September 15, 2015

Singapore ruling party faces complacency risk after big win

ILOILO BUSINESS PARK Megaworld Chairman Dr. Andrew L. Tan presents the “key of the township”

to President Aquino during the ceremonial launch and inauguration of the company’s P35-billion Iloilo Business Park development in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. The President also inaugurated the P700-million Iloilo Convention Center and the Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, both inside the business park. Looking on are (from left) Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. (partly hidden), Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas.

Singapore ruling party faces complacency risk after big win Singapore’s ruling party, fresh off a big win in parliamentary elections, will need to guard against complacency as it heads into its sixth decade of leadership, while the nation’s nascent opposition looks to regroup.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s People’s Action Party, bruised by its worst performance in 2011 since independence, fought back in the September 11 poll to boost its share of the popular vote to nearly 70 percent -- the highest since 2001 -- and

secured 83 of 89 seats up for grabs.

The PAP saw off a challenge for the first time in every seat among nine opposition parties, who sought to win voters dismayed by rising living costs and an influx of foreign workers who account for about a third of the island’s 5.5 million people. But only the Workers’ Party won seats -- and even then it lost one it previously held.

Yearning for stability “The results mainly reflect many Singaporeans’

BusinessMirror

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

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business

ThursdaySeptember 18, 2014 Vol.15, 10 No. 40 Vol. 10 No. 341 Tuesday, 2015

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

■ ■

PRESIDENT ALSO REJECTS COMPENSATING MEASURES LIKE RAISING V.A.T., EXCISE TAX ON OIL

Aquino firm vs tax-rate cuts A B B F

STILL “unconvinced” President Aquino on Monday shut the door on proposals to lower the individual, as well as corporate, tax burden—rated as among the highest in the region—arguing that doing so would widen the budget deficit and affect the country’s credit standing.

INSIDE

9/11: A TRIBUTE TO NEW YORK Making a commitment

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EAR Lord Jesus, thank You for saving us! As the shepherd of our soul, we entrust our whole life into Your care and guidance. As Christians, believing is accepting as a fact and making a commitment of our own future to the promises of the Almighty Father to save us—simply by believing in You, oh Lord Jesus. Each day is a dedication we make to be holy, faith-filled and in the state of grace so that in the end, we will enjoy Your presence in Your Kingdom. Amen.

LIVING WATER, JOHN F.W. AND LOUIE M. LACSON

Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

TOP TIPS FOR AFFORDABLE KITCHEN RENOVATIONS »D2

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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

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9/11: A tribute to New York REFLECTING POOLS At the

exact footprint of the towers, two reflecting pools of water falling into an abyss serves as a reminder of the attacks. The pools are aptly named as “Reflecting Absence”, in memory of the two mighty towers that once symbolized New York.

URBAN MONOLOGUES 2.0 NIKKI BONCAN-BUENSALIDO

design@buensalidoarchitects.com www.buensalidoarchitects.com

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OURTEEN years ago, I was a senior highschool student. The day of September 11, 2001, I woke up and thought it was just another day at school, but when I entered the classroom, I heard talks about a plane crash. Throughout the day, I remember our teachers taking time out of our regular subjects to explain to us what had happened. Two commercial Boeing 767 jets had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, and another crash near the Pentagon had also been reported. These were not just any other plane crash. They were a terrorist attack. There was no television in school that day, so we all relied on the stories of our teachers who talked about the significance of the attacks and how this will profoundly impact life as we knew it. When I got home, I quickly rushed to watch the news on TV (at that time, there was no Twitter or Facebook) and it was only then that I realized the devastation the attacks left, not only in New York but throughout the whole world. Everyone was in shock over the images that flashed on the TV screen.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, officially referred to as One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center, were part of a complex composed of seven structures.

Located in downtown Manhattan, the two buildings were designed by Arch. Minoru Yamasaki in 1964 and completed in 1970 and 1971.

For two years and as Chicago’s Sears Tower was being built, the two towers were considered the tallest structures in the world at 110 stories tall. Its design and planning was advanced at the time, as framed tube structures provided the users with light coming through all the spaces as a result of its open plan with no columns or walls inside the space. Several events, including a fire and an earlier bombing failed to take down the Twin Towers, which were thought to be indestructible. The two hijacked planes that crashed into the towers took approximately 3,000 lives and reduced the structures to rubble.

New York is a city that does not give up immediately. Following the attacks, a council was established in November 2001 to oversee the rebuilding process. Polish-American Arch. Daniel Libeskind won the competition to redesign the complex and the memorial section was opened on September 11, 2011, to commemorate the attacks. One World Trade Center, on the other hand, opened much later—November 3, 2014.

I had the chance to visit the 9/11 Memorial and a decade after the attacks, the mood at the site was still somber. The memorial is situated at the exact site where the old towers used to stand. In place of the towering structures are two reflecting pools of water falling into an abyss, serving as a reminder of the attacks. The pools are aptly named “Reflecting Absence,” in memory of the two mighty towers that once symbolized New York.

Surrounding the two pools is a parapet marker engraved

PHOTOS BY NIKKI BONCAN-BUENSALIDO

with the names of all who perished during the 9/11 attacks. At the site, one invariably falls into a reflective, prayerful mood. The two bodies of water are massive, overpowering and cold. At night, two beams of light flood the sky to commemorate and remember those whose lives were claimed by the tragedy. The memorial is surrounded by trees that stood aligned in a row, as if showing respect and reverence to the memorial. The landscaping was designed by Peter Walker, highlighting a single Callery Pear tree that survived the attack, discovered under the rubble in October 2001. It was later dubbed the “Survivor Tree,” as it was badly burned but had one living branch hanging on for dear life.

Today the tree has become a symbol of hope, rebirth and revival, and is a reminder to everyone that the human spirit can and will persevere.

Since then, a lot has changed. Aviation standards were reviewed, revised and adapted around the world, new security innovations have been invented, building codes and structural systems for construction were also revised, to name a few. New York City appears to have risen from the darkness and the ashes of the attacks, what with all the new developments going on in the area, but those who witnessed the horrors of that September day beyond the images that played out on TV screens carry the memory with them.

As the world commemorates 9/11 with those who were deeply affected, we will never forget that dark day. We will also never forget the heroism and bravery of those who risked their lives to search for and help survivors. ■

OLD TWIN TOWERS The Twin Towers that once

THE NEW YORK SKYLINE TODAY

In the distance stands the new prominent One World Trade Center building. In that same sightline, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center created a different silhouette of the New York City skyline.

dominated the New York skyline are now but a memory. Its design and planning was advanced at the time as framed tube structures provided the users with light coming through all the spaces as a result of its open plan with no columns or walls inside the space. THEYESHIVAWORLD.COM

4 issues to consider before choosing gravel B M G Tribune News Service THERE was a time when the only gravel gardens were in the desert. In lands of little rain where soils are porous and well drained, this surfacing material has proven highly successful. Problems arise when this solution is applied to other locations and climates that are not so compatible with the technique. With gravel proving popular, particularly in contemporary landscape design, there are a few caveats to consider before you select it as a lawn substitute.

There is a dark side to gravel surfacing that raises its ugly head many months after it is first laid out. These issues can turn a beautiful new project into a maintenance nightmare if you don’t make the right choices prior to installation.

■ Gravel is kicked or tracked out

of place. Photos of perfectly manicured gravel fields are rarely home to kids, dogs and active families. When there’s a lot of activity in the yard, gravel inevitably travels where it doesn’t belong because nothing really holds it in place.

The early 20th century use of decomposed granite is rolled flat and packed into a dense layer that creates a hard crust so it’s not so easily tracked indoors to scratch your beautiful floors.

■ Litter builds up. No matter where you live, there will be organic matter, from wind-blown lawn clippings to pine needles and autumn leaf drop. Fragments build up in gravel areas, making it impossible to separate from the pebbles. When using darker gravel hues, such as black, and the steel grays so popular in modern design, this litter stands out like a sore thumb.

Once contaminated, it’s impossible to

resolve. To solve this problem it’s often recommended that gravels are earth tones so the litter doesn’t visually show up.

■ Heavy rain runoff. Everyone who has a gravel driveway knows what happens to it after heavy rain. A downpour can literally erode tiny riverbeds through gravel like it does in desert dry washes.

Unless it’s repaired, raked and packed afterward, that rivulet will simply grow deeper and cause proportionately more erosion after the next heavy rain. Be attentive to gravel areas during spring runoff and summer thunder storms.

■ Can you rake it? Older gravel gardens left over from the previous exploration of this drought-busting technique tell us much about what works and what doesn’t. Larger gravel is hard to rake clean because so much organic matter, dirt and litter settles down between

the pebbles to the surface that can be an inch or two beneath. Once this material accumulates, it decomposes into a perfect humus for weed seeds to germinate. So even though you have weed barrier fabric beneath the gravel, this layer organic matter on top of it will foster whole crops of seedlings. It is best to use the finest gravel possible so it packs down tightly and is easily raked clean to remove litter. In the long term, you may discover slab stones or precast concrete units are more manageable in lieu of lawns.

Beware that some of the same problems occur when you use gravel to fill the gaps between paving units. These, too, can be kicked out of place, invaded by litter, foster weeds and are impossible to rake clean unless carefully thought out in advance. It is wise to set the level of these fillers so they are below the edge of the adjacent paver to

reduce some of the problems. Select small decorative gravel that packs together tightly to maintain a crisp joint.

When beautiful contemporary landscapes are featured in photography, it doesn’t tell you what’s required to maintain that great look. High-end homeowners can afford costly maintenance services to detail that gravel, but most folks have to do it themselves. Rather than becoming a slave to the darker side of gravel care, give some thought to your lifestyle when choosing size and color. Get that right and you’ll be liberated from watering, raking and blowing away the chaff that is the root of problems that may not show today but are the inevitable side effect tomorrow.

■ Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer.

Learn more at www.MoPlants.com.

LIFE

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SINGAPOREANS FALL BACK ON TRIED AND TESTED PARTY The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph | Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Start-up to simplify charitable giving

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HE charitable industry has been a dinosaur when it comes to embracing the mobile era, but Boston-based start-up Causemo believes it can change that.

Fresh of f a $4 -m i l l ion f u nd i ng rou nd a nd w it h a consumer app under development, Causemo wants to become the digital one-stop shop for charitable campaigns and the people who donate to them.

“Cause organizations are having a tough time getting millennials, as well as Generation X and Generation Y, where they primarily transact today, which is on their smartphones and tablets,” Causemo cofounder Nick Bogovich said.

“What we’re trying to do is address that problem.”

Bogovich is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a software developer by trade, who is serving as Causemo chief marketing officer, recruited by fellow cofounder Bret Siarkowski, his former colleague at GSN Games. Key backers include serial entrepreneur Dave Furneaux, who is also Causemo’s CEO, and television pundit Dr. Keith Ablow, a founding member of their board.

To Bogovich and his cofounders, the current process of donating money on a mobile device is fraught with friction. Pulling out a credit card and filling in a bunch of fields on a contact form is like a giant chore for people who prefer autocompletes and automatic sign-ins. That process is further muddled by the fact that charities are the last to invest in mobileresponsive web sites.

Case in point: The last two times I tried to donate to a friend’s charity run via smartphone, I had to finish on my desktop computer to complete my pledge. “Throughout the year, there are all different

types of causes that people would love to support and businesses wou ld love to support, and we’re trying to remove those barriers to lead to more charitable activity,” Bogovich said. Last year more than $358 billion was donated to nonprofit organizations in the US, according to Giving US, the annual snapshot of American philanthropy. However, only 6.7 percent of the money was raised online, according to the 2014 Charitable Giving Report by Blackbaud, a provider of software and services for nonprofits.

With all the feel-good Twitter hashtag campaigns and viral campaigns like the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, the growth potential for online fundraising is real and almost entirely untapped. With so many startups solv ing problems you didn’t know you had, Causemo stands out: A novel solution for an authentic conundrum that also might do some good.

Causemo’s vision is to offer companies an easy way to run cause campaigns. It’s already amassed a list of 20 partners— including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, City Year and Save the Children.

The start-up is negotiating a high-profile partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, and is planning to make its mark on Giving Tuesday, the day after Cyber Monday, Bogovich said.

Making outreach unobtrusive is key to the Causemo philosophy, Bogovich said.

For instance, if someone is reading a news article about the earthquake in Nepa l, C au semo wou ld ser ve a n ad that simply asks for the reader’s e-mail address if they want to help. And Causemo would follow up at a later time, rather than making the consumer interrupt what they’re doing to donate. AP

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B V J  A L | The Associated Press

opinion polls, it is hard for voters to judge the strength of the opposition, and how much votes it should get without upsetting the apple cart. Unwilling to fall into the trap of over-voting for the opposition, the traditionally risk-averse Singaporeans always end up going for the safe option. This time, the risk seemed larger. The fear that they could lose a government that they trusted and relied on tipped the undecided on the PAP’s side.

“There was a certain palpable concern that the PAP may come out of the election severely weakened.

That resulted in the middle ground, the group of undecided voters, to rally behind the PAP, going back to a tried and tested party,” Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told the Associated Press.

Even the opposition acknowledged that. “One of the things which I think probably did loom in people’s minds...is the fact that for the first time, all 89 seats are contested, and perhaps, some people did feel that there was some risk [of the PAP faring poorly],” Workers’ Party Chairman Sylvia Lim said at a victory parade in Aljunied. The party retained five seats by a slim margin. “There is a perception that the opposition movement is growing strong. There could be a pushback on that, because I think people still feel comfortable with the PAP as a government,” she added.

So why do Singaporeans trust the PAP so much?

For one, it is the party’s track record. After a period of British colonial rule, Singapore became part of the Malay Federation in 1963, whose other giant member was neighboring Malaysia. However, Singapore was kicked out of the union in 1965, with Lee Kuan Yew as the prime minister of the newly formed nation. A fiery orator, master strategist and a noholds-barred street fighter, Lee led the PAP to decisive victory in the 1968 general elections, and every

That explains the overwhelming majority that the People’s Action Party (PAP) has won in every election since independence in 1965, including the last one on Friday, which returned it with an even greater share of the votes than before. It was a result that any political party in the world would salivate over—83 of 89 seats in Parliament and 70 percent of all votes cast.

In some ways, it was the direct outcome of the PAP’s relatively poor showing in the 2011 elections, when even though it won 81 of the 87 seats at stake, it garnered only 60 percent of the votes.

There was clear anger among the voters against the rising cost of living. Singapore is among the most expensive cities in the world, while being the ninthrichest nation on an annual percapita income basis, one spot ahead of the US. An open immigration policy promoted by the government to keep the economy robust had led to overcrowding and resentment against foreign workers seen to be stealing local jobs.

Restrictions on the media and freedom of speech—although less than in the early years after

independence—remain in place.

Income disparities are stark. On the one hand, executives are earning six-figure salaries, driving expensive cars, living in magnificent homes, and on the other, old retirees are eking out a living on meager pensions of about $1,000 a month while doing odd jobs. All this gave the opposition fodder to launch an invigorated attack. Its campaign rallies attracted tens of thousands of people compared to a few hundred or 3,000 at the most for the PAP. Social media—the only alternative voice in a country where the mainstream newspapers, radio and TV stations are controlled by the government—were abuzz with talk of the opposition flexing its newfound muscles.

S ome e v e n b e g a n to t a l k about the possibility that the nine opposition parties combined would unseat the government, because for the first time in histor y, they were together contesting all seats.

That, for many Singaporeans, was unacceptable. They wanted to give the opposition some voice— but not enough to take charge.

In a country that does not allow

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“The aim of this measure is to limit the current influx to Germany and to return to orderly entry procedures,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters.

“This is also urgently necessary for security reasons.”

De Maiziere added: “The great readiness to help that Germany has shown in recent weeks...must not be overstretched.”

He did not specify how long the border controls would remain in place or how exactly incoming migrants would be handled, saying only that Germany will continue to observe national and European rules on protecting refugees.

German officials didn’t have further details, but in principle, border checks allow officials to turn back anyone lacking valid papers to enter.

The move, de Maiziere said, was also “a signal to Europe: Germany is facing up to its humanitarian responsibility, but the burdens connected with the large number of refugees must be distributed in solidarity within Europe.”

Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn, said it had suspended service from Austria to Germany for 12 hours at the orders of authorities. Most new arrivals have come by train. De Maiziere noted that Germany isn’t technically responsible for most of the new arrivals, pointing to EU rules under which they are supposed to be registered and processed in the

one since, until his death in March.

Lee and other founding leaders in the PAP created a unique system of development for Singapore. Lee promoted meritocracy, attracted foreign investment through tax incentives, introduced Englishlanguage education, raised productivity and brooked no corruption. He also brooked no dissent and treated the opposition with contempt. Most opponents could not match his fighting skills— some were thrown in jail and others taken to court for defamation, leading to bankruptcy. Soon the opposition was emasculated.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s spectacular development continued amid restrictions on free speech.

In many ways, Singapore became a nanny state, with the government masterminding social policies, including the racial mix among Chinese, Malays and Indians in public housing where a majority of its 5.6 million people live, how much they should save, what they could read and what they could watch on TV. Singaporeans seemed willing to pay that price for the economic gains.

After disenchantment became deeply evident in the 2011 elections, the gover nment made amends. It cut back on immigration. The annual growth of foreign professionals, managers and executives fell from 45,000 a year to 13,000 last year. It made reforms to the pension scheme and the medical insurance. The government also reached out to the youth on hot-button issues—and the results paid off.

Ultimately, it was the people’s choice—even if forced by a set of circumstances unique to Singapore—that strengthened the ruling party at the expense of producing a more representative Parliament. “I guess Singaporeans get the government they deserve, so I don’t want to hear any more complaints,” said opposition leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam. AP

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Sunday his country has boosted the police presence on the Austrian-Czech border in reaction to the German decision.

The government will assess the situation on a regular basis and will take further security measures if needed. Passport-free travel in much of the continent under the

so-called Schengen agreement is considered one of the EU’s signal achievements. The agreement allows countries to reintroduce controls in exceptional circumstances, as Germany did for the Group of Seven summit in June.

The European Commission said the crisis “appears to be a situation covered by the rules.”

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Hungarian police say more than 186,000 people have passed through Hungar y from Serbia t his year en route to Austria and Germany. The main point of arrival in Germany has been Munich, where officials say 63,000 people have come since the end of August, including over 12,000 on Saturday. AP

WORLD

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‘THAT’S THE WAY IT GOES’ N

EW YORK—Roger Federer wonders what might’ve been if only he’d converted any of those three break points in the last game of the US Open final.

The crowd roaring, Federer rolling, Novak Djokovic reeling— maybe he could have come all the way back from down two breaks in the fourth set to win in five.

But the Swiss great knows one thing for certain.

“I should have never been down in the first place two sets to one and 5-2,” Federer lamented late Sunday night, still stuck on 17 major titles for at least four-anda-half more months.

He fell so far behind because his opponent was simply better in the biggest moments. The top-ranked Djokovic was six for 13 on break points; Federer was four of 23.

“Surely I am very disappointed,” Federer said. “I had my chances on my racket.”

Djokovic won, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, in a match that followed a similar script to their Wimbledon final— Federer wins the second set but falls in four.

His serve was shaky in the early going Sunday. Federer’s coach, six-time Grand Slam champ Stefan Edberg, said the conditions contributed to that. After a rain delay of more than three hours, the air was cooler and the court slower.

“That’s the way it goes,” Edberg said.

In the fourth set, Federer got one break back the first time Djokovic tried to serve out the match. He had three break points in Djokovic’s next service game to potentially even the set at 5-5. But it was only appropriate that the match ended with Federer creating break-point chances and Djokovic saving them.

“He’s always going to be out there making you play your best if you want to win,” Djokovic said.

After 33-year-old Flavia Pennetta announced her retirement during the women’s trophy presentation on Saturday, it was hard not to speculate about the 34-year-old Federer’s future. He quickly answered that question during Sunday’s award ceremony, telling the crowd: “I’ll see you guys next year.”

The fans in New York badly wanted to see him get No. 18. They even cheered Djokovic’s missed first serves on Sunday.

“They kept me going, and that’s definitely one of the reasons I still keep playing, because of these moments, goose bump moments,” Federer

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BusinessMirror

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: We pushed each other to the limit, as we always do. AP

ILIPINO carriers have no problem competing with Middle Eastern airlines, especially since they have regained their footing financially. However, wrestling with giants that are backed by government funding will lead them back to the pit and the mire.

Generally, competition in the Philippine aviation sector is both intense and dynamic, as regulators had done a good job in providing consumers a wide range of choices in terms of air services. For example, a passenger going to London has at least 10 airlines to choose from —it all depends on his preference of route.

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ROGER FEDERER laments blown chances in US Open final. AP

In the end, Novak Djokovic handled everything in a thrill-a-minute final on a frenetic night. Thwarting Roger Federer with his relentless defense and unparalleled returning, Djokovic took control late and held on for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory to earn his second US Open title, third major championship of the year and 10th Grand Slam trophy in all.

Second of three parts

B H F The Associated Press

EW YORK—After winning a point in the US Open final, and bent on proving a point, Novak Djokovic leaped and roared and threw an uppercut, then glared at some of the thousands of spectators pulling for Roger Federer.

Following another point in that game, Djokovic nodded as he smiled toward the stands. And moments later, Djokovic shook his right arm, bloodied by an early fall, and screamed, “Yes! Yes!” to celebrate a missed forehand by Federer.

Djokovic appeared to be all alone out there in Arthur Ashe Stadium, trying to solve Federer while also dealing with a crowd loudly supporting the 17-time major champion proclaimed “arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport” during prematch introductions.

In the end, Djokovic handled everything in a thrill-a-minute final on a frenetic night.

Thwarting Federer with his relentless defense and unparalleled returning, Djokovic took control late and held on for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory on Sunday to earn his second US Open title, third major championship of the year and 10th Grand Slam trophy in all.

“We pushed each other to the limit,” the No. 1-ranked Djokovic said, “as we always do.”

Djokovic, who is 63-5 in 2015, including 27-1 at majors, said he understood why the crowd backed Federer but hopes to someday get that sort of support.

“You do let sometimes certain things to distract you,” Djokovic said about interacting with the fans. “But it’s important to get back on the course and go back to basics and why you are there and what you need to do.”

Certainly was able to do that.

Contorting his body this way and that, sneakers squeaking loudly as he changed directions or scraping like sandpaper as he slid to reach unreachable shots, Djokovic forced the 34-year-old Federer to put the ball into the tiniest of spaces. Federer wound up with 54 unforced errors, 17 more than Djokovic.

Another key statistic: Djokovic won 10 of the first 12 points that lasted at least 10 strokes.

Perhaps the most pivotal of all: Djokovic saved 19 of the 23 break points he faced, while winning six of Federer’s service games.

“Some of them, I could have done better, should have done better,” the second-ranked Federer said.

From late in the third set to 5-2 in the fourth, Djokovic took control against a wilting Federer by claiming eight of 10 games. Federer made one last stand, breaking to get within 5-3 and holding for 5-4, but a forehand return that flew long left Djokovic as the champion, pointing to his heart.

After all the attention paid to Serena Williams’s bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam, which ended with a semifinal loss at the US Open, it’s Djokovic who reached all four finals. He beat Andy Murray at the Australian Open in January, lost to Stan Wawrinka at the French Open in June, then beat Federer at Wimbledon in July.

The 28-year-old from Serbia also won a trio of majors in 2011—including his only other title in New York in five previous finals—and his career total ranks tied for seventhmost in history behind Federer.

Djokovic evened his head-to-head record with Federer at 21-all. They have met in three of the last six Grand Slam finals, and Djokovic is 3-0 in those. It is as spectacular a rivalry as there is in tennis right now, with contrasting styles of play.

“Being back in a final is where you want to be,” said Federer, who owns five US Open titles but last played for the championship in 2009. “Playing a great champion like Novak is a massive challenge.”

His coach, Stefan Edberg, figures an 18th major title is still not out of reach, even though no one Federer’s age has won the US Open since 1970.

“You still cannot count him out,” Edberg said. “If he keeps playing at this level, he’ll get another shot.”

Djokovic sounded as if he agreed, saying about Federer: “He’s just not going away.”

Rain began falling about 10 minutes before they were supposed to head out from the locker room, and the start of the match was delayed for more than three hours, beginning after 7 p.m.

Won’t happen again: The US Tennis Association is in the midst of constructing a retractable roof expected to be ready for next year’s tournament.

In the third game, Djokovic slipped as he raced forward and fell, ripping skin off his hand, elbow and knee. Shaken, he lost six of the next seven points, then got treatment from a trainer.

Still, all of four Federer service games into the match, Djokovic earned four breaks. That was the same total managed by Federer’s opponents in 82 service games across his previous six matches. Federer also hadn’t lost a set until Sunday.

If there were many folks in favor of Djokovic in the 23,771-capacity arena, they were tough to hear. Instead—and make no mistake, Djokovic noticed—a vast majority were on Federer’s side, even applauding faults by Djokovic, considered poor tennis etiquette. Over and over, chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, the first woman to officiate a US Open men’s singles final, held up a hand the way a school teacher might and asked for quiet.

“Was it louder than ever? Maybe,” Federer said. “It was unreal.”

SPORTS

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mingo would keep his post until the endof theyear,or up to thePhilippines’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings.

The President also asked Domingo to give names for his possible replacement. At the same time, the President thanked Domingo “for all of the work that he has done on behalf of the country,” including the 600-percent jump in investments.

The President told me that some of the Cabinet think that I should stay on until Apec and I told him we can adjust the date. I will meet with the President soon to discuss the exact date,” Domingo said. Butch Fernandez

Business sector still hoping present Congress will pass PPP Act

said later.

He hasn’t felt the goose bumps of a major title since 2012 Wimbledon.

But everything the second-ranked Federer sees in his game and his results offers encouragement that he’ll eventually add to his record.

“You still cannot count him out,” Edberg said. “If he keeps playing at this level, he’ll get another shot.” AP

YES! YES! N

Domingo opted to stay up to end-2015–P-Noy

RESIDENT Aquino announced on Monday that Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, who resigned last week citing burnout, is likely to stay in his post until the end of the year.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating the Iloilo Convention Center, Mr. Aquino confirmed he was still looking for Domingo’s replacement. Domingo had long expressed his desire to go back to the private sector. The President said he will talk to Domingo next week to know how long the trade chief would stay in the Cabinet.

Mr. Aquino said it is likely that Do-

C  A

Sports

| TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SOKOR DEFENSE MINISTER IN PHL South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo salutes the colors while reviewing the troops during welcoming ceremony on Monday at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. Han is in the country for talks with Philippine defense department officials on regional security issues. Story on A3. AP

B L S. M

POLICE control cars at the Austrian-German border near Bad Reichenhalll, southern Germany on September 14 after Germany introduced temporary border controls Sunday to stem the tide of thousands of refugees streaming across its frontier, sending a clear message to its European partners that it needs more help with an influx that is straining its ability to cope. ANDREAS GEBERT/DPA VIA AP

first EU country where they arrived. He urged other countries to apply those rules, and said people seeking protection cannot choose the country where they receive it.

He said Germany was reintroducing checks at its borders with an “emphasis” on the Austrian frontier.

It wasn’t clear whether there would be any change at other borders.

C  A

PHL-UAE air agreement to benefit Filipino consumers, but poses threat to local airlines

B2-3

Germany implements temporary border checks to limit migrants

ERLIN—Germany introduced temporary border controls on Sunday to stem the tide of thousands of refugees streaming across its frontier, sending a clear message to its European partners that it needs more help with an influx that is straining its ability to cope.

Germany is a preferred destination for many people fleeing Syria’s civil war and other troubled nations in the migration crisis that has bitterly divided Europe. They have braved dangerous sea crossings in flimsy boats— another 34 drowned on Sunday off Greece—and made long treks across unwelcoming countries in hopes of a better life.

More than a week ago, Germany and Austria agreed to let in migrants who had massed in Hungary, saying it was a one-time measure to ease an emergency.

The flow has continued undiminished, and while Germans have remained welcoming, officials said the numbers were straining the country’s ability to provide accommodations.

Berlin has become increasingly frustrated with the reluctance of many other countries in the 28-nation European Union (EU)—especially those in the former Eastern bloc—to share the burden of hosting the newcomers. Sunday’s action, focusing on the Austrian border, came a day before a meeting of EU interior ministers to discuss the crisis.

or as a ratio to the gross domestic product that, in turn, was one of the factors that the country was able to obtain investment-grade status from credit-rating agencies that continue to provide us with upgrades.”

He explained such a reduction would only widen the deficit as tax revenues fall and, as consequence, put at risk the country’s credit standing as a responsible borrower on the global stage.

SPECIAL REPORT

Singaporeans fall back on tried and tested party INGAPORE—Every four or five years, Singaporeans vote in general elections without ever asking the question: Which party can best run the government? That’s a no-brainer. It’s the same party that’s been ruling the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state for a half-century. The questions most ask instead is how much voice should they give the opposition.

Asked if he was inclined to support the move, Mr. Aquino explained at length why the Palace was not convinced by congressional efforts to provide relief to income-tax payers.

In a post-inauguration interview at the Iloilo Convention Center on Monday, President Aquino premised his rejection of the tax-relief measures by recalling that his administration, sans new taxes, was able to “manage the deficit as a proportion

C1

HE success of the key infrastructure thrust of the Aquino administration moving forward will depend on the passage of a crucial piece of legislation that crystallizes what the administration has learned from its past mistakes.

As private groups and foreign governments consider Manila’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program as one of the best initiatives of its kind in the world today, the current administration must ensure that the scheme will not be glossed over by its successor.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 46.8210

To do this, the government is pushing the amendments to the decades-old build-operatetransfer (BOT) law through the passage of the proposed PPP Act. Business groups and key players in the infrastructure arena described the passage of such law as both “urgent” and of “extreme importance,” as it ensures the continuity of the program after this administration ends.

“It is a crucial piece of legislation that, as I understand, consolidates a lot of learnings and best practices that the Aquino adminis-

tration has accomplished for the past years in the PPP Program,” Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. First Vice President Roman Anthony V. Azanza said in an interview.

He explained that the passage of such law is crucial, as it will serve as a blueprint of how infrastructure development should work under the PPP thrust. The law, he said, eliminates the lead-time requirement for the development of an infrastructure program that aims to accelerate the country’s economic growth.

“If the next administration is serious about infrastructure, it will now have a formal basis of how the program works. The law is really meant to flesh out the standards to avoid moving one step forward, then moving two steps back,” Azanza pointed out.

Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia agreed, saying that the law will help the next administration quickly address the problems that may arise from project procurement to implementation.

S “B ,” A

■ JAPAN 0.3884 ■ UK 72.2776 ■ HK 6.0417 ■ CHINA 7.3445 ■ SINGAPORE 33.1452 ■ AUSTRALIA 33.0891 ■ EU 53.0810 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.4923 Source: BSP (14 September 2015)

A2 Tuesday, September 15, 2015

BMReports BusinessMirror

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PHL-UAE air agreement to benefit Filipino consumers, but poses threat to local airlines Continued from A1

“There’s a real competition happening in the airline industry. There’s no indication that the players are doing anticompetitive activities unlike what’s generally perceived in the oil industry, whose players are suspected to be more a cartel than competing firms,” Avelino L. Zapanta, an aviation expert, said in an e-mail.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Jaime J. Bautista agreed, saying that his company has always been pushed by the competitive market to improve its services.

“Competition in the airline industry in the Philippines is both intense and dynamic. We have a hotly contested domestic market, more competitive than in neighboring countries.

Internationally, PAL and other carriers have carefully built up a long-haul network that is a major step forward for the Philippines’s connectivity needs, though still a work in progress,” he said.

Cebu Pacific Long-Haul Division General Manager Alex B. Reyes said the aviation market is generally well-served by different airline structures, benefiting the passenger in the process.

“Regulators have successfully encouraged an environment where consumers are given multiple options to choose from. The Philippines is also very well-served by both legacy and lowcost carriers,” he said.

Both are competing with one another—domestically and internationally—and are competing with foreign carriers in many markets. Asia remains to be the top market that these two carriers serve, but the Middle East is one of growing sectors that the airlines want to tap.

After all, the Arab gulf is the top destination for overseas Filipino workers.

No guns, no glory

But competing with carriers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) might prove to be too hard for both Philippine carriers. For one, their pockets don’t have enough money to aggressively expand their network, and their arsenals are a little far off compared to the bigger guns of Middle Eastern players.

Filipino carriers are not well-equipped to keep pace with the growth of Arab airlines. The Philippine carriers fly with only a few long-range aircraft, while their Middle Eastern counterparts enjoy the leisure of having a long-range fleet that is one of the largest in the world.

Middle Eastern carriers, likewise, enjoy government backing, as alleged by many of their competitors—not only in the Philippines, but also in the US. “The issue of government subsidy to UAE carriers is very real and has always been there.

Even the American carriers have raised that issue of subsidy against the UAE carriers, which have been spreading their wings in the Americas trouncing the US carriers in the competitive arena,” Zapanta said.

American carriers have been very vocal on their stance against Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, as they have allegedly received as much as $42 billion in subsidies from their governments.

United Airlines, Delta Airways and American Airlines, through the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies Coalition, has called on Washington to temporarily block new US-bound services of Arab carriers to protect them from the negative effect of an unfair market.

This is the same sentiment of Manila-based carriers, which said they are ready to compete against Middle Eastern carriers, but on one condition: the government should foster a healthy

and competitive market.

“We can compete with any airline in the world so long as the playing field is level,” Bautista said, noting that his airline has been competing with airlines from the US, Japan, South Korea, China, Australian and Europe for quite some time now.

Reyes echoed Bautista’s statements, saying that his company is willing to work hand-in-hand with the government to ensure that there is a level playing filed in the market.

“Cebu Pacific welcomes competition, as it ultimately benefits our passengers. We continue to provide our services in the most efficient way we can, and work closely with the Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board, to ensure that we are competing on the same level playing field. We look to the Philippine government to promote the interests and further development of the Philippine aviation industry,” he said.

Emirates, however, belied these claims, with Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President for Commercial Operations, Far East and Australasia Region Barry Brown challenging the company’s detractors to review its financial health over the past few years.

“We have been, and continue to be, consistently transparent and open about our financials. Claims of subsidy and unfair competition are completely false and we have released a point-by-point, fact-based response that systematically disproves these allegations,” he said.

‘Worsened PHL carriers’ weak position’

Today, with the added capacity that Arab carriers are soon to enjoy, Filipino carriers will have to be quicker to innovate in order to at least try to catch up with their Middle Eastern peers.

“Ideally the Philippine government should have done its duty to prevent a further skewing of the market and the competitive arena; that’s a regulatory and public policy mandate. Now that unjustified excess rights were given to certain Middle East carriers, it falls on us, the airlines, to work harder,” Bautista said.

The recently signed agreement between the Philippines and the UAE increased the maximum number of flights per week for each country from the current 28 flights to 35.

Zapanta explained that the result of the recent air talks is clearly a gain on the part of the UAE airlines.

“It aggravated the already weak competitive position of the local carriers. Simply, the UAE carriers can absorb any amount of increase in traffic rights because their airlines are selling virtually all their destinations beyond their bases, i.e., Dubai for Emirates and Abu Dhabi for Etihad, and that is over 150 destinations for both within the Middle East and beyond to Europe and the Americas,” he said.

The expert added: “Our local carriers are selling virtually only Dubai in the case of Cebu Pacific and Abu Dhabi in the case of PAL. They cannot capture enough volume to fill up their current offered flights, for which reason no one wanted to operate the remaining unused seven flights a week.”

This will also affect their immediate plans in a negative way, as consumer preferences tend to favor that of the Middle Eastern brands.

“It will affect their plans badly. The UAE carriers will be able to offer more of the same, i.e., likely free overnight stopover in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and more connecting flights to destinations in Europe and beyond to destinations in the Americas, and in new widebody aircraft against the sardine-configured seats of

Cebu Pacific and narrower seat pitch of PAL’s.

Tourists love to stopover in these intermediate airports because they have much to offer in terms of experiencing modern airports in great cities like paradise that sprout out of the desert,” he said.

Bautista agreed, saying that it will put pressure on almost all of its long-haul routes, as gulf carriers cater to markets outside their hubs.

“The recent air talks will put pressure on our new long-haul routes, especially Europe, Middle East and US or Canada east coast. We are set to launch new routes to Kuwait, Jeddah and Doha while building up our existing flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dammam, London and New York. All these routes will be affected by grants of unjustified capacity to UAE airlines that serve these markets via their home hub airports,” Bautista explained.

‘Weaker bottom lines’

Furthermore, the financial health of local carriers are now at higher risks, as Middle Eastern airlines will soon eat up their marketshare.

“While, the Middle East is not the only routes local airlines are operating, the intensified competition will not help enhance their bottom lines. On the contrary it would negatively affect it, unless they are able to find other routes and markets to compensate the Middle East debacle,” Zapanta said.

Given this, Bautista and Reyes could only hope for the best, and try to save what could still be saved from a phenomenon that they have been fearing for a while.

“We have to be extra nimble and innovative.

They are greatly subsidized and protected from risk by regulatory shelters, domestic monopolies and government largesse,” Bautista said.

To be concluded

The Nation BusinessMirror

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Grace told: Do not use foundling issue to promote political ambition

By Joel R. San Juan

L

OSING senatorial candidate Rizalito David on Monday denied that the quo warranto petition he filed against Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares should not be considered as an affront to foundlings but merely a question on the latter’s citizenship.

David said the petition he filed before the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) seeks to determine whether Poe is qualified to serve as a senator given that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen.

David issued the statement in response to lawyer Katrina Legarda’s claim that the present petition questioning Poe’s true citizenship status aims to harm foundlings born in the Philippines.

Legarda was a quoted in a newspaper article, saying that the petition against Poe is a case discrimination against foundlings everywhere.

“We are not questioning or even discussing the status of foundling here. The petition, as what Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio describes it is purely a question of the true citizenship status of Grace Poe-Llamanzares. Whatever decision the Senate Electoral Tribunal arrives at, whether it favors Grace Poe-Llamanzares, will not affect the status of foundlings in the Philippines,” David said.

He clarified that the petition is personal to Poe and does not affect other foundlings.

David urged Poe not to drag foundlings into the issue because other foundlings are not party in this issue.

“It is totally unfair and disservice to the people that Senator Poe is sowing intrigues and misinformation about foundlings, even saying in an interview that foundlings do not have any chance of becoming

president. That is not true. Being a foundling in this country is not as hopeless as what Poe-Llamanzares is describing it. Under our laws, the concerned individual can always opt to naturalization with certain conditions or requirements.”

“This issue is about the rule of law. It is not a personal attack against Poe-Llamanzares. However, yes, the petition is personal only to her, not to other foundlings because she is a public officer whose citizenship is now being put to a question. When a public officer’s citizenship is questioned by a concerned citizen, the proper way of responding is to respond based on the issue and not resort to side issues just to create an emotional response from the people,” he added.

The camp of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, meanwhile, assailed Sen. Francis Escudero for saying that that the appearance of Poe at the SET was in stark contrast to other aspiring presidential candidates, who chose to evade the allegations raised against them.

Binay told Escudero that he has turned a blind eye to the “Kangaroo court” proceedings of the Senate subcommittee conducting the year-old inquisition of the Vice President.

“Nagbubulag-bulagan si Senador Escudero. He conveniently forgets to mention that the Senate Electoral Tribunal allows the parties to review the evidence and crossexamine the accusers, something that is completely denied the Vice President in the Senate subcommittee hearings,” the Vice President’s Spokesman for political affairs Rico Quicho said.

Quicho said unlike the SET, the Senate subcommittee is a sham, where the accusers of the Vice President have been allowed to make unsubstantiated charges without offering evidence, often aided by the senators themselves. With Recto L. Mercene

LTFRB activates new nationwide hotline

T

HE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has introduced a new nationwide hotline number with call-center personnel that will immediately offer actions on request for assistance and complaints against erring drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs).

LTFRB Chairman Winston M. Ginez said the hotline will also quickly address concerns on road safety, assistance on pending applications with the agency, provide information on services rendered by the board,

and answer queries on application requirements, as well as clarify existing and proposed policies.

The 1342 Hotline will replace the old numbers displayed on all PUVs in the country.

“We are encouraging the public to be ‘citizen patrol’ in reporting erring drivers violating traffic rules and regulations by dialling 1342; makakasiguro po ang ating mamamayan na may sasagot sa tawag nila upang mabigyan agad ng aksyon ang kanilang report,” Ginez assured.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Tuesday, September 15, 2015 A3

South Korea assures continued assistance to Philippine military

S

By Rene Acosta

OUTH Korea on Monday assured its continued assistance to the Philippine military in its efforts to modernize by providing it with assets and equipment, even as it supports the peaceful resolution of the territorial problems involving small land bodies in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

The assurance was made by South Korean Defense Minister Han Minkoo in a news conference after his meeting with Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin during which they signed an agreement on the sharing of intelligence and other vital information between the two countries.

“The transfer of assets will go as planned,” said Han, who

MINKOO

spoke through an interpreter.

He said Seoul is also willing to t ra nsfer m i l itary technology to the military.

South Korea i s d e v e lo pi n g as the primary source of mod-

ern assets and equipment for the Armed Forces’s modernization, with the latest contract involving the procurement of a squadron of FA-50 “Golden Eagle” lead-in fighter jets, two of which will be arriving in December.

Seoul is also being looked into as the possible source of two brandnew frigates after the Department of National Defense scuttled an earlier plan to buy a secondhand Maestrale-class frigate from Italy owing to funding considerations.

S o ut h K o r e a h a s a l r e a d y supplied the military with troop carriers.

Han said that during his meeting with Gazmin, they discussed wide-ranging security issues and agreed to continue and strengthen the “nation-to-nation cooperation that will benefit the militaries” of the two countries.

Han noted that high level cooperation already exists between the South Korean militar y and the Armed Forces, and these included the senior level

Lease of OMR machines by Comelec questioned at SC A TAXPAYER’s suit was filed on Monday before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking the nullification of a resolution issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that paves the way for the lease of 70,977 optical mark reader (OMR) machines for P6.3 billion to be used for the 2016 elections.

In a 41-page petition for certiorari or prohibition or both, Francisco S. Aguilar Jr. and Guillermo A. Santos said the Comelec acted with grave abuse of discretion in issuing Comelec Resolution 9980, which they described as “an act of spending splurge” that must be enjoined.

The resolution awards the lease contract for the said OMR units to Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) which was declared as the bidder with the lowest calculated responsive bid.

Smartmatic also bagged the contract for the lease of 23,000 OMR machines which was awarded on July 31 for P1.7 billion.

The 70,977 and 23,000 OMR machines are intended to replace the 81,896 old Precinct Count Optical Scan (Pcos) machines that were used in the previous elections.

The old PCOS machines will undergo repair and refurbishment for use in the 2019 elections.

The petitioners argued that “not only is taxpayers’ money being illegally, irregularly or unnecessarily expendeddissipated in connection with the lease of 93,977 OMR [machines], existing machines [81,896 Pcos machines] are allowed to rot in a warehouse rented by the Comelec for P800,000 a month through nonuse and lack of maintenance, refurbishment and-or upgrade.”

“The Comelec, in leaving the 81,896 Pcos machines in the warehouse unmaintained and not refurbished to the gross disadvantage of the government, constitutes wastage of public resources or property, and, thus, a transgression of its fiscal responsibility,” the petitioners claimed.

They insisted that the lease of

new OMRs would be unnecessary because the Pcos machines used in previous elections can still be used once refurbished.

“An expenditure for something that is not essential, or can be dispensed with without loss or damage, or not responsive to the exigencies of the service, or is useless, or not needed or required by the circumstances of the case, is unnecessary,” they said.

The petitioners said the purchase of the new OMR machines violates Article II, Section 7 of Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Act, which states that no government procurement shall be undertaken unless it is in accordance with the approved Annual Procurement Plan of the procuring entity.

Thepetitionersdescribedas“disturbing” the Comelec’s “apparent preference” for Smartmatic JV or Smartmatic, the supplier of the Pcos machines and provider of the election management system in the 2010 and 2013 national and local elections. Joel R. San Juan

Salceda hits DOTC over delay in construction of Bicol airport Country signs environment agreement with Georgia

A

LBAY officials led by Gov. Joey S. Salceda on Monday scored the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) for alleged “interminable delays” in awarding the contract for the construction of the Bicol International Airport in Daraga town.

Salceda, a Liberal Party (LP) stalwart and staunch campaigner of LP presidential bet Manuel Roxas II, broke his silence on the Bicol airport project after his pleas for DOTC’s prompt action has apparently “fallen on deaf ears.”

The governor said the P4-billion Bicol airport project started way back 2008. But after the runway and initial site development, construction of the terminal building hit a snag, especially during the watch of Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya.

“Reputable construction companies won the bidding for the terminal building phase as early as January 2015. However, eight months later, we learned that said bidder was disqualified on flimsy grounds during the post-qualification process,” Salceda said.

According to the contractors who bidded. The government al-

SALCEDA: “We understand that the Bicol airport is not the only major infrastructure project suffering from unjustified delays. Our people deserve better.”

ready stood to save P100 million to P170 million from the P760-million budget of the project.

“To post disqualify us just based on a ground which does not exist in the law but solely on the basis of what appears to be a mistake made in good faith on our part based on a clearly appears to be technicality is not only anomalous, it is also immoral and criminal,” the winning bidder said.

By declaring a failed bidding, the DOTC’s Bids and Awards Committee found an excuse to conduct another bidding, and possibly accommodate a favored contractor, Salceda also said.

“Worse, the DOTC’s planned rebidding will further delay—by at least one year—the actual construction of the long-awaited Bicol International Airport. All our best-laid

plans for tourism development and job creation will suffer as a consequence,” Salceda lamented.

He said Abaya should personally look into the Bicol airport bidding anomaly saying it does not speak well of the administration’s daang matuwid mantra.

“We, Albayanos, appeal for the immediate award and no to the rebidding. The bidding was fair and the government saves [money] already. I’m sure the next bidding will not get the same price.

The government not only get the best price but the real losers are the Albayanos who work hard for the growth and development we deserve,” Salceda said.

“We understand that the Bicol airport is not the only major infrastructure project suffering from unjustified delays. Our people deserve better,” Salceda added.

He stressed that the Department of Public Works and Highways bids out and awards projects quickly and without fanfare. “The story at the DOTC is different. The longer projects are delayed, the more opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to mulct or make money from competing bidders,” he added.

T

HE Philippines signed on Monday a friendship and cooperation agreement with Republic of Georgia for collaboration on diversity conservation and protected area management.

Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) and Philippine Consul to Georgia Thelmo Cunanan Jr. signed the accord on behalf of the Philippines during simple rites at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City with Georgia’s Deputy Environment Minister Ekaterine Grigalava in attendance.

The document, called Declaration of Friendship and Cooperation, will be personally delivered by Cunanan to Georgia for signing by Georgia’s Agency of Protected Areas (APA) Chairman Lasha Moistsrapishvili.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will adopt a “sister relationship” to compare and enhance environment management and ecotourism approaches to identified sites and commit to cooperate with each other in the fields of nature conservation information

and data systems, as well as the management of protected areas, ecotourism and national parks.

While the Philippines has 240 protected areas, the Republic of Georgia is getting help from Cunanan who has also been working with Filipino scientists and experts for the establishment of its first marine-protected area in the Black Sea. The Republic of Georgia is between Europe and Asia, and is bounded by the Black Sea, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. It became an independent state in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, where it was formerly part of.

The partnership between the two countries includes involvement of local stakeholders; identification of sites of national importance, inventory, data analysis and processing; and field training.

In a statement, Lim said the BMB-APA partnership offers “an opportunity to see through a global lens the issues that are area specific, but which can be recognized as common to many protected areas.”

Jonathan L. Mayuga

dia log ue and the “extensive” educational exchange involving their personnel.

As to how Seoul can help the country in facing its security problem in the South China Sea, the South Korean defense minister said they are looking into areas where they can cooperate with the Philippine military, assuring South Korea’s willingness to boost the latter’s capability.

However, Han said the territorial issue should be resolved peacefully and his country is supporting the Philippines’s effort toward this goal.

The visiting South Korean official noted the importance of the South China Sea and the need to keep it open to international navigation and overflights.

Han said 90 percent of South Korea’s petroleum supply and 30 percent of its trade passes through the South China Sea. Han also met with Filipino veterans who served during the Korean War.

House committee OKs TV coverage of chamber’s sessions

ATIENZA: “We will be working closely with these agencies to discuss the technical aspects, as well as budgetary requirements needed for the smooth implementation once the bill becomes law.”

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

HE House Committee on Public Information recently approved a measure that would allow live broadcast of all Congress proceedings over the People’s Television Network Inc. (PTNI).

Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay, author of House Bill (HB) 4049, said that televising the proceedings would also eliminate the practice of practically railroading bills on second and third reading without the benefit of any interpellation and debates.

“This bill will bring Congress closer to the people and, at the same time, promote transparency.

This will also encourage our fellow members to attend and actively participate in floor deliberations of important bills and resolutions,” Atienza said.

One year ago, Atienza filed HB 4049 calling for the showing of live proceedings of the sessions and committee hearings of the Senate and the House of Representatives from gavel to gavel on the government-owned PTNI. He added that just like C-Span in the US, the Philippines needs to have that kind of unprecedented access to its officials.

The bill seeks to amend Section 9 of the PTNI’s Charter, Republic Act 7306, adding to its functions the showing of live proceedings of both Houses of Congress without editing or commentary.

“We will be working closely with these agencies to discuss the technical aspects, as well as budgetary requirements needed for the smooth implementation once the bill becomes law,” Atienza said.

In the past weeks, the Lower House has failed to conduct sessions owing to lack of quorum.

Economy

A4 Tuesday, September 15, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

briefs bill pushes abolition of ‘boundary system’

A measure abolishing the “boundary system” as a mode of compensation for drivers of public buses and jeepneys in the country has been filed at the House of Representatives.

House Bill (HB) 6087, authored by Committee on Metropolitan Manila Development Chairman and Liberal Party Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City, provides that all the drivers shall be paid equitable fixed income above the standard wage rate to be determined by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Under the measure, to be known as the “Abolition of the Boundary System in Bus and Jeepney Operation Act of 2015,” the eight-hour publicutility vehicle driving policy is imposed, prohibiting every bus or jeepney operator to employ a driver for more than eight hours per day.

The bill mandates the DOLE to determine the equitable salary rate of bus and jeepney drivers.

A penalty of one year imprisonment shall be imposed on any bus or jeepney operator for non-compliance and/or a fine of P100,000, the measure said.

In the event a bus or jeepney operator is found guilty of violating this Act for 20 or more times committed within a period of five years, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board is authorized to permanently revoke the operator’s franchise. Jovee Marie N. de la Cruz

BusinessMirror

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LRMC assures better LRT 1 commuter service by 2017

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he concessionaire for the operations, maintenance and extension of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 described the train system as “severely deteriorated” that will “take time” to fix and restore its function to optimal level.

Executives of the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) admitted that, given the current state of the railway system, the group will have to have a lead time—possibly until 2017— to be able to fix the line and let passengers “feel the real benefit of an improved train system.”

Led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., the private company started to run the line on Saturday.

“After months of preparation, we

are pleased to take on the operations of LRT 1. We will work to improve the line over time and make it a system that our commuters will not only enjoy riding, but one they can be truly proud of,” LRMC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said on Monday.

He reported that the oldest light railway train line in Metro Manila, where maintenance has been a challenge over the past years, only has 77 light rail vehicles that are in running condition. The line has

about 100 train coaches.

“It will take time to fix the fleet and restore the system to optimal operating levels. The real benefit of an improved train system will not be felt by the riding public immediately, but will come in due course particularly when the new trains are delivered by the government as part of its obligations under the concession agreement, which trains are scheduled to arrive in 2017, barring any delays,” Pangilinan said.

Despite this, the company will try its best to improve the public’s riding experience over time and gradually bring the train system to better operating levels, he added.

“Particularly, LRMC will begin works starting with improvements in the facilities on all the stations for the safety and security of customers.

Nine of the eleven substations are also in line for rehabilitation to help ensure more reliable train services,” Pangilinan said.

For his part, Ayala Corp. Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala

said his group is “excited” to work with the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Light Rail Transit Authority to modernize the said transport facility.

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 City, Cavite. The company will operate and maintain the train system for 32 years.

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.

“Both the government and the private sector have commitments to meet under the concession framework. It is imperative that we work together to ensure the successful delivery of this project for the benefit of the riding public,” Ayala said.

mining conference kicks off in manila

AN international mining conference kicks off at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila from September 15 to 17 to tackle industry issues and challenges faced by the country’s minerals development sector.

This year’s conference carries the theme: “Building from the ground up: The role of mining in global development” will highlight mining’s impact on the global economy and the challenge of how to use minerals to fight poverty, create opportunities and spur development in the countryside.

Organized by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), the annual event will also showcase in an exhibit products and services, and mining’s best practices and tackle issues confronting the mining industry, as well as challenges brought about by government policies, including taxation.

Mining continues to face stiff opposition in the Philippines despite its promised benefits to host communities and potential contribution to the national economy, owing to its potential adverse impact to the environment, health and livelihood of the people, as well as alleged humanrights violations committed against tribal communities. Jonathan L. Mayuga

five-month delay in construction of naia elevated expressway seen Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis N. Tolentino on Monday said the contractor of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Elevated Expressway and Skyway Stage 3 projects will designate a spokesman to explain the delay of the construction of the two projects. ”So ’yung napag-usapan kanina magde-designate ng spokespersons para ipaliwanag sa taumbayan ’yung status,” Tolentino said after the meeting with the project contractor DMCI held at MMDA office in Makati City.

Tolentino said the construction of Naia Elevated Expressway will be delayed for five months due to debris clogged in the drainage that cause flood along the Park and Fly headed toward the Naia Terminal 1 and 2 in Pasay City. He said the project was scheduled to finish for the coming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this November. The Naia Expressway is a 1.6-kilometer elevated expressway project of the Department of Public Works and Highways that runs from the Metro Manila Skyway to Andrews Avenue near the Naia Terminal 3. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco, PNA

Construction value up 13% to ₧79B in Q2

T

otal value of construction in the second quarter of 2015 increased by 13 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

PSA data showed that construction value in the April-to-June 2015 period reached P79 billion, from P69.9 billion in the same period last year.

Growth of construction value was faster than the growth of number of approved building permits in the second quarter of 2015, only at 0.7 percent to 32,974 from 32,729 in the second quarter of last year.

Approvals for residential projects account for 74 percent of total number of building permits, or a total of 24,543 projects in the second quarter of this year.

Approved residential projects in the same period amounted to P36.7 billion, up by 6.0 percent from P34.5 billion last year.

Nonresidential projects approved this year increased by 11 percent to 3,956 projects from 3,567 projects in 2014.

Value of nonresidential projects in the second quarter this year jumped by 26.3 percent to P34.7 billion from last year’s figure of P27.5 billion.

The PSA noted that bulk of these construction projects are in Region 4A or Calabarzon area with a total share of 28 percent, or 9,150 approved projects.

This was followed by Central Luzon with 3,570 approved projects; Metro Manila with 2,720 projects; Central Visayas with 2,669 projects; and Northern Mindanao with 2,359 projects. PNA

Coloma says he will block any move to privatize NPO

S market Turbulence Some 1000 stall owners and vendors

from different public markets in Manila stage a “Market Holiday” to dramatize their opposition to a Manila City Hall order privatize 17 public markets at the country’s capital city. NONIE REYES

Subic, Clark contributed $6B to Philippine GDP last year

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

S

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—The twin economic zones of Subic and Clark have contributed a total of $6 billion, or about 11 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), last year.

In a report to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto Garcia, SBMA Acting Deputy Administrator for Business Group Ronnie Yambao said the two neighboring special economic zones contributed

significantly to the Philippine GDP. “Clark​​ and Subic’s combined export value last year of $6 billion is very significant to the gross regional domestic product [GRDP]​, ​which contributed 11 percent to our GDP,” Yambao said.

Quoting from the updated World Economic Outlook report from the International Monitory Fund (IMF), Yambao said the Philippine GDP’s growth rate remained at 6.1 percent as of 2014.

He added that the IMF expects to see the Philippines to still become the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia in 2015 after it was able to main-

tain its 6.1 percent GDP, thereby outpacing both Vietnam and Indonesia.

For Subic, Yambao said that among the major growth contributors in 2014 is the South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. (HHIC)​.

The company, ​w hich now has 29,000 direct workers, is set to complete at least 17 ships worth over $1.6 billion. “This would mean hiring additional workers,” Yambao added.

Meanwhile, Yambao said the SBMA board of directors has recently approved five new investment projects. These include Harbor Star Subic

Corp., which proposed a $4.5-million investment for marine-related ancillary service operation, such as harbor assist, towage, oil-spill​mitigation​ and underwater services.

Another firm, Nanofixit Ventures Inc., will open a $5.32-million rebottling and packaging company for water-based liquid-screen protector, while Subic Superfood Inc. will infuse $920,000 for a foodprocessing plant that will use local pili nuts from the Bicol region and Himalayan salt for the manufacture of so-called super foods.

CA upholds legality of qualifying exams for Customs personnel before promotion

T

By Joel R. San Juan

HE Court of Appeals (CA) has denied a petition filed by the employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) assailing the constitutionality of a memorandum order that instituted new qualifying examinations for the hiring and promotion of personnel for the agency’s first and second level positions.

In a six-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Sesinando Villon, the CA’s Special Eleventh Division ruled that the petition filed by the Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) headed by Romulo Pagulayan involves pure question of law, which only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to resolve.

Likewise denied by the appellate court is the plea of BOCEA for the issuance of a status quo ante order, a temporary restraining order and/or a writ of preliminary injunction for being moot.

The BOCEA is seeking the nullification of Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 15-2014 dated June 13, 2014 issued by former Customs Commissioner John Sevilla which revised the guidelines and procedures in the hiring and promotion of personnel for first and second level positions in the agency by instituting aptitude and psychometric tests and competency-based qualifying examinations.

When the policy was implemented, majority of BOC employees did not pass

the examinations and were, accordingly, not considered for promotion.

Thus, BOCEA sought for the nullification of the memorandum order for violating the provisions of the Constitution as well as the Administrative Code of 1987.

The CA noted that BOCEA’s objection to CMO 15-2014 “is replete with questions of policy or wisdom, otherwise, referred to as political questions.”

“The instant petition squarely falls within the mold of political question. BOCEA insists that CMO No. 15-2014 must be struck down because majority of its members did not pass the qualifying examinations that were conducted by virtue of the said issuance,” the CA pointed out.

“This issue is not within our power to resolve. This Court cannot exercise the power of judicial review in the case at bench because there is no actual case or controversy and the issue of constitutionality is not the lis mota of the case,” it added.

It explained that BOCEA failed to state specific acts of Sevilla that might have been attended by grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

“The instant case delves only on the constitutionality of CMO No. 15-2014. It involves a pure question of law and is, therefore, cognizable only by the Supreme Court...,” the CA noted.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Pedro Corales and Maria Elisa Sempio Diy.

ecretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr., chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on Monday said that he will block any attempt to privatize the National Printing Office (NPO).

Coloma aired this before members of the House Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, when asked if there were moves to privatize NPO. The NPO is an attached agency of PCOO. “No privatization of NPO, as long as I am in command of PCOO, I will not allow such move Mr. Chairman,” Coloma told the panel.

PCOO is asking Congress for a P1.131 billion budget for 2016, which is lower compared with the 2015 national expenditure program.

He told the panel that the proposed budget was 2.15 percent, or P24.15 million lower than the budget for 2015. There is also a big drop of budget allocation to NPO from P133 million budget for 2015 to P19 million for 2016.

“Ang pangunahing dahilan po ay mayroon na pong kinikita ang NPO at dahilan sa maayos nilang pamamahala sa napapalapi, binigyan po namin sila ng kapangyarihan na gastusin ang kanilang kinikita sa kanilang operasyon,” Coloma explained why there was a drop, instead of an increase.

But some lawmakers are worried that employees might not get their salaries on time should there were no job orders to print because of competition within NPO. But the representative of the Department of Budget and Management present during the hearing confirmed that NPO earned P1.005 billion in 2014 enough to pay for the salaries and fuel for PCOO’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expanses. They estimate that NPO could earn P1.31 billion in 2015.

House Appropr iations v ice chairman and Rep. Dakila Cua of Quirino recommended PCOO budget for plenary. PNA

A6 Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The NBI has foreign drug spies?

A

N interesting story caught our attention on Sunday from an Indian newspaper, the Bangalore Mirror, obviously having no connection to the BusinessMirror.

The title of the article was “From the Philippines with love: The spy who wound up in a city jail” and tells the tale of one Arminda Caranton de la Cruz, a.k.a. Mindy.

Apparently, 45-year-old Filipina de la Cruz was in Bangalore (Bengaluru) on an undercover mission from a Philippine government agency, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and was arrested by Indian government’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on suspicion of being a drug dealer.

The NCB arrested a local man on drug charges and during the investigation, he revealed that de la Cruz had ordered a quantity of cocaine from him that she intended to buy. The NCB raided her house and seized a laptop, cash, her passport and a weighing machine. However, no drugs were found.

Nonetheless, they arrested her based on the information supplied by the informant and was charged before the Indian High Court, similar to the Philippine regional trial courts. When de la Cruz appeared before the court to plead for bail, she claimed in her statement “that she is a spy working for NBI, Philippines and she has acted on its behalf and also that she was on her job to collect information with regard to drug peddlers and she has not committed any offense.”

Apparently, de la Cruz’s claim of being a foreign drug spy for the NBI came as much of a shock to Indian authorities as it did to us. Who knew that the reach of the NBI in its fight against crime was not only global but worthy of the exploits of James Bond. According to the reports, the Indian government has not been informed of the NBI’s intentions or of its spy’s activities.

Justice L. Narayana Swamy released de la Cruz on bail, saying: “In view of the fact that the list of recoveries has been placed before the court, among which is found her ID card issued by the Republic of Philippines, Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, in which the name of the petitioner is mentioned and in view of the fact that the petitioner was collecting information with regard to narcotics drugs peddling, I deem it fit to grant her bail.” She must still answer the charges but a conviction is highly unlikely at this point.

While the NBI certainly deserves all our support in its antidrug efforts, perhaps, an explanation from the bureau is in order on this particular matter of sending Filipino spies off to foreign countries. It is curious that some sort of undercover drug buy-bust operation nearly 3,000 miles from Manila—and without the support of the Indian government—serves the cause of antidrug enforcement. Put another way, what the heck is going on and why?

US, China reverse roles in global economy Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur

E

verything looked bright for the Philippine economy at the start of 2015, despite the slower growth in 2014—at 6.1 percent compared to 7.2 percent in 2013. Local and foreign economists predict the Philippines will be the shining star in the region this year because of a high credit rating, the continuous flow of remittances, a low-interest environment and a robust businessprocess outsourcing industry, among other factors.

By the end of the second quarter, however, two developments—one domestic and the other external—emerged as threats to the country’s economic outlook. These developments could start a wave of pessimism among investors, which may result in slower inflow of investments.

On the global stage, we are witnessing the reversal of roles of the US and China, an unforeseen and unexpected development.

About five years ago, the US was very weak and had to resort to quantitative easing to stimulate its economy, while China was consuming all commodities, which led to a mining boom even in the Philippines.

Several years ago, everybody was complaining about the high prices of gasoline and other oil products. Now oil prices have plummeted below $40 a barrel. With the slump in prices, mining is now facing a bleak future.

During the period of China’s rapid growth, wealth was also being at an unprecedented pace, and many Chinese were joining the world’s billionaires’ club.

According to Forbes magazine, the 370 Chinese billionaires in 2015 included 71 newcomers, who have at least $1 billion in assets. China’s economy, however, is “now slumping,” after years of doubledigit growth, according to CNN. In 2014 China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.3 percent, down from 7.7 percent in 2013.

This month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast for China’s growth in 2015 to 6.8 percent from the 7.1-percent forecast earlier this year. On September 1 Reuters reported that China’s manufacturing sector contracted at its fastest pace on August, citing official data.

According to the report, the Chinese government’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 49.7 in August from 50.0

in July. A number higher than 50.0 indicates growth, while a number lower than 50.0 means contraction.

And, finally, the unthinkable: the devaluation of yuan. The People’s Bank of China devalued the yuan by nearly 2 percent on August 11, which caught the currency markets by surprise and caused worries in other Asian countries.

During that month, Asian currencies posted their biggest monthly losses in three years, according to a Bloomberg report on August 31.

The news agency said the Malaysian ringgit fell 8.6 percent; Indonesia’s rupiah by 3.8 percent; Vietnam’s gong by 2.9 percent; India’s rupee by 3.2 percent; Thailand’s baht by 2.5 percent; and the Philippine peso by 2.2 percent.

The economic slowdown also contributed to the crash in China’s stock markets, which has been “suffering from massive volatility,” according to a CNN report on August 27. The report traced the crash to the increased investments in China’s stocks in 2014 despite weak economic growth and company profits.

This resulted in a bubble, which burst on June 12, when the Shanghai Composite Index fell by about 30 percent of its value. By the end of August, the drop had exceeded 40 percent.

The reverse is happening in the US, still the world’s largest economy. The US dollar is enjoying its fastest rise in 40 years, CNN said, citing Citibank.

CNN also cited Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which said the dollar had gone up in value by about 14 percent since the start of 2015.

CNN attributed the strengthening of the dollar to America’s strong economy,

It’s time to worry: Here’s why John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

n 2001 the term “BRIC” was first coined by Jim O’Neill from investment bank Goldman Sachs to describe the countries of Brazil, India, Russia and China.

O’Neill said in his paper “Building Better Global Economic BRICs” that if these four countries bound together in a European Union-type alliance, they would form the largest entity on the global economic stage.

By 2010 the BRICs accounted for 25 percent of the global economy, which was actually lower than some had expected when the term first surfaced in 2001.

However, by 2011 these four were the fastest-growing economies of the emerging or developing markets.

Now we are coming up to the end of 2015, a mere four years later, and the BRICs are broken.

Russia’s economy is in tatters as it chose to protect and expand its geo-political power at the expense of its economy and was further slammed by falling oil prices. The latter was the fault of Saudi Arabia, who not only allowed oil prices to collapse to keep its market share, but

to do everything that it could to damage Russia to further its goal of a Saudicontrolled natural-gas pipeline through Russian ally Syria and at the request of the US administration.

China is now trying to figure out if all the niceties of a free market capitalist system, like privately owned real estate and stock markets, was worth all the headaches of supporting capitalism.

Brazil has just had its government debt reduced to “junk” status by Standard & Poor’s rating agency as it is experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression and will see the economy shrink by as much as 3 percent this year, and 2 percent in 2016.

The only BRIC member that is doing just fine is India whose currency, along with the Philippines, is rated one of the three most stable and least fragile along with the Czech Republic.

According to the experts, Brazil’s fall

from economic grace was not expected.

Certainly, there were great concerns that Brazil was overly dependent on doing business with China as that economy started its turndown. But what is most interesting to me is that the “bubblemaniacs” never really singled out Brazil at being at much risk, and for good reason. The only aspect of the Brazilian economy that they could potentially find a “bubble” was the property sector that had seen rising prices.

Granted, Brazil has been in a debt bubble for sometime as the government debt to gross domestic product ratio has been over 50 percent for the last 10 years and never really improved. However, Brazilian interest rates have always been relatively high, with the lowest at about 7.25 percent in 2012. Since then, rates have gone up to the current 14+ percent.

But borrowing at even 7.25 percent does not allow much wild investment speculation and the Brazilian stock market shows that.

If the global stocks markets are going to crash due to a bubble, Brazil’s will not be there as it reached its recent high in 2010 at about 72,000 and is now trading at about 46,000 or down 36 percent.

If Brazil’s economy is in an economic bubble, it is interesting that its annual economic growth never measured over 2 percent since 2010. The Brazilian currency, the real, has depreciated from 1.55 to one US dollar to the current 3.88.

It is true that Brazil is caught in the

while Europe and Japan were trying to stimulate their economies.

The US GDP grew by 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015, up from 0.6 percent in the first quarter, according to the Department of Commerce. The department attributed the growth to higher personal consumption expenditures, exports, government spending and investments.

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE), in a report by the Associated Press, predicts GDP growth in 2015 at 3.1 percent, up from 2.4 percent in 2014 and from 1.9 percent in 2013. This forecast is lower than the latest IMF forecast of 2.5 percent for 2015. The NABE also expects the US unemployment rate, now at 5.5 percent (already the lowest in seven years), will slide down to 5.4 percent by December, as 251,000 new jobs are created every month. Because of the improving economy, the US Federal Reserve, which has pegged interest rates at near zero for the past several years, is now considering raising interest rates.

Despite the current role reversal, China remains a strong economy. It dislodged Japan as the world’s second largest economy in 2010, and will overtake the US as No. 1, although, because of current developments, the role reversal will take longer to happen. The rise to the top is inevitable, but it will not be a straight line.

To be continued

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

middle of the swamp of “stagflation” as inflation has gone from 4.5 percent in 2010 to the current 9.53 percent, while the economy has moved from growing at 2 percent to contracting by 2 percent.

But where’s the bubble?

It is not necessarily money printing and low interest rates “bubbles” that will kill economies. It is a number of bad economic policies and in Brazil’s current situation, a complete breakdown of the political system. When the nation’s leader has an 8-percent approval rating as in Brazil, nothing can be accomplished. A government must be able and capable to react to external conditions, in Brazil’s case, a slowdown of their business with China.

However, first, it was the Cyprus debt crisis in 2012 and 2013. Then in 2015 we saw a larger country—Greece—hit the debt default wall. Now we are moving up the government debt food chain with Brazil in deep trouble going in to the end of September, which will be the beginning of the genuine sovereign debt crisis.

Is it time to worry? Absolutely, if you live in one of the countries that is facing a debt crisis or if you are owed money by one of these countries. But, in the Philippines? Not to worry at all.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Can Poe get past the SET? Stable ICT policy Ernesto M. Hilario

ABOUT TOWN

T

he Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) convened on Friday at the Supreme Court for a preliminary conference on the petition seeking to oust Grace Poe as senator on the ground that she lacked the two-year residency requirement and that she is not a natural-born Filipino.

At the outset, as suggested by SET Chairman Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio the nine-member body set aside the question of residency and focused solely on the citizenship issue to streamline the proceedings, to which the petitioner, Rizalito David and his lawyer, Atty.

Manny Luna, agreed.

At the latest Saturday Forum@Annabel’s where David and Luna were our resource persons, they clarified that the SET petition involved only questions on her qualifications as an elected member of the Senate, not on her presumed candidacy for the presidency in 2016.

Poe has submitted a 107-page reply to David’s quo warranto petition and asked the SET to throw out the case, asserting that she is a naturalborn citizen of the Philippines.

Poe is the leading presidential contender based on recent popularity surveys, but she has not declared her intention to seek the highest elective post, unlike two others who have done so: Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and the Liberal Party’s (LP) official standard bearer, Manuel A. Roxas II. At issue is whether Poe is a natural-born citizen. She was found in a church in Jaro, Iloilo, shortly after birth in 1968. Movie actor Fernando Poe Jr., or FPJ, and his wife Susan Roces adopted her in 1974.

The adoption was registered at the Civil Registry of Iloilo in 1980, or six years later.

Poe married Neil Llamanzares on July 27, 1991. Two days later, they went to the US and started a family.

The lawmaker said that after FPJ died in 2004, she decided to pull out her children from schools in the US and enrolled them here in June 2005. The family sold their house in April 2006 and her husband found employment in a local firm in May 2006.

On July 7, 2006, after shuttling between the US and the Philippines, Poe reacquired her status as a natural-born Filipino, along with her three children.

She applied for dual citizenship three days later, and was granted the same within the month. Before accepting her appointment to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in October 2010, however, she renounced her American citizenship. The following year, she executed an oath renouncing her US citizenship at the US Embassy in Manila.

Poe has submitted to the SET a July 18, 2006, order of Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr., through Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro, declaring that Poe is “presumed to be a natural-born Philippine citizen” for being a former citizen of the Philippines.

The order was issued after the bureau approved Poe’s application dated July 10, 2006, for retention and reacquisition of her Filipino citizenship, including that of her three minor children, per Republic Act 9225, or the Dual Citizenship law.

The citizenship issue was also raised against FPJ when he ran against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004. But the case against Poe is sui generis or unique—and complicated—as she is a foundling.

International law says that foundlings follow the nationality of the place where they were found.

But there is also a school of thought, first cited by one of Binay’s lawyers, that says foundlings are stateless.

According to Alexander Poblador, the senator’s legal counsel in the SET case, her patriotism cannot be questioned, and those imputing

Grace Poe is the leading presidential contender based on recent popularity surveys, but she has not declared her intention to seek the highest elective post, unlike two others who have done so: Vice President Jejomar C. Binay and the Liberal Party’s official standard bearer, Manuel A. Roxas II. ill motives to her and casting doubt on her love of country are wrong. He says it was not the lack of patriotism but Poe’s choice and resolve to uphold marriage and family that compelled her to leave the country and move to the US. “Having been born and raised a Filipina and with Filipino values, Poe chose to be with her husband and to raise their children together,” Poblador pointed out.

“Our main argument is she is presumed to be a natural-born citizen because she was, in fact, elected senator and, under our law, there is a presumption that she was regularly elected, that the law was followed when she was elected,” Poblador said.

For her part, family law expert Katrina Legarda said it was only natural for Poe to follow the citizenship of her husband and to be where he was: “It is a requirement of the Family Code that you go where you both agree to go. That’s the requirement of being married.”

One question now is how the SET members will vote. Will they be influenced by past or present affiliations?

Carpio used to be a member of a law firm which counts among its partners Avelino Cruz and Simeon Marcelo, who are now lawyering for Roxas.

Another member of the SET is Sen. Bam Aquino, whose father is Paul Aquino, an uncle of P-Noy and a LP stalwart. Sen. Pia Cayetano is the brother of Sen. Alan Cayetano, a member of the Nacionalist Party who is interested in seeking higher political office. And Sen. Nancy Binay is the daughter of VP Binay, a declared presidential candidate who stands to benefit if Poe is disqualified by the SET. The petitioner in the case before the SET, Lito David, ran for senator under the Ang Kapatiran Party and landed twice among the cellar dwellers. While he says that he filed the case “in behalf of the Filipino people,” some quarters have raised the possibility that there are unseen hands manipulating him. David’s petition also goes against the rule that electoral protests must be made 10 days after the proclamation of the winning candidates. In this particular case, it took David two years and three months beyond the prescriptive period before filing a complaint against Poe. Poe has accused David of forum shopping because before he went to the SET on August 17, he filed on the same day a petition raising the same issues against her in the Commission on Elections, making himself liable for direct contempt of court.

The next hearing of the tribunal will be on September 21, or less than a month before the October 16 deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy. Poe has expressed hopes that the case would be resolved with dispatch, “because the longer a case is pending, the more justice is diminished.” If the case drags on until the start of the election campaign season in February 2016, this could adversely affect her possible presidential run.

Email: ernhil@yahoo.com.

Edgardo J. Angara

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ast month Australian telco Telstra confirmed that talks are ongoing with San Miguel Corp. for a possible joint venture in the Philippine telecommunications market. The recent enactment of the Philippine Fair Competition Act (Republic Act 10667) may have emboldened Telstra—Australia’s largest—to indicate through the Australian Stock Exchange that it is already searching multimillion dollar financing for the venture.

Also last month the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) set minimum speeds for fixed-line broadband services—a first in the history of Philippine Internet. Previously, Internet service providers (ISPs) were left alone to set their minimum speeds, though required to ensure at least 80percent service reliability.

The NTC announced recently that after pilot-testing its capability to measure Internet speeds next week, it will start penalizing ISPs—charging them a fine of P200 a day—who fall below the minimum

standards. They admitted that such a fine is too low and are advocating for legislation that will raise the penalty. Many applaud NTC’s move as a step in the right direction, since Philippine Internet service improvement has practically been neglected since we first connected in 1994.

In a recent TV interview, Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo expressed optimism his department’s P1.408-billion free Wi-Fi project would gain headway by the end of the year.

With assistance from the private

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

sector, free Wi-Fi would be provided in public spaces in 14 cities. Internet infrastructure would also be put up in 937 fourth- to sixth-class municipalities—unleashing online the economic potential of the underserved countryside.

Last week telco giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. officially connected to the Philippine Open Internet Exchange (PHOpenIX), through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) and Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).

The move will speed up access to the government web sites and is seen as a significant albeit small step toward building a more interconnected and affordable telecommunications network throughout the Philippines.

During the MOA signing, ICTO Executive Director Louis Casambre disclosed that a separate Internet exchange will be set up in Cebu.

Similar to the PHOpenIX maintained by ASTI in Quezon City, the Cebu facility could make it easier and cheaper for ISPs to exchange

Why Asia shouldn’t fear the Fed William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

I

N 2008 Asian economies had good reason to race to decouple from the struggling West. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and subsequent contagion sent export-dependent countries in search of a more reliable customer. Not surprisingly, they latched onto China.

That switch now looks like a bad bet. China’s economy is sputtering, its stocks are nose-diving and officials in Beijing appear ill-equipped to maintain the world’s second-biggest economy as a stable, dependable trading partner. There’s an obvious contradiction in developing nations relying so overwhelmingly on another emerging economy, and a highly unbalanced one at that. No doubt many in the region are now wishing they could decouple from China, too.

Asia may be able to do just that soon, argues Bloomberg Industries economist Tamara Henderson, thanks to the approach of the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed) first tightening cycle in a decade. “Just as Asia decoupled from the US in the wake of the global financial crisis, benefiting from China’s extraordinary stimulus

at the time, Fed hikes may allow Asia to decouple from China,” she writes in a recent report.

The Fed’s countdown

However contrarian, the idea that the dreaded taper may be good for Asia has merit. It’s hard to remember a moment since 2008 when markets were more panicked and central bankers so on edge.

The conventional wisdom is that a Fed rate hike will send shockwaves around the world, sucking money back to the US and driving fragile nations to the International Monetary Fund for help. Such fears, however, lack perspective. For all the risks, Asia’s fundamentals are comparatively sound. Financial systems are stronger, transparency greater and currency reserve

hoards big enough to avoid another 1997-like meltdown.

At the same time, higher US rates are an indication that the world’s biggest economy—and customer—is humming again. “The start of a ratehike cycle sends an important signal: it is time to be confident about the world’s largest economy,” Henderson argues. “The Fed appreciates this and global investors will eventually, too.”

Ultralow rates, after all, reflect a psychological downgrade in investor perceptions. Aside from lifting the uncertainty irking markets, the normalization of US rates should in theory increase risk appetites. That should send capital back into Asia, supporting investments in infrastructure, productivity-enhancing technologies and education. The resulting drop in bond yields, buoyant equities and more stable government balance sheets would provide governments with the cushion they need to retool economies.

The last 18 years have taught Asia two harsh lessons. One is the danger of relying too much on exports. The second is the risk of depending on a single customer. The first still hasn’t been sufficiently internalized. While Asia has made progress creating bigger service sectors, shipping goods overseas remains its main business.

The second also needs reinforcing, as many economies in the region

What if Iran and the US keep talking?

By Noah Feldman Bloomberg View

N

ow that the Iran nuclear deal is all but an accomplished fact, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually agree on something: Both have made it clear that they don’t want any more engagement between the US and Iran. Iranian and Israeli hardliners alike want the nuclear deal to be a one-off that doesn’t change the basic structure of regional opposition between Iran and its Shiite proxies on the one hand, and the US and its alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia on the other.

But moderates in the US and Iran—and possibly even Israel—will see things differently. Many of them perceive large areas of overlapping American and Iranian interests, most notably the defeat of Islamic State (IS) and a solution to the generational humanitarian and policy debacle that is Syria. If the US and Iran work together on those problems, they could strengthen and deepen the connections made in the course of the nuclear negotiations.

Ultimately, a US-Iran rapprochement could change the strategic alignments in the Middle East and Persian Gulf that have existed since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Which way the relationship goes over the next several years will do much to define US President Barack Obama’s legacy in the region

—even though Obama won’t be in office as the relationship is determined.

The case for the nuclear deal as a unique and isolated arrangement—one that doesn’t change the basic facts of US-Iran confrontation—is strong. When Khamenei made his public statement last week that Israel wouldn’t exist in 25 years, his aim was to appease hardliners and avoid the perception in the Muslim world that, by doing a deal with the US, Iran would now soften its stand on Israel. In the same remarks, the supreme leader seemed to rule out working with the US to solve the Syria problem—another comment intended to align himself with hardline Iranian ideologues.

So long as Iran takes an ideologically rejectionist (or destructionist) stand on Israel and refuses to cooperate in solving the Syria crisis, US-Iran ties are unlikely to deepen. But moderates could plausibly argue that Khamenei’s statements aren’t meant to do much more than cover his right flank. After the Iran deal, most observers agree, the Obama administration is unlikely to put active pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians—not because they don’t want to, but because ties with Israel and its supporters have already been frayed enough by the nuclear deal. Khamenei may well be doing something similar, namely repairing frayed relations with the most ideological Iranian factions who think he’s just betrayed them by sacrificing Iran’s short-term nuclear

aspirations to the Great Satan.

If that’s right, then over time, cooperation might emerge. In Iraq, Iran and the US have been cooperating, albeit awkwardly, in fighting IS. Essentially, the US is providing airpower, while the most effective ground forces have been Iranian-backed Shiite militias under the guidance of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

The progress of this cooperation will be a good early indicator of whether Iran and the US agree to disagree over ideology while cooperating over a common interest.

If IS isn’t defeated by the de facto US-Iranian coalition in Ramadi, then the prospects for further cooperation will be dim. If, however, IS is pushed back in Ramadi, both Iranian and US moderates will be heartened. Both will then be able to argue that together, Iran and the US actually make an important difference in reestablishing stability.

The really pressing need for stability exists, of course, in Syria. Some estimates have almost half of Syria’s population being displaced by the civil war there—which means roughly 12 million people on the move. This isn’t just a crisis for Europe, which could well end up with more than 1 million of them. It’s a major crisis of destabilization for tiny Lebanon, which can ill afford 1 million or more extra people. It threatens the stability of Jordan, where well over 1 million more have already gone. And it’s bad (and expensive) news for Turkey, which doesn’t have

A7

Web traffic and serve customers in the Visayas and Mindanao.

These positive developments illustrate the imperative for the government’s role in promoting Internet connectivity. The private sector may be the primary driver to ICT industry development, but market forces alone are not enough to ensure that every Filipino gets affordable access to quality Internet.

Under the Aquino administration, the DOST’s ICTO has been instrumental in maintaining the public-sector push for better Internet. One hopes the current policies would continue under a new administration in 2016.

In 2011 many stakeholders and potential investors were puzzled, if not up in arms, at the reorganization of the then-Commission on Information and Communications Technology, under the Office of the President, into today’s ICTO, which is under the DOST. Establishing a Department of Information and Communications Technology is one way of ensuring that we do not go through a similar policy flip-flop.

E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.

merely replaced the US with China.

Some of this complacency can be blamed on the excessive monetary stimulus of the last seven years. All countries had to do was guzzle capital from the US, Europe and Japan and tap into burgeoning Chinese demand. That cycle is over now as China slows and Washington and Frankfurt plot monetary exit strategies. That’s putting pressure on governments to create jobs in non-export industries to move upmarket—a process that should continue even if US demand picks up. The more progress Asia makes diversifying growth, the less vulnerable it will be to China’s troubles.

Risks abound, of course, as the Fed’s September 16 and 17 policy meeting approaches. The US central bank might go too far, as it did in the mid-and late-1990s. But as Asia’s 2004 2006 experience attests, markets can thrive even during a tightening cycle, as long as rate hikes are priced in and gradual. In fact, stocks in India and Indonesia rallied amid Fed rate increases in the mid-2000s, while currencies in South Korea and Singapore gained markedly.

It’s anyone’s guess whether a similar pattern will play out this time. But far from devastating Asia, a Fed rate move could raise spirits just as China’s slowdown is dragging them down.

the same stability worries but is struggling with the emergence of a growing Kurdish regional entity that threatens to connect Iraqi Kurdistan to Syrian Kurdistan.

The US and Iran share a common interest in restabilizing Syria. The endgame could involve removing President Bashar al-Assad or leaving him in control of a rump-Syria that’s a cantonment for the country’s Alawites. Either way, it’s hard to imagine a deal being brokered and enforced without Iran’s involvement.

Solving Syria would do a lot of good for the world. It would also consolidate US-Iranian cooperation as a regional force capable of exerting its will to establish new borders. Although ideology today makes it difficult to imagine, there’s no strategic reason Iran and the US shouldn’t be allied. Before 1979 the Shah was a staunch American ally, a barrier against the Cold War Soviet Union. Today Iran and the US could conceivably balance Russian and Chinese regional interests in the central Asia, and reduce US dependence on Saudi oil.

If that happens—and it’s much more unlikely than not—then Obama’s regional legacy will include reversing 35 years of US-Iran hostility and remaking the strategic map of the Middle East. If Khamenei and Netanyahu have their way, the legacy of the nuclear deal will be far more modest: pushing the problem of Iran’s rise down the road for a future president to address when the time comes.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Fed liftoff will no longer cause severe volatility M

By Bianca Cuaresma

arkets in the Philippines— as well as in other emerging economies—will not witness another round of severe volatility should the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) decide to hike its interest rates in this week’s meeting.

In separate research notes, economists from the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and the international banking giant Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) shared the view that a Fed liftoff this week will not have an adverse effect on most of the emerging markets, as investors already anticipated this after the Fed released its

forward guidance.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be meeting toward the end of this week to decide whether it will increase its interest rates back to the “more normalized” level.

The BPI said markets have been on a roller-coaster ride, as investors anticipate when the Fed liftoff will finally hap-

pen. However, market players will just likely dust the thrill of the speculation off after it finally happens.

HSBC also said it would be beneficial for markets in emerging Asia, including the Philippines, if the Fed would hike sooner to avoid another bout of volatility brought about by mere speculation.

“That the Fed will tighten has already been well-telegraphed— it now seems merely a question of timing. An earlier move, in fact, would reduce much uncertainty. Plus, it’s not about the initial hike, but about the future path of tightening,” HSBC said in its most recent commentary.

While both banks agree that their baseline forecast is a rate hike from the FOMC—not this month, but in December—a

surprise pull of the trigger this week will not fundamentally send markets crashing.

“Few doubt that a Fed move will soon arrive, most likely by the end of the year…. A surprise hike this week, therefore, would merely bring this forward by three months. But would it fundamentally alter the narrative for emerging Asia—one of economies squeezed by a wobbly China and weaker currencies?

Hardly. Investors in the region are presumably already positioned defensively,” HSBC said.

“But it might well turn out, should the Fed take the plunge this week, that the initial ripples will prove far less severe as many seem to expect. Certainty, after all, is what markets cherish above all,” the international banking giant added.

Aquino firm vs tax-rate cuts. . .

The President said there were suggestions to increase the value-added tax (VAT) in exchange for lowering the income-tax rates, but doing so would ramp up the price of oil products.

That would trigger a cascade of price increases on the hapless Filipino consumer in the form of higher utilities charges and transport fares, among other effects.

“I am not convinced of its positive impact at this time,” the President said.

He further noted that the VAT and other oil product impositions are a form of “regressive taxation” in direct conflict with the goal of the Constitution, which recognizes that those better able to pay tax contribute more to the national coffers. “’Yung mas may kayang magbayad, ‘yung mas mayaman, mas kayang magbayad ng buwis dapat

mas malaking bahagi ang binabayad niya,” Mr. Aquino said in Filipino.

A proposed higher VAT rate, an excise tax on oil, as well as another proposal to lift particular provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, formed part of a menu of revenue measures meant to compensate the revenue erosion presented by the proposed reduction on individual and corporateincome tax.

President Aquino dismissed out of hand any thought of a VAT rate increase, saying such would adversely impact everyone regardless of station in life and in contravention of a constitutional provision requiring that tax measures be progressive.

The President reiterated were the government in a state of budget excess, then he would be open to considering the long-pending proposal for downward adjustments of the income-tax rates.

Continued from A1

“We promised against an income-tax rate increase even as we made adjustments to the ‘sin’ tax rate structure for health considerations.

It isn’t right that we replace an existing revenue source just so we can say we have higher disposable income while increasing the VAT rate, the excise tax on oil and other measures,” the President said.

He fears more will be adversely affected by these rate increases and put his foot down.

President Aquino and his Cabinet secretaries and members of the reception party viewed the Iloilo Business Park Township Scale Model and unveiled its marker. He also received the Iloilo Business Park township key.

Mr. Aquino also led the unveiling of the marker of the Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, Iloilo’s premier business hotel, which has 149 spacious rooms. PNA

Business sector. . .

Continued from A1

“There has been significant learnings during the rollout of the PPP over the past five years. It will be very beneficial to institutionalize these learnings—such as the streamlining of right of way and retirement of critical processes—through the amendment of the BOT law,” he said in a text message.

Megawide Construction Corp. Chief Marketing Officer Louie B. Ferrer said his group is also supportive of the measure’s passage. “We welcome anything that will improve the BOT law, especially if it protects contracts of concessionaires that span about five different administrations,” he said.

‘Strengthen, protect infrastructure deals’

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The framework of the infrastructure thrust of the Aquino administration was only founded under an executive order, as was the government agency that facilitates the development of the deals.

“The BOT law amendment is extremely important as it will institutionalize the PPP Center and framework, which are only the subject of executive orders, as well as the practices and processes the government is implementing,” Makati Business Club Executive Director Peter Angelo B. Perfecto said.

He added: “The PPP Act will further strengthen our infrastructure-procurement systems and protect essential infrastructure projects from unnecessary delays.

The business community has therefore always been wholeheartedly in support of this law.” Foreign chambers are also supportive of the law’s passage, with European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines External Vice President Henry J. Schumacher saying the law will help Manila address its infrastructure woes.

“It is very important as it addresses the needs to finally get infrastructure development going. It updates the aging BOT law and makes the implementation of infra projects easier,” he said.

American Chamber of Commerce Senior Advisor John D. Forbes noted that it is high time for such an amendment to the law, given that it has been a quarter of a century since the legislation was promulgated.

“After 25 years, the law needs amending in various ways. This reform is now close to passage. Both the House and

Senate should complete committee approvals soon, following commitments of House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon to pass the bills in plenary,” he said.

When approved, the PPP Act would institutionalize the Project Development and Monitoring Facility, the PPP Governing Board and the contingent liability fund. The proposed amendments include the separation of regulatory and commercial functions of government-owned and -controlled corporations, and the creation of a list of projects called “Projects of National Significance.”

By virtue of being included in the list of projects of national significance, projects will be “insulated” from local laws, among others, by local government units.

The proposed amendments also include allowing time-bound temporary restraining order (TRO) and the extension of the period for Swiss Challenge to six months from the current two-month period. The amendments are expected to be approved within the term of President Aquino.

‘Look beyond Aquino admin’

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Alfredo M. Yao lauded the government for pushing the law’s passage. “The amendments are good—it will professionalize the board, protect the private sector from TRO, and the government can get better prices for PPP deals.

It is good that they looked beyond this administration and prepared the law for the next,” he said via phone.

But will this law be passed before President Aquino bows out from office in about nine months’ time? PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao hopes so.

“The leaderships in Congress recognize the importance of passing the law within this administration. We hope that is sufficient to galvanize the rest of our legislators,” she said.

For now, businessmen and chambers of commerce will have to wait and watch on the sidelines how the government acts to fast-track the passage of this law, which essentially promotes inclusive growth through infrastructure development.

Today, the law stands for plenary discussion in the Senate. In the lower chamber, however, it is still up for approval of the Appropriations Committee before it goes to plenary. Lorenz S. Marasigan