of the DOF and DTI.” “[Their unified position is important because] in this case, it would be very difficult to just hammer out and impose a fiscal incentives rationalization bill without the specific inputs of both the DOF and the DTI. The DTI has all the road maps of each and every important sector - the jewelry sector, the housing sector, BPO sector—they have the road maps. We cannot pretend...we cannot just disregard those things. The DOF, on the other hand, has specific issues on where incentives should be given and where they are most effective; so it’s not wise,” he said.

Quimbo, however, expressed confidence that the DOF and DTI will be able to draft one version of the measure.

“The positive thing that I see from it is the fact that I see them continuously engaging to come up with a unified and acceptable fiscal incentives bill that will both help them carry out their respective mandates, meaning the DOF and the DTI. I don’t think it’s a hopeless case. I think they just need to sit down more and see where the common issues are, so that they have more in common than differences,” he said.

SC to Palace, Congress: Justify DAP, PDAF ‘resurrection’ in 2015 budget proposal

By Joel R. San Juan

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HE Supreme Court (SC) has ordered Malacañang to answer the petition assailing several provisions of the 2015 national budget for allegedly resurrecting the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Dibsursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which it earlier declared unconstitutional.

The directive was issued by the Court during the magistrates regular en banc session on Tuesday.

The 15-man High Tribunal gave respondents Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. submit their comments within a period of 10 days.

The petition was filed by former National Treasurer Leonor Briones and several other members of anticorruption watchdogs Social Watch Philippines and Scrap Pork Network.

The petitioners are seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a writ of preliminary injunction against the implementation of Sections 70 and 73 of the 2015 General Appropriation Act (GAA), where the supposed pork barrel fund was resurrected through lump-sum appropriations.

Section 70, which defines savings as portions or balances of any unreleased appropriations in the GAA which have not been obligated. Section 73 contains rules in the realignment of allotment classes and reprioritization of items of appropriations.

Also sought to be stricken down were National Budget Circular 559 (Guidelines in the Realignment of Funds under the GAA and for Other Purposes) and the Special Provisions of the Special Purpose Funds, the EGovernment Fund, Special Provision 1, “Strategic Information and Communication Technology Projects,”; International Commitments Fund, Special Provision 5, “Appropriations under the International Commitments Fund,”; Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, Special Provision 4, “Appropriations under the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund,”; National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund, Special Provision 4, πNational Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund,”; Pension and Gratuity Fund, Special Provision 6, “Appropriations under the Pension and Gratuity Fund,”; and Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program, Special Provision 2, “Appropriations under Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Economy BusinessMirror

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 A5

FMIC-UA&P sees 6% growth this year

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By Cai U. Ordinario

ow inflation and election spending are expected to boost the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to a growth of 6 percent in 2015, according to First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Capital Markets Research.

In the latest issue of Market Call, the local think tank said that, despite posting an average growth of only 5.3 percent in the first semester, economic growth in the second half could recover to around 7 percent.

“But the acceleration in government spending provides clear hope that the economy will pick up in H2 [second half of the year], especially as candidates for the May 2016 elections open their war chests. We do expect H2 growth to recover to 7 percent, and so end the year slightly above 6 percent,” the FMIC-UA&P Capital Markets Research said.

The increase in commodity prices, the FMIC-UA&P Capital Markets Research said, will continue to slow and average below 1 percent in the third quarter.

Inflation will slightly increase in the fourth quarter on the back of holiday spending and election spending. The lowinflation environment will also encourage greater consumption spending in the second semester.

“We maintain our view that inflation will continue to be soft in Q3 [third quarter] to average at 0.8 percent, underpinned by weak crude-oil prices and stable to lower food prices,” the

Lawmaker seeks realignment of govt savings to address El Niño

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ep. Roman T. Romulo of Pasig City on Tuesday urged Congress to pass a resolution directing and authorizing President Aquino to realign the savings of several departments in order to augment the funds currently being used to mitigate the negative effects of El Niño.

“Subject to Article 6, Section 25(5) of the 1987 Constitution, it is therefore imperative that savings of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Department of Transportation and Communications, including their attached agencies and corporations, be directed as a matter of urgent priority, to augment funds for preparedness for the El Niño and implementation of measures to address its devastating effects,” Romulo said in House Resolution 2366.

According to Romulo, Article 6, Section 25(5) of the Constitution provides that “No law shall be passed authorizing any transfer of appropriations; however, the President, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations.”

“Knowing that the El Niño will just further intensify and could be worse than what we experienced in 1997 and1998, we have no choice but to undertake measures to abate its ruinous damage to the country’s agriculture, energy system, industries, livelihood, health, environment and other sectors,” Romulo added. PNA

Comelec to negotiate ₧558-M deal for ERTS

By Joel R. San Juan

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he Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced its decision on Tuesday to directly negotiate with prospective bidders for the P558-million contract for the electronic results transmission service (ERTS) for the May 2016 elections after two failed public biddings.

At a news briefing, Comelc Chairman Andres Bautista noted that Republic Act 9184 allows the negotiated procurement method, wherein the procuring entity directly negotiates a contract with a technically, legally and financially capable supplier, in case of two failed biddings.

“We had two failed biddings. And, therefore, we thought the prudent recourse of action to take is to directly meet with telco providers,” Bautista said.

He added that the poll body is eyeing to negotiate the contract with the country’s leading telecommunications companies Smart Communications and Globe Telecom in order to ensure a “better” transmission rate in 2016.

Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) served as the service provider for the election-results transmission during the 2010 and 2013 elections.

ERTS is the system used in the city/municipal, provincial and national canvassing centers to send and receive transmitted results of voting.

research group said.

With preparations for the 2016 presidential polls under way, Capital Markets Research said election spending will also cause an increase in national government spending.

On Monday the finance department said national government disbursements jumped 25 percent to P210.7 billion in July 2015.

Disbursements in the January-to-July period saw an

11-percent increase in expenditures to P1.28 trillion.

“We expect further expansion in national government spending, as agencies resolved to ramp up spending. The upcoming elections, heavy infrastructure spending and lower inflation underpin our view that spending will increase in the coming months,” the group said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority disclosed that the economy slowed to 5.6 percent in the April- to-June period, from 6.7 percent in the same period last year.

With a growth of only 5 percent in the first quarter, the country’s first-semester growth was only 5.3 percent.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said that, if the economy will grow 6 percent in the full year, the economy needs to register an average growth of 6.6 percent in the July-to-December period.

He added that, if the economy will post a GDP of 6.5 percent, the economy needs to post a growth of 7.7 percent in the second half of the year.

A6 Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The Philippines in the global economy

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itizens wanting to know the condition of our economy in the context of a global economy that is in disarray must be in a state of bewilderment, not knowing whether to believe the pundits who are foreseeing that the Philippine economy will be adversely impacted, or go with others who are saying that the Philippine economy will not be affected at all, given reform measures that have been put in place, the economy’s resilience, etc. We hope one more word on the subject does not add to the confusion.

In our country, two agencies—the National Economic and Development Authority and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)—can be believed when they give us information and analysis on the Philippine economy. And for good reason. These agencies are headed and staffed by professionals who have little interest in political window dressing.

That, of course, does not mean we will give up the right to think for ourselves.

The fact is that we know that when an economy is drifting toward a recession, expansionary measures are called for to halt any such drift. When the movement is upward, contractionary measures are necessary in order to moderate the upswing. The government has economic policies to achieve those objectives, mainly fiscal policies of “overspending” or “underspending,” and regulatory policies that facilitate or hinder economic activities, as the case may be.

Most powerful of all the agencies that affect the economic life of the nation is the central bank. By acting on the money supply, the central bank can speed up or slow down the population’s production, consumption, investment and trade activities, at home or abroad. Most effective of the policy instruments for affecting those activities is the interest rate. This rate can be stimulative or depressive of economic activity, depending on whether it is lowered or raised.

Here we come face to face with an empirical question: Is the Philippine economy confronting an expansionary situation or a contractionary one?

With the Chinese economy slowing down severely, Canada and many South American countries plunging into recession, Japan failing to crawl out of its stagnation notwithstanding Abenomics, the US economy remaining in the doldrums, and the Philippines experiencing an inflation rate that is the lowest in recent memory, how can anybody mistake the situation from what it is?

Let’s stop asking the BSP what it will do to “tweak” interest rates in the Philippines. The rates, at less than 1 percent on the supply side and 5 percent on the demand side, are at their lowest imaginable; they cannot be reduced anymore. They can be increased but that is precisely what the BSP should not do, unless it wants to extirpate all growth possibilities in the Philippine economy in the medium term.

Of outside agencies, let’s give importance to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, whose duty is to give the world the hard facts of economic reality. Regarding other “authorities” and “knowledgeable sources,” let’s admire them for exercising their freedom of expression.

Let’s give weight to our own opinion. Who knows, perhaps, we are right.

SSS at 58th: Financial feats Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security Second of four parts

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umbers are central to most human activities. We number everything we do to assign values, weigh variables and track data. You can argue about the quality of accomplishments but never when numbers are shown for exemplary performance.

The numbers shown by the Social Security System (SSS) over the past five years speak of how well the incumbent SSS administration manages the four components of the pension fund’s finances, namely: contribution collections and investment income for the revenues side; and benefit payments and operating expenses for the expenditures side.

One of the solid affirmations of the SSS’s various financial feats is the growth in SSS assets over the past five years, from only P146 billion in 2010 to P427 billion in 2014.

Striving for gains and surpluses

Members’ contributions are considered the lifeblood of the SSS, accounting for about 80 percent of

total SSS revenues, while the remaining 20 percent comes from earnings generated from investments.

SSS contribution surplus, defined as the excess in contribution collections over the combined spending for benefits and operations, has remained positive over the past three years, finally reversing the string of deficits in 2012. In the past, this surplus was measured in terms of how much contribution collections have surpassed benefit payments in a given year. Despite presently adopting a more stringent definition to also include the capacity of contributions to cover operating expenses, the SSS still achieved yearly surpluses of P2.31 billion in 2012, P3.97 billion in 2013

Indonesia needs a reboot William Pesek

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BLOOMBERG VIEW

little over a year ago, Joko Widodo swept to power in Indonesia, promising bold change and higher living stands.

Voters enthusiastically bought into his everyman image: He’s Indonesia’s first president with no ties to the military, the country’s dynastic families or its sprawling party machinery.

These days, a more common sentiment in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is buyer’s remorse. The handson, get-things-done reputation that Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, carried into office has frayed. Desperate to reverse the slide, he’s trying to revitalize his team and his agenda.

Last month he named former central banker Darmin Nasution as his new economy minister and brought former finance czar Rizal Ramli into the Cabinet. They’ve wasted no time in promising big stimulus and structural reforms. Trouble is, there’s already reason to think this may end up being just more talk.

Indonesia’s nationalism

The slump in commodity prices has

hit Indonesia particularly hard; any new stimulus will have to contend with falling tax revenues. Tepid levels of foreign direct investment make Jokowi’s plan to spend at least $20 billion on infrastructure in 2015— the most in the nation’s history— look fanciful. Vows to cut red tape and simplify investment regulations look no more realistic, given how many vested interests populate Jokowi’s own party. Even hopes of ending Indonesia’s power bottlenecks remain a reach. The president recently inaugurated a long-delayed power plant, even though the government hasn’t procured all the necessary land amid protests.

The administration’s many flipsflops aren’t helping. Last month the

and P9.94 billion in 2014.

Impressive gains were also recorded in investment income since 2011. The SSS return on investments (ROIs) consistently outperformed benchmarks, such as the 10-year Treasury bonds and the 364-day Treasury bills, with the SSS ROIs ranging from 8.3 percent to 10.8 percent for 2010 to 2014.

The trends in SSS net revenues offer a comprehensive look at the agency’s financial performance, comparing the total revenues from contributions and investments visà-vis total expenditures for benefits and operations. Annual SSS data since 2000 have all shown positive net revenues, but worthy of note was the steep increase in average net revenues of P33 billion recorded for 2010 to 2014, as compared to the P8 billion yearly average for the years 2000 to 2009.

Positive net revenues are not solely the results of strong income generation, but of prudent management of expenses, as well. Benefit disbursements were managed through initiatives to ensure that only the rightful beneficiaries receive SSS benefits, such as the enhanced Annual Confirmation of Pensioners Program.

The SSS charter, which is the Social Security Act of 1997, limits the

agency’s spending for operating expenses to not more than 12 percent of contribution collections and 3 percent of other SSS income. Despite the rising demand in services from the continuously expanding SSS membership, which is now approaching 33 million, the percentage of SSS operating expenses as compared to the charter limit has remained conservative, further decreasing from 69 percent in 2010 to 52 percent in 2014.

Numbers do not lie, so credit should be given to where it is due.

The financial successes of the SSS today should be attributed to the present management under the leadership of President and CEO Emilio de Quiros Jr. and to the strong support of the members of the Social Security Commission.

They are a select number of individuals who have faced and embraced the enormous challenge as fiduciaries of the Filipino workers’ pension fund.

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

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

Home Ministry announced a raft of new requirements for foreign journalists. While they were quickly reversed after a public outcry, the move echoed the mixed signals and often intensely nationalist tone that’s emerged from Jakarta lately.

Some investors are voting with their feet. The currency, the rupiah, is down 13 percent this year, the weakest since dictator Suharto was toppled by mass protests 17 years ago. Jakarta, meanwhile, is among Asia’s worst-performing stock markets (down 26 percent). Shares in the two other economies ravaged by the 1997 Asian crisis—South Korea and Thailand—have lost 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Jokowi still has plenty of time— four years—to turn things around.

How? The first priority is restoring confidence in his ability to get things done. The recent Cabinet reshuffle presents an opportunity to take on the nation’s notoriously corrupt bureaucracy. Jokowi has shown flashes of great courage, as when he slashed budget-busting energy subsidies and increased transparency at government ministries.

He needs to go further, and bring greater grit to the fight.

Consistency, too, is critical. Along with narrowing the current-account

deficit and shoring up the financial system, Jokowi should reverse policies endorsing protectionist laws against mining and technology companies. He should stop doling cash to inefficient state enterprises. He must increase regulatory certainty and stop talking out of both sides of his mouth on trade. Too often the message from the government has seemed to be, “We welcome foreign money, but only on our terms— which, by the way, can change at any moment.”

McKinsey & Co. thinks Indonesia could become a Group of Seven economy by 2030. Getting there requires more strenuous efforts to create new manufacturing industries and the hardware—roads, bridges, ports, power grids—to support them. Jakarta must work harder to diversify the economy away from natural resources; that in turn will require bigger investments in education and training. Dialing back the economic nationalism and embracing foreign capital would help finance these and other upgrades.

On its own, little of what Jokowi or his new team has proposed thus far will restore confidence in an economy that’s lost it way. If he’s going to turn things around, they should talk less and do more.

Prudent payments

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Documentary-stamp taxes on insurance policies

What’s going on with China’s military?

Noah Feldman

Atty. Dennis B. Funa

INSURANCE FORUM Part One

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ocumentary-stamp tax (DST) is an excise tax levied on documents, instruments, loan agreements and papers evidencing the acceptance, assignment, sale or transfer of an obligation, rights, or property incident thereto. In Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Manila Bankers’ Life Insurance Corp. (2011), it was clarified that, while it is imposed on the document itself, “it is actually levied on the privilege to conduct insurance business.”

Thus, the DST “is imposed on the privilege of conducting a particular business or transaction, and not on the business or transaction itself.”

As an excise tax, the payment or nonpayment of the premium is immaterial notwithstanding the provision in Section 77 of the Amended Insurance Code, which provides that: “no policy or contract of insurance issued by an insurance company is valid and binding, unless and until the premium thereof has been paid.” The fact that the policies have not become effective for nonpayment of premiums cannot affect the insurance companies’ liability for payment of the DST. The amount of tax is either fixed or based on the par or face value of the document or instrument. The tax is paid by the person making, signing, issuing, accepting or transferring the documents. It is due and payable “at the same time such act is done or transaction had” (Section 173), or “at the time the transaction is accomplished,” or “at the time the insurance policy is issued.”

As stated in Jaka Investments Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (2010), citing the Court of Tax Appeals: “DST is a tax on the document itself and, therefore, the rate of tax must be determined on the basis of what is written or indicated on the instrument itself independent of any adjustment, which the parties may agree on in the future.... The DST, upon the taxable document, should be paid at the time the contract is executed or at the time the transaction is accomplished.”

The very nature of a DST was explained in Antam Pawnshop Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (2008): “A documentary-stamp tax is in the nature of an excise tax. It is not imposed upon the business transacted but is an excise upon the privilege, opportunity or facility offered at exchanges for the transaction of the business. It is an excise upon the facilities for the transaction of the business separate and apart from the business itself.

Documentary-stamp taxes are levied on the exercise by persons of certain privileges conferred by law for the creation, revision, or termination of specific legal relationships through the execution of specific instruments.” And in Philippine Home Assurance Corp. v. Court of Appeals (1999): “documentary-stamp taxes are levied independently of the legal status of the transactions giving rise thereto. The DSTs must be paid upon the issuance of the said instruments, without regard to whether the contracts which gave rise to them are rescissible, void, voidable, or unenforceable.”

Life and nonlife-insurance policies are both subject to DST pursuant to Sections 183 and 184 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC). However, DSTs for life and nonlife-insurance policies are taxed differently. Life-insurance policies are taxed under Section 183 of the NIRC of 1997, as amended

by Section 3 of Republic Act (RA) 10001; while nonlife-insurance policies are taxed under Section 184 of the NIRC. The rates are also different. For life insurance, the rates range from P10 to P100, depending on the amount of insurance. For nonlife insurance, the rate is “fifty centavos [P0.50] on each four pesos

The fact that the policies have not become effective for nonpayment of premiums cannot affect the insurance companies’ liability for payment of the documentarystamp tax.

[P4], or fractional part thereof, of the amount of premium charged” (as amended by RA 7660, otherwise known as the New Documentary Stamps Tax Law). For life insurance, the DST is computed based on “the amount of insurance” and not on the “amount of premium charged.”

Insurance companies shoulder the payment of DSTs. Under Section 173, the DST shall be paid for “by the person making, signing, issuing, accepting, or transferring the same wherever the document is made, signed, issued, accepted or transferred when the obligation or right arises from Philippine sources.”

Section 201 provides for the consequence for “failure to stamp taxable document,” to wit: “An instrument, document or paper which is required by law to be stamped and which has been signed, issued, accepted or transferred without being duly stamped, shall not be recorded, nor shall it or any copy thereof or any record of transfer of the same be admitted or used in evidence in any court until the requisite stamp or stamps are affixed thereto and canceled.”

Under CL 7-2002, citing Revenue Regulation Nos. 9-2000 and 15-2001, it is required that “documentary stamps be imprinted on the premium register or its equivalent within five days following the transaction month.”

Under CL dated December 12, 1985, “liability for documentarystamp tax accrues upon issuance of the insurance policy, even in the event of subsequent cancellation of the said policy.” Under CL dated September 19, 1958 (BIR Requirements on Affixing Documentary Stamps on Policies issued by Non-Life Insurance Companies), “the documentary stamps must be affixed to the duplicate file copy of such policy, even if the premium has not yet been paid as the documentary-stamp tax accrues when such policy is issued” and if “the policies of insurance are canceled as not taken up or returned by the assured or agent, stamps should also be affixed on such policies, although no premium is earned or payment received.” Since Section 184 of the NIRC refers to the amount of “premium charged,” the same circular has clarified that the “basis of the tax on the insurance policies issued is the amount of premium charged and not on the net premiums received. Accordingly, you cannot be permitted to affix and cancel the documentary stamps on the net premiums received after deducting returned premiums or reduced amount of policies in the statements of business appearing in your monthly registers of policies.”

Dennis B. Funa is currently the deputy insurance commissioner for Legal Services of the Insurance Commission.

E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

BLOOMBERG

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alk about mixed signals. Last week Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced a 300,000-man reduction in the size of the People’s Liberation Army—a decision at least partly calculated to look like China has no aggressive intentions toward the rest of the world. Yet, at almost the same time, he sent five Chinese ships into the Bering Sea near Alaska, in an unprecedented maneuver timed to coincide with the last day of President Barack Obama’s visit to the state. This sort of symbolism is pretty close to the textbook definition of muscle-flexing aggression.

So what’s going on? Is Xi being peaceful or being hostile? The answer is complicated—but so are the circumstances of the cool war between China and the US. Domestically, Xi wants to signal that he has control over the military, that reforms are needed and under way, and that China won’t waste money on a land force that has little to do with its strategic position. Although these moves aren’t exactly pacifist, at least they aren’t warmongering.

Simultaneously, Xi wants to signal to both his domestic and his foreign audiences that China will continue to press for a global strategic advantage against the US by focusing its military efforts where the US hasn’t asserted its own power. The Arctic turns out to be a great example. The US Navy isn’t a visible presence in the Arctic, and the Coast Guard’s showing there isn’t much more significant.

In advance of his state visit to

Washington later this month, Xi must’ve intended to signal to Obama that he will aggressively pursue China’s interests where and when the US hasn’t staked its claim. It will be difficult for Obama to raise the issue of the five-ship convoy with Xi, because Xi can say that China wasn’t treading on any US waters.

This presummit gamesmanship has an added benefit for Xi. It shows his senior military brass that the troop reduction isn’t truly a backpedaling from the pursuit of Chinese national greatness. It’s been widely noted that Xi has closer ties to the military than either of his predecessors as China’s president.

What does this delicate two-step mean for the future of China-US relations? It poses in miniature the profound dilemma that confronts US policy-makers today, and will confront the next president.

China’s economic rise has driven a steady but in many ways cautious

expansion of its military capacities. Its military budget has risen at roughly 10 percent a year, according to official estimates, and perhaps more. China’s well-documented provocations in the seas around it have caused grave concern to its neighbors, almost all of whom rely on bilateral security relationships with the US. The aggressive US response would be to embrace openly a strategy of containing China. This would mean strengthening those bilateral relationships and perhaps increasing country-to-country military ties within Asia where possible.

Advocates of this containment strategy could, and no doubt will, point to the Arctic episode as an instance of where some meaningful response is called for—namely, strengthening the US presence in the Arctic.

The more moderate, even dovish US response to China’s slowly changing military posture would be to refuse to take the bait, maintaining existing security relations without raising the stakes by devoting greater military resources to the Pacific. Doves argue, with some reason, that responding to China with overt containment would just alienate the Chinese public, strengthen hardliners within the army, and commence an irrational, costly and potentially very harmful cycle of mutual escalation.

There’s a reason the US hasn’t focused forces in the Arctic. The US interest there is in free trade and shipping.

So far, no one, including Russia, has done anything to impede that interest.

In the unlikely event of some Arctic move by Russia or even China, the US could exploit its vast naval superiority and send its aircraft carriers and destroyers north.

UK is right about how to take refugees

By Marc Champion Bloomberg View

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.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has taken a battering over his handling of Europe’s refugee crisis, but in one respect—offering to open the door to those who haven’t yet made it to Europe, rather than those who have—he is right and his European critics are wrong.

Cameron on Monday set out his new approach—let’s call it the Aylan Kurdi policy, after the drowned Syrian toddler whose harrowing photograph forced Britain’s leader to reverse his previous, and frankly shameful, zero-tolerance line on refugees. In a statement to parliament, Cameron said Britain will now resettle as many as 20,000 refugees from camps around Syria during the next four-anda- half years. This resettlement program already existed, but until now it was a transparent ruse to accept as few refugees as possible: just 216 Syrians since March 2014.

At the same time, Cameron restated his refusal to take part in the European Commission’s German-led plan for a quota system to

redistribute those refugees who have already reached the European Union (EU). On Sunday former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi became just the latest European figure to lecture Cameron on this, warning that he will face retaliation for his ungenerous stance when he asks leaders for help with the EU reforms he needs to win a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the bloc. These threats are misplaced. It is in the interests of the rest of the EU that the UK should remain part of it. To invite a Brexit because of Cameron’s refusal to toe the line on refugees would be idiocy.

And redistribution is, in any case, not a solution to the underlying refugee problem: It would not, for example, have saved Aylan Kurdi. Redistributing refugees around the EU in a rational way is necessary triage, given the numbers that arrived on the shores of Greece and Italy this year.

But it became necessary only because countries including Germany and the UK failed to do the right thing previously.

A combination of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the unwillingness of European nations to consider asylum applications from

Syrians located in third countries—such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey—means that the only option for refugees languishing in camps is to pay smugglers to get them to Europe. As soon as they touch EU soil, their rights under the convention kick in. If Syrians could reach the US in a dinghy, they’d go there, too.

One way or another, refugees will come to Europe because they are unable to build lives in their overburdened host countries. If a meaningful resettlement program existed, they could wait in line in Amman, Beirut or Gaziantep for relocation, rather than risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean.

The infrastructure for such a program exists. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nation’s refugee agency, already has a system under which it vetted 104,000 refugees deemed most in need of resettlement last year. The UNHCR estimates that about 1.15 million actually qualify, some 8 percent of the world’s total refugee population.

Unfortunately, relatively few countries take part in the program and last year they accepted

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Over the last six-and-a-half years, the Obama administration has mostly pursued a moderate version of the dovish strategy vis-à-vis China. US officials don’t say the word “containment” and China in the same sentence, or even the same paragraph, lest they give offense and create counterproductive consequences. Obama famously announced a pivot to Asia, but in practice that has primarily meant a reduced military presence in the Middle East rather than a substantially increased naval presence in the Pacific. The administration has encouraged allies like Japan’s Shinzo Abe in their own efforts to harden their defenses and stand on their own feet.

That’s a kind of containment. But it’s also a kind of recognition of Asian allies’ fears that the US might not always be there to protect them from China.

Obama’s approach to China has been broadly consistent with his general foreign policy, which recognizes the limits of US influence in contexts where the exercise of military power is unlikely because of situational constraints.

It’s probable, however, that this approach will change to some degree in the next administration, whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican. And that’s probably a good thing. China’s response to Obama’s moderation has been continued cautious expansion. Greater resistance on the US side would put pressure on China not to take advantage of the US in places where it recently hasn’t been necessary to project force.

In the long run, this would save effort and reduce the dangers of confrontation, not raise them. There are risks associated with containment. But the risks associated with noncontainment are greater.

only 80,000 applicants (21,000 of them Syrian).

This, for example, is how the UK’s 216 resettled Syrians got into Britain. The UNHCR is explicit in saying that it vets only 100,000 of those in need, because there’s no chance of persuading recipient countries to accept more.

The UK, as Cameron rightly boasted, has been among the most generous nations—second only to the US—in providing financial aid to Syrian refugees in the region. Some of those countries lecturing him have done much less. Yet, the offer to absorb 20,000 refugees by 2020 is hardly heroic, when the crisis is at its most acute right now. Germany may take hundreds of thousands of people this year alone, and is appropriating an extra €6 billion ($6.7 billion) to do so. France on Monday agreed to relocate 24,000 of those already in Europe by 2017.

The problem is not that the UK is refusing to join the commission’s solution of redistributing refugees around Europe. Indeed, Cameron’s policy makes better fundamental sense. The problem is that he isn’t going to take in enough of those in need of new homes fast enough to make a difference.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Net penetration to double

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

nternet penetration in the Philippines was seen to double once the free wireless-connection program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has been completed, a government official predicted.

Science Undersecretary Louis Napoleon C. Casambre said the P3-billion free Internet-access project of his office will drive the growth of the digital economy in the Philippines.

“Once our free Wi-Fi in public places project is fully rolled out, the number of Filipino netizens could easily double and, soon enough, they will require dedicated Internet connectivity and will not be satisfied with a shared free Wi-Fi public service,” he said.

casambre: “Once our free Wi-Fi in public places project is fully rolled out, the number of Filipino netizens could easily double and, soon enough, they will require dedicated Internet connectivity and will not be satisfied with a shared free Wi-Fi public service.”

According to the World Bank, Internet penetration in the Philippines is currently at 37 percent.

With a P1.4-billion budget this year, the free Wi-Fi is expected to cover 7,112 sites in 967 municipalities from 14 points of presence, documents from the Information and Communications Technology Office showed. The free public Wi-Fi targets a 99-percent Internet connectivity in the country by the end of the year.

“To improve the speed of Internet access in the provinces, we are also establishing Internet-content caches in the free Wi-Fi project’s 14 points of presence [POPs]. These Internet caches, located in strategic locations all over the course, are also open to our telco and Internet service providers to enhance the quality and speed of their respective networks,” Casambre said.

The science department is proposing a P1.6-billion budget for the free Internet service for 2016.

To date, about 14 cities and

Apec to cut business red tape by 10%. . .

In the area of dealing with permits, the indicators are the number of procedures, time and cost.

Private-sector representatives from across the region have agreed to form the world’s largest services coalition at the sidelines of the Apec SRMM here.

In a late briefing on Monday, Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) Hong Kong and Head of Delegation of Abac for the SRMM Anthony Nightingale announced to the media here that the new coalition is envisioned to promote cooperation and dialogue in the services industries in this part of the globe.

“This is an important step for furthering services liberalization and facilitation in the region. It was held on

the margins of the Apec Ministerial Meeting on Structural Reform, the first meeting on structural reform in seven years,” Nightingale said.

“It’s very appropriate, because many of the issues service companies, service providers face are issues closely related to structural reform, regulation and behind-the-border issues rather than at-the-border issues,” he added.

The new coalition will first be co-convened by the Australian Services Roundtable and United States Coalition of Services Industries, with support from the newly revived Philippine Services Coalition (PSC) and the Lima Chamber of Commerce of Peru.

100 municipalities are enjoying the service.

The free Internet-access service will be made available in public spaces, such as plazas, parks, public schoolyards and libraries. The service will also be deployed in hospitals, government offices and transportation terminals.

The DOST has removed the average speed limit of 256 kilobytes per second. Each user can only have a speed access of 50 megabytes per day.

The free Wi-Fi service can accommodate 4,550 users, but can still provide for up to 105,000 users while maintaining the Internet speed.

“So, as you see, we in the government pull out all the stops and the quality of it to higher levels, at par, if we can, with the best in the world.

With committed and continued partnership with the private sector, we are confident that together we are always heading toward the right direction,” Casambre said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Megaworld allots P30B for Pampanga township

By VG Cabuag

P

ROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said it is spending P30 billion over a 10-year period in developing its township project in the city of San Fernando in Pampanga.

The company said its 19th township development, measuring about 35.6 hectares beside the provincial capitol, will have clusters of buildings for both residential and the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry. “This is the perfect time and opportunity to be present in this progressive province, where else but right at the heart of the provincial capital, which is a prime location for an urban township development,” said Jericho Go, the company’s senior vice president.

The property is approximately 70 kilometers away from Manila and around 20 km away from Clark International Airport. The company did not divulge the details of the project, since the master plan is still being developed.

“Just like our other townships, we

will integrate residential, office, commercial, retail and institutional components in this development. As we see a potential pool of skilled talents for the BPO sector in the province, we are certain to build a cyberpark, bring in our partner-locators to the township and generate thousands of jobs for the people of Pampanga,” Go said.

“This new township is also envisioned to expand and revitalize Pampanga’s provincial capitol district,” he said. The project is the fourth to be launched this year by the company, led by tycoon Andrew L. Tan. Earlier this year the company launched two townships in Negros Occidental: the Northhill Gateway; measuring about 50 hectares; and the Upper East, 34 hectares. It also has a township in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, called Santa Barbara Heights, at about 170 hectares.

These new developments will add close to 400 hectares to Megaworld’s portfolio, bringing the total township land area of the company to around 3,100 hectares by the end of the year.

Continued from A1

The details of the new coalition will be discussed further in a meeting to be hosted by the China Association of Trade in Services in Beijing in May 2016.

In the Philippines the PSC will be headed by the Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), which will be setting up the PSC Secretariat.

As of press time, the organizations that have also expressed interest in joining the PSC are the Baliwag University, Philippine Technological Council and the United Architects of the Philippines.

Nightingale said the Philippines played an important role in the creation of the new coalition, because it is

under the Philippines’s Apec chairmanship this year that services issues were thoroughly discussed.

He said that helping the services industries can also result in more inclusive growth. The sector accounts for as much as 70 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and contributes nearly 50 percent of world exports.

In the Philippines alone, the services sector accounts for 54 percent of total employment, translating to jobs for 21 million Filipinos. The services sector is also the main contributor to the country’s GDP. In the second quarter alone, Services sector accounted for 3.5 percentage points of the country’s 5.6-percent economic growth rate. The Services

sector grew 6.2 percent in the April-to-June period.

“If we are serious about delivering inclusive growth in the region, discussions need to be anchored on rational economic arguments about how services can help promote the Services sector in the region,” Nightingale said.

The members of the new coalition, which also signed the memorandum of understanding on Monday, also include Abac Brunei, Canadian Services Coalition, Indonesia Services Dialogue, Japan Services Network and Malaysian Services Providers Confederation.

The list also includes Business New Zealand, Business Council of Papua New Guinea, Singapore Business Federation and the Taiwan Coalition of Service Industries.