BusinessMirror October 21, 2015 by BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

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

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business Thursday 18,October 2014 Vol.21, 10 No. 40 Vol. 11 No. 13 Wednesday, 2015

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ARE YOU GAME? YOUTUBE THINKS SO D

EAR Lord, we could spot from a crowd people who show cheerfulness. A line from Saint John Baptist de La Salle Collection of Various Treatises and Virtues goes, “Show cheerfulness on your countenance rather than sadness on any other ill-regulated emotion.” I should know because I served his school for 46 years as a Lasallian educator. Lord, may we develop cheerfulness in all the things we do, think and say. Amen. WALKING WITH SAINT LA SALLE AND LOUIE M. LACSON

Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

YOUR JOB DOESN’T DEFINE YOU. HERE’S HOW TO DISCOVER WHAT DOES »D4

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

B P D Los Angeles Times

but YouTube Gaming said it plans to let all channels sell sponsorships. YouTube keeps a minor cut of sponsorship dollars, though it declined to provide a specific figure. The recent rollout also introduced a feature called “fan funding”—digital payments to content producers, with YouTube pocketing a slice. Similar to throwing $1 into a sidewalk musician’s guitar case, viewers send video-makers money online in exchange for no more than a thank you. YouTube said it would take 5 percent of each tip, plus 21 cents. The tips can be made publicly or anonymously. YouTube takes its share in either case. YouTube is already a big business for many stars. This week Forbes estimated that 13 YouTube personalities each make more than $2.5 million a year before taxes and agent fees. Most of it comes from their share of ad revenue, with the rest from book and movie deals, appearance fees and merchandise sales. Topping the list was Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie. The 25-year-old Swede made $12 million over the past years, Forbes said, citing industry insiders and viewership data. PewDiePie’s comedic takes on video games have earned him 40 million followers on YouTube. Now the question is, can YouTube become a big business unto itself. People in the US alone will watch

nearly 35 billion hours of YouTube in 2015, analysts at UBS said in July. UBS estimated that YouTube could lift revenue by $3.2 billion in the US if it charged users $9.99 a month for special features. Analysts based the estimate on a survey that found 17 percent of US YouTube users would be “very likely” to subscribe. Last month YouTube told content creators in an email that it indeed would soon launch a subscription plan that removes ads from the YouTube experience. “For years, YouTube’s fans have been telling us they want more—more choice when watching their favorite content, more ways to support their favorite creators and, above all, the option to watch their favorite videos uninterrupted,” YouTube wrote to video-makers. It’s unclear how much the service would cost. YouTube also hasn’t said how such a plan would interact with Music Key, a $9.99 subscription for ad-free music video watching that’s been under testing with a limited number of users since last fall. The need to supplement ad-supported viewing has intensified at YouTube. Competitors are promising video-makers with bigger paydays and more features that could help them make money from fans. YouTube is trying to keep pace. This week it became

more like Twitch and Mobcrush, allowing smartphone and tablet games on the Android operating system to be streamed online. It’s similar to the core offering of Mobcrush, but the startup claims an edge, having been at it months longer and being dedicated solely to mobile games. Snapchat is appealing to video-makers with its young, global audience. Another video distributor, Vessel, argues that by charging viewers for early access to content and showing fancier ads, video-makers will make considerably more money. Some online video studios such as Fullscreen are going at it alone, cutting out middlemen like YouTube and Facebook by launching their own subscription apps. Facebook says its social-media algorithms will drive more viewership for the best videos. Compared with YouTube, Facebook attracts more interaction and better commentary from viewers, keys to understanding and making money from them, Richard Windsor, an analyst at Edison Investment Research, said in a note to investors this week. “To really take share from Google, Facebook still has some distance to go but the alarm bells are already ringing in Mountain View,” he said, referring to Google’s headquarters. ■

Family-sized entertainment with PLDT Home DSL, Fox and iflix partnership

PICTURE-PERFECT photos taken by the Lenovo Vibe Shot

Getting your Vibe on TRAVELING to new places and experiencing new culture is all about exposure to the world around us. It comes as no surprise that a big part of that is photographing one’s experiences, both to share with others and to look back on in years to come. However, nobody wants to lug around a suitcase loaded with camera gear. After all, in this day and age it’s all about the smartphone. Always on hand when a photo-op strikes, we just can’t do without our nifty devices, especially those that can take photos rivaling the image quality of many professional cameras. The Lenovo Vibe Shot is built for just that, delivering pixel-perfect photos day or night with its 16-megapixel camera and low-light sensor. All that in a highly compact, lightning-fast smartphone. The Vibe Shot’s octa-core chip lets users upload and download data quickly with 4G, connect via Wi-Fi hot spots,

B B C

HE country’s balance of payments (BOP) position is still poised to meet the government’s projection for the year, despite global volatilities affecting local financial markets, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Are you game? YouTube thinks so ITH a seemingly infinite supply of free-to-watch videos, YouTube usage is huge, and still growing fast—nearly 20 percent annually in the US alone by one estimate. But although a few video stars make millions of dollars through advertising, YouTube itself has struggled to generate the revenue you’d think its massive audience could provide. This week YouTube took a shot at changing that, announcing it would charge a “sponsor” fee of $3.99 a month for a growing number of its video-game channels. The move is an early test of subscriptionlike services to supplement the ad dollars YouTube generates. Owned by Google, which, in turn, is owned by parent Alphabet, YouTube doesn’t offer much transparency on finances. But industry analysts say YouTube isn’t anywhere close to revenue and profit that would put a smile on investors’ faces. The sponsorships, which mimic an option that costs $4.99 a month per channel at rival video platform Twitch, amount to an experiment in extracting more dollars from viewers—a challenge in a medium in which users are used to paying nothing for an endless supply of video distraction. Distributors of online video—new ones keep popping up to challenge YouTube—argue that they can create more and better content if user fees supplemented ad revenue. YouTube needs higher revenue to satisfy investors eager to see the service turn a profit and become an important contributor to Google’s bottom line. The issue is becoming critical as Twitch, Facebook, Snapchat and even small start-ups, such as Mobcrush, seek to lure video-makers and viewership away from YouTube domination. Video game enthusiasts worldwide spend 2.4 billion hours each month on YouTube watching fellow gamers compete and discuss tactics and strategy. For their $3.99, YouTube sponsors will enjoy exclusive live chats with content producers and receive a digital profile badge highlighting their sponsorship. Each game channel will carry a separate $3.99 monthly charge. Though they get badges, sponsors won’t avoid advertisements, which will run with the videos, sponsorship or not. And the videos themselves will remain free to nonsponsors. The sponsored game channels are part of YouTube Gaming, a recently launched web site and app dedicated to videos about “Minecraft,” “League of Legends” and other popular video games. The videos sometimes feature silly commentary of game play, or tips and tricks and reviews. Video creators known as miniminter, TwoSyncFIFA and hikeplays will be among the first to solicit sponsors,

and manage separate data plans on two SIMS at once. The Vibe Shot is just 7.6mm thin and can sit in one’s pocket, instead of taking up valuable suitcase space. It even has a panorama selfie function that’s perfect for taking “groufies”—something that can’t be done using a DSLR’s telephoto lens. Moreover, Lenovo’s latest image-centric smartphone, which is now available at Lenovo Mobile Exclusive Stores and authorized retailers nationwide, comes with 32 gigabytes of built-in storage which can be boosted to as much as 128GB extra storage space via an additional microSD card. All that storage can take as much as 40,000 shots of unforgettable travel moments. To further sweeten the deal, Lenovo is bundling its new smartphone hotness with a free screen protector and a free back cover. So go ahead and indulge your inveterate wanderlust.

APART from the strong and reliable connection it offers, PLDT Home DSL, the country’s leading broadband service, serves up the biggest family-sized entertainment with iflix and Fox International Channels (Fox). Now, subscribers can enjoy their favorite movies and TV shows on iflix and Fox with their TVolution unit, running on the strong, reliable and family-sized connection of HOME DSL. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Vice President and Home Marketing Head Gary Dujali said, “We are elated with the vote of confidence from our subscribers for keeping us as their brand of choice for their home broadband. We will continue to provide solutions to give our customers the best entertainment that the whole family can enjoy as we provide the strongest connections at home.” Earlier this year PLDT Home (www.pldthome.com) www.pldthome.com www.pldthome.com) formalized breakthrough partnerships with global entertainment company Fox International Channels. It also announced its partnership with Southeast Asia’s leading Internet TV service iflix, which recently debuted exclusive access to the critically acclaimed TV series Mr. Robot. With these two powerhouse content providers, there Robot will always be something for the family to enjoy together— whether it’s a nail-biting suspense thriller, a laugh-out-loud comedy show, a thought-provoking documentary, or films from around the world. Fox’s subscription video-on-demand offerings also include live and catch-up television on various Fox channels so that families have the option of enjoying their favorite sports events through live viewing or their favorite blockbuster shows through catch-up TV. For his part, iflix Chairman Patrick Grove said that they

LIFE

PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. Vice President and Home Marketing Head Gary Dujali at the recent launch of the company’s latest partnerships.

are glad to have found an outstanding partner who shares their vision. “With over 75 million Filipinos communicating and being entertained using the PLDT Group services, PLDT is the perfect partner for iflix in the Philippines.”

AMAIA LAND TOPS OFF IN MANILA BusinessMirror

E1 | Wednesday, October 21, 2015 Editor: Tet Andolong

FRANCIS MALLARI, Human Resource head (from left); Ruperto B. Gamboa, Innovation and Design Group (IDG) studio head; Joel N. Luna, Ayala Land Inc. IDG head; Ricky M. Celis, President; Richard T. Yap, Makati Development Corp. BuildPlus CMG director; Ma. Lorena B. Sales, assistant vice president for sales; and Joel C. Punzalan, Project Development North Luzon head

B R S

Amaia Land held the toppingoff ceremony of the South Tower of Amaia Skies Santa Mesa recently. With this significant milestone, Amaia Land is well on its way to fulfilling its commitment to provide affordable, quality homes to more Filipino families. “Amaia Skies Santa Mesa is just one of our two high-rise condominium projects here in Manila, and we are very excited to offer comfortable and relaxing home amid the hustle and bustle of the city,” said Joel Punzalan, Project Strategic Management Group head for North Luzon.

AMAIA Skies’s homeowners—students and professionals, in particular—have a clear advantage as far as mobility is concerned, since it is close to most transportation points.

The other Amaia project in Manila is on Avenida, Doroteo Jose and Tomas Mapua Streets. With 26 residential floors, Amaia Skies Santa Mesa will have studio and one-bedroom units, with sizes ranging from 18.6 square meters to 52 sq m. Residents won’t need to go far as the development will offer first-rate amenities, such as a multipurpose hall, lap pool and kiddie pool, a children’s play area and landscaped gardens. For utmost convenience, various commercial and retail establishments will be available on the ground floor.

Tetangco added that the healthy BOP position augurs well for the stability in the foreign-exchange market. On Monday the central bank reported that the country’s BOP hit a surplus of $219 million at the end of the third quarter. September’s surplus was a reversal of the $450-million deficit seen in August. Local markets have been rattled

S “BOP ,” A

P5.89B WORTH OF CROPS LOST TO TYPHOON LANDO

ARM damage caused by Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) was estimated at P5.89 billion in the northern part of the Philippines, according to the latest report from the Department of Agriculture (DA). As of October 20, a total of 277,060 hectares of agricultural land, with an estimated production loss of 386,834 metric tons (MT), were affected in Regions 1, 2, 3 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the DA said. Rice crops were the most

severely damaged by the typhoon, registering a total of 359,362 MT, with a value of P5.28 billion in production loss. About 21,836 MT of high-value crops, with an estimated value of P528.91 million, were also damaged by Lando. This was followed by the corn subsector, which recorded a total loss of 5,636 MT, or P84.50 million. The livestock sector posted P517,560 worth of damage in Region 3. The bulk of the damage, or P5.31 billion, was recorded in Region 3. S “T L,” A

POPULATION GROWTH THREATENS PHL RICE SELFSUFFICIENCY GOAL

CEREMONY IN MANILA

ERY soon, the urban landscape at the corner of V. Mapa and Valenzuela Street, in Santa Mesa will be significantly transformed into a modern, dynamic setting with the completion of the first tower of Amaia Skies in Santa Mesa by next year.

In his statement following the release of the latest BOP numbers, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. expressed confidence that the BOP—or the summary of all the country’s transactions with the rest of the world—will reach the $2-billion forecast at the end of the year, amid the developments in advanced economies affecting emerging markets like the Philippines.

by developments abroad, particularly the speculation surrounding the monetary-policy movement in the US and the economic progress in China. In its latest meeting, the US Federal Open Market Committee decided to maintain all its rates on hold, fueling speculation that the Fed could maintain its rates lower longer than expected. Meanwhile, China recently reported a GDP growth of 6.9 percent in the third quarter. For the Philippines, remittances—part of the computation for the country’s BOP—declined, as reported earlier this year. ING Bank Manila economist Joey Cuyegkeng said that, despite the contraction, structural inflows and current-account surplus “should remain favorable” in the remaining months of the year. “In the past 11 years, a weak growth of a month is normally followed by a

SPECIAL REPORT

AMAIA LAND HOLDS TOPPING-OFF

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

PHL to meet BOP goal despite volatilities–BSP

INSIDE

Show cheerfulness

■

Future homeowners—students and professionals, in particular— will have a clear advantage as far as mobility is concerned, since most transportation modes are highly accessible. The V. Mapa Light Rail Transit 2 station is an easy stroll from the building. Top universities are also in close proximity, while commercial establishments, such as SM Santa Mesa, Robinsons Magnolia and other shopping hubs, are just a few minutes ride away. As with any Amaia development, the residents’ safety and security are the topmost priority. The development will be equipped with fire detection and alarm systems, closedcircuit television cameras, and a 24-hour guarded entrance and exit. Quality is assured, as it is being constructed by Makati Development Corp., Ayala Land’s fully-owned construction arm. Furthermore, Ayala Property Management Corp. will keep the condominium building well-maintained so that it retains its quality over time. Acquiring a home at Amaia Skies is easy on the pocket with various available payment options, such as cash, deferred payment, bank financing, and in-house financing. Model units are available at its showroom at J&T Building, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, corner Santol Extension, Santa Mesa, Manila. Visit www.amaialand.com.

Datem’s filtration system LOFTY ASPIRATIONS AT TWIN OAKS gives residents clean water

HE demand for convenience to having access to clean water has seen the water-refi lling industry grow in the last few years. But how clean are these water-refi lling stations? Why don’t people drink water from their own faucets, despite authorities already giving their assurance that those are, indeed, safe for human consumption? People are understandably concerned when it comes to water safety for their families.

Ultrafiltration

DATEM Horizons East Ortigas wants that peace of mind for its residents and will be allocating clean drinking water for its homeowners by using a technology called Water Filtration System, an onsite waterpurifying system that filters and removes impurities from water. “Datem Homes will be using the ultrafiltration system from among the five types—particle, micron, ultra, nano and reverse osmosis—of filtration membranes,” said Jan Joseph Sta. Barbara, business development manager of Datem Water. The 300-square-meter waterfi ltration area will be able to provide bottled water to unit owners, who are estimated to consume approximately 400 cubic meters of water a day. Datem has the experience and

expertise in water purifying and treatment given that the construction giant also founded Datem Water, a bulk potable-water supplier which has been working on a wastewater-treatment project in Kalibo, Aklan.

Wastewater

WASTEWATER can still be processed into a much cleaner version used for purposes other than human consumption. Sta. Barbara said Datem Homes uses a wastewater-treatment technology that will allow them to filter, clean and reuse the water. Harmful chemicals or dirt that may be dangerous for the environment are first removed before being cleared for people’s use. With this, homeowners get the reassurance that the water used in watering plants are devoid of any chemical that may be harmful to the environment. Whatever is sprinkled within a few feet to a home will have a chain effect after all. Datem Homes is making sure that its initial project—Datem Horizons East Ortigas—will have all the elements, from the inside to the outside, of an ideal home. But the property firm wants to ensure that homeowners get more by applying its expertise on construction and technologies to build safe, durable and innovative homes.

ENTERTAINING can flow as smoothly as the space.

RIVEN entrepreneurs, successful professionals and executives, as well as sophisticated young families, will definitely find creative expression through loft living at Twin Oaks Place, one of the landmark high-rise condominium developments in the master-planned Greenfield District in Mandaluyong City. Twin Oaks Place is the first and only future-ready home in the Philippines, with high-speed Internet connectivity made part and parcel of daily living through its innovative fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology. Home automation, remote closedcircuit television viewing and security controls, and lightning-fast data downloads are only a few of the exciting possibilities of 21st-century digital living that are made a practical and useful reality for residents of this pioneering vertical community. Moreover, these benefits are best experienced within a spacious and comfortable living environment, where digital appliances, gadgets, and automated fixtures and furnishings are showcased and put to

efficient use. Twin Oaks Place’s one- and two-bedroom loft units are among such ideal living spaces. Discerning homeseekers can best visualize this unique urban lifestyle at the Twin Oaks Place showroom in Greenfield District. An interior designer’s interpretation of the futuristic condo home of today is expressed in the model unit of a 55-squaremeter to 57-sq m one-bedroom loft unit. The high-ceiling and full-height windows are arguably the best features of a loft configuration. At Twin Oaks Place, those features will afford residents priceless views of the Ortigas Central Business District, and even way beyond to Laguna de Bay. The overall theme of the model unit paints its imaginary occupants as a young, vibrant couple who loves to entertain. Shiny metallic surfaces and dark, sophisticated colors, such as gray and bronze, establish a very contemporary vibe. Hosting an intimate party is definitely easy—cocktail conversations and movie nights can flow smoothly, especially as the dining and

HIGH ceilings and a spacious loft make for sophisticated city living.

PROPERTY living areas form an intuitive extension of the modernly equipped kitchen. A toilet and bath on the first level is cleverly hidden through the use of vertical, darkly tinted mirror panels, which also serve as an illusion to open up the already generous living space. Opposite the toilet is valuable storage space underneath the stairs, which is camouflaged with similar mirrored panels. One door hides the laundry and utility area where a washing machine and dryer are placed, while another

door provides an ideal place to park sports gear and other big items that are used on a regular basis. Tennis rackets, diving gear, yoga mats or musical instruments can be tucked away safely and brought out with ease when needed. At Twin Oaks Place, such aspirations for a modern and sophisticated city lifestyle is definitely now a reality. Its first tower was turned over to unit owners last year, and construction of the second and final tower is currently in full swing.

PRETTY SPECIAL S

EOUL, South Korea—When South Korea pulled off a 1-0 shock win over Brazil in the Under-17 Soccer World Cup on Saturday, it may have been as much a case of the young players not realizing they were underdogs as it was a display of self-belief. Just as Japan impressed the rugby world with its poise and confidence in its remarkable win over powerhouse South Africa at the Rugby World Cup last week, South Korea was not content to rest on its 79th-minute goal against Brazil, continuing to press forward and looking to extend its lead in the Chilean city of Coquimbo. The South Koreans put on a display of pace and skill that at times looked more like the traditional Brazilian style of play than their Brazilian opponents were playing. The fearless attitude of the South Korean under-17s is something the senior players would do well to remember. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Asia’s four teams returned home without a win between them in 12 games. Japan-based, US-born Tom Byer, an Asian youth development expert and football consultant to the Chinese Ministry of Education, says the ignorance of youth can be blissful. “There is less of an intimidation factor involved as these are 16-year-old kids who aren’t in as much awe as the senior players are. So there is way less pressure at this age,” Byer told the Associated Press. “Also, the under-17 tournament is held every two years instead of four so these countries are always working toward qualification even on the off years,” he added. “Korean players are extremely technical and motivation is always high, especially when a medal can bring exemption from military duty.” Lee Seung-woo, who plays for Barcelona’s B team and is widely regarded as one of Asia’s brightest young talents, impressed against Brazil. The 17-year-old has been criticized in South Korea for a perceived “cockiness” that was evident in July when he returned home to represent his country in a friendly tournament. The striker, sporting dyed blond hair, was openly unhappy at being substituted by Coach Choi Jin-cheul, a reaction unusual in South Korea where players are expected to bow to their teammates and coach upon being taken off. If Lee is a little arrogant, it is perhaps the kind of quality that South Korea needs. “I know that in Korea I’ve been told that I lack maturity and physicality,” Lee—who was at the center of Barcelona’s transfer ban in 2014 as the Spanish giant was found to have breached International Football Federation regulation when signing youth players—told Korean media after the game. “But Barcelona just promoted me to their professional team. Over there, they see me differently, so I thank them.” Lee was again taken off late in the win over Brazil, but this seemed to be a precautionary measure by Choi. “Some people say that Lee is not a good team player but this is not true,” Choi said earlier this month. “He is just very lively and though he can be a little greedy, he is an excellent player.” South Korea takes on Guinea on Tuesday with its home fans now expected to be watching with more expectation. With a win, the young Taeguk Warriors will confirm a place in the knockout stage with a game to spare. It could be that the more important lesson has already gone out to Asia. As Japan showed at the Rugby World Cup, a little more self-belief and a little less respect given to others can go a long way. AP

DISPLAY OF SELF-BELIEF

Sports BusinessMirror

| WEDNESDAY, OCT CTO OBER BER 21, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SOUTH Korea pulls rug from under Brazil, 1-0.

TORONTO Blue Jays’ closer Roberto Osuna (below) celebrates after Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez grounded out to third to close the ninth inning in Game Three, while third baseman Josh Donaldson dives for a ground ball against also in the ninth inning. AP

PRETTY SPECIAL The Toronto Blue Jays’ offense was the best it has been in these playoffs, hitting three home runs to back Marcus Stroman in an 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night in the American League Conference Series Game Three, in front of an earsplitting sellout crowd of 49,751 at Rogers Centre.

B E B Newsday

ORONTO—It was by far the least effective of Marcus Stroman’s three postseason starts. No matter. The Toronto Blue Jays’ offense was the best it has been in these playoffs, hitting three home runs to back Stroman in an 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night in the American League Conference Series (ALCS) Game Three, in front of an ear-splitting sellout crowd of 49,751 at Rogers Centre. “Pretty special,” Stroman said of picking up his first career postseason win. “To go out there and see the bats swung like they were and see the defense play behind me.... Just carry this momentum into the next couple of games.” Stroman, who allowed a combined five earned runs in his two ALDS starts against the Texas Rangers, gave up four runs and 11

of the Royals’ 15 hits in 6 1/3 innings on Monday night, but the offensive outburst allowed the Blue Jays to cut Kansas City’s series lead to 2-1. “We desperately needed that breakout,” said Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons, whose club led all of baseball in homers this season with 232. “The home run ball, which is what we’re known for, was a huge part of the game.” Stroman greatly outpitched his counterpart, Johnny Cueto, who failed to make it out of the third inning and allowed eight runs, six hits and four walks. The Royals outhit the Blue Jays, 15-11, with Alcides Escobar picking up four hits and Ben Zobrist and Kendrys Morales getting three each. But the Blue Jays received a three-run homer by Troy Tulowitzki, a two-run shot by Josh Donaldson and a solo blast by Ryan Goins, each of whom finished with three RBIs. “I felt like the entire night we had great at-bats,” Donaldson said. “Not just good

at-bats, great at-bats.... Our lineup, we feel, is second to none.” After Jose Bautista’s RBI single in the eighth gave the Blue Jays an 11-4 lead, the Royals scored four in the ninth on Lorenzo Cain’s sacrifice fly and Eric Hosmer’s RBI single off Liam Hendriks and Morales’s two-run homer off Roberto Osuna. But Osuna got the next two outs to end it. “It’s a battle,” Stroman said of pitching in the playoffs. “Every pitch matters and especially facing a lineup like Kansas City, who is strong one through nine.... It’s tough.” Three pitches into his outing, Stroman was behind. Escobar, who swung at the first pitch and got a hit in each of the first two games, tripled on the second pitch he saw from Stroman, getting a break when right fielder Bautista charged the liner, made a lunging attempt and failed to come up with it. Zobrist’s grounder to second made it 1-0. The Blue Jays began to hammer Cueto, on the receiving end of a sing-song “Cueto! Cueto!” chant from his first pitch, in the second. Tulowitzki, who entered the game four-for-29 and was ejected before the eighth inning by plate umpire John Hirschbeck for disputing a called third

strike from the seventh, singled with one out. Russell Martin was hit with a pitch and Kevin Pillar’s 6-4 forceout put runners at the corners for Goins, whose gaffe on a seventh-inning pop-up in Game Two helped spark a five-run rally that erased a 3-0 deficit. “I put the game in Kansas City behind me. That was probably the last thing in the back of my head,” said Goins, who— after Pillar stole second—won a ninepitch confrontation with a two-run single to left that made it 2-1 and had Rogers Centre shaking. Goins took second on the throw home and, after Ben Revere walked, scored on Donaldson’s single to left, making it 3-1. The Royals made it 3-2 in the third but the Blue Jays jettisoned Cueto in the bottom half of the inning. After Edwin Encarnacion singled and Chris Colabello walked, Tulowitzki pounced on an 0-and-1 fastball and drove it to center for his second homer of the postseason and a 6-2 lead, blowing the roof off Rogers Centre again. Martin walked and scored on Pillar’s double to left-center, marking the end of Cueto’s night and the start of Kris Medlin’s. The righthander struck out Goins and got Revere to ground into a force play, setting up Donaldson’s bomb into the second deck in left. It was his third homer of the postseason and made it 9-2. “You could not tell in the clubhouse [pregame] if we’re down 0-2 or up 2-0,” Stroman said. “I’ve never been a part of a team like that. What we have is extremely special. The confidence that everybody has with everybody is amazing.”

SPORTS

WORKERS guard sacks of rice, while citizens form a line to buy a limit of 2 kilograms per person at a National Food Authority warehouse in Quezon City in this April 2, 2008, file photo. ENRIQUE SORIANO/BLOOMBERG NEWS B M G P

T BusinessMirror MEDIA PARTNER

Conclusion

O prop up the country’s rice self-sufficiency level, the Aquino administration has rolled out its Food Staple Sufficiency Program (FSSP) in 2010. The program called for huge budgets to fund strategies for increasing the food supply in the country. However, the drought caused by El Niño is making it more difficult for the Philippines to achieve its rice selfsufficiency goal. The expected damage to be caused by El Niño has forced the Philippines to start buying this year its rice requirements for 2016. Last month the National Food Authority (NFA) purchased 750,000 metric tons (MT)

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 46.0890

of rice via a government-to-government procurement scheme. The volume includes the 500,000 MT of imported rice needed by the Philippines next year in preparation for El Niño. More than El Niño, however, experts said the Philippine government will have to find better ways to achieve its self-sufficiency target in the next five years in light of the country’s growing population. Dr. Suthad Setboonsarng, member of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Board of Trustees, said in his presentation before the Asean Rice Future Forum in Vietnam that the 10.6 million increase in the country’s population in five years could force the Philippines to import more rice. C  A

■ JAPAN 0.3856 ■ UK 71.2582 ■ HK 5.9470 ■ CHINA 7.2466 ■ SINGAPORE 33.1981 ■ AUSTRALIA 33.4414 ■ EU 52.1866 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.2940

Source: BSP (20 October 2015)

A2 Wednesday, October 21, 2015

BMReports BusinessMirror

Population growth threatens Phl rice self-sufficiency goal Continued from A1

Global Rice Science Partnership Director of the Irri Bas Bouman said providing incentives for Filipino farmers to adopt best-management practices, land consolidation and strengthening the value chain in the Philippines can help the country increase its farm productivity. For Bayer CropScience Asia-Pacific Region Head Sascha Israel, public-private partnerships (PPPs) also play a vital role in not only ensuring increased farm income, but food security, as well. He emphasized that it will be difficult to provide a set of solutions to the challenges in the farming sector, if only one entity, such as the government or a private company, will focus on addressing these problems. “If we [the government, private corporations and farming communities] assemble a set of tools and deploy them effectively to a large farm base, then we can get the maximum impact. It is our [Bayer CropScience] objective to align with the government and develop more PPPs so a lot can be achieved,” Israel said at the sidelines of the Asean Rice Future Forum in Vietnam. Setboonsarng, for his part, said the government should allow the private sector to deliver the foodsecurity objective, as government focuses on policy -making and assessment. “[The government] should give the task of food security to the private sector. Don’t do it yourself; make them [private sector] responsible for it,” Setboonsarng said. As an example, he said rice traders in Singapore are mandated to allot 3 percent of their stocks for emergency purposes. The Philippines, for its part, is rolling out the High Yield Technology Project, a PPP which aims for the provision and utilization of high-quality rice seeds with yield-enhancing inputs to raise farmlevel productivity. Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Field Operations and National Coordinator of the Rice and Corn

Program Edilberto de Luna said, during his presentation in the Asean Rice Future Forum, four private seeds companies are targeting to reach 570,000 to 715,000 hectares of land planted with hybrid rice in the next two years. “These companies have already committed to plant as much as 715,000 hectares of land planted with hybrid rice. That is their target for the next two years,” de Luna said. Another example of a partnership among the public, private and other sectors, but on a global scale, is the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), which was established a few years ago. Bouman said the SRP is a multistakeholder global alliance among 29 institutions, representing governments, private sector, non-governmental organizations and the international research community. Early this year, he said members of the SRP came up with a global sustainability standard, which is aimed at strengthening and connecting the ricevalue chain. About 46 requirements in eight sustainability dimensions—labor rights, health and safety, harvest and post-harvest,farmmanagement,preplanting,wateruse, nutrient management and pest management—were released by the SRP. “We came up with 46 requirements. This is what came out of a global-scale platform. But 46 is still far too many. You can’t present smallholder farmers or small groups of farmers with 46 complex requirements. But we’re going in the right direction,” Bouman said. Bouman added that different stakeholders from the SRP are testing and verifying the standards in their own backyard to see if they can be operationalized in farms. Rolando Dy, executive director of the Center for Food and Agri Business of the University of Asia and the Pacific, told the B usiness M irror in an e-mail that the country will not be able to reach its rice self-sufficiency target in 2015 due to El Niño and Typhoon Lando. El Niño will also hinder the self-sufficiency goals in 2016, he said.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Roehlano Briones agreed that achieving rice self-sufficiency on the short run looks “bleak” due to the poor projections on rice production owing to El Niño. However, Briones emphasized that the reason the Philippines cannot be self-sufficient in rice is the huge gap between the price of rice in the domestic and world markets. He said the high price of rice in the domestic market is due to the high cost of production in the Philippines, as compared to the rice-exporting countries. He said last year, the consumers in the Philippines were tolerating a cost of rice at P38 to P40 per kilo, double the price in the world market at P20 to P22. “Even then we were still importing, even at a relatively low level. Now we are relaxing that somewhat for 2015 because we are anticipating even more production shortfalls[due to El Niño]. We know that if we continue to fail to import that domestic price is going to continue to spiral up,” Briones said. “We can always achieve self-sufficiency, but at what cost? At what cost is the Philippines insisting on being able to produce all of its domestic consumption? Literally, if we are willing to accept P80 per kilo of rice, sure, we can be self-sufficient. But that would be pushing it to extremes. If we want a domestic price which is not seriously misaligned with the world price, then no, we are not going to be self-sufficient,” he added. Briones said the huge gap in the domestic and world prices of rice has also become an incentive for smuggling and an opportunity foregone for poor people to benefit from cheaper rice. “By keeping out the foreign rice, it’s basically a policy of expensive rice,” he said. In view of the increasing population in the Philippines in five years, which Briones estimates to be about 9.3 million higher, he said the country will need approximately another 1.6 million tons of palay to feed the additional number of people.

“But then again, this is falling into the usual trap of matching quantities with quantities. This is exactly what underlies the current self-sufficiency targeting. We are completely oblivious to the difference in prices between domestic and world market,” he said. According to Briones, it is also likely that the Philippines will not be able to close the gap in the prices. “Anything we can do, they can do better. They’re also not at a standstill. They’re also applying investments, technological innovations, and so on and so forth. By the time we catch up with them, they already ran ahead,” he said. The country’s geography also puts it at a competitive disadvantage, Briones said. The Philippines, being an archipelago with limited land areas and water resources is at a disadvantage as compared to other rice-exporting countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand, which have large mainland areas and river basins. Dy, for his part, said the country should focus more on income sufficiency rather than food selfsufficiency. He said food security has three aspects: affordability, availability and food quality. Based on the Global Food Security Index 2015 released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Philippines currently ranks 72, with an overall score of 49.4, in terms of food security. It is ranked 73rd in affordability, 66th in availability and 68th in food quality. “There are 25.8 million poor in 2014, out of 100 million. They can’t buy sufficient food due to low incomes. Even if there is sufficient food supply, they are not affordable to many poor. So if the poor have better incomes, they can afford to pay for food, local or imported,” Dy said. He added that of the 25.8 million poor Filipinos in 2014, 20 million are in the rural areas, where the main source of livelihood is agriculture and fishing. Dy said increasing their farm productivity will increase their income and enhance their buying power for food.

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BOP goal. . . Continued from A1

recovery. Remittances softened to a 0.8-percent growth in December 2008, followed by an almost flat year-on-year growth in January 2009. We hope that the recent development would usher in a rebound for September/October reports,” Cuyegkeng said. Cuyegkeng attributed the slowdown in remittances to the general weakness of the global economic growth. “Slower growth, or contraction, in remittances from these regions would continue to weigh on remittances,” Cuyegkeng said. “A flat growth this year, an unlikely scenario, would still mean a cash remittance of $24.3 billion. Current account is likely to remain in surplus, while structural inflows this year could amount to $45 billion to $46 billion,” he added. The BSP earlier said remittances will still end the year at an average of 5-percent growth, as more cash will be sent home for the holiday season.

CEO forum. . . Continued from A8

ries includes the Employer of the Year; Service Company of the Year; Most Innovative Company; Green Company of the Year; and Technology Company of the Year. This year ’s winners will be announced on November 11. The Asia CEO Forum started giving out the award in 2010. It is the largest of its kind in the Philippines and one of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

Wednesday, October 21, 2015 A3

Grace Poe’s disqualification cases have legal basis–legal experts

By Joel R. San Juan

WO legal experts have backed the bid to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe from seeking the presidency in next year’s elections on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and lacks the 10-year residency requirement.

Litigation lawyer Raymond Fortun and former University of the East law dean Amado Valdez said the disqualification cases filed by former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad and former Government Service Insurance System lawyer Estrella Elamparo will settle the eligibility of Poe for the presidency. Fortun and Valdez agreed with petitioners that Poe is not qualified for the presidency because she is not a natural-born Filipino and has not completed the 10-year residency requirement under the law. They both noted the inconsistencies in the residency periods that Poe indicated in her certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the 2013 and 2016 elections. When she filed her COC for her Senate bid in October 2012, Poe said she has been a Philippine resident for the last six years and six months. Exactly three years later, when she filed her COC for president last week, Poe indicated her residency period as being 10 years and 11 months, and not nine years and six months—which is what you get when you add three years to six years, six months from her 2012 COC. “They can’t be both correct, right?” asked Fortun, a former lawyer of former President Joseph Estrada, in an interview. Article VII, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that a presidential candidate must have been a resident of the Philippines for at

least 10 years immediately preceding such election to be qualified. Asked if he maintains an earlier position that Poe was ineligible to run in the 2016 polls, Fortun said: “Absolutely.” “She has created the scenario of “doubt,” and she now has to prove through evidence as to what is her “reckoning point” in fixing the date when she reacquired residency,” the lawyer added. Poe, a foundling legally adopted by movie stars Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces, was born and raised in the Philippines but later moved to the US in 1991 to finish her undergraduate studies and eventually worked there. She only decided to return to the Philippines after her father died in 2004, but returned to the US in February 2005. She reportedly bought a house in Quezon City and enrolled her children in the Philippines in 2005. In 2006 she acquired dual citizenship. Up until 2009, however, she continued using her US passport. Later that year, she finally obtained her Philippine passport and in 2010, Poe renounced her US citizenship so she could be appointed in the Philippines as chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board in 2010. She would affirm her renunciation the following year. Poe’s camp had said the senator returned to the country 11 years ago, in late 2004,

following the death of her father. But according to the Commission on Elections’s Precinct Finder, Poe registered as a voter on August 31, 2006, at the Santa Lucia Elementary School in San Juan City. She is a voter at Precinct 0349A. In their complaints, Elamparo and Tatad argued that Poe committed material misrepresentation in the COC she filed on Thursday afternoon, wherein she claimed to have met the legal requirements in seeking the presidency. Elamparo noted that provisions of the 1935 Constitution clearly does not qualify Poe as a natural-born citizen since she is a foundling that is unaware of her biological parents. In addition, the petitioners stressed that Poe’s period of stay in the US when she was still an American citizen cannot be counted as her length of residency in the Philippines and that it will only start during her return to the country in July 2006 after reacquiring her Philippine citizenship. Tatad pointed out that three years later, the period of nine years and five months would still fall shy of the 10-year requirement for presidential candidates. Valdez agreed with Fortun that granting Poe has reacquired her citizenship or had been returning to the Philippines in 2005 or 2006, the lawmaker’s subsequent action of using her US passport still “negated” her reacquisition of Filipino citizenship. “The 10 year period of residency must be counted from the time she reacquired her Filipino citizenship. It is only then that she is considered domiciled in the Philippines,” stressed Valdez, who is also president of the Philippine Association of Law Schools. “If her reacquisition of Filipino citizenship is negated by acts purporting that she is still considering herself as an American citizen by using her American passport, then her stay in the Philippines will not be counted to comply with residency requirement,” Valdez added.

House recognizes Eddie Garcia’s contribution to show business

HE House of Representatives has recently adopted a resolution recognizing actor Eddie Garcia and his “immense” contribution to the Philippine entertainment industry. In House Resolution 2355, Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III of 1-BAP said, “While Mr. Garcia is, in fact, still vigorous and has not slowed down in his reel and real life, it is imperative that we recognize him now so he can enjoy, in relative good health, the appreciation and recognition of his fellow Filipinos in general and the Philippine Congress in particular.” The lower chamber will give the plaque of appreciation to Garcia, Jesus Garcia Verchez in real life, when Congress resumes session in November. Bello said Garcia deserves to be recognized for being “the multiawarded actor and most nominated person in the long history of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences [Famas].” “With over 300 films to his credit as an actor and film director and numerous awards from filmdom award-giving bodies, both national and international, he has indeed done us proud as a people and as a nation,” Bello said. He added that Congress plaque of appreciation to be given to Garcia “is a modest gesture of appreciation of a grateful nation” for the actor’s great contribution to the country’s entertainment industry. “Throughout his stellar and memorable career, Mr. Eddie Garcia has kept a very private life and has never figured in any public controversy or intrigue, and thus, serves as role model for our youth that modesty in real life can coex-

Gazmin, Sarmiento oversee relief efforts

By Rene Acosta

ISASTER-MITIGATION officials led by Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin flew to Aurora province on Tuesday to asses the devastation wrought by Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu), which has already ruined billions of pesos in agriculture alone, as reported by local disaster risk-reduction offices in Central and Northern Luzon. Gazmin, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento went to Aurora, the hardest hit among the provinces affected by the typhoon, to oversee the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts in the province. Gazmin and Sarmiento’s visit to the disaster area came as the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) agencies in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon reported that nearly P5 billion worth of fishery and agriculture products were either damaged or destroyed in the provinces of Auroroa, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Quirino. OCD officials said the damage estimate is expected to increase as assessment of the effects of the typhoon continues, and the figure does not even include infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and buildings. While the damage is rising, the NDRRMC is slow in validating casualties as it has only listed 12 killed and seven injured from the typhoon, figures that are much lower than what were reported on Monday, which already unofficially stood at 17. As of Tuesday various reports already pegged the number of fatalities at 19. Aside from the slow validation, the government’s response also moved at a snail pace as one day after the devastation hit Central and Northern

Luzon, hundreds of families trapped by floodwaters atop their houses were still waiting to be rescued, especially in the province of Nueva Ecija. In Aurora it also took at least a day before soldiers were able to penetrate Casiguran, the town where Lando made its landfall on past midnight on Saturday, along with its adjacent towns of Dinalungan and Dilasag. According to the report of OCD Region 2, at least P5,817,562 worth of fishpond, fish cages and motorized banca in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan were damaged. Another P4,253, 650 worth of palay, corn and fruit-bearing trees in the whole region was also destroyed. Another 460 houses were also damaged or destroyed. On the other hand, at least 41,263 families, or 163, 358 persons were also affected. A separate report from the OCD in Region 3 initially pegged the damage to crops, fishpond and fish cages at P4.651 billion, while the OCD Region 1 added P149.556 million worth of damaged crops and seedlings.

NGCP restores power

POWER grid operator National Gr id Cor p. of t he Ph i l ippi nes (NGCP) is completing its powerrestoration works in six provinces affected by Lando. In its 11 a.m. update on Tuesday, the grid operator said line patrol inspection and repair is ongoing in Aurora, some parts of Batangas, Benguet, Mountain Province, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. In Aurora the areas with power outage are Dingalan, Dipaculao, Maria Aurora, San Luis and Baler. For Batangas, most businesses still have brownouts, namely, FORCEM, Shell and San Miguel Foods Inc. However, households are already with power. In Benguet some customers of the Benguet Electric Cooperatives Inc. are among those without power.

All customers of the Mountain Prov ince Electr ic Cooperatives Inc. are still suffering from the power cut. In Nueva Ecija, which is one of the most hardest-hit provinces, the areas isolated to the grid are Natividad, Llanera, Palayan, Bongabon, Gabaldon, Laur, Rizal and Talavera. The areas in Pangasinan without electricity are Bugallon, Lingayen, Binmaley, San Carlos City, Malasigui, Urbiztondo, Mangatarem, Aguilar and part of Batista. The NGCP stressed that the power outage was either caused by its transmission facilities or the distribution facilities of the electric cooperatives. The power company stressed it has available materials to repair the damage to its transmission facilities and its line crews are placed in strategic positions to facilitate immediate restoration work.

Communications as aid

TO ensure faster coordination and deployment of disaster personnel and aid, Smart Communications deployed emergency-communication services before, during and after the onslaught of Lando. In compliance with directives of the National Telecommunications Commission, emergency alerts via SMS and cell broadcasts were sent out to Smart and Sun subscribers before Typhoon Lando made landfall to provide vital safety information. In coordination with local governments, early warning SMS broadcasts via Smart’s Infoboard service were also sent out to residents of Northern Luzon, particularly Aurora province. Smart communication support and personnel were also prepositioned for “Libreng Tawag” services in areas to be hit by the typhoon. The company provided satellite phones to the Department of Social Welfare and Development to facilitate coordination and deployment of rescue and relief efforts.

ARMY personnel pack relief goods that will be distributed to the victims of Typhoon Lando in Northern and Central Luzon. The relief goods are being packed at a government warehouse in Pasay City. NONIE REYES

ist with popularity and success in one’s chosen profession,” he said. The resolution noted that Garcia is the most awarded and nominated person in the long history of the Famas Awards: the only performer to win three consecutive Famas Best Supporting Actor awards in the movies Taga sa Bato (1957), Condenado (1958) garcia and Tanikalang Apoy (1959); and the only person to be inducted into the Famas Hall of Fame under three different categories: for Best Supporting Actor (1974), for Best Actor (2003) and for Best Director (1990). “Other equally distinguished award-giving bodies, like the Metro Manila Film Festival, Gawad Urian, Film Academy of the Philippines and Star Awards, conferred upon Mr. Eddie Garcia similar awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor; he was also bestowed the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award, the first Dolphy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ulirang Alagad ng Sining by the Entertainment Press Society,” the resolution added. “Mr. Garcia brought fame and pride to the country when he won the Best Actor Award for the movie Bwakaw in the 55th Asia-Pacific Film Festival held in Macau on December 15, 2013,” it said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Economy

A4 Wednesday, October 21, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

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PHL could grow per-capita GDP by 119% in next 30 years–ADB

By Cai U. Ordinario

he Philippines has the potential to grow its per-capita GDP by 119 percent in 30 years if the country will invest in the development of students with top-end skills, according to the latest report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In the Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2015, the ADB said students with top-end skills can become innovators in the future and increase Filipinos’ incomes. The ADB said that while the average years of schooling in the region nearly doubled between 1970 and 2010, this was insufficient in producing highly skilled workers for the region’s future demands. “Skill shortage and skill mismatch are a serious problem in many developing countries, including

those in Asia,” ADB chief economist Shang-Jin Wei said. “Addressing this problem can be an important source of growth. Per-capita income in a typical developing Asian economy can more than double in a 20-year period if “cognitive skills can progressively reach levels seen in more advanced economies.” In computing the increase in percapita GDP by 2045, the ADB used three scenarios, which are increasing the average years of schooling to 11.6 years; focusing on achieving

basic cognitive skills that are similar to high-income countries; and developing a critical mass of students with top-end skills. Under the first scenario of increasing average years of schooling, the Philippines’s per-capita GDP only increased 20 percent between 2015 and 2045. The countries that would most benefit under this scenario are India and Vietnam, which will see a 32percent and 30-percent increase in per-capita GDP in 2045, respectively. The countries that would least benefit are Georgia and Kazakhstan, which will see no change in their percapita GDP between 2015 and 2045. Under the second scenario— focusing on achieving basic cognitive skills—the Philippines will see its per-capita GDP by 72 percent between 2015 and 2045. The countries that will most benefit from this are India and Kyrgyz Republic, which will see an increase of 103 percent and 91 percent in GDP per capita by 2045, respectively. Those that will least benefit from

this scenario are Vietnam and Armenia, which will see zero and 9-percent growth in GDP per capita in 30 years, respectively. Under the third scenario—increasing the share of students with high-end skills—the Philippines will increase its per-capita GDP by 119 percent by 2045. The countries that will benefit the most from this are also India and Kyrgyz Republic, which will see a 151-percent and 132-percent growth in per-capita GDP by 2045, respectively. Countries that will benefit the least are Vietnam and Kazakhstan, which will see a 1-percent and 39percent increase in per-capita GDP in 30 years, respectively. “In a nutshell, economies that invest in providing high-quality education will likely to be the least affected by disruptive innovations— and will be better placed to exploit them—because solid, foundational skills are the basis for adapting to new opportunities and technical tasks driven by these shifting occu-

pational demands,” the ADB said. The report uses a unique data set of education indicators across 67 economies globally, including 23 from developing Asia and the Pacific, to capture key features of basic educational systems. It shows that improving skills— especially cognitive skills which capture writing, reading, numeracy and problem-solving capabilities—can substantially increase growth prospects for countries in the region. Across the measures studied, countries can make the most substantial gains in skill levels when test scores and school performance are routinely available to the general public. Curriculum development and early-child education can also substantially increase skills. The ADB said governments in developing Asia spent over $1.2 trillion on education in 2014, but the report says higher spending alone will not have the desired impact on skills development. “Improving the efficiency of spending is key, with rigorous

evaluations and evidence-based policy decisions the cornerstones of reform efforts,” the ADB said. The ADB added that better results are likely when public spending on education is aligned with privatesector investment, when teachers are incentivized and when vouchers, subsidies and conditional-cash transfers are precisely targeted to needy and disadvantaged groups. Developing Asia has reaped substantial benefits from its manufacturing boom and the rise of modern services, but changing work trends could halt further gains. The report finds that up to 28 percent of existing jobs in some economies could be at high risk of disappearing as a result of technological changes. New job opportunities will arise, but for Asia’s workers to make the most of these, the ADB said, a solid base of cognitive skills and noncognitive skills that require communication and working in team are needed to complement specific technical skills.

House panel lists priorities when Lawmaker urges Aquino to tap unspent calamity fund to help Lando victims Congress resumes session in Nov

he House Committee on Ways and Means will prioritize the passage of Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime bill, and the measure imposing specific tax on sodas and other sweetened beverages when session resumes next month. Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo, of the Second District of Marikina City, said these bills are included in the tax-reform comprehensive package of the lower chamber. “Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime bill and the specific tax on soda will be the main bills for the session after this break,” Quimbo said. Quimbo has said that P33 billion could be generated from the passage of pro-health measure imposing specific tax on sodas and all sweetened beverages Filed by Rep. Estrellita B. Suansing of the First District of Nueva Ecija, House Bill (HB) 3365 seeks

to increase tax on soft drinks and carbonated beverages sold in bottles and other tight containers. Earlier, Health Undersecretary Nemesio Gaco backed the proposal, saying that a reduction in the consumption of sweetened, like softdrinks products would lessen diabetes cases and other related diseases in the country. Gaco said about 44 Filipinos die of diabetes every day, and this may be attributed to high consumption of sweet drinks such as soft drinks. Meanwhile, there are three pending bills at the House Committee on Ways and Means seeking to rationalize mining revenue-sharing scheme. One of these mining revenue-sharing bills is HB 3586, authored by Party-list Rep. Silvestre H. Bello III of 1-BAP and Nacionalista Party Rep. Lino S. Cayetano of Taguig City. The measure seeks a 60-percent revenue share for the national government and 15 percent for the local government. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

enate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Tuesday urged the Aquino administration to use unspent calamity funds to help the “food basket” region of the country damaged by Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu). “If we have problem with underspending, then the mess Lando left presents us with an opportunity to step up disbursement,” Recto, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said. “Government aid should not come in trickles but in torrents, just like the rain Lando dumped into Central and Northern Luzon,” Recto said. Recto said the Calamity Fund has a balance of P9.6 billion, citing latest data by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). According to DBM data, withdrawal from what is officially called

DOE assures adequate supply of LPG and fuel after typhoon devastation By Lenie Lectura

he Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday assured the public that there is an adequate supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and fuels nationwide. This, after LPG suppliers and oil companies reported to the agency that there was minimal damage sustained by their respective facilities and that adequate supply remains in areas hit by Typhoon Lando. However, oil companies stated that gas stations in flooded areas will have to clear debris and check their pumps prior to the resumption of their operations. “Supply remains sufficient for petroleum products. However, gas stations in areas without power may still be suspended inasmuch as electricity is needed for gasoline pumps to function,” Energy Officer in Charge Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada said. The DOE is coordinating with electric cooperatives to prioritize the

restoration of power to gas stations to ensure continuity of works in the affected areas. “We are closely coordinating with the oil industry for the stable supply of petroleum products and resumption of retail activities to restore normalcy in businesses and households as quickly as possible,” Monsada added. Meanwhile, the agency is enjoining all stakeholders to render support and assistance in safeguarding power facilities from any obstructions that would affect the continuous supply of electricity to all households and establishments. “We appeal particularly to the local government units and landowners to cooperate with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines [NGCP], the concessionaire of the national transmission lines, in resolving the transmission issues on right-of-way and easements,” Monsada said. The NGCP reported that landowners in various areas refused to allow

their crew members to enter their premises to clear fallen trees and vegetation that pose a threat to the safe and reliable operation of the power lines. NGCP also reported their difficulty in seeking permission to cut trees under transmission lines that eventually cause tripping of lines. The recent occurrence is a sustained tripping of the Agus 2-Kibawe Line 1, which is caused by a fallen tree cutting the NGCP line conductors. This, as NGCP reported, may result to the isolation of the Agus Units 1 and 2 that are connected to the affected lines. “To prevent unwarranted powersupply disruptions and avoid powerrelated incidents to occur, distribution utilities and NGCP should be given right to access or traverse designated area of the real property to ensure that potential hazards are proactively managed before they encroached on the power lines,” Monsada said. With Manuel Cayon

the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund — which has an allocation of P13 billion this year —has so far reached P3.9 billion. Recto said offices involved in the release of the Calamity Fund should “quickly submit and approve the requests needed.” The Calamity Fund is a lump sum in the budget for aid, relief and rehabilitation of areas hit by man-made and natural calamities. The multiagency National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) endorses calamity-fund requests to the Office of the President for approval, which then forward them to the DBM, which releases the funds. Recto said other agencies with “low absorptive capacity” of funds should study shifting these to Landohit areas “to the extent that budget

laws would allow it.” “And all the more that unreleased funds intended within the calamity arc should be released now. Government construction can provide jobs or cash-for-work opportunities,” Recto stressed. “It will be a tragedy if agencies will not be able to spend their allocated funds when there are disaster-hit areas which has a need for them,” he added. Recto cited the DBM Statement of Allotment and Obligation for fiscal year 2014, which reported that the Department of Agriculture (DA) had P14.58 billion in unobligated balances last year. The Department of Public Works and Highways, meanwhile, had failed to utilize P79.22 billion of its allotment during the same period. While catch-up measures had

led to a 25-percent year-on-year increase in public spending in July, when disbursements reached P210 billion “the overall scorecard shows the need to accelerate fund utilization,” Recto said. For the current year until July, government expenditures totaled P1.26 trillion, 15 percent higher than the P1.1 trillion a year ago. But still, the P1.26 trillion spent in the first seven months was still P190 billion short of the P1.47-trillion program, Recto said. “So there are funds, we just have to hasten its release,” Recto said. He said the areas hit by Lando are known rice granaries and food baskets. Regions 2 and 3 account for about 31 percent of the rice and corn production, 12 percent of livestock production and 40 percent of poultry production in the country for 2014. PNA

briefs house to probe govt underspending A lawmaker on Tuesday said that he will file a resolution in the House of Representatives directing the Committee on Appropriations to conduct an inquiry into the perennial government underspending. Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin T. Gatchalian of Valenzuela City said that he will also ask the lower chamber to craft institutional reforms to ensure efficient and transparent disbursement of funds. “Although the so-called budget season has officially ended in the Lower House upon the body’s approval of the 2016 budget two weeks ago, I believe that Congress still has more work to do in ensuring that appropriated funds translate into concrete public services,” Gatchalian said. “Under the current administration, underspending has become a roadblock, which has hampered the government’s drive to foster inclusive growth through public spending on infrastructure projects and delivery of basic social services,” Gatchalian added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

p32.8b spent for poverty alleviation, defense

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said spending for poverty alleviation and equipment upgrade to boost maritime security in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) islands has reached P32.8 billion, which comprise the biggest spending by class in August this year. The department’s spending report cited that spending

for the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) increased by 46.1 percent in August to P32.8 billion from P22.5 billion in 2014. Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said growth in MOOE spending is due to increase in fund assistance for the Conditional-Cash Transfer Program and pension for indigent senior citizens both under the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Estrella Torres

dti holds dialogue on supply chain and logistics

ILOILO CITY—A one-day dialogue on supply chain and logistics will attempt to identify the critical issues and challenges faced by the Supply Chain and Logistics Sector (SCLS) in Western Visayas. The dialogue that will anchor on the theme “Supply Chain and Logistics Applified: Key Toward Global Competitiveness” will be held in this city on Wednesday, facilitated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Competitiveness Bureau-Supply Chain and Logistics Management Division in cooperation with the DTI regional office. “Concerns on the flow of goods in the region will be discussed, like the delay in the unloading of cargoes due to port congestion, shortage in trucking services and concerns on warehousing, among others,” said Henry D. Tampani, DTI 6 senior trade and industry specialist. PNA

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Simplifying ‘tedious’ tax payments a work in progress, Palace says

By Butch Fernandez

alacañang has acknowledged that the Aquino administration still has to complete the task of simplifying “tedious” tax-payment systems that aggravate the burden of taxpayers saddled with high tax rates, but noted the key role of Congress in passing legislation to ensure all issues are addressed.

The Palace’s acknowledgment of the still-laborious payments processes, flagged in a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study that gave it very low scores, came alongside renewed commitment among Congress leaders to push the key measures in the tax-reform agenda that are seen to give taxpayers relief, notably, the move to index to inflation the taxable income levels that were set nearly two decades ago. “Patuloy na sinisikap ng pamahalaan na gawing mas simple at kumbinyente ang pagbabayad ng buwis upang maging higit na episyente ang pagkalap ng rentas internas na siyang nagpipinansya sa pag-unlad ng ekonomiya,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said in a text message to the BusinessMirror. Coloma issued the assurance when asked if the Palace is going to direct the Deparment of Finance (DOF) to address

COLOMA: “Patuloy na sinisikap ng pamahalaan na gawing mas simple at kumbinyente ang pagbabayad ng buwis upang maging higit na episyente ang pagkalap ng rentas internas na siyang nagpipinansya sa pag-unlad ng ekonomiya.”

the reported findings in the PwC study that the Philippines has one of the most tedious systems for paying taxes. The Palace official also cited a list of pending legislation in the Senate and the House of Representatives that, Coloma said, can “contribute significantly” to long-awaited

reforms in the existing tax-payment system. According to the PwC study, it takes a businessman in the Philippines 193 hours to pay, 36 kinds of taxes and other annual fees due the government. Asked if the administration had moved to unveil additional reforms in the system, he said the Bureau of Internal Revenue was already acting to “facilitate access to taxpayers.” Coloma also referred to a list of pending tax-reform measures in Congress, including bills seeking to reduce existing individual and corporate income-tax rates from 32 percent to 15 percent, and another bill exempting minimum-wage earners from paying income taxes. Also awaiting approval in Congress is a separate bill filed by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto proposing “a new schedule that would impose no taxes on net income below P20,000; a 10-percent tax for a net taxable income below P60,000; 15 percent for P60,000 to P140,000; 20 percent for P140,000 to P280,000; 25 percent for P280,000 to P500,000; and 30 percent for P500,000 to P1,000,000.” The Recto bill also seeks to “index the net taxable income levels and nominal tax rates automatically to inflation every six years, without the need for legislative action.” Recto’s successor at the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, earlier expressed support for the bid to index to inflation the taxable income brackets, noting these were set in 1997. On Monday the House leadership vowed to pass the proposal adjusting the levels of

taxable income to inflation. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. told reporters in an interview that adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation should be done before the 16th Congress ends in June next year. “[Adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation] that is something we would like to do. I told Senate President [Franklin M. Drilon] to take it up again. I want to discuss it with the Executive,” Belmonte said. Earlier, Belmonte said that he and Drilon will meet President Aquino to persuade him to back the proposal adjusting the levels of taxable income to inflation, which is included to the proposed tax reform comprehensive package of the Congress. The PwC study on the tax-payments systems, meanwhile, is part of a World Bank “Doing Business” project. It measured, among others, the ease of paying taxes by assessing the time it takes for a company to prepare, file and pay taxes to the government.

Sen. Francis G. Escudero, in a statement at the weekend, drew attention to the PwC study. He lamented that among 189 economies reviewed by the international audit firm, the Philippines was ranked well below at 127th, compared to its Asean neighbors Malaysia (32nd) and Thailand (62nd). It is bad enough, stressed Escudero, that the Philippines imposes one of the highest income-tax rates in the region; it is worse that such high rates are compounded by “one of the most tedious processes for paying taxes in the world.” Escudero was quoted saying that in the PwC report, the Philippines landed just three notches above Sierra Leone and 12 notches above Sudan in the rankings. “In fact, it’s even easier to pay taxes in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. What does that say about us?” the senator griped, adding: “Where else will you find a country that taxes its people severely and then makes it hard for them to pay?” With Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

A6 Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Gen. Antonio Luna: A great hero of our race

N this age of globalization, when even states are expected to yield a part of their sovereignty as a price for their participation in the economic and political activities of the community of nations, it is difficult to speak of nationalism without sounding passé or even irrelevant. References to patriotism become pointless when talking to economists who fear that patriotism is being used as a cover for the protection of inefficient local industries through tariffs, tax exemptions, etc. Love of country becomes a strange affliction when you are continuously bombarded with foreign propaganda masquerading as free expressions of art and culture. The completeness and thoroughness of this capture of our consciousness by this alien power becomes evident when one reflects after watching Heneral Luna. In this movie, one sees Gen. Antonio Luna exhibiting total contempt for the Filipinos of that time who wanted to collaborate with the Americans, who had come to take the place of the Spaniards who had been defeated in battle by the revolutionaries. To the general, it was clear that the next step was to occupy the national territory, proclaim its independence, and fight and defeat the new colonizers. He could not brook the defeatism and collaborationism of the ilustrado who excelled in the use of the people’s interest as a cover for the shameless promotion of their selfish ends. Not everyone agreed with him. The very leader of the revolutionary government favored the collaborationists. It would not be long before they plotted to get him out of the way. Their day came when a platoon of soldiers from the leader’s honor guard assassinated the most brilliant, the bravest and the most patriotic of the generals of the revolution, in a courtyard in Cabanatuan. After watching the movie, one may question whether General Luna was not too brave, too reckless, too impulsive—for his own good or for the good of the Revolution. There may be a point there, but, in fact, such questioning only betrays the extent to which our minds have been captured by the new colonialism—our loss of confidence in ourselves and in our ability to think for ourselves, our haste in questioning the motives of even the noblest among us. The overwhelming impact of foreign propaganda on our minds and hearts notwithstanding, the movie awakens in us this strange feeling of oneness with our countrymen and countrywomen, this love of country in our hearts, this feeling of patriotism, if you may. To whom are we to direct this feeling? Certainly, not to “the ruling class,” nor to its despicable representatives in the highest echelons of our government. To the poor people or the silent majority, perhaps? Why not? It is infinitely more edifying working for the disadvantaged in our society than for those who are interested only in themselves and their aggrandizement. Inspired by Heneral Luna, let’s put our newly discovered love of country in the service of those of our countrymen and countrywomen who deserve a fuller and richer life than the one they currently live.

Immediate relief Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

here were actually two kinds of flood that Typhoon Lando (international code name Koppu) brought. The first flood left not only devastated areas but also distraught spirits, as some people died and thousands of families became homeless. The next kind of flooding is an outpouring of generosity from various sectors that came in the form of relief goods and monetary donation to help rebuild lives. The Social Security Commission, the policy-making body of the Social Security System (SSS), responded to the call for help by approving the grant of a calamity-relief package for SSS members and pensioners affected by Typhoon Lando in places declared as calamity areas by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). The SSS calamity-relief package consists of the Salary Loan Early Renewal Program (SLERP), which allows members to renew their loans earlier than the prescribed date; the SSS Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan Program, which offers a lower interest rate of only 6 percent per annum; and the three months advance in pensions for Social Security

(SS) and Employees’ Compensation (EC) pensioners. Qualified SSS members and pensioners may apply for loans and advance pensions starting October 26 until December 31, while deadline of application for the Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan is until October 19, 2016. The grant of salary loans under SLERP will be subject to the same eligibility guidelines of the regular salary loans of the SSS. Those who could avail themselves of the SLERP must have at least 36 monthly contributions for the one-month loan, or 72 monthly contributions for a two-month loan, six of which should be posted within the last 12 months prior to

the month of filing of application. For those who availed themselves of the SLERP in previous calamities, the net loan amount shall be the difference between the approved loan amount and the previous loan balance. To further help members in their recovery, the 1-percent service fee, which is usually charged on the proceeds of the loan, was waived. SS retiree, disability and survivor pensioners, and EC disability and survivor pensioners residing in the calamity areas declared by the NDRRMC may avail themselves of the three months advance pension payments. Those whose present address is different from the address in the SSS database will have to submit a barangay certification to prove that they reside in a declared calamity area. Similar to the SLERP, outstanding balance from the previous advance pensions granted in the last calamity will be deducted from the proceeds of the current three months advance pension. SSS members who are currently employed, self-employed, voluntary and overseas Filipino workers members, whose residence is in the disaster area and whose house was destroyed or damaged by Lando, could avail themselves of the Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan. The applicant must have a

Seriously, Trump won’t win

By Jonathan Bernstein | Bloomberg View

t’s no surprise that more and more Republicans who initially dismissed Donald Trump are starting to believe he has a good chance of winning after all. National Review has an item on Monday on how people like Ed Rollins (Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign manager) and Steve Schmidt (John McCain’s campaign manager in 2008) are taking Trump seriously. Washington Examiner’s Byron York reports that strategist Alex Castellanos has changed his mind about Trump having no chance, and now believes “the odds of Trump’s success have increased and been validated in the past few weeks.” It’s true that Trump continues to maintain a comfortable lead in national polling—about 10 percentage points ahead of Ben Carson, and another 10 or more over the rest of the field. He’s probably still on top in Iowa, too, although Carson is close there. Despite that, nothing so far tells us that Trump has any serious chance of being the Republican nominee. For most voters, it’s still early, meaning that poll results remain more of a combination of name rec-

ognition and media attention than anything else. When voters know all the major candidates, they will find things to like about them, too. And those voters who caucus in Iowa and cast ballots in New Hampshire will know quite a bit about the candidates by then. What is highly suggestive is that Trump dipped in the polls after both Republican debates. He didn’t “lose” those contests. But the surge of attention to the race allowed other candidates to briefly get a larger share

of media attention, which boosted some of them in the polls. Then the media moved back to focusing on Trump, and his rankings recovered (although he’s still a bit below the peak he reached before the second debate). The media focus on Trump when nothing else is going on, and that won’t be the case once we get to the primaries and caucuses. And instead of 17 candidates to sort through (as the Republican race originally had), we will see a more manageable number. The process will be helped along if at some point one of the other candidates becomes the clear party choice, something that hasn’t happened yet. No, voters don’t automatically do whatever their party leaders tell them to do. But the views of the influential party actors tend to shape the overall information environment, so that eventually voters hear more good things about the party’s favorites and more bad things about those it wants to defeat. And the more the Republican leaders, strategists and

total of 24 monthly contributions, of which three contributions were made within the last 12-month period prior to the month of filing of the application. He must not be more than 60 years old at the time of filing of application. Maximum loan amount for the Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan is P1 million, with reduced interest rate to 6 percent per annum to help members fix their homes. Amortization period for the loan is in multiples of five years, with a maximum of 20 years for local employment and 15 years for OFW members. After every calamity, basic needs like food, shelter and health care become very precious commodities. Picking up the pieces to start again after a traumatic situation is the most difficult thing to do. However, tough times do not last when surrounded by people who are quick to help, pushed by the innate human nature to care for others who are in need. For more information about the SSS and its programs, call our 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_relations@sss.gov.ph. Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the Social Security System. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.

activists are united, the clearer the signal is going to come through. In a Trump contest against Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush (if it comes to that), we can expect a united party and a strong signal, indeed. And the Republican Party is adamant about not wanting Trump. He still hasn’t picked up a single congressional or gubernatorial endorsement. His slashand-slash campaign style constantly earns him new enemies, and likely hardens the opposition of old ones. Two months ago I saw three paths leading to a Trump loss. Now it seems unlikely he’ll just drop out at the first sign of trouble. But a slow fade leading to a weak finish in Iowa is possible. Or his rankings could stay capped at the 25 percentto-30 percent range, and he will lose once the further winnowing of the candidates produces one or two strong opponents. In short, everything we know about how presidential nominations work says Trump isn’t going to be the nominee, or even come close.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Exploring energy alternatives

A nail-biting pleasure Teddy Locsin Jr.

Kent Marjun Primor

NBCP

hen the Electric Power Industry Reform Act under Republic Act (RA) 9136 was passed in 2001, it deregulated the complex structure of the energy sector into four subsectors of generation, transmission, distribution and supply. Only the generation subsector is fully open to foreign investors, as it is not considered anymore as public utility subject to the 60/40 equity limitation imposed by the Constitution. Consistent with the idea of retail competition and open access, prices of power generations are no longer subject to the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) and may avail of valueadded zero-tax rates, consistent with lowering the price of electricity. Seven years later, RA 9513, or the Renewable Energy Act, was enacted to accelerate the exploration and development of natural-energy resources as a tool to address environmental concerns produced by traditional sources of energy and, ultimately, to lower the cost of electricity. Such law, touted as one of the most comprehensive and forward-looking renewable-energy (RE) laws in the world, enjoins all stakeholders in the electricpower industry to develop a road-map plan, in coordination with the National Renewable Energy Board, to attract new investments for sustainable development. Despite these efforts, however, the Philippines remained to have one of the highest electricity rates in Asia, which calls for more emphasis and streamline approaches to RE development.

Going renewable AS of May 2015, there are at least 648 RE contracts approved by the Department of Energy (DOE), with a combined generation capacity of 10,632.22 megawatts (MW) as against the total installed capacity of 2,752.20 MW, 613 of which are for grid use, broken down as follows: 402 hydropower, 70 solar, 50 wind, 44 biomass, 41 geothermal and 6 ocean energy. The remaining 35 are selfgenerating electricity for their own use, which include 1 hydropower, 1 wind, 11 solar and 22 biomass. The DOE has been aggressively promoting RE sources and has streamlined the application processes from two years to 45 days. As a result, therefore, there are already 166 pending projects for approval that could possibly generate another 1,493.78 MW, 117 of which are hydropower, 29 solar, 6 wind, 5 biomass, 4 ocean and 4 geothermal. Under the National Renewable Energy Program, the government targets to have 15,304-MW installed capacity by 2030, which is why the DOE implements fiscal and nonfiscal schemes to attract investments, such as the seven-year income-tax holiday; duty-free importation; special realty-tax rates, net-operating loss carryover; 0-percent valueadded tax on RE sales and purchases; and practicing RE portfolio standard; feed-in tariff system; net metering; and green energy options. The government intends to increase geothermal capacity by 75 percent; hydropower capacity by 160 percent; additional 277-MW biomass power capacities; 2,345-MW wind power capacity; additional 284-MW solar capacity until reaching the targeted 1,528 MW, as well as develop the firstever ocean-energy facility in the country. Going renewable has several advantages for the Philippines and for any state worldwide. It diverts longtime dependence to fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, that deplete across time and contribute exponentially to greenhouse emissions resulting to global warming. As an archipelagic state, the Philippines ranks on top of the list of vulnerable states on climate change. In fact, we have experienced new levels of storm signals that tremendously damage livelihood, claim precious lives, and destroy key infrastructures that enable trade. Yes, nature has its revenge, and the magnitude of such erodes humanity. Less dependence to fossil fuels could also mean less reliance to foreign resources. It creates domestic employment, harnesses Filipino ingenuity;

and utilizes our expertise on farming, planting and harvesting. For instance, Finland, due to abundance of forest resources, converts wood, waste and residual products to energy. Its woodbased biomass supplies considerable energy needs of its high-tech economy. Sweden gets two-thirds of its electricity from nonfossil-fuel energy sources, primarily hydroelectric and nuclear, and substantially investing in solar and wind energy that stimulate domestic jobs in the sector. In Denmark the wind turbines produce a lot of energy, which sometimes exceed total demand. In fact, in July this year, the wind farms produced 116 percent of its national electricity demands and exported some to Germany, Norway and Sweden. Being surrounded with water resources, the Philippines can learn from Norway’s utilization of hydropower that supplies 99 percent of electricity or Iceland’s experience combining geothermal and hydropower resources. RE reduces pollution that brings cleaner water, air and land. Although the Philippines is starting to uncover the potentials of solar technologies, it can learn techniques from the silicon-based solar cells of Norway that specializes on second-generation photovoltaic technologies or even Denmark’s third-generation thin-film solar cells. In other words, going renewable balances the overuse of fossil fuels and substantially mitigates risks.

Moving forward AS immediate past Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla acknowledged, RE is the ideal form of energy, but the cost is high and coal is the answer to the nation’s current extreme power shortages. This, of course, can be seen in the rising level of coal-powered generation from 2001 to 2014. From 2001 alone, coal generated 18,789 gigawatt-hours (GWh) and has expanded to 33,054 GWh in 2014, or an estimated average generation growth of 32.82 percent for the past 14 years. However, the Philippines as a nation cannot depend on finite resources forever, where irreparable results are detrimental to health and environment. Thus, the low carbonemission scenario of the Philippine Energy Plan should be actively pursued. To these ends, the Philippines can benefit from learning best practices on RE and clean-technology development from countries around the globe through public-private partnerships. High capital costs can be addressed by collaboration between the government and investors. For example, the government ensures that the overall business environment is competitive, efficient and nondiscriminatory to local and foreign investors. It has to ensure that regulatory regimes are fair, adequate and enforceable to encourage establishment of businesses. The government may also introduce incentives, as being done by the DOE and other agencies notably the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, to help companies augment capital expenditures. Since private investors have the expertise and the necessary capital, they can develop renewable facilities in line with the priorities of the government, like solar and ocean power. The message is clear, fossil fuels will remain to be a significant source of energy but our country must develop alternatives, such as the renewable sources, to back up its growing economy and mitigate the risks of climate change. Kent Marjun Primor serves as the market research and communications specialist at the Nordic Business Council of the Philippines. For comments and inquiries, direct it to kent.primor@nbcp.com.ph.

Free fire

OW to catch a criminal; more urgently how to stop a serial killer who’s sure to repeat again and again the shocking crime: same modus—ripping off the face, ripping out the genitalia; on the same day of the month, in the same place. It is a race against time; a race you keep losing. The way to do it is similar to drawing a spiral: by making smaller and smaller circles without lifting the pencil from the page, progressively excluding failed choices and pushing the less likely possibilities to the margins; drawing smaller and smaller circles, until you are down to the smallest circumference of all; and thereby come to the point where

there’s no other possibility but the one with a knife at your throat. That is how Itchi Batacan chases her serial killer in a highly polished, elegantly structured and, finally, the first detective novel in Philippine literature: fully a match to the best of the genre out there. Some of the best writers today praise her book, which has the fitting name of

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Smaller and Smaller Circles. Finally, we have something to read, not as cultural obligation, but for sheer entertainment in breathtaking and beautiful prose. No situation but Itchi’s writing conveys it with a turn of phrase so apt and felicitous there’s no better way to say it, as when Fr. Saenz “stretches out the wrinkles on his shirt” because stretching the fabric, not patting it down, was the action in this case—the better to impart his impatience. This is not the first detective priest. Chesterton’s Father Brown started it. Umberto Eco’s William of Baskerville found The Name of the Rose. William Broderick’s Father Anselm uncovers a district of hell in The 6th Lamentation that’s policed efficiently by the Gestapo and Itchi combs a neighborhood of hell policed incompetently by the National Bureau of Investigation.

Is the miracle of microfinance illusory?

By S. Kulkami | Inter Press Service

HILADELPHIA AND BOSTON—Mohammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, transformed the lives of millions of poor women through unsecured microloans or microcredit to self-help groups. Microcredit evolved into microfinance that also includes savings and basic forms of insurance and transfer mechanisms. Within a few years, microfinance became a global phenomenon. Although microfinance continues to grow, the enthusiasm for it shows signs of waning. In recent years, there has been a great deal of scepticism regarding the “miracle” of microfinance. Critics have questioned whether the rhetoric has moved far ahead of the evidence, with some even suggesting that microfinance can spell the death of local economies. Meanwhile, its defenders present robust evidence to substantiate their claims that microfinance delivers enormous benefits. We argue that the miracle is largely intact but needs strengthening. According to a data from MIX, which tracks microfinance institutions (MFIs), there is a solid and growing base of microfinance providers, with a global loan portfolio amounting to $ 81.5 billion in 2012 with an outreach of 91.4 million lowincome clients. Women make up 80 percent of the clients of the world’s largest 34 microlenders. Yet, half of the world’s adults still do not have accounts in financial institutions and 76 percent of the poor are unbanked. When you add all this up, the case for vigorous expansion of financial inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals is patently obvious. Recent shift of the focus to financial sustainability raises serious concerns about dilution of the outreach of microfinance (for example, the number [breadth] and socioeconomic level [depth] of the clients served by MFIs.) That the trade-off exists is undeniable but little is known about its extent. It is often emphasized that large-scale outreach to the poor on a long-term basis cannot be guaranteed if MFIs are not financially sustainable. Consequently, donors, policy makers, and other financiers of microfinance have shifted from subsidising MFIs towards financial sustainability and efficiency of these institutions. Analysis of a large cross-section of countries reveals that MFIs providing mainly individual loans are more profitable, but the fraction of poor borrowers and of women in the loan portfolio is lower than in institutions that concentrate on group lending. Moreover, MFIs that provide individual loans increasingly focus on wealthier clients, a phenomenon that is often referred to as “mission drift,” while this is less so for the group-based MFIs. So the importance of institutional design in reducing the trade-off cannot be overlooked. Besides, sustainability is feasible without mission drift by reducing costs and gaining efficiency through innovative use of information and communication technology. Research has documented that social networks help the diffusion of microfinance. A survey in

Guatemala demonstrated that individuals imitate the choices made by other members of the same network—in this case, a household’s access to credit was closely related to membership in a church network. In another example, a majority of representatives of financial institutions in India concurred that self-help groups (SHGs) were more likely to be successful in villages with a high density of social networks and associations. Not only do SHGs benefit from the presence of networks, they themselves also contribute to trust, reciprocity and associational capital (such as through strengthening of local institutions). Moreover, presence of successful SHGs induces quicker formation of other SHGs at a much cheaper cost and the selfreinforcing process gathers momentum over time. Group lending not only reduces transaction costs of small loans but also ensures high repayment rates. However, group liability may also impose a “cost.” The incentive for group participants is to reduce the risk taken by their fellow members, since participants do not benefit from the upside of any risky investment, but are liable for the downside. As a result, members of a group may impose excessive risk aversion. Our analysis of selected Asian countries —especially India—offers insights. Drawing upon Indian evidence, assortative matching into poor and rich groups was reported by about 71 percent of members of SHGs. Few believed that the poor were

PHOTO by Noriel de Guzman

excluded because of high interest rates and/or stringency of financial discipline. However, remoteness of villages, absence of functioning local institutions and lack of awareness of benefits of group lending were identified as major impediments in covering larger segments of the poor—especially by representatives of financial institutions. A cross-country analysis establishes robustly that gross loan portfolio (GLP) of MFIs benefits not just the poor but also the poorest. In other words, GLP of MFIs is negatively associated with the incidence, depth and severity of poverty. Hence sustained flows to MFIs may help avert accentuation of poverty as a consequence of the slow and faltering recovery of the global economy. Much of micro evidence (such as that which is gathered at the household level) on poverty reduction is mixed. A striking case is that of Bangladesh, where the impact in some studies is positive and large, while in others the impact has been insignificant or weak. In Peru, it is the “better-off” rather than the core poor who benefit most from microfinance. By contrast, there is a substantial positive effect on a multi-dimensional welfare indicator in India. In China, while microfinance is welfare enhancing, the main beneficiaries are the nonpoor. Experimental evidence for Thailand, the Philippines and India (Hyderabad slums) suggests that the (relatively) affluent benefit more. An important insight for Bangladesh and elsewhere is that the exit from poverty requires longer-term participation. Household entrepreneurs require time to achieve productive efficiency or to earn higher returns from self-employment activities. Since existing members of microcredit generally obtain larger amounts, MFIs should be encouraged to offer larger loans sooner rather than later. Before the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka, access to microfinance

She wrote it first as a novella, where she squeezed out—with unrelentingly tighter and tighter, and darker and darker writing—ebony drops of horror distilled from The Heart of Darkness. She has expanded it into a friendlier reading experience courtesy of SOHO, the most prestigious publisher of crime fiction today. The small original should stay in print. It hints at mysteries yet to unfold in succeeding volumes of what promises to be a great detective series, one begging to be watched on Netflix or HBO. I am happy for the author but happier for her readers for the pleasure she offers—if pleasure is the word for a nail-biting experience. Get the book in Fully Booked. It was launched abroad on October 3; Itchi herself signed books in Kinokuniya at Takashimaya in Singapore—the best bookstore outside the one in New York I will never reveal because life should be a mystery.

helped income convergence among the borrowers—a process that was disrupted by this natural disaster. However, microfinance loans after the Tsunami helped in reducing the income gap between those who were hit by it and others who were not. This process of recovery was fast. There is, thus, strong evidence for the effectiveness of microfinance as a recovery tool. Women in higher loan cycles of Kashf’s microfinance program in Pakistan, experienced a significant increase in empowerment compared to their counterparts in the first loan cycle. Being in a higher loan cycle affects the ability of a female borrower to decide how to use the loan. Microlending, thus, leads to higher financial empowerment. Besides, there was social empowerment as mobility restrictions were much fewer among them. A detailed analysis for India has a much broader focus on women’s empowerment and offers a positive role of microfinance. A large majority of SHG participants themselves reported that they had gained selfconfidence, greater respect within the family, a more assertive role in family decision-making, a more important role in children’s health and education, and that there was a reduction in domestic violence. In the broader community sphere, however, a considerably lower share of respondents gave a positive response. But these indices of empowerment do not reveal the “costs.” Higher incomes and a broadening of spheres of activities entailed greater responsibilities for women and extra hours of work. In the absence of reallocation of domestic responsibilities, some of the welfare gains from extra incomes earned were partly offset by longer hours of work. In conclusion, while the miracle of microfinance has eroded somewhat with financial sustainability overriding social goals, there are ample grounds for optimism about recreating it.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Amaia hikes inventory for C-segment buyers

yala residential brand Amaia Land launched the 10th mid-rise condominium in its development called the Amaia Steps Alabang, further beefing up its residential portfolio for the middle-income segment. “There is a big opportunity for the Amaia target market. This is for the middle class, or the affordable segment of the market. These are the people with a household income of about P20,000 to more than P60,000 a month,” said Ricky Celis, president of the five-year-old Amaia Land Inc. Celis added that the strong demand from the broad C-segment, which encompasses the overseas Filipino workers, independent business owners and managers of companies, has been apparent in the quick takeup of the first tower of Amaia Steps Alabang. “We’ve sold 93 percent of the first building, which prompted us to launch the second, which we

already sold half,” added Nikie Lingad, Project Strategic Management Group head for Amaia. The C-segment covers a third of Filipino families and takes up twothirds of the estimated 5.5 million housing backlog in 2016, factors that boost the attractiveness of the middle-market Ayala brand. Positioning the Amaia brand in the broad middle class allows it to capitalize on the varied real-estate demands of the burgeoning market, as it has already developed properties for the three subsegments: the mid-rise condominium Amaia Steps; the house and lot development Amaia Scapes; and the high-rise Amaia Skies.

As of September 2015, the Amaia brand has 35 active projects across its three subsegments. The Amaia brand takes the dominant position in the C-segment in Metro Manila, or around 30 percent, among 25 major residential developers, Celis estimated. Aside from Metro Manila, Amaia has focused on Southern Luzon, particularly in Laguna, Cavite and Batangas. In Central Luzon, it has also established its footprint in Cabanatuan, San Fernando, Capas and Bulacan. The Amaia Steps Alabang, its latest project in the South, has been seeing robust demand, prompting the introduction of the third tower in November, added Rodney Reyes, project development head for North and South Luzon. The nine-tower development has a project cost of P3 billion. It has 1,712 units across 6.2 hectares of land. Construction of the first tower is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2016. Completion is targeted by 2022. Variants include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom

units. Meanwhile, Alveo Land Corp. said the first three towers of Solinea condominium project in Cebu City already sold P6.1 billion worth of units, becoming one of the province’s fast-selling projects and one of the company’s successful projects. Launched only a year apart, the condominium’s first tower is already 89-percent sold, while the second tower is 83-percent sold. Lazuli, the third tower launched in 2014, is now 53-percent sold, Alveo, a unit of Ayala Land Inc., said. Alveo invested some P2.2 billion each for the two towers and P2.4 billion for the third tower. “Solinea is proving to be our most successful project in Cebu. It is aimed toward urban achievers, typically in their 30s to 50s, who are looking for a respite within the city and with their workplace nearby. It also cater to investors who are looking for an investment that will generate recurring income,” said Vince Carl Bacungan, the company’s project development manager for Alveo Land. VG Cabuag

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Asia C.E.O. Forum to honor current, emerging leaders By VG Cabuag

he executives of the country’s property-related firms, both from the private and the public sectors, are among the nominees in this year’s edition of the Asia CEO Awards given by the Asia CEO Forum, a body that promotes leadership excellence and displays Filipino business accomplishments to the world’s business leaders. Topping the list of nominees for this year’s Global Filipino Executive of the Year plum are Andrew Tan, chairman and CEO of Alliance Global Group Inc.; Arnel Casanova of the Bases Conversion and Development Corp.; Arthur Tugade of Clark Development Corp. (CDC); and Darlene Marie B. Berberabe of Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig). Also nominated for the award were the chief executives of Ayalaled Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI); Manila Electric Co.; state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines; Security Bank Corp.; Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc.; Robinsons Land Corp; and Magsaysay Maritime Corp. The

Asia CEO Forum will also recognize the young chief executives of some of the country’s emerging firms. Topping the list were Leandro Legarda Leviste of Solar Philippines, the company that was able to popularize the installation of solar panels in the malls; Delfin Angelo Wenceslao of D.M. Wenceslao and Associates; and Raymond Arnedo Abrea of Abrea Consulting Group. The other nominees were the heads of FAD School for Modelling, Flyspaces.com, Subic Water and Sewage Co. Inc., TaskUs and Teach for the Philippines Inc. The Asia CEO Awards will also recognize foreign executives in the Philippines. “This year’s event will be the largest yet and the year we can all say it is the largest awards event of its kind in Southeast Asia,”the organization said. The nominees for the Executive Leadership Team award are Concepcion Industrial Corp., CDC, Hedcor Inc., IMI, Magsaysay Maritime, Megaworld Corp., Pag-Ibig Fund, Philex Mining Corp., Pointwest Technologies Corp. and Security Bank. Other award categoSee “CEO forum,” A2

ASIA C.E.O. AWARDS

The Asia CEO Awards 2015 finalists and lifetime contributors were formally introduced at the Marriott Grand Ballroom on Tuesday. The Asia CEO Awards promotes leadership excellence and team-building within organizations, and displays Filipino business accomplishment to the world’s business leaders. Gracing the launch are (from left) Asia CEO Forum Chairman Richard Mills, BusinessMirror Vice President for Corporate Affairs Ricky Alegre, Asia CEO Forum Strategic Initiatives Partener Don Felbaum, IRemit Chairman and CEO Bansan Choa, KPMG Vice Chairman and Head of Tax Noel Bonoan, American Date Exchange Corp. General Manager-Asia Jurgen Tanpho, ADP Philippines Vice President and General Manager Josep Elias, International Care Ministries Donor Relations Coordinator Deborah Foo, Shore Solutions Communications Director Tanya Deakin, JLL COO Lindsay Orr, Capital One Director Tom McCormick, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. First VP and Head Jovy Hernandez, Tata Consultancy Services Country Manager-Philippines Vikram Singh, The Manila Times COO Blanca Mercado, JLL National Director and Head of Project Leasing Sheila Lobien, SyncHRony Chairman and CEO Darcy Lalonde and Asia CEO Forum President Rebecca Bustamante. ALYSA SALEN

Typhoon Lando. . .

Rice plantations in Region 3 took the brunt of the damage caused by the typhoon, as 326,603 MT of rice, pegged at P4.82 billion, were damaged. Rice farmers in Nueva Ecija suffered P3.48 billion in revenues lost. Region 2 suffered P401.76 million in total damage lost, while Region 1 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) lost P148.83 million and P32.88 million, respectively. However, based on the DA’s field validation, more

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than 98 percent of the total affected area still has chances of recovery. Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson U. Palad said in a statement the agency has already given a directive to its regional offices and units to release prepositioned bags of rice and corn for immediate replanting of damaged farms. “The DA now focuses on rice and corn, but measures for high-value crops and livestock are now prepared for immediate roll out by the DA’s plant and animal industry bureaus,” Palad said. Palad and National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Renan B. Dalisay ensured that the country has sufficient rice stock to cover ensuing supply shortage because of the typhoon’s damage. While the typhoon has resulted in considerable damage in the agriculture sector, the DA also sees it as a chance to negate the potentially more devastating effects of El Niño on agricultural production, Palad said. Dalisay added that the NFA already requested for a supplemental budget from the Department of Budget and Management to purchase the damaged crops.

Mary Grace Padin