BusinessMirror March 9, 2015

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‘WTO deal useless sans reforms’ T

SILVER LININGS IN YEARLONG SEARCH FOR FLIGHT MH370 Perspective

By Catherine N. Pillas

BusinessMirror

SILVER LININGS

he trade-facilitation pact that the Philippines is set to approve must be coupled with broader measures to ease trade, such as the improvement of the country’s infrastructure, according to a lead economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

No plane, many discoveries in yearlong search for Flight MH370

B N P | The Associated Press

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ELLINGTON, New Zealand— The yearlong search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has turned up no sign of the plane, but that doesn’t mean it’s been unproductive. It has yielded lessons and discoveries that could benefit millions, including coastal Australians, air and sea travelers and scientists trying to understand ancient changes to the earth’s crust.

The knowledge gained, so far, is of little comfort to family and friends of the 239 people still missing from the plane, which vanished last March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. While finding the plane remains the top priority for searchers and investigators, what they’re learning along the way may prove valuable long after the search ends.

Benefits of the work so far include:

they will give scientists a better understanding of areas that during earthquakes are susceptible to underwater landslides, which can create or exacerbate tsunamis.

He said the information will help scientists pinpoint areas along Australia’s west coast that are particularly vulnerable to tsunamis and enable better warnings and predictions for coastal residents.

NEW UNDERWATER MAPS

KNOWING the topography of the ocean floor also helps scientists predict ocean currents, Minchin said. That can help with everything from predicting where a disabled boat might drift in a search-and-rescue mission to understanding how marine species spread to new areas.

He said it can even help scientists understand how heat is distributed through the ocean, which could be used by meteorologists to help fine-tune weather forecasts.

IN the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where experts believe the plane crashed, scientists have been mapping the sea floor to aid in the search for wreckage.

Previous maps relied on satellite data, which gave only rough estimates of the ocean’s depth. Now, using sonar readings from ships, scientists have mapped an area the size of Nebraska and have discovered previously unknown trenches and underwater mountains that rival the height of any on Australia’s surface.

Searchers are getting even more detailed sonar readings using small underwater vehicles called “towfish” that are towed just above the seafloor.

Scientists from around the world are eagerly anticipating the release of the three-dimensional maps and data once the search is completed.

BETTER TSUNAMI PREDICTION

STUART MINCHIN, a divisional chief at Geoscience Australia, said that when the maps are released and further analyzed,

Harvard Business Review Press Logo april 2010 v2-4

IMPROVED SEARCH AND RESCUE

BETTER PLANE TRACKING

ONE thing the airline industry learned from Flight MH370 is that more tracking is needed, even for planes expected to fly over land for their entire journeys.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, which is part of the United Nations, has proposed that airlines be required to get position updates from each of their planes every 15 minutes. That requirement is expected to be in place by November 2016.

A more stringent requirement would seek updates every minute if a fire is

detected or the plane makes an unusual move, such as suddenly dropping or climbing in elevation. That would apply only to jets manufactured after 2020.

Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said on Sunday that his government’s airspace agency will work with Malaysia and Indonesia to test a new method, which would enable planes to be tracked every 15 minutes, rather than the previous rate of 30 to 40 minutes. However, even if such a system had been in place for Flight MH370, it would not have made it possible to track the plane because transponder and other equipment were switched off.

Because investigators still don’t know what happened to Flight MH370, airlines have no information to help them update their mechanical systems or fl ight-training techniques.

IMPROVED MULTINATIONAL SEARCHES

CAPT. Chris Budde, maritime operations director for the US Navy 7th Fleet, said that when it helped out on a multinational search for another missing plane last

December, things went more smoothly thanks to lessons learned from the hunt for Flight MH370.

The latter search was for AirAsia Flight Q2-8501, which plunged into the Java Sea near Indonesia, killing all 162 people aboard.

Budde said tasks like establishing common radio frequencies between nations and determining who to contact onshore for search assignments were completed more efficiently after Indonesia studied and learned from Malaysia’s experience.

“These events are tragic, but they do help build cooperation and regional stability as militaries work together,” he said.

He said the US Navy fleet also managed to modify its technology on the fly in the search for Flight MH370, by tweaking its sonar equipment to detect, at short range, pings from an airplane’s black boxes.

It was able to use that tweak a second time in the search for the AirAsia plane, he said, albeit without success in either instance.

POSSIBLE SATELLITE IMPROVEMENTS

THE search exposed some of the limitations

One year ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished, taking the lives of 239 passengers and crew.

Airlines and regulators spent the past year debating how much flight tracking is necessary to reassure travelers another plane won’t disappear. Now a plan is moving forward that would require airlines, by the end of 2016, to know their jets’ positions every 15 minutes.

GPS: Shows pilots their position but not normally used by air traffic controllers

Secondary radar: Picks up transponder from aircraft. That signal provides the aircraft’s flight number, altitude, airspeed and destination

Terminal radar control (TRACON)

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NEW RULES:

Planes required to give updates every 15 minutes

Air route traffic control (ARTCC)

The departure controller is located in the TRACON facility. He or she uses radar to monitor the aircraft and must maintain safe distances between ascending aircraft.

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of satellite images, said Joseph Bermudez Jr., the cofounder of Longmont, Colorado-based AllSource Analysis. Over the long term, he said, it may prompt companies to improve the technical capabilities of their satellites— for instance, by having them detect different and enhanced light wavelengths.

Many people assumed that, like in the movies, they could scour satellite images to see the plane veering off course or spot its wreckage. In reality, Bermudez said, commercial satellites aren’t generally aimed to take images over remote stretches of ocean and when they do, the images are often unclear and need experts to decipher them.

He said there was such high interest in the plane’s disappearance that amateurs around the world studied satellite images on crowd-sourcing web sites to identify between 2 million and 3 million possible sightings of the plane or its debris.

“Not one of them was correct,” he said.

He added that people need to be better trained in reading such images before they are turned loose on the task. Improved image quality, he added, could also help.

A WINDOW INTO HISTORY

New air safety rules

AIRCRAFT TRACKING Primary radar: Can only show approximate position. No radar coverage150 miles from land

When a plane leaves TRACON airspace, the departure controller passes the plane off to the center controller (ARTCC controller). Every time a plane gets passed between controllers, an updated flight progress gets distributed to the new controller.

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NEW RULES: Airlines would be responsible for getting updates from their planes every 15 minutes. That could be via ground radar, by satellite while flying over oceans or having the pilots verbally report their location over radio.

ROBIN BEAMAN, a marine geologist at Australia’s James Cook University, said the underwater maps will help show scientists how Earth’s crust stretched and pulled apart millions of years ago, a process that is continuing today and is slowly pushing Australia away from Antarctica.

“It’s fitting the pieces of the puzzle back together. And it’s not just an academic exercise,” Beaman said. “The great gas resources for Australia are in the west, and if you fit that jigsaw back, you get more of a picture of how those gas resources were created.”

Dave Gallo, the director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said less than 8 percent of the underwater world has been explored.

“It’s more daunting than looking on Mars because there’s no light,” he said. “So we’re in a completely unknown world in mountains that are the most rugged on earth. There’s no maps, so it’s all basic, pure exploration with a mission that not only are we exploring, but we’re also looking for an aircraft.”

Minchin said that everybody involved in the search continues to hope the plane will be found.

“If not, there is a silver lining,” he said.

“The data will be useful to science for many years to come.”

perspective

*A second phase to the proposed rules is that, any plane with 19 seats or more, built after 2020, would be required to automatically transmit its location every minute if the plane deviated from its route, made an unusual move such as a sudden drop or climb in elevation, or if a fire was detected. Pilots could not disable the system.

Sources: AP, Howstuffworks.com, BBC

Graphic: Greg Good, TNS

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data monopolists like google a threat to the economy Page 2

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DATA MONOPOLISTS LIKE GOOGLE ARE THREATENING THE ECONOMY

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HE White House recently released a repo rt about the danger of big data in our lives. The report’s main focus was the same old topic of how big data can hurt customer privacy.

However, big data holds many other risks. Chief among them, to my mind, is the threat to freemarket competition.

As ever-increasing amounts of data are collected by businesses, opportunities arise to build new markets and products based on this data. Th at is all good. But what happens next? Data becomes the barrier-to-entry to the market and thus prevents new competitors from entering. As a result of the established player’s access to vast amounts of proprietary data, overall industry competitiveness suffers. Th is hurts the economy.

Federal regulators must ask themselves: Should data that only one company owns, to the extent that it prevents others from entering the market, be considered a form of monopoly?

For example, Google revolutionized the search market in 1996 when it introduced a search-engine algorithm based on the concept of web site importance. But most modern search engines are based on algorithms combining thousands of factors. Today the most prominent factors are historical search query logs and their corresponding search result clicks. Studies show that historical search improves results up to 31 percent. But new players cannot enter the market and compete with the established players who have deep records of user behavior.

This dynamic isn’t limited only to Internet search. Given the importance of data to every industry, data-based barriers to entry can affect anything from agriculture, where equipment data helps farms improve yields, to academia, where school performance data improves education. Even in medicine, hospitals specializing in certain diseases become the sole owners of medical data that could be mined for a potential cure.

The biggest corporate players have the biggest data advantage.

McKinsey calculates that in 15 out of 17 sectors in the US economy, companies with more than 1,000 employees store, on average, over 235 terabytes of data— more data than is contained in the entire Library of Congress.

We need to start thinking about data as a strategy. It should adhere to the same competitive standards as other business strategies. Data monopolists’ ability to block competitors from entering the market is not markedly different from that of the oil monopolist Standard Oil, for example. Perhaps the time has come for a Sherman Antitrust Act —but for data.

Studies have shown that around 70 percent of organizations still aren’t doing much with big data. If that’s your company, you’ve probably already lost to the data monopolists.

Kira Radinsky is the chief technology officer and cofounder of SalesPredict.

Homework that helps coaching stick TEAM LEADERS NEED BETTER DATA, FASTER M S B M V

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TUDY performance inside any organization and one finding leaps out at you: the variation in performance between two teams in the same organization doing precisely the same kind of work. Whether that performance is measured as perperson productivity, quality, employee engagement, customer satisfaction or accidents on the job, you still find significant range in the performance metrics.

Your team leader is the one who makes the difference. Performance and engagement are created in the context of a team and a team leader, or not created at all. The most important decision an organization makes on any subject is not strategy, marketing or capital allocation. It is who you make team leader.

So you might think that the tools and processes that address performance and engagement inside an organization would focus on serving the team leader. But they don’t. Our entire suite of people systems misses its most important audience.

Take employee engagement.

Though the company can provide support and tools, the actual work environment is in the hands of each team leader. Yet, the data on employee engagement first goes to human resources for vetting, and then to senior management, where patterns are explained and improve-

ments celebrated. Often months pass before the data cascades down to team leaders, where, inevitably, the information is dismissed as too stale or too abstract, with the broad patterns irrelevant.

To build engagement in our organizations, we need to redesign our system so that it delivers real-time data to the right audience: team leaders.

Similarly, the intended audience for most performance management systems is the organization, not the team leader. Once broad priorities have been communicated, the team leader’s chief concerns are: a) what are the strengths and capabilities of each team member? and b) how can I focus each person on the right outcomes this week and the next? It’s a challenge to design tools that are simple, agile and flexible enough to support team leaders in answering these questions, but it will be impossible if we don’t keep in mind whom the tools are actually for.

Designing these tools for team leader means they will be constantly in use, and will generate real-time, reliable data. Th is is the brass ring for any organization—to be able to see, right now, which teams are most productive and engaged, and which aren’t.

ANAGERS can have a powerful, positive impact on their employees’ performance, engagement and development through coaching. When skillfully done, coaching can help employees clarify goals and make progress toward achieving them. But many managers stop the coaching process at the end of each conversation. You’re likely to get better results if you end each session with something for your employee to work on independently—homework.

Coaching homework might come

in the form of an inquiry to ponder, an assignment to complete or an experiment to try. Occasionally, you might also agree on homework for yourself, such as seeking authorization for training expenditures.

Homework should help an employee make progress toward achieving a goal that he cares about. So it’s important to discuss what behaviors and experiences are likely to help achieve those goals, as well as what metrics can measure progress.

Assignments vary according to the type of coaching. For example, performance coaching homework

often focuses on practicing a skill (such as facilitating team meetings) or devising and implementing a solution to a performance challenge (such as delegating work).

To dentify meaningful homework for career development, for example, start by asking questions about the employee’s goals: ■ What would you like to learn during the next quarter?

■ What projects would you most like to work on?

■ How would they serve your goals?

■ In what ways do you think you could add greater value to the organization?

■ Improvement in what skill would have the biggest impact on your career development?

Effective coaching homework is always employee-centered.

The homework should never be busywork that creates low-value tasks. It’s a best practice to have the employee record and share what he did, including any challenges, and what the results were. In addition to boosting your employee’s learning, homework will also help you develop as a coach.

Monique Valcour is a professor of management at EDHEC Business School in France.

Why people trust human judgment over algorithms

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OU’D think after years of using Google Maps we’d trust that it knows what it’s doing.

Still we think, “Maybe taking the back roads would be faster.”

That’s an example of what researchers call “algorithm aversion.”

This phobia can be costly, from getting stuck in traffic to missing a sales target to misdiagnosing a patient.

Algorithms make better assessments in a wide range of contexts.

If people understood that, they should be more trusting. But in a paper published last year, Berkeley Dietvorst, Joseph Simmons and Cade Massey of the Wharton School found that people trust algorithms

less if they’ve seen them fail, even a little. And they’re harder on algorithms than they are on other people. To err is human, but when an algorithm makes a mistake we’re not likely to trust it again.

In one experiment, participants were asked to look at MBA admissions data and guess how well the students performed during the program. Some participants were shown data on how well their earlier guesses had turned out, some were shown how accurate an algorithm was, some were shown neither and some were shown both.

Participants who were shown the algorithm’s results were less likely to bet on it, even if they were also shown their own performance, and could see that the algorithm

was superior. And they were much less likely to believe that the algorithm would perform well in the future. This finding held across several similar experiments in other contexts.

When given the choice between betting on the algorithm or on another person, participants were still more likely to avoid the algorithm if they’d seen how it performed and, therefore, inevitably, had seen it err. Participants explained that “human forecasters were better than the model at getting better with practice [and] learning from mistakes.” Never mind that algorithms can improve, too.

If showing results doesn’t help avoid algorithm aversion, allowing human input might. In a forth-

coming paper, the same researchers found that people are significantly more willing to trust and use algorithms if they’re allowed to tweak the output a little bit—say, revising a prediction up or down by a few points.

This capability made them more likely to bet on the algorithm, and less likely to lose confidence after seeing how it performed.

Of course, in many cases, adding human input made the final forecast worse. We pride ourselves on our ability to learn, but one thing we can’t seem to grasp is that it’s typically wisest to trust that the algorithm knows better.

MONDAY MORNING

Marcus Buckingham provides performance management training to organizations. He is the author of the forthcoming StandOut 2.0: Assess Your Strengths, Find Your Edge, Win at Work.

Walter Frick is an associate editor at Harvard Business Review.

© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

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Dr. Jayant Menon, ADB lead economist for trade and regional cooperation, said the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade-facilitation agreement (TFA) the Philippines is eyeing for ratification should not just be a stand-alone measure to ease trade flows. “ Trade fac i l it at ion ra nges from narrow measures aimed solely at easing border restrictions to a much broader set of policies: from increasing customs efficiency to complex institutional and regulatory reforms. Unfortunately, the TFA is closer to the

WEALTHY AND WISE Sports BusinessMirror

By K.C. Niña Pusing

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| Monday, MarCh 9, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph

SRI LANKAN DIVE Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews dives to field the ball while fielding against Australia during their Cricket World Cup Pool A match in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday. AP

AND WISE After his final two injury-plagued seasons with the Lakers, Pau Gasol has missed just four games all season. The Bulls went 1-2 while he nursed a minor left-calf strain in November and won the February 27 contest he missed to illness.

By KC Johnson

Chicago Tribune

HE 25-year-old All-Star shooting guard is out three to six weeks with a left-elbow injury.

The 26-year-old former Most Valuable Player is sidelined four to six weeks after having arthroscopic right-knee surgery.

The 30-year-old big man labored through offseason left-knee surgery and missed one game to soreness from that and nine more to an illness and ankle issues. Even the fellow 34-year-old sat for 19 games with a right-ankle injury.

Anyone who guessed Pau Gasol would be the healthiest from a starting five also featuring Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Mike Dunleavy should have gone to Las Vegas, which is where the Bulls’ brass was last summer when they signed the free-agent Spaniard during summer-league action.

“I’m just happy that I’ve been able to stay healthy,” Gasol said. “Don’t want to jinx it, right?”

Right.

After his final two injury-plagued seasons with the Lakers, Gasol has missed just four games all season. The Bulls went 1-2 while he nursed a minor left-calf strain in November and won the February 27 contest he missed to illness.

Other than that, Gasol, who turned 34 last July, has proven remarkably durable.

“We try to work to prevent injuries, prepare yourself for the marathon that the National Basketball Association [NBA] season is,” he said. “So far it has been great this season. I couldn’t be happier with my health situation. It has been really positive and has allowed me to play at a high level every game.”

There is luck involved, to be sure. And Gasol empathized with his teammates’ various plights.

But this healthy 14th season is exactly what Gasol needed after missing 55 games his last two seasons in Los Angeles. Gasol endured—deep breath here— patella tendinitis in his knees, a concussion, a strained groin, the rupture of his fascia and a scary bout with vertigo.

This laundry list turned one of the most earnest and accessibly friendly players in the league occasionally sullen.

“I’m not a happy man when I’m injured. My mood changes quite a bit. I have my dark days when I’m just pissed off,” Gasol said. “It’s frustrating. Being injured stops you from doing what you love and helping your team on the floor. You have to be patient but it tests your patience.

It’s hard to stay positive.

“But you have to do the work, focus on the rehab and do whatever you can to get yourself healthy and back on the floor as soon as possible.”

Before the last two seasons, Gasol had proven durable. Six times in his first 13 seasons, Gasol played in at least 78 games, including three 82-game seasons.

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Gasol also missed just one game in the lockout-shortened, 66game season.

This current run of health began with activity. Gasol got into game shape training with and playing for the Spanish national team in last summer’s Fiba World Cup. “That was the plan,” Gasol said. “The World Cup gave me good confidence and rhythm going into the season and this new stage of my career.”

Gasol also worked with his personal trainer and personal strength coach.

“Reenergizing myself and putting myself in this position with my mind right and the motivation were factors that also helped,” he said.

Good health has led to good statistics. Gasol has matched his career scoring average with 18.3 points and his career-high 12.1 rebounds per game ranks third in the NBA. Gasol also leads the league with 41 double-doubles, just two shy of his career-high.

“I’m just glad that I’m playing at this level,” Gasol said.

“I always take pride on consistency and efficiency. That’s what I’ve strived for my entire career. I want to continue that. That’s my thing.

“I’m never satisfied with what I’ve done. I’m an ambitious man. And I want to continue to prove to be special.”

NBA RESULTS New Orleans 95, Memphis 89 Philadelphia 92, Atlanta 84 Miami 114, Sacramento 109, OT Cleveland 89, Phoenix 79 Indiana 92, New York 86 Minnesota 121, Portland 113 Milwaukee 91, Washington 85 Houston 114, Denver 100

GASOL is healthy and » PAU at the top of his game. AP

SIXERS SURPRISE P

HILADELPHIA—Hollis Thompson and Luc Mbah a Moute scored 19 points apiece and the Philadelphia 76ers surprised the short-handed Atlanta Hawks, 92-84, on Saturday night.

Nerlens Noel had 11 points and 17 rebounds to help the 76ers win for the second time in 11 games.

Philadelphia (14-49) entered with the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) second-worst record.

Jeff Teague had 17 points to pace Atlanta, which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

The Hawks (49-13), who came in with the best record in the league, rested starters Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll—taking more than 41 points out of their lineup.

In Cleveland LeBron James tied Cleveland’s career assists record and scored 17 points in the Cavaliers’ 89-72 victory over Phoenix.

James tied Mark Price at 4,206 assists in the third quarter. James was six-for-16 from the field and had eight assists and six rebounds to help the Cavaliers win their 13th straight at home and move into a tie for second with Chicago in the Eastern Conference.

Timofey Mozgov led the Cavaliers with 19 points, and Tristan Thompson had 15 points with 12 rebounds.

Markieff Morris scored 16 points for Phoenix.

Dwyane Wade scored 28 points, Tyler Johnson added 24 and Miami erased a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Sacramento, 114-109, in overtime in Miami.

Johnson’s three-pointer as the shot clock was expiring with just under a minute left put the Heat up four. Wade added a pair of free throws with 31.2 seconds remaining as Miami won its third straight home game—almost unbelievably, its longest such stretch of the season.

DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points and 17 rebounds before fouling out for Sacramento. Rudy Gay scored 27 points, and Ben McLemore added 20.

In Denver James Harden scored 28 points, Corey Brewer had 24 and the Houston Rockets snapped a three-game road losing streak with a 114-100 victory over Denver.

Trevor Ariza had 19 points and Donatas Motiejunas added 18 for the Rockets.

Wilson Chandler had 26 points for Denver. The Nuggets are 2-2 under interim coach Melvin Hunt.

Tyreke Evans scored 26 points, Anthony Davis added 23 points and 10 rebounds, and New Orleans overcame an 18-point deficit to beat Memphis at home, 95-89.

Eric Gordon scored 16 points, including two free throws with 24.5 seconds left, to help New Orleans win for the seventh time in nine games and pull a half-game behind Oklahoma City for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Jeff Green had 20 points for Memphis.

Kevin Martin scored 29 points and Ricky Rubio hit a big three-pointer on their home court with a minute left to help Minnesota snap a four-game skid and end Portland’s winning streak at five games, 121-113.

Rubio had 13 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds, and his late three gave the Wolves a 109-102 lead.

Gary Neal scored 27 off the bench and Andrew Wiggins added 18 points.

Damian Lillard had 32 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 points and eight rebounds for Portland in its first game since losing Wesley Matthews for the season to an Achilles injury.

In New York Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points, George Hill made the tiebreaking three-pointer with 2:34 left, and Indiana beat New York, 92-86, for its season-best fifth straight victory.

Hill had 15 points and David West finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana. They have won 11 of 13 and came in tied for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Andrea Bargnani scored 21 points for the Knicks. They lost their third straight to drop to 12-49.

In Milwaukee Khris Middleton scored 30 points and hit a key three-pointer from the corner with 40.8 seconds left, and Milwaukee beat Washington to snap a four-game losing streak, 91-85, over the Wizards.

Middleton had missed a three but the offensive rebound was tracked down by center Zaza Pachulia, who flipped a pass back to Middleton for a successful follow.

Paul Pierce led the Wizards with 14 points. AP

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narrow definition, focusing on the more basic trade procedures,” Menon said. He said the $1-trillion hike in global trade, resulting from the ratification by membercountries of the WTO, may be an “ambitious assumption.”

While the Philippines’s approval is a welcome move and will contribute to boosting trade, the larger problem of infrastructure must first be addressed.

“These measures will mean little if the physical infrastructure is not improved concurrently, Continued on A2

CHINA WILLING TO WORK WITH PHL ON SEA row Special to the BusinessMirror

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hina said peace and cooperation with its neighbors in the region are key components to the larger task of securing a fairly high growth rate for itself, alongside the plan to attain a high level of social development for the world’s secondlargest economy.

“China is willing to work with the Philippines to move and bring our bilateral relations to new heights,” Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhato Jianhua said at the China Spring Festival held at the Makati Shangri-La last Friday.

Its foreign minister, however, defended China’s right to construct on its claimed territories in the South China

PESO exchange rates n US 44.1590

Sea, and won’t accept criticisms from others about its “legal and reasonable” work.

“China is carrying out necessary construction on its own islands, and that isn’t directed against and won’t affect anyone,” Wang said at a briefing in Beijing. “We are not comparable to some countries that like to build illegal houses on others’ territory.”

Wang didn’t say what construction he was referring to, though China has reclaimed land around a reef known as Fiery Cross on the disputed Spratly Islands, building out an area large enough for an airstrip, according to IHS Jane’s. China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, parts of which are also contested by Brunei Darussalam, Continued on A12

Financial-Stability MEETING The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hosted the eighth meeting of the Financial Stability Board Regional Consultative Group for Asia (FSB-RCGA) in Bohol from March 2 to 4. A news briefing at the close of the meeting was conducted by FSB-RCGA cochairmen Masamichi Kono (right), vice commissioner for international affairs at the Financial Services Agency of Japan; and BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. (center), with FSB Deputy to the Secretary-General Rupert Thorne. Issues discussed during the meeting include the FSB’s policy priorities, work plan and financial-stability issues affecting Asia. They also discussed the implementation of international reforms and ways to strengthen cooperation among Asian financial authorities.

‘House to OK resolution granting P-Noy emergency powers today’

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he congressional bicameral committee tackling President Aquino’s bid to address the anticipated power shortfall this summer was likely to approve the joint resolution on emergency powers today.

Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mindoro, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, said the bicameral committee would reconcile the differences of the Senate and the House versions of the measure, as they set to resume deliberations today.

“Most likely, we will approve the

resolution [today],” he said.

After approval, Umali said the bicameral version will be sent back to both houses of Congress for the legislators to ratify the measure prior to submission to the President.

Last week the bicameral committee failed to approve the joint resolution, after both houses expressed divergent views on the nopass-on scheme and time frame of the special powers.

The Legislative chamber wanted the government primarily to use the so-called Interruptible Load Program (ILP) in generating addi-

tional power capacity.

However, the Senate said the adoption of the ILP would cost consumers P7 to P8 per kilowatt-hour more under its version of the emergency powers.

But the lower chamber pushed for the no-pass-on scheme in using the ILP, as it eyed tapping the Malampaya Funds for subsidy.

On the time frame, the Senate wanted the special powers extended until 2016, while the House of Representatives only wanted it operational from March to July.

See “Emergency powers,” A2

n japan 0.3676 n UK 67.2939 n HK 5.6948 n CHINA 7.0472 n singapore 32.2140 n australia 34.5505 n EU 48.6985 n SAUDI arabia 11.7754 Source: BSP (6 March 2015)

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‘WTO deal useless sans reforms’

Emergency powers. . .

Continued from A1

Moreover, Umali said the House version of the proposed five-month emergency powers with no pass on provisions has the supported of no less than President Aquino.

“Dapat ito ay binabalikat at bigyan ng subsidiya sa pamamagitan ng Malampaya Fund dahil ito naman ay hindi kasalanan ng taumbayan at ang pinaka-importante dito, noong aming nakapanayam ang ating Pangulo, agreeable siya na saluhin ng gobyerno ito sa pamamagitan ng Malampaya. Kaya napakagandang pagpapakita ito na ang ating gobyerno ay nagtatrabaho para sa tao,” Umali said in a radio interview.

“The intention is not to burden the public with additional cost of electricity,” Umali, co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission, said.

Earlier, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., vowed to push for a no-pass-on scheme and limited special powers under the joint resolution. Belmonte, quoting DOE and the House version of the emergency powers proposal, said the projected power shortfall from March to July is 782MW. Under the House Joint Resolution 21, the authority granted the President shall be valid from March 1, 2015 until July 31, 2015 to cover additional generating capacity required for theT period of the critical power shortage.

House Committee on Energy data showed there are 955 MW committed under the ILP. Based on established protocols, the ILP is implemented during a red alerts when power reserves are minimal and upon notice of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the utilities telling ILP participants to deload from the grid.

The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses as malls and factories that have their own generators may be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply. They may also sell any excess power they generate to power distributors.

Through the ILP, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the summer season. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Continued from A1

such as the easing of the congestion in ports,” Menon said.

Earlier this week, during the Joint Foreign Chambers’ Fourth Anniversary Forum 2015, foreign business said Malacanañg’s pronouncement that the portcongestion problem has been solved must be taken with a grain of salt as transportation costs remain at an all-time high.

“We are estimating the damage done by the so-called port congestion to be in the hundreds of millions of US dollars. We are very cautious in endorsing that the problem is really over because we’re not in the low season and the market has responded; the trucking costs have been going up in a level of three to four times as much, while productivity is still low,” said Michael Raueber, president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, in a news conference last week.

Aside from the congestion in the country’s major ports, Menon the government must increase its spending and fast-track public-private partnership projects to improve roads.

Menon also said the National Single Window for trade transactions that the Bureau of Customs is planning to establish must be undertaken as part of its commitment to the Asean Economic Community.

The World Bank earlier said the country’s infrastructure deficit has reached P350 billion, or 2.5 percent of the Philippines’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The government is targeting to spend an equivalent of 5 percent of the country’s GDP by 2016.

The DTI earlier said the Philippines is ready to give its nod on the WTO tradeTFA, which is seen to increase the country’s trade with the rest of the world by up to 8 percent once implemented.

“We are aiming to send our acceptance for [the agreement] in July 2015, and [it is] currently undergoing domestic processes,” Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal told the BusinessMirror.

Member-economies have until July 31 to accept the protocol of amendment inserting the TFA into the WTO agreement. Manila’s decision to approve the multilateral agreement is being backed by the World Bank Group, which said the deal can improve intraregional trade in the East Asia Pacific by 4 percent.

Hans Shrader, senior program manager in the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank Group, noted that the TFA will ultimately be a boon to the business community, which has long pushed for reforms within the customs office to remove red tape and streamline regulations.

“The TFA urges countries to publish relevant trade-policy requirements and fees in a nondiscriminatory and easily accessible manner; provide the right of appeal to border agencies’ administrative decisions; limit trade-related fees and charges to the approximate cost of the services rendered and minimize complexities of import-export and transit formalities. These steps facilitate more efficient and, thus, lower cost to trade.

This benefits both Philippine consumers of imports and Philippine exporters of goods,” Shrader said.

These reforms can, in turn, enhance

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food security, but overcame the deadlock in November, when WTO members formally adopted the protocol for amendment. That development has opened the protocol for formal acceptance and ratification by individual members.

For the TFA to come into force, twothirds of the WTO membership must ratify the agreement through submitting its “instrument of acceptance” to the WTO, and only then will it apply but only to those who have agreed to it. So far, only Hong Kong, the US and Singapore have sent letters of acceptance for the TFA. The TFA is significant as it can re-duce trade costs and enhance trade flows between countries. The WTO estimates that the TFA could increase total world trade to $23 trillion from the current estimate of $22 trillion.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that reduction in trade costs could range from 11.7 percent to 15.1 percent for lower-middle income countries, such as the Philippines.

The agreement essentially simplifies customs procedures and requires customs reforms like transparency, a “single window” for all government agencies dealing with imported merchandise, automation, electronic payment of duties and the separation of the payment of duties from the release of cargo, among others.

There were fears that the customs’ plan to reinstall the preshipment inspection could prove to be a hurdle to the country’s TFAs commitment. This plan, however, hangs.

the flow of goods and boost regional trade, the World Bank executive said.

“Properly implemented reforms should have the impact of reducing time and cost to trade. In the East Asia Pacific region, the World Bank Group sees that a 10-percent reduction in export time results in over 4-percent increase in trade. Reforms will also discourage corruption. We find that the longer it takes to get import or export permits, the higher the country ranks in a corruption index. However, cutting time, and potentially corruption, can result in over 10-percent increase in regional trade,” Shrader added.

Donald Dee, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry COO and honorary chairman, pressed for the ratification, which can boost the country’s total trade by as much as 8 percent.

“We have to sign [the TFA] because, otherwise, we will be disadvantaged compared to other countries. We have to be open to this and try to be more competitive. Imports will increase, as well as exports; we’ll be able to tap other markets but others will get a share of ours as well—total trade can increase by 7 percent to 8 percent,” Dee said in a phone interview.

The TFA should be a stimulus for the domestic manufacturers to ramp up their competitiveness, as imports will also likely spike if the Philippines embarks on the move to ease trade regulations.

In December 2013, the WTO concluded negotiations on the TFA, part of the wider “Bali Package.”

The organization reached an impasse in July 2014 due to India’s concern over

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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, March 9, 2015 A3

Deaths, demos continue days after SAF 44 killings

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By Rene Acosta

EATHS and demonstrations continue 44 days after 44 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) were killed in the line of duty in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

The latest deaths reported were of four Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as military operations in that southern Philippine province continued on Saturday, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

One of those killed was among those involved in the ambushkilling of the police commandos in Mamasapano on January 25, according to Lt. Col. Willy Manalang, commander of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 8.

Manalang said the four were among the 20-man team providing security to bomb expert Abdul Bassit Usman.

The Marine elements also recovered four high-powered firearms, including a mortar.

The latest skirmishes followed the series of clashes that began on Friday afternoon in Maguindanao, wherein another seven BIFF members were killed and 13 others wounded. Thirteen soldiers, including a helicopter pilot, were also wounded, according to Manalang.

He added that his men were pursuing Usman, who escaped from the police operations on January 25 that got Jema’ah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan. Manalang said they engaged Usman and his group at around 10 p.m. at Barangay Pusao, Shariff Saydona town.

He said bandits were forced to flee after 15 minutes of heavy exchange of gunfire.

As of Friday afternoon, government troops have already killed 14 BIFF fighters.

44 days

THE widows and relatives of the slain PNP-SAF members, meanwhile, issued a call asking President Aquino to act and exact justice for their loved ones.

Speaking on behalf of the widows of the commandos, Erica Pabalinas said it has been 44 days, and yet no one has been made accountable yet over the killings of the policemen by the BIFF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Pabalinas spoke during the ecumenical Mass at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish at Claret School in Teachers Village, Quezon City, after a “sympathy walk” for the killed SAF members.

Erica is the wife of Sr. Insp. Ryan Pabalinas, one the slain commandos. “Each day has not been easier. We wake up to the reality that 44 days since their deaths, we are not closer to knowing the truth behind their deaths,” Pabalinas said.

“Again, I say Mr. President, please help us gain justice and know the truth. I say again Mr. President, please serve us justice and truth,” she added.

Pabalinas said they do not want money, other than justice for their dead reatives.

“We want the government and our national leaders to know that we do not want blood money. We don’t want blood money for the deaths of our husbands. We, families of the 44 men, seek one thing, for the truth and justice to be served,” she said.

Nearly 500 people, including active and retired policemen joined the widows and other relatives of the commandos during the walk, organized by alumni of the PNP Academy from Dasmarinas, Cavite to Camp Crame and to Claret School in Quezon City.

Six of the seven officers killed during the police operations that got Marwan in Mamasapano were graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy.

Catholic diocese honors lawyers for anti-repro health advocacy

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AWYERS who served as the legal team of Bacolod Bishop Vicente M. Navarra to the Supreme Court (SC) concerning the Team Patay/Team Buhay tarpaulin issue in 2013 were honored by the diocese of Bacolod, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced on Sunday.

An article on the CBCP web site said Navarra conferred the Saint Thomas More Diocesan (STMD) Award on lawyers Ralph Sarmiento and Raymundo Pandan, who served as legal counsels, and Romulo Macalintal and Lyndon Caña, who helped as legal consultants for the case.

Navarra credits this legal team for having won from the SC a temporary restraining order on the Commission on Elections’s (Comelec) move to take down the Team Patay [Death] and Team Buhay [Life] tarpaulins in his church.

The tarpaulin listed the names of the 2013 senatorial candidates the diocese said people should not vote for because they support the Reproductive Health law. The candidates in Team Patay included Sen. Francis Escudero, former Rep. Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan and Party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna, as well as party-list groups Gabriela, Bayan Muna, Akbayan and Anak Pawis.

Sen. Cynthia Villar and coup plotters Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Gregorio Honasan, on the other hand, were listed under Team Buhay.

Then-Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the SC has no jurisdiction over the poll body’s ruling that the tarpaulins are considered illegal campaign materials.

During the 10 a.m. Mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral on March 8, Navarra also gave a Certificate of Recognition to 2012 STM awardee Mitchell Abella for his role as legal consultant to the Team Patay/Team Buhay case.

According to the CBCP, the Diocese of Bacolod confers the award to “lawyers who have significantly contributed their legal expertise for the promotion of genuine peace based on justice after the example of the English statesman.” Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Sympathy walk

BEARING the country’s flag, photos of the commandos and tarpaulins with different messages to the government, the sympathy walk began moving from Camp Crame to Quezon City at past 6 a.m., despite the last minute cancellation of the Quezon City government of the permit that it has issued to the march.

More could have joined the march

had Malacañang not warned the participants could face charges like inciting to sedition.

Also, the government apparently prevailed on some graduates of the PNPA and other policemen not to join the march.

During his homily, Catholic priest Robert Reyes criticized the government for its effort to ban the march,

saying Filipinos have the right to show their anger, so long as they will not resort to violence.

On the other hand, Party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan Gabriela Women’s said they believe Mr. Aquino is culpable in the death of the SAF members.

“President Aquino’s culpability is clear. As commander in chief, not only did he subject the SAF troops to a US-

designed suicide mission to arrest Marwan, he also now holds accountability for ordering the all-out offensive that has resulted to the displacement of more than 54,000 individuals in Mindanao.”

Ilagan was one of the women who held a separate rally in memory of SAF 44 and other Filipinos who were killed that Ilagan said was due to a botched operation in Mamasapano.

Economy

A4 Monday, March 9, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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Future of gas-fired plants depends on ‘new Malampaya’

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By Lenie Lectura

he only producing natural gas field in the Philippines will run out of gas in nine years, and experts could not stress enough the importance of finding another gas field soon, or the country may yet face another power crisis in the next decade.

The Malampaya natural-gas field in Palawan has proven reserves of 2.7 trillion to 3.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF). More than 1 TCF has already been consumed to date. The Malampaya’s output will run out by 2024.

“I am telling you now that we have to resolve our natural-gas infrastructure. We are going to run out of gas, so what do we do with the 2,700-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plants now being fueled by Malampaya? That’s a lot of plants that’s going to be out of commission because peak demand in Luzon is 9,000 MW. If you lose 2,700MW, I am going to get out of this country. This is going to be another heart attack by 2024,” said Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the House Committee on Energy, during the Natural Gas Summit held in Makati City last week.

He said people would likely blame the government for yet another power crisis since warnings have been issued prior to the depletion of gas reserve and yet no regulatory framework—an LNG (liquefied natural gas) master plan, in particular—has been put in place to jumpstart the country’s LNG industry.

“The master plan is still being studied. There is no specific policy yet, but we are hoping that once this has been put in place, the ball will keep on rolling. This is important because it will point us where and how to move forward and, at the same time, encourage the participation of the private sector,” said Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L.

Petilla when sought for comment.

Rufino Bomasang, former president of PNOC-Exploration Corp., said during the summit that scouting for the next Malampaya gas field should be a national priority.

“I would like to believe that most of us are now convinced that putting up gas-fired power plants is the most effective strategy for this country to meet its future electricity demand. I have always believed that there must be another Malampaya somewhere out there. Only through exploration can we find it out,” said Bomasang, a director of Otto Energy Ltd. Otto and its Philippine unit hold a 40-percent interest in Service Contract (SC) 55 that covers southwest Palawan.

Based on extensive seismic studies, Bomasang said there is a possibility of finding sufficient gas resources covered by SC 55. “But that is potential. We have to find out by drilling and that is the most expensive part.”

He added that SC 55 could be enough to replace Malampaya and still fuel other gas-fired power plants.

Moreover, he believes that SC 55 is also rich in oil. “That opportunity still remains,” Bomsang said.

Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX), the upstream company of Shell in the Philippines in charge of operating the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project, said during the summit that it is doing everything it can to boost the gas project. It is set to

implement Phase 3 of the project, aimed to keep up the volume of gas production, next week.

Still, at the end of the day, gas will run out.

“We would need to find other sources near Malamapaya or in other fields or bring in LNG. So those are the two basic options. Either you find more gas or bring in LNG,” said SPEX Managing Director Sebastian Quiniones, one of the reactors at the recently held summit.

LNG is a natural gas that has been converted into liquid state for easier storage and transportation.

Upon reaching its destination, LNG is regasified so it can be distributed through pipelines as natural gas.

He said SPEX could still extract “a little bit” of gas after its life term.

But by then its license to operate the gas field would have expired.

“If we do find another Malampaya nearby, then well and good, but that’s a big ‘if.’ It takes decades to be able to get these things to happen. That’s why we are appealing to the government to put up mechanisms to make sure that we have a better way of getting the upstream business going. Other countries have drilled six to 17 wells in a year.

In the Philippines we drilled only two,” the SPEX official pointed out.

In t he mea nt i me, Q u i niones stressed that preparations should be done at the soonest time possible.

Importing gas

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and First Gen Corp. announced plans to import LNG from other countries and build their respective LNG import facilities.

“We will pioneer the entry of imported LNG into the country by constructing the country’s first LNG regasification terminal adjacent to our power plants in Batangas,” First Gen President Francis Giles Puno said.

The LNG import terminal will cost $1 billion.

First Gen owns the Santa Rita and San Lorenzo power plants in Batangas. These are two of the three power plants fueled by Malampaya. Together, they generate a combined 1,500 MW. The third is the 1,200-MW Ilijan power plant owned by Kepco Ilijan Corp. All three power plants generate a total of 2,700 MW, accounting for about 40 percent of Luzon’s power requirements.

Shell is also planning to build an LNG import facility near its oil refinery in Batangas. However, this

plan is still dependent on the final investment decision (FID) from its parent firm Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Shell Country Manager Edgar Chua said the FID is dependent on whether or not it can secure contracts for off-takers of the gas. If successful, Shell can then proceed to securing the FID. “We are engaging different parties so we can finalize an off-take agreement,” Chua said at the sidelines of the Powering-Progress Together-Asia forum.

Government support

Chua said Shell has been batting for incentives for potential players in the development of an LNG facility because such investment is capital intensive.

“The policy has to be prescriptive. It can’t be purely guidelines.

In other countries, there’s a cap on coal,” Chua said.

Chua was referring to the new fuel policy mix that the Department of Energy (DOE) intends to release soon. The policy will identify the contribution of LNG, natural gas, coal, oil and renewable energy to the country’s power generation.

At present, coal is the dominant fuel in the mix.

The DOE would want the share

of both LNG and natural gas to increase to 30 percent in a bid to encourage energy diversification in the country.

IFC Philippines Resident Representative Jesse Ang had said the country must prepare for the eventual depletion of the Malampaya gas field. “The government should understand their role. If they think LNG is important, then they need to do something to help bring it in,” Ang said.

Benito Soliven, director of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines Foundation, strongly urged the government, industry stakeholders and experts to work together to encourage investments in the LNG sector.

“All of these plans, from LNG terminal to pipeline, will not matter if we do not see a transparent legal regulatory framework. We’re talking about infrastructure here,” said Soliven, who was also present during the summit.

To distribute gas from LNG terminals in Batangas to industrial customers in Manila, a natural-gas pipeline must be constructed.

The DOE plans to auction off the construction of a 105 kilometers of pipeline that will run from Batangas to Manila. However, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which is helping craft the country's policy and infrastructure blueprint for the LNG sector, has yet to complete its study.

The project had been proposed in the previous administrations but failed to kick off primarily on concerns regarding supply of gas and sufficient demand.

“We are running out of time. We don’t have time to waste to have these projects to get going. Natural gas is very important in the energy mix. My commitment is to hold the first hearing on natural gas in May and pass a bill by December or middle of next year,” Osmeña said.

The government knows what to do and where it is headed to jump-start the LNG industry.

The only question is how long it will take for the government to achieve its plans.

Construction value went up 35.6 percent in Q4 Abad: PNP to get P2.83 billion from supplemental budget

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

he value of private construction projects increased by 35.6 percent i n t he fourth quarter of 2014, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Dat a relea sed by t he PSA showed the value of private construction projects increased to P72.4 billion in October to December 2014, from P53.4 billion in the same period in 2013.

The increase was largely due to the construction of nonresidential projects, which grew 77.1 percent to P36.2 billion in 2014, from P20.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“Value of nonresidential construction, accounting for half [50 percent] of the total value of construction,” the PSA noted. “[Nonresidential construction] includes commercial, industrial, agricultural and institutional buildings.”

The cost of construction projects in the National Capital Region (NCR) remained the highest with P28.3 billion, or 39.1 percent of the total. This was followed by Calabarzon, with a construction value of P17.3 billion, or 23.9 percent of the total.

Central Luzon followed with construction value of P6.2 billion, or 8.6 percent of the total; Central Visayas, P5.1 billion, or 7 percent; and the Davao region P3.2 billion, or 4.4 percent.

“Across the country, [the] combined construction value of the top 5 regions amounting to P60.2 billion comprised 83.1 percent of the total,” the PSA said.

Meanwhile, the PSA said there

By Estrella Torres

B

The Bonifacio Global City in Taguig is one of the areas in Metro Manila currently seeing a major face-lift, contributing to the robust growth of the country’s construction sector. ALYSA SAlen was an 18.7-percent increase in the number of construction projects nationwide in the October-to-December period in 2014.

Total number of construction projects authorized by building permits reached 29,443 in the fourth quarter of 2014, from 24,796 construction projects recorded in 2013.

The lion’s share of the construction permits was cornered by residential construction projects, which grew 21.5 percent, to 21,155 from 17,407 projects reported during the same period in 2013.

“The increase in number was attributed to the three-digit growth in the construction of duplex/quadruplex-type houses [678.8 percent] and two-digit growth in residential condominiums [53.3 percent], apartment/accessoria buildings [25.7 percent] and single-type houses [10.1 percent],” the PSA added.

Data released by the PSA showed that the top 5 regions in terms of total construction permits approved accounted for two-thirds, or 66.7 percent, of the total number of construction projects.

This was led by Calabarzon with

6,389, or 21.7 percent, projects and Central Luzon with 3,867 projects, which represented 13.1 percent of the total.

The Davao region recorded the most number of construction projects in the Mindanao area. It ranked third with 3,488 projects, or 11.8 percent of the total.

The NCR only placed fourth with 3,122 projects, or 10.6 percent of the total, while Central Visayas posted the highest count in the Visayas area, ranked fifth with 2,758 projects, or 9.4 percent of the total.

udget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said some P2.83 billion of the P22.47-billion supplemental budget for 2014 will be used to improve facilities and equipment of police stations to facilitate better public response.

He said the funds will be released to the Operational Transformation Plan of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The plan, which aims to upgrade firearms, mobility and other response equipment, requires P142.6 million for the maintenance and other operating expenses and P2.69 billion for capital outlay.

The funds will be allocated for the repair and rehabilitation of dilapidated police stations across Metro Manila, as well as purchase of basic assault rifle magazine, Abad said.

“We recognize that inclusive development would require a safe and secure environment where all Filipinos can benefit from the country’s economic growth. That’s why one of the priority projects funded by the 2014 supplemental budget was a program that would improve the capability of our country’s law-enforcement agency.”

The Aquino administration was able to fast-track the release of the P22.47-billion supplemental budget prior to the enactment of the P2.606- trillion 2015 national budget, which

was questioned by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who said the government had not even spent the entire allocation for 2014.

Santiago has raised concern on the Department of Budget and Management’s request for a supplemental budget of P22.4 billion for 2014 when the national government had spent only P1.456 trillion of the P1.73 trillion allocated for the three quarters of 2014.

Abad said over the weekend that part of the funds “would cover appropriations for mobility, firearms, communication, investigation, ISO equipment and infrastructure facilities of the PNP.” Of the P2.8 billion, almost half will be for the procurement of 218,790 firearms worth P1.04 billion. This is followed closely by the purchase of 945 motor vehicles, which would amount to P944.5 million.

“Despite the challenges facing the PNP, the national government fully supports the police force in fulfilling their mandate to prevent crime and maintain peace and order. In doing so, we place value not only on the PNP as an organization but also on the service and sacrifice of our valiant and fearless policemen,” Abad said.

The funds will upgrade PNP’s total share of P70.08 billion from the 2015 national budget, which was released to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Economy

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BusinessMirror

Monday, March 9, 2015 A5

Congress vows March passage of PTRO, fair competition bills

The proposed Fair Competition Act, which will even the playing field between big and small businessmen, like this seller of assorted handicraft in Portrero, Malabon, is one of the measures being sought by the private sector from Congress. KEVIN DE LA CRUZ

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By Catherine N. Pillas & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

he Senate and House of Representatives are bent on passing this week two important reform measures that the business sector has long been seeking to improve the investment climate in the country.

The Senate is committed to passing the bill creating the Philippine Trade Representative Office (PTRO), which will coordinate the country’s trade policies in international negotiations, despite previous objections made by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is of the view that it would only create redundancy and inefficiency in implementing the country’s overall trade-related strategy.

During the Joint Foreign Chambers’ (JFC) Arangkada Forum 2015 last week, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon pushed for various legislation affecting economic policies and the business community, particularly citing the establishment of the PTRO. “We intend to pass measures to establish institutions that would support our move toward liberalization. We will create two new offices: a Philippine Trade Representative Office, which will serve as the country’s central agency tasked to formulate a cohesive trade strategy and, second, a Department of Information and Communications Technology, to support the development of our ICT systems,” Drilon said in his statement.

In the Senate, the creation of such office is supported by Senate Bills 1084, 1149 and 1404 filed by Senators Teofisto Guingona III, Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes and Jinggoy P. Ejercito-Estrada, respectively.

In the House of Representatives, the counterpart measures are House Bills (HB) 02770 and 01690, authored by Rep. Henry A. Teves and Rep. Karlo Nograles.

The lawmakers’ versions commonly cite the overlapping functions and responsibilities of several agencies to handle trade negotiations and the lack of a central coordinating body to consolidate and study the country’s various trade agreements.

The DTI, however, strongly opposed the measure, writing to House Committee on Government Reorganization last year that the move will overstep the functions and jurisdiction of the department through the Bureau of International Trade Relations, which has already developed expertise in trade negotiations and in forging trade agreements with other countries.

Additionally, the DTI, in its paper, said the implementation of trade policy, whether in the domestic or international setting, is a function conferred by law through Executive Order 133.

Moreover, according to the DTI, in creating the PTRO, the authority to rule on trade matters will be separated from the industry aspect, which, in turn, will cause

ineffeciency in both areas.

“Trade and industry policies are naturally and inextricably linked, such that industry policy should underpin trade policy and vice versa. Segregating the functions causes ineffectiveness in both areas, thereby, hindering their full potential to serve overall national interest,” according to the position paper of the trade office.

On practical terms, the trade office, likewise, cited a previous paper published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies that states establishing a Cabinet-level agency exclusively handling international trade negotiations is not feasible considering the huge resources that will be needed for the separate department.

Meanwhile, Liberal Party Rep. Antonio Rafael del Rosario of Davao del Norte said the lower chamber is eyeing to pass the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act, or HB 5286, which consolidates the different House versions of the bill.

He said the members of the lower chamber may approve the measure on second reading this week, after the period of amendments, which is set to start on Monday (today).

“Hopefully, this week we will approve it [on second reading],” del Rosario said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., one of the authors of the consolidated bill, said the lower house will approve on third reading the fair competition measure, which aims to minimize, if not totally eradicate, unfair competition, monopolies and cartels, before the Congress’s March 21 break.

Congress will take a break from March 21 to May 3.

“This Philippine Fair Competition law has been repeatedly filed since the 8th Congress but it has never succeeded. But, this time [the 16th Congress], I think, we will succeed because we have actually finished the period of interpellations. This week [we will start] the period of amendments,” Belmonte said. “That is a piece of legislation that is very much needed and I’m hopeful that we can do it on the 18th or 19th of March, or before we adjourn,” he added.

The JFC and Philippine business groups have repeatedly urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of several economic measures, including the proposed Philippine Fair Competition Act. The bill heavily penalizes monopoly, anticompetitive mergers and other unfair trade practices.

The measure defines monopoly as a form of market structure in which one entity,

having earned a privilege or obtained advantage over the others, accounts for the sales of a good or service.

As defined under the measure, mergers are situations where two or more entities, previously independent of one another, join together. These include transactions whereby: two entities combine into one; one entity takes control of the whole or part of another; two or more entities acquire control over another entity and other transaction, whereby one or more undertakings acquire control over one or more entities.

The bill also proposes to create the Philippine Competition Commission that will prosecute those engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices and other such practices with the purpose of preventing, restricting, or distorting competition.

Further, the bill provides for a Transitional Clause in order to allow affected parties time to renegotiate agreements or restructure their business to comply with the law.

According to the measure, the PCC is an independent body, which shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction to enforce and implement the competition law.

Likewise, the bill said the PCC is empowered to investigate violations of the competition law, issue subpoena duces tecum and testificandum, cease and desist orders, conduct administrative proceedings, impose administrative fines, issue advisory or legal opinions, and is mandated to submit reports to Congress, including proposed legislation for the regulation of commerce, trade and industry.

The bill said that, in determining whether anticompetitive agreement or conduct has been entered into or committed, the commission shall observe the following guidelines: Define the relevant market allegedly affected by the anticompetitive agreement or conduct;

Determine if there is actual or potential adverse impact on competition in the relevant market caused by the alleged agreement or conduct, and if such impact is substantial and outweighs the actual or potential efficiency gains that result from the same;

Adopt a broad and forward-looking perspective, recognizing future market developments, but also taking account of past behavior of the parties involved and prevailing market conditions;

Balance the need to ensure that competition is not prevented or substantially restricted and the risk that efficiency may be deterred by overzealous intervention; and

Assess the totality of evidence on whether it is more likely than not that the entity has engaged in anticompetitive agreement or conduct.

Under the bill, any person who fails or neglects to comply with any term or condition of a binding ruling, a cease and desist order or an order for readjustment issued by the commission, shall pay a fine of not less than P50,000 and not more P200,000 for each violation.

Meeting on regional integration of air transport set in Bangkok

By Recto Mercene

T

he year could see a major breakthrough in the making of an Asean Single Aviation Market (Asam) with the implementation of the so-called fifth freedom, marking an important step toward regional integration of air transport.

The Asean Air Transport Integration Project, funded by the European Commission (EC), will be discussed in Bangkok on March 10 and 11 to determine its impact on Asam.

The meeting will review the impact of liberalization on the aviation industry and the role of government agencies and civil-aviation authorities.

The conference will seek to draw guidance and recommendations for the sound implementation of a safe and sustainable

single aviation market that is considered as the ultimate objective of the Asean Economic Community for its aviation sector in the years to come.

The European Union (EU) experience will be shared by experts from the EC, EU member-states and EU air carriers, as well as maintenance organizations that will present the lessons learned from a similar endeavor in Europe.

The conference will also review the strong relationship and partnership between the aviation industry and the Asean member-states, ministries and national aviation administrations that will regulate Asam.

The conference will be opened by statements from the EU Delegation, the Asean Secretariat and Thailand’s Ministry of Transport.

DENR unveils online processing of emission permits for vehicles

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

A

utomobile manufacturers, assemblers and importers can now avail themselves of the online processing service of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The DENR-EMB is now accepting online applications for the Certificate of Conformity (COC) issued to new vehicles that complied with the numerical emission standards set by the agency. A COC is a requirement for initial registration of new motor vehicles with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The online processing, or electronic service, aims to cut the red tape, reduce administrative burdens and improve business regulation, Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said.

He said the new system is more convenient and transparent for COC applicants. “Going online is one way of reaching out to our stakeholders and making things easier and hassle-free for them,” Paje said. The DENR, he said, will continue to improve services by cutting red tape and reducing what he described as “useless effort.”

Section 22 of Republic Act (RA) 8749, or the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, provides that “any imported or locally assembled new motor vehicle shall not be registered unless it complies with the emission standards set pursuant to the Act, as evidenced by a Certificate of Conformity issued by the DENR.” Under the new system, Paje said registrants are provided an online account that allows them to access their personal information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using their username and password. From their account, they can verify activity details. Applicants can register online by logging on to EMB’s official web site, Paje added.

Requirements for COC include a detailed description of the vehicle and its engine, details of the fuel feed and emission control systems, and the vehicle type approval system test re-

sult of the Department of Transportation and Communications and LTO. Before the unveiling of the online processing service for COCs, the DENR-EMB launched the electronic registration for all hazardous waste generators, treaters and transporters.

Upon submission of registration form, proponents will receive a confirmation email containing the requirements for registration as enumerated in DENR Administrative Order 2013-22, or the Revised Procedures and Standards for the Management of Hazardous Wastes.

Payment can be made at the EMB Central Office, or EMB Regional Office where the project is located. Finally, a confirmation e-mail will be sent advising the proponent when the certificate will be issued. Undersecretary and concurrent EMB Director Jonas R. Leones said the online processing for hazardous waste is currently in its initial phase.

“Once in full operation, the system will allow us to easily track and monitor the movement of hazardous waste as it is transported in various parts of the country,” Leones said.

The EMB chief also announced that the DENR will soon launch its online permitting system for the country’s Priority Chemicals List, Pre-Manufacturing and Pre-Importation Notification and the checklist for Environmentally Critical Areas under the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) system.

Since February 2, the EMB also opened its online service in securing a Certificate of Non-Coverage under the Philippine EIS system. Those covered are projects referred to as “Category D,” or those unlikely to cause adverse environmental impacts.

Category D projects involve not more than 1-hectare land development, with no toxic or hazardous materials, substances and products, including those in the revised PCL and Chemical Control Order under RA 6969, or the Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act.

Tourism&En

Business

A6 Monday, March 9, 2015 • Editor: Gerard Ramos

INTRAMUROS TAKES INITIAL STEPS T

W

B S A

3,471 vehicles…parked during the middle of the day, 46 percent of which were parked off -street. Of those parked off -street, 62 percent were in private car parks and 38 percent in public. Cars and motorcycles make up the majority of parked vehicles.”

Sardillo said: “In the short term, we would like to enhance the experience of tourists who come to Intramuros.

[For the long term], these are necessary improvements to prime Intramuros into an investment area.”

He added that IA hopes to get funding via the extension of the current technical assistance from the World Bank “to helping us put together, and design or structure PPPs [public-private partnerships] and investment projects.”

A paper by the Asian Development Bank, entitled “Revitalization of Historic Inner-City Areas in Asia” (2008), noted: “Intramuros serves as

Special to the BM

ALK, not drive.

The Intramuros Administration (IA) implemented just last Monday, March 2, the first phase of its pedestrianization plan of the historic walled city.

According to IA, traffic is now one-way on General Luna Street, southbound only from Soriano to Victoria Sreets; one-way on Arzobispo, northbound only from Anda to Postigo Sreets; the Intendencia gyratory has been removed, allowing two-way traffic on the west and north side of the Intendencia; traffic is closed off along Santo Tomas Street in front of the Manila Cathedral; and traffic is closed off at Postigo Street beside Plaza Santo Tomas.

Under the first phase of the IA’s transport and mobility plan, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, “bollards would be installed on Muralla Street between Beaterio and Plaza España; sidewalks would be brought out to provide a pinch point on Soriano Avenue, so that it is reduced to two lanes and the sidewalk also brought out on east side

of General Luna adjacent to Plaza Roma to enable easier crossing.

“The sidewalk on the corner Arzobispo and Soriano Avenue might need to be brought out to aid the left turn movement from Arzobispo onto Soriano Avenue toward Anda Circle.”

In an interview with IA Administrator Marco ALV Sardillo III, he said: “We are now stricter about shifting on-street parking to offstreet options, e.g., parking space [beside Fort Santiago], Postigo Parking [beside Palacio del Gobernador], Maestranza Plaza Parking and by the side of Magallanes Drive.”

He added that IA “will also be coordinating with the lot owners of idle/empty lots and underutilized parking spaces, to invite them if they’re interested to open their spaces for parking. One thing we have observed is that there are off-street

INTRAMUROS Manila

parking options; it’s just that some people prefer to park on the street because of the convenience it brings [i.e., up to the very entrance of the establishments that they are transacting with].”

He explained that the pedestrianization of Intramuros was proposed as far back as 1973, under the development master plan funded by the government of Spain.

He said that “the elimination of through traffic was prescribed as a fundamental criteria for organiz-

ing the traffic in Intramuros,” but added that “[the master plan] recognizes that we can’t totally close it to vehicular traffic,” as it is now a commercial area.

Sardillo also said a study in 1991

by Architects Manuel T. Mañosa Jr. and Geronimo Manahan of PROS Architects and Planners indicated that the vibrations from vehicular traffic has affected the integrity of the historic walls, structures, as well as the cobbled streets.

According to a World Bank-fund-

ed study completed last December, close to 3,000 passenger-car units (PCUs) enter and exit the historic walled city on a weekday at the peak hour of 8 am. The traffic drops to about 550 PCUs by 9 pm. “The total number of pedestrians entering Intramuros in a 12-hour day is 44,000,” the study said, with 44 percent walking, while the rest are dropped off by public-utility vehicles, motorcycles, private cars, taxis, tourist buses, bicycles and pedicabs.

The same study noted “a total of

ntertainment

sMirror

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, March 9, 2015 A7

TO BECOME ‘PEDESTRIANFRIENDLY’

Echoes of the old world

San Augustin Church

the prime tourist destination within Manila. However, its attractions are limited and tourist numbers are relatively low; the main tourist destination, Fort Santiago, receives less than half a million visitors per year.”

Certain aspects of Phase 2 of IA’s transport and mobility plan are already being implemented. “For example, we have already greatly reduced the on-street parking along Aduana,” the IA chief said.

The second phase covers: completion of General Luna one-way system to the Pamantasan ng Lungsod

ng Maynila gate; sidewalk widening and improvement works on General Luna; enforce parking ban on the length of Anda Street, Victoria Street, to Solana and Muralla Streets between General Luna and Santa Lucia Streets; parking ban and sidewalk widening on Soriano Avenue in front of Plaza Roma; provision of sidewalk on Muralla Street outside the main entrance to Colegio de San Juan de Letran; further expansion of Plaza España on the side of Bank of the Philippine Islands; block off the Scout Jamboree Memorial tri-

SOON vehicular traffic will be a thing of the past in Intramuros NONIE REYES

angle to turn it into a public space; creation of a small pedestrianized area outside the 7Eleven at the junction of Real and Muralla Streets; and creation of a small pedestrianized area outside the Bayleaf Hotel at the junction of Victoria and Muralla Streets.

Phase 3 interventions both inside and outside the walls, Sardillo said, should be achievable by 2017. “This includes changes such as pedestrianization and shared spaces that should be developed hand-in-hand with land use change,” he stressed.

TheElderly

A8

Monday, March 9, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Health-care provider to build nursing homes outside Metropolitan Manila

A

By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

MANILA-BASED health-care provider that has been in the business for about 10 years now is eyeing to expand its services to seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs) outside of Metro Manila.

The Home Health Care Inc. (HHC) is planning to set up nursing homes outside the National Capital Region, said Dr. Mary Jean VillaReal-Guno, HHC president and EVP. Started in 2004, HHC currently has five nursing homes in Metro Manila. The three are in Quezon City, with two in BF Homes International, Las Piñas.

“We started servicing homebound seniors and persons with disabilities, giving all the health care they need in the comfort of their home,” Guno said. “We sent doctors and nurses, and provided caregivers.”

In 2009 many of its clients requested to provide care to seniors and disabled loved ones in a custodial care. At present, HHC is providing health-care services to about 50 clients in its nursing homes, and about 100 in their own homes, most of whom are seniors.

Its home-bound clients are mostly stroke survivors, PWDs, cancer patients, and even dying children.

Since it started in the business in 2005, the HHC had already provided health-care services to over 200 clients, Guno said.

“We have a network of doctors doing home care,” she said. “We have 50 doctors in our registry actively caring for patients.”

Currently, HHC deploys one caregiver for one home-bound client.

In the nursing homes, it assigns a caregiver to look after four patients.

“There are patients who really need dedicated care,” Guno said.

“In this case, we go for one-to-one service in the nursing homes.”

The cost of health-care services in HHC nursing homes ranges from P35,000 to P50,000 per month. The amount covers the cost of accommodation and care.

“It depends on two factors,” Guno noted. “One is the type of accommodation. Second, we assess the level of care the client needs.”

HHC nursing homes offer shared and single rooms, air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned.

For patients cared at their own homes, the HHC charges a onetime sourcing fee of P5,000 to prequalify a nurse or a caregiver.

“Anytime there is no chemistry between the patient and the caregiver, we always provide a replacement,” she noted.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Doctor lets God lead her where she can help more

By Rizal Raoul Reyes Correspondent

“I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfill our destiny, but our fate is sealed.”—

Paolo Coelho

A

Home Health Care Inc. (HCC) President and CEO Dr. Mary Jean Villa-Real-Guno (back) discusses a case with Nurse Mia Flor at HCC office in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City. OLIVER SAMSON

T his pack age ranges from P10,000 to P20,000 a month, Guno said. “We involve the family in the planning of care,” she said. “We immediately hold a family conference, and we ask them for their preferences on the care.”

The patients in the nursing homes have monthly outing, Guno said. They go to parks, churches and malls in Metro Manila. And twice in a month, adult-day activities, which include cognitive therapy, reminiscence therapy, and music, are conducted.

“We let them bring family pictures and talk about them,” she said.

“In reminiscing their lives, they find its meaning again. Videoke singing has been a favorite activity.”

“We normally ask the family what the patient liked to do in the past to

simulate it in the present,” she said.

“The family is also free to take the patient out anytime.”

Families who either do not have a space in their own home or do not want the other children to see the dying sibling, place their child in HHC nursing homes.

“It’s hospice care,” Guno said. “It’s care for the last six months of life.”

HHC is accredited by the ISO and Philippine Health Care Initiative. It is one of the 13 health-care facilities in the Philippines improving the long-term care for seniors and PWDs. “We like to go beyond 10 years, continue caring for patients with stroke, dementia, and complex illnesses,” Guno said. “We have a network of nurses and caregivers throughout the country.”

S far as her philosophy in life is concerned, Dr. Zenaida JavierUy, the chief medical officer of the Cardinal Santos Medical Center, has been, perhaps, expressed best by Brazilian writer Paolo Coelho. Initially, she did not plan to become a doctor, but planned to join her sister in Germany, who was working as a nurse.

But fate had other plans for her. She pursued her medical degree at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center and, as they say, the rest is history.

“I’ve never planned my life. Now that I have grown older and wiser, I firmly believe in that God helped me,” Uy said in an interview with the BusinessMirror in her office at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

“I never resist when the Lord leads the way and I just follow,” Uy said.

Thus, going with the flow, so to speak, in a Coelhoesque manner, she enrolled in the MBA Health program at the Ateneo Professional Schools to give her newer things to learn for her professional growth. Interestingly, enrolling in the graduate school program also proved to be a good outlet to relieve her of the problems in her personal life.

Uy admitted that studying in the program was not a walk in the park. The readings required in the classes were very heavy and more challenging since she did not have a business background.

Nevertheless, Uy adjusted to the rigorous study routine in the Health

Ukraine blockade of rebel territory fosters resentment

K

UR AKHOVE, Ukraine— Tears welled up in Vera Pavliy’s eyes as she stood outside the bank, looking as if she had just gotten lost. The 76-year-old was stuck behind the battle lines in the east Ukraine town of Kurakhove with no money and no way to get home.

The war that brought death and destruction to the region has largely abated, but the misery remains.

In fact an effective government blockade on separatist-held areas is only getting worse. The goal is ostensibly to choke the rebel economy and force the separatist front to yield, but for now Kiev’s actions are fostering only resentment.

For months, banking services have been suspended by state fiat.

Civilian movement is limited by a cumbersome permits system.

Trucks brimming with supplies stand marooned at army checkpoints and in neighboring towns.

The interruption of banking services forces hundreds of thousands in rebel territories to embark on trips across the front lines to draw pensions or cash aid from friends and family. This week Pavliy arrived in government-held Kurakhove from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk only to learn the transfer of 4,500 hryvnia ($167) she hoped to find on her account had not gone through. Now, she says, she has no money for the bus to return home.

“I feel alien here...because nobody cares about me,” Pavliy sobbed, standing outside a branch of staterun Oshchadbank in a well-worn sheepskin coat.

Government suspension of banking services last November compounded economic hardship caused

by the shuttering of businesses alarmed by the erratic rule of the Russian-backed separatists. Cash machines in Donetsk flicker idly with no money to give and shops and restaurants cannot take cards.

Many, like 36-year-old Irina Ryazhenko, travel to Kurakhove or nearby towns several times a month just to withdraw cash. She was told Monday that the new bank card she applied for last August is still not ready.

Making the trip has been complicated in recent weeks by a new requirement for people entering government-held territory to obtain a travel permit to cross back into the rebel-held east—effectively turning them into foreigners in their own country.

For those living just west of Donetsk, applying for a permit requires a bumpy, 35-kilometer (20mile) drive to a police station in the sleepy town of Velyka Novosilka, held by government forces.

One recent afternoon, around 20 people were lined up glumly outside the station in the damp and cold to ask about the status of their applications. Chatter among those waiting was confined to grumbles about the bureaucratic chaos that often compels applicants to stay away from home for more than 10 days.

When approached by reporters, people clam up in fear that criticism of Ukrainian authorities could see them deprived of the pass. Still, the anger is palpable and talk quickly turns to yelling at the thought of the expenses that are piling up.

“I came here once and spent 200 hryvnias [$7]. I came a second time and spent 200 hryvnias,

Enterprising grandmother Maria Bacolor, 79, sells hot pepper at a flea market in Santiago City, Isabela. Despite her age, she claims that keeping herself busy provides her a living and good health. LEONARDO PERANTE II

and it’s still not done! Now I have to spend another 200 to get this blasted pass,” said one woman from Donetsk, who gave only her first name, Valentina, for fear of having her application rejected. “I’m not a millionaire’s daughter. My pension is 1,000 hryvnias.”

Others in line said they have been waiting to get their passes for a month. Some are lucky enough to have families in nearby towns and villages that can offer hospitality.

Ukrainian officials insist the permits are a necessary safety precaution for areas bordering rebel territory.

“In the current situation we simply haven’t got any other option,” said Lt. Col. Volodymyr Kachanovetsky, an officer with the Border Guards

Service in Velyka Novosilka. “We cannot control the situation over there, that’s why these additional measures will help to improve the situation there, as well as here.”

Alexander, who is wheelchairbound, lives with his elderly father in the government zone, while his wife and child remain on the other side. He said he needed the permit to travel back to the rebel town of Shakhtarsk and get medical papers allowing him to receive treatment on the Ukrainian side.

He filed for his permit on January 30. After his documents were lost, he had to file a new application and finally got the permit on Monday.

“I don’t know how this is supposed to improve security, but they have made things difficult

for people,” said Alexander, who asked for his surname to be withheld for fear of prosecution for criticizing the government. “It’s just another headache.”

Many rebel-held areas have defied expectations of significant food shortages. The shops that did not shut down have until recently been sporadically but adequately stocked.

That began to change in midFebruary, according to suppliers and vendors on both sides of the front line. Earlier this week, some 40 goods trucks were parked by a gas station near the government checkpoint outside Kurakhove— the last major hurdle before entering Donetsk.

Ihor Suleiman, a driver from

Javier-Uy

MBA program and managed to finish it. The program gave Uy a new perspective in the management of a health organization.

“That was fun for me because I learned a lot of new things in the Health MBA program. I always tell people that knowledge is a treasure,” Uy said.

Later, she was not aware that Cardinal Santos was interested to hire her as a medical director, and she accepted the job.

“It was one of the happiest days of my life,” Uy beams.

Uy said the new post was an excellent journey for her and she looked forward to working with Cardinal Santos. One more reason she accepted the offer was that all her children were grown up.

As a mentor, Uy always told medical students that being a doctor was a blessing from God. She always reminded them that doctors should develop a strong spiritual foundation to be able to serve their patients.

“I always emphasize that our profession is not aimed to develop wealth.

I tell them that, if they want to be wealthy, they should join the corporate world,” she said.

Kharkiv, said he had been waiting for five days to clear that checkpoint.

“We, drivers, have got all the right paperwork, but they still turn us down,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian troops. “What can you do?

They have guns, and I don’t.”

While anecdotal evidence of a mounting blockade on the rebel east is abundant, exact figures on the extent to which supplies to the east have dwindled are hard to obtain. But vendors in rebel zones are feeling the heat.

A few large supermarkets in Donetsk appear to be relatively well-stocked, but outdoor markets, smaller grocery stores and pharmacies are struggling.

The second floor of a small grocery store in the city center was closed for business one recent afternoon. There simply weren’t enough goods to put on display, shop Manager Irina Baranova said.

“The suppliers say the trucks are waiting at checkpoints and are not being allowed through,” she said.

Baranova’s store had dairy, bread, alcohol and tinned goods on display, but juice and bottled water were nowhere to be seen.

A pharmacist at a drugstore a few miles away said no supplies had been brought in for a week. As prices for medicine increase almost daily, customers have been hoarding whatever is available, she said.

Kachanovetsky, the Ukrainian border official, made the procedure for getting through checkpoints sound simple. Tax officials inspect the cargo and check drivers’ documents and give the green light to all those with the right documentation, he said. Evidence on the ground suggests things are not that easy.

At Donetsk’s sprawling, domed Soviet-era food market, rows of stalls where farmers once sold their produce and cheerfully plied would-be customers stand empty and silent. AP

The Regions BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, March 9, 2015

A9

Albay gov: ₧47-M Mayon eruption fund duly accounted for

L

B M U | Correspondent

EGAZPI CITY—The controversial P47-million Malampaya Funds that had been allegedly misappropriated during the 2009 Mayon eruption is duly accounted for.

This developed as Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda reportedly warned his provincial Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officer to resign, after the Commission on Audit (COA) said many in the listed beneficiaries appeared in the Requisition and Issue Slip (RIS) submitted by the Albay DSWD allegedly denied receiving goods or cash assistance from the P47-million Malampaya Funds released during the 2009 Mayon eruption for the thousands of evacuees.

Salceda’s chief of staff, lawyer Carol Sabio, said everything in the P47-million Malampaya Funds released for the evacuees during the 2009 Mayon eruption has been duly accounted for.

She said some barangay

executives who responded to the COA confirmation request that they did not receive anything from the P47million Malampaya Funds were actually not incumbent barangay executives yet in 2009. Sabio said some critics of the governor are blowing up the issue.

On June 6, 2014, COA Assistant Commissioner Susan P. Garcia sent confirmation letters to beneficiaries based on the RIS report submitted

by Albay DSWD Provincial Officer Yolanda Guanzon.

A certain J.R Maso, a barangay captain of Pigcale in Legazpi City, was among those who allegedly received 2,000 bags of rice from the P47-million Malampaya Funds in 2009 for the Mayon evacuees. Maso, in the confirmation request sent back to

ComVal ‘Sandugo’ awardee to finally get own blood bank B M T. C Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The consistent Department of Health (DOH) awardee for blood donation and sanitation will finally have its own blood bank and ease lifeline concerns among its mostly rural residents.

Rep. Maricar Zamora recently donated P7 million to the bloodbank building and facility to help Compostela Valley finish its own facility started with a P5-million fund from the DOH. Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy told health workers and nutrition scholars in a provincial gathering for the Social Services Day on Thursday, that the blood bank would be operational as soon as the building is finished and the equipment installed. “Patients in the hospitals

would no longer be burdened with loooking for blood,” he said.

The Social Services Day was part of the Eighth Bulawan Festival held to commemorate the 17th charter day of Compostela Valley.

During the celebration, Social Welfare Undersecretary Angelita G. Medel also announced that the various rehabilitation projects in the province, including health and welfare services, have allowed the province to get over the devastating impact of Supertyphoon Pablo, which hit the province in December 2012.

The province has been a consistent awardee of the DOH’S National Sandugo Award for its aggressive initiative on sanitation and stabilizing supply of ready blood. Last year Compostela Valley bagged four major Sandugo awards.

DTI-EMB conducted 195 DBFTA sessions in 2014, 30% over target

T

HE Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), conducted 195 information sessions nationwide last year, 30 percent over its 150-session goal in 2014, under its “Doing Business in Free Trade Areas” (DBFTA), one of its major programs.

The sessions reached 25,941 participants, almost double its goal of 13,500, composed mainly of business people, members of the academe and government officials and employees.

Focus of the information sessions was the integration of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.

Requests were made by industry groups, universities and local government units for sessions to be conducted in their localities to guide local manufacturers and exporters adjust their business practices in a single regional economy in order to compete effectively with their counterparts in the Asean, Asia and beyond. The sessions reached all regions, with 83 sessions or 42.36 percent of total sessions in the NCR. Cebu followed with 25 sessions, or 12.82 percent; and Soccsksargen had 13, or 6.67 percent.

The NCR accounted for 38.62 percent of the number of participants, followed

by Soccsksargen with 11.66 percent and Calabarzon with 8.1 percent. In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao/Bangsamoro, 10 sessions were held, with the list submitted to National Economic and Development Authority as one of DTI’s initiatives in the area.

The DBFTA sessions were part

of major international events that included the Mindanao Business Conference, and the BIMP-EAGA and Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Growth Triangle Business Leaders’ Business Conference and Consumer Fair.

Sessions were also conducted for specific industries in Goods and Services, including food producers and manufacturers, health and beauty, metalworking, jewelry, franchisers, educational institutions, chambers of commerce, local government units, regional and provincial government agencies and industry associations.

Coaching and matching sessions were also conducted for specific companies upon request.

The sessions were conducted with partner agencies, both government and private, that included the Tariff Commission, the Bureau of Customs, the Board of Investments and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The DBFTA Program was also nominated in the 2014 TPO Network Awards for outstanding process, practice and excellence as an Export Developing Initiative under the Developing Country category, and was selected as one of the shortlisted winners. Focus of the DBFTA this year will be part AEC and the European Union General System of Preferences Plus (EU-GSP+) following the approval by the EU on December 18, 2014 of the Philippines’s application for inclusion.

The EU-GSP+ sessions will discuss an overview of the GSP+ and the benefits of the country’s inclusion in the EU GSP+.

the COA, however, denied receiving the 2,000 bags of rice or anything from the P47-million funds.

Also on June 6, 2014, a similar letter from the Garcia was sent to an unnamed barangay captain of Victory Village of Legaspi about the 2,200 bags of rice that barangay executive allegedly received during the 2009 Mayon eruption for the evacuees in his barangay.

The incumbent barangay chairman denied he received any. Third District Rep. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay, in an interview in his district office in Ligao City last November, said he had been informed about the COA confirmation requests received by barangay executives and DSWD officers in his district, who denied they received any rice assistance or anything as beneficiaries from the

alleged P47-million funds for the 2009 Mayon evacuees. Gonzalez said he knew Guanzon, who was also his DSWD provincial officer when he was governor from 2004 to 2007.

Guanzon cannot be contacted for comment, as she reportedly filed an indefinite leave of absence in office.

Radio reports said Guanzon and Sabio accompanied by Joseph Oro Lee, who is

the president of the provincial barangay councils league reportedly had been roaming around pleading to those who received letters from COA to accept that they received the rice assistance allegedly in exchange for cash. Sabio denied the allegation.

Asked about the threat of Salceda for Guanzon to resign, Sabio texted that Guanzon is covered by a civil-service law.

Opinion BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, March 9, 2015

editorial

Thanks for the advice but. . .

T

HE foundation of the global economic system rests on two factors: government-established interest rates and currency valuations. While some countries are more passive, letting international and regional changes in these two variables push their policies, other nations aggressively manage both. Interest rates and currency rates are two sides of the same coin.

The results of policy changes regarding interest rates and currency exchange rates then influence economic activity, trade and the pricing of assets, such as stocks and hard commodities.

To the uninitiated, this would seem to be a relatively easy task. If you know which buttons need to be pushed to achieve an expected result, then it should be relatively simple to push those buttons. However, managing interest rates and currency rates is more akin to the complexity of driving an automobile rather than changing television channels with a remote control.

There are basically two sides of the government economic policy. Monetary policy is managing the money. Fiscal policy is managing the taxation and spending programs. Both must work together to achieve the desired results of a sustainable economic growth. Neither one is that easy to do.

Fiscal policy encompasses all that government does with the available tools of basic taxation and spending for primary services to the incentives granted for increased private-sector investment. This is left to the Legislative and Executive branches of government.

Monetary policy, on the other hand, is best left to an agency outside of and removed from the political process: the central bank.

If you look at the economic history of the Philippines, the stability and growth came as much as a result of central-bank policy as from the elected administrations. Prior to and after 1987, interest rates in the Philippines jumped around from a low of 4 percent to a high of 60 percent, partly due to external and domestic events and particularly due to the structure of our central bank.

But in 1993, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was created with new mandates and new independence.

Since then, interest rates have become increasingly stable, and this has allowed the economy to grow in a more sustainable fashion.

Two major international banking institutions are giving opposite recommendations to the BSP. One is expecting local rates to go up in 2015; the other is suggesting that the BSP should lower interest rates.

While we acknowledge the expertise of these banks, we politely say, take your advice somewhere else. The Philippines is showing sustained noninflationary economic growth with low debt and a small government budget deficit.

Other nations, like Greece, Spain, Brazil and Japan, would seem to be in need of financial and economic advice more than the Philippines, as their economies are in deep trouble. But then again, maybe it was the expert advice of the banks that got them into trouble in the first place.

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PCSO Ultra Lotto makes first ultramillionaire Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

T

HE Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s (PCSO) new Ultra Lotto 6/58 game launched last month is a success, thanks to the enthusiasm and support of players.

The first draw for the game was held on February 8, and it wasn’t long before someone hit the jackpot.

A government employee from Leyte, a Lotto player since the 1990s, chose a lucky-pick combination to win the P50.69-million prize in the February 22 draw.

The father of six plans to put up a business in their province to help boost the economy of the area, which is still suffering from the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda.

Another lucky player also became a multimillionaire, after hitting the P42.6-million jackpot in the February 17 draw for the Super Lotto 6/49 game.

The 73-year-old Quezon City resident has been playing Lotto since 2005, and says that his winning combination comprised the birthdays of family members.

Meanwhile, the PCSO last week released relief goods to victims of the March 2 and 3 fires that razed residential areas in the Parola Compound, Tondo.

Thousa nd s of people were displaced in the fires that burned

down an estimated 5,000 homes.

Around 2,700 families are now in nearby shelters, such as the Parola barangay hall, Del Pan sports complex, Del Pan evacuation center and Baseco covered court.

As part of its quick-response initiative, the PCSO’s Charity Assistance Department has initially released relief goods consisting of 10 boxes of new assorted clothing, 10 boxes of new footwear, one box of blankets and 2,000 Family Emergency Medicine kits (FEMkits).

Each PCSO FEMkit contains paracetamol tablets and syrup, loperamide capsules and mefenamic acid tablets.

The PCSO will also extend help for hospital care and treatment to fire victims, as needed, through its Individual Medical Assistance Program.

It is part of the PCSO’s mandate to render medical- and health-carerelated assistance for “charities of national character,” including emergencies such as these and other crises.

The revenue from the PCSO’s gaming activities, such as the Lotto,

enables the agency to provide financial assistance to the victims of calamities and disasters, as well as the sick and disabled.

Fifty-five percent of the revenue goes to the PCSO Prize Fund for game prizes; 15 percent is for agency operations (as a government-owned and -controlled corporation, the PCSO does not receive any budget from the national government); and the remaining 30 percent is for the Charity Fund.

This is the allocation specified under the PCSO’s founding charter, Republic Act 1169.

We at the PCSO are keenly conscious of our responsibility to help the Filipino people in accordance with our mandate, and one effective way of doing this is to continually seek ways to increase sales of our gaming products to grow the Charity Fund.

We are grateful for public support of our Lotto, Lotto Express and other games that allow us to continue providing medical assistance, dialysis and chemotherapy treatments, wheelchairs and prosthetics, and other forms of medical- and healthcare-related assistance to qualified individuals, as well as endowment funds and other forms of support to hospitals and other health-care and welfare institutions.

The PCSO also aids people in times of crises. The 80-year-old agency sends relief goods to victims of calamities and national emergencies and disasters, and equipment, such as water-treatment plants and power generators, to devastated areas.

FCC imposes net neutrality, again

By James L. Gattuso The Heritage Foundation/TNS

I

T was Throwback Thursday at the FCC on February 26, as the Federal Communications Commission voted to impose 1930s-era regulations on Internet providers.

Under the agency’s new rules, Internet service providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, are to be treated as “common carriers” under the 1934 Communications Act, subjecting them to detailed oversight of what they offer to consumers—and how they offer it.

The decision was a bit of a trip down regulatory memory lane for the FCC, harking back to the days when telephones looked like black candlesticks and all important decisions were made by regulators. Emphasizing the “retro” nature of the day, Verizon’s official response to the decision was issued entirely in Morse code, the language of the telegraph.

What was the FCC thinking when it imposed these antiquated rules on the 21st-century Internet? For it, common-carrier rules were a means to an end: network neutrality, the idea that Internet service providers should treat every bit of content traveling over their networks exactly the same way. Never

mind that cat videos and 911 calls ought to be treated differently, or that premiums and value discounts are a key part of ever y well-functioning marketplace.

The FCC has pursued the goal of forced neutrality relentlessly for over a decade. Twice during this time, the agency tried to impose net neutrality— in 2005 and again in 2010—and twice it was rebuffed by the courts, which found the FCC lacked authority to act.

Hoping that the third time is the charm, the FCC, led by Chairman Tom Wheeler, proposed yet another set of rules last May. Initially, Wheeler intended to more or less readopt the 2010 rules, with minor changes intended to address the problems identified in court.

However, President Barack Obama upped the ante in November intervening with the normally independent FCC, urging it to turn Internet access providers into public utilities subject to comprehensive regulation. After a brief and cursory defense of his agency’s

autonomy, Wheeler changed his plan to match the president’s. The revised proposal was adopted by the full commission on a strict party-line vote.

Devised for the static monopolies, public-utility regulation will be corrosive to today’s dynamic Internet.

There’s a reason the phrase “innovative public utility” doesn’t flow easily from the tongue. The hundreds of rules that come with public utility status are geared to keeping monopolies in line, not encouraging new or innovative ways of doing things. (The FCC has indicated it will refrain from enforcing the bulk of these rules, but if you believe that, I have a waterfront property in Wyoming to sell you.)

Even worse, by imposing burdens on big and small carriers alike, the new rules may actually stifle chances of increasing competition among broadband providers.

With the FCC’s vote, the battle over how (and whether) the Internet will be regulated by Washington moves to two new but familiar venues. The first is Congress, where members will want to—and arguably have a duty to—have a say. Congressional leaders have already begun a broad effort to update the Communications Act,

It also holds medical and dental missions and donates medicines, ambulances, high-tech medical equipment, such as digital x-ray and CT scan machines, and capability-building packages for rural and military health units.

To widen its reach, especially in remote and underserved areas, the PCSO continues to open new branches, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao. From an initial 25 branches, when the present PCSO board of directors assumed office, there are now 42 branches, with more to be added until 2016 and beyond.

The next branch to be opened within the coming months will be in Eastern Samar.

It is public patronage of the PCSO’s Ultra Lotto, Super Lotto and other games that equips the agency with the resources to render service.

When playing the PCSO’s Lotto games, you not only have the chance to be multimillionaires like that government employee from Leyte and senior citizen from Quezon City, you also have the opportunity to help people whom you don’t even know, such as the Tondo fire victims.

Through your charity and compassion, lives may be extended or quality of life be made better even for a time—and the satisfaction and upliftment that come from helping others are, for the heart and spirit, riches enough.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

and the FCC’s neutrality decision will no doubt become a prime target of that reform.

Congress’s short-term options, however, are limited, given the likelihood of a White House veto of any bill that overturns the FCC’s ruling. There are approaches worth exploring, however, such as attaching a rider to the FCC appropriations bill prohibiting the FCC from spending taxpayer dollars to enforce the new rules. Short of that, look for Congress to express its views through nonbinding resolutions of disapproval and oversight hearings.

The second venue is the courts, where opponents of regulation may have their best chance of success. The courts normally defer to the expertise of independent agencies, but after two prior decisions, this will be put more to the test. To pass muster, the FCC needs to convince judges that it acted for more reasons than being told to do so by President Obama. Regulation of wireless service faces even bigger hurdles, including a statutory provision limiting the FCC’s power to regulate wireless-phone data services as common carriers.

Throwback Thursday was clearly not the end of this long-running debate.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

A global lesson from Europe

A beautiful life Teddy Locsin Jr.

Free fire

Paul Donovan

‘T

H

HE euro area is in crisis” is not the most thrilling way to open an article. The euro area is seemingly always in crisis.

The euro area crisis resembles an opera by Wagner–very, very long, with lots of wailing and melodrama, generally conducted in German. The perpetual round of emergency summits and lastminute deals is something investors have had to get used to.

OW many people ever got rich being nice? Michele Ferrero died one of the richest men in Europe. He did it by sweetening bitter lives; by doing a kindness at every turn; and walking away before anyone noticed and thanked him. His father had invented a hazelnut chocolate bar that you cut or melted that was popular.

The current manifestation of the euro crisis, with tensions between Greece and the creditor nations of the euro area, is a symptom of a deeper underlying problem in the euro. The mess that the euro area is starts with the structural flaws of the monetary union. However, these flaws have been exaggerated by the severity of the German crisis today—and the German crisis dwarfs the wrangling over Greek debt terms.

The German crisis is simple. Germans have been forced to accept far too low a standard of living for far too long. Indeed, the German standard of living has fallen further and further behind its potential for a number of years now. The fact that the entire German economy is living in relative poverty (relative to the standard of living that Germans could enjoy) has compounded the wider problems of the euro area.

This relative poverty is highly visible. The German current account surplus has risen with the rest of the world and with the rest of the euro area. In 2001 the German current account was in balance. In 2013 the surplus was 7.5 percent of gross domestic product. In 2013 the German economy had a standard of living that was 7.5 percent below that which it could sustainably achieve.

Germans are being kept in a state of relative poverty (7.5 percent is a big number—Germans are essentially failing to enjoy a four weeks income every year).

Popular opinion tends to be uncomfortable with current account surpluses as a cause of crisis. Popular economic perceptions support a sort of macho mercantilism—a desire to gather as much gold as possible into a big heap and sit on top of it. The problem with sitting atop a big heap of gold is that it is rather uncomfortable and it does nothing to enhance living standards.

A current account surplus means a country is spending less than it earns—and, therefore, has a lower standard of living than its income would permit. There can be reasons a moderate current account surplus may be desirable. If a country has an ageing population, then the need to live off investment returns in the future may suggest a desire to save today. Alternatively, if debt has been acquired in the past (through current account deficits) it may be desirable to repay some of that debt through current account surpluses. But the basic fact remains; running a current a surplus is a process of self-denial.

The desire to acquire a current account surplus is an anachronism of history—a legacy of the gold

But, under Michele, 365 million kilos of Nutella are consumed every year. Michele added a few drops of vegetable oil to the hard chocolate and that made it easy to spread. Nutella became a staple of every school lunch in Italy, Europe and the rest of the world. Michele

standard and the Bretton Woods currency systems. Both of these systems had correction mechanisms for current account imbalances. The problem was that although current account surplus nations were supposed to correct their imbalances, the urgency to correct lay with deficit nations. Surplus nations could continue to acquire surpluses without too much trouble, other than depressing domestic living standards. Deficit nations would soon run out of the gold or US dollars with which to acquire foreign goods. That meant deficits were associated with crises and a forced adjustment (“bad”). Thus, to run a current account surplus was seen as “good.”

The German crisis is lowering the German standard of living and lowering the European standard of living. The Germans are denying themselves the lifestyle that they can afford. At the same time the Germans are forcing other countries in the euro area to correct deficits.

Some deficit correction may be desirable, but the scale of the German current account position is forcing large-scale corrections elsewhere in the euro area.

The corrections are larger than is desirable, and gives the Euro area a negative growth bias that has generated political, as well as economic consequences.

There is a lesson for the rest of the world in all of this—perhaps for Asia, more than most. Low standards of living are not a good thing.

An excessive current account deficit is a bad thing—it implies a dangerous dependence on credit. An excessive current account surplus is worse.

An excessive current account surplus implies a deliberate lowering of domestic living standards, while simultaneously creating deficit crises elsewhere in the world. A current account surplus should be seen for the dangerous signal of imbalance that it is. It is necessary that politicians understand the true nature of the German crisis if Europe’s interminable Wagnerian drama is ever to come to an end.

Paul Donovan is the managing director and deputy head of global economics of Zurich-headquartered UBS. He is responsible for formulating and presenting the UBS Investment Research global economic view, drawing on the bank’s worldwide resources. Donovan took up philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University. He holds an MSc in financial economics from the University of London. In the Philippines, his column will appear exclusively once a month in the BusinessMirror.

would visit shops that carried his product incognito to make sure the stock of Nutella was always fresh.

He also made cherry liqueur chocolates that were sold in boxes but, when he visited destitute postwar Germany, he sold it by the piece—“to bring something sweet

Tribune News Service

A

S the last two years of his tenure move toward their conclusion, President Barack Obama’s increasingly probable legacy—on top of the much-discussed debt he will leave to punish future generations—could be a nuclear-armed Iran and a striking diminution of rule of law and American freedoms.

Recently, the great shudder among liberals has been the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to beg America not to sacrifice his country in its rush to an agreement that would eventually allow Iran to build a bomb.

As reported, it would be a 10year deal permitting Iran to keep in place nuclear facilities that

would enable moves toward weapons manufacture down the road and doing nothing to stop it at the agreement’s termination. There will in the meantime be inspectors, according to a White House that gave Iran $11 billion in unfrozen funds to embrace this idea. Iranians will surely become nice guys by the end of the agreement and the only alter-

He called the first woman Valeria, his name for the typical housewife, mother or aunt who does the shopping and thinks of something sweet to spoil a favorite child. If he lost Valeria he was finished, he said. into their lives,” he said with tears in his eyes.

To the American market he sent only Tic-Tacs for bad breath.

He would not challenge peanut butter until 1983. He was patient not greedy.

What was his marketing secret?

Michele credited two women for his success. One was fictional; the other is heavenly.

He called the first woman

Valeria, his name for the typical housewife, mother or aunt who does the shopping and thinks of something sweet to spoil a favorite child. If he lost Valeria he was finished, he said.

The second woman was Maria, the Mother of God. He could achieve nothing without her. Each morning he prayed to her and placed his business in her hands. Every year he visited Lourdes and arranged for his workers to go there also. Every office had a statue of Mary. He believed it was she who made him give back most of his wealth to the region he came from, the Piedmont, with no fanfare and even less publicity. He might make a short appearance if the townsfolk insisted but he quickly slipped away before the fanfare began.

Now that is a beautiful life.

US visa denials need more explanation

F

AUZIA Din, a naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan who now lives in Fremont, California, wants to bring the man she married in 2006 to join her in her adoptive country. Her situation is poignant and her claim that the US government mistakenly denied her husband a visa is at least plausible.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the constitutional argument her lawyers offered to the Supreme Court this week.

Din’s husband applied for a visa and was interviewed by an official at the US Embassy in Pakistan. But his application was denied in 2009 under a provision of immigration law that excludes applicants linked

to “terrorist activities.” No more detailed explanation was provided, though it’s known that he worked as a clerk in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Social Welfare under the Taliban.

Given the errors that have plagued the US government’s response to terrorism—including the wrongful inclusion of thousands of innocent people on the government’s no-fly list and in its terrorist screening database—it’s not hard to imagine that a consular official could have made a mistake in concluding that a visa applicant was tainted by terrorist ties.

That, however, is not the question for the court, which must answer whether the spouse of a disappointed applicant has a right under the Consti-

An Obama legacy of less freedom and more danger?

By Jay Ambrose

Monday, March 9, 2015 A11

native was to go to war, we are also told.

Excuse me, but another alternative could the kinds of sanctions that got Iran to the negotiating table in the first place, keen observers say. They also noted the business about inspectors is a joke: Iran has never disclosed sufficient details of its nuclear infrastructure to give the inspectors any idea where to go. Keep in mind, too, that this is the same fanatical regime sponsoring terrorists and that just lately showered rockets on a mock US aircraft carrier in its war games.

The great shudder should be about an out-negotiated US-led team seeming to think patty-cake will subvert evil in a regime exhibiting it daily.

Likelier consequences are the kind of Middle East instability that could ulti-

mately lead to war about as contained as Iran’s ambitions and to Netanyahu’s legitimate dread.

To move to the next topic, let’s go back to 2008, when a campaigning Obama said one of the worst things the country faced was George W. Bush’s bypassing of Congress to give the executive more power. In 2011 after a midterm election in which the public delivered a Congress more likely to slow Obama down, he embraced a slogan that said, “We can’t wait,” meaning there would be less waiting for the legislative branch to have its constitutional say.

An early display of that was the virtual nullification of the No Child Left Behind education law through state waivers, followed by much else

tution to have a judge second-guess a visa denial. An appeals court said yes, and concluded that the government had failed to offer Din a “facially legitimate and bona fide reason” for the denial of her husband’s application.

She was owed such an explanation, the court said, because the denial interfered with her “protected liberty interest in marriage.”

But as the Obama administration noted, the right to marry—which the Supreme Court has said in the past is part of the “liberty” protected by the Constitution—doesn’t include the right to live with one’s spouse in the US if that spouse has been deported or denied entry. Also, if a spouse can challenge a visa denial in court, why

not some other relative? During oral arguments, Din’s lawyer agreed that the principle would extend to lawsuits by parents of visa applicants and perhaps by children and siblings.

Most of the justices seemed reluctant to involve the courts in reviewing rafts of visa denials, and we can understand their caution about reading such a requirement into the Constitution.

But Congress should act to require the State Department to provide fuller information about visa denials—even when alleged ties to terrorism are asserted—and to make it easier for applicants and their families to seek a review of adverse decisions. Los Angeles Times/TNS

that swished past Congress as if it were a scary looking hiker on a highway.

The Supreme Court was not always pleased, as when it disallowed White House appointments made without required congressional approval.

One particularly bad move came after the 2014 midterm election when the voters again said let’s cut out the overreaching and Obama got in their faces and that of Congress with his legalizing of more than 4 million illegal immigrants that he himself had said on 22 prior occasions would be unconstitutional.

Oh, well, there was precedent as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, said liberals missing a point that a federal judge has now underlined: In this act, Obama also flatly ignored

statutes prohibiting him from granting work permits and welfare rights on his own. Let a president do that, and there’s nothing much he can’t do.

On top of that, there has been this new plan to make the Internet less liberated along with hordes of intervening regulations that stomp out entrepreneurial initiative, cost billions and treat adults like children. It’s no wonder then that an international think tank survey shows Americans’ sense of personal freedom has been declining under this president or that an examination of our economic freedom shows us 12th on a list of nations, down from sixth freest when Obama first took office.

Is all of this what Obama meant when he once promised hope and change?

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, March 9, 2015

www.businessmirror.com.ph

back to boracay Local and foreign tourists flock to the white-sand beaches of Boracay Island to watch its famous sunset and escape the heat, as increasing temperatures signal the onset of the summer. NONIE REYES

TV5 to be profitable Belmonte vows to continue by 2017–Pangilinan fight for economic Cha-cha

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

he outlook on the third-ranked broadcasting firm in the Philippines remains rosy, as its financial underpinings continuously gain traction after having bled since 2009, when the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) first bought into the network.

MediaQuest Holdings Inc., the operator of TV5, is expected to be profitable and, finally, in the black by 2017, its chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan, said in a chance interview.

He said the network’s earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) should turn positive in two year’s time, as the broadcasting company continues to be more competitive in the multimedia arena.

“We hope TV5 will be Ebitda-positive by 2017,” he said.

The broadcasting company has been in the red for the past six years since the group of Pangilinan bought into the firm.

MediaQuest acquired the network from then-Cojuanco-led ABC Development Corp. for P4 billion in 2009. It also acquired MPB Primedia of Malaysia, a major stockholder in the network, for $16 million.

Since then, PLDT has been pouring money into the network to remain at par

with competitors: media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp. and broadcasting firm GMA Network Inc. Earlier TV5 President and CEO Emmanuel C. Lorenzana said the network would soon “venture into things that other stations are not doing,” so as to gain additional market share, which is currently pegged at 15 percent of the sector.

Last year the Pangilinan-led network announced a partnership with a Malaysian satellite-network operator that effectively expanded its reach to 120 countries in four continents.

Under the agreement, subsidiary Pilipinas Global Network Ltd. will tap the third Malaysia East Asia Satellite (Measat-3) spacecraft of Measat Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. to offer TV5 content across Asia Pacific, Australia, the Middle East and Eastern Africa.

PLDT owns a 60-percent shareholding in PGN, while the remaining stake is held by ABC Development Corp.

MediaQuest is the corporate vehicle of the PLDT group for the acquisition of media assets. It is owned and controlled by the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund. It holds a 70-percent stake in BusinessWorld, a 10-percent stake in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and a 60-percent stake in Philippine Star. It also owns the direct-to-home satellite television Cignal TV.

SAUDI IS NOW WORLD’S TOP DEFENSE IMPORTER S

audi Arabia has surpassed India to become the world’s biggest arms importer last year, as concerns about Iran’s ambitions increase tensions in the Middle East.

Saudi arms spending rose 54 percent to $6.5 billion last year, while India imported $5.8 billion, according to data released on Sunday by IHS, a leading analyst of the global arms trade. Imports will increase 52 percent to $9.8 billion this year, accounting for $1 of every $7 spent globally, IHS estimated, based on planned deliveries.

“This is definitely unprecedented,” said Ben Moores, the report’s author. “You’re seeing political fractures across the region, and, at the same time, you’ve got oil, which allows countries to arm themselves, protect themselves and impose their will as to how they think the region should develop.”

Saudi Arabia is building its arsenal amid concern about a geopolitical shift in the Middle East as the US looks for help in fighting the Islamic State group, said David Cortright, director of policy studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Negotiators are nearing a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and lift sanctions against the country, which would create new opportunities for economic

development and threaten Saudi Arabia’s longstanding ties with the US. The biggest beneficiary of the growing Middle Eastern market was the US, with $8.4 billion of arms shipments to the region last year, up from $6 billion in 2013. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates imported a combined $8.7 billion of defense systems last year—more than all of Western Europe.

Boosting arms purchases may be a way for some elements in the Saudi government to remind the US of its importance as an ally because defense contracts translate into jobs that are critical to many communities, Cortright said. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, all based in the US, were the three biggest arms exporters among companies last year, according to the IHS Global Defense Trade Report.

“It may be a way of tempering that rapprochement with Iran,” Cortright said. “You can think of it as...deepening ties in a time of uncertainty, as a possibly greater role with Iran looms on the horizon.”

The Saudis are also worried about the rise of Islamic State and are cooperating with the US-led coalition.“From an objective security perspective, Saudi Arabia should be cooperating with Iran to deter and push back ISIS in Iraq. AP

T

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

he leader of the House of Representatives said he would continue his campaign for the passage of the measure amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in a recent interview with reporters, also expressed confidence that his Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 1, or the economic Charter change (Cha-cha), would be passed this 16th Congress.

“I’m having doubts about that [approval of Cha-cha before our March 18 break], but, still, I would like to continue it [the passage of the economic Cha-cha this 16th Congress] because it’s needed,” he said.

The Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine business groups have already expressed support to the passage of the economic Cha-cha.

“People who are in business, our businessmen, foreign businesses, cannot understand why such an innocuous amendment, which is simply an empower [ment] from Congress, is having a difficult time to pass,” Belmonte added.

Belmonte also reiterated that the Cha-cha is a larger contributor to economic growth, as foreign direct investments are seen to increase once ownership on estates and corporations, one of the issues raised by investors for not investing in the country, is relaxed.

“Whether it is difficult or not [to pass the Cha-cha], I

will continue this Cha-cha because we want to show that it is still a giant step forward [for our economy],” he said. Since last year the RBH 1 is still under the period of interpellations in the plenary.

The resolution, filed by Belmonte and Sen. Ralph Recto, is eyeing to amend provisions on the 60-40 rule that limits foreign ownership of certain activities in the Philippines.

The resolution will include the phrase “unless provided by law” in the foreign-ownership provision of the Constitution, particularly land ownership, public utilities, natural resources, the media and advertising industries.

Under Article XII of the Constitution, which was ratified during the term of then-President Corazon Aquino, foreign investors are prohibited to own more than 40 percent of real properties and businesses, while they are totally restricted to exploit natural resources and own any company in the media industry.

The amendments to the Charter will be approved through separate votings by both cham-

China willing to work with phl on sea row Continued from A1

Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The US has urged China to stop reclaiming land, while the Philippines and China have frequently traded accusations over conflicting claims and encounters between fishing and military vessels.

The reclamation is the fourth such project undertaken by China in the Spratlys in recent months and is the largest, according to Janes.

“We won’t accept anyone pointing a finger at us when we build in our own courtyard,” Wang said.

In his speech, Zhao reiterated that the two countries are close neighbors, partners and relatives. “Let us maintain stability and peace in the region, particularly the South China Sea. Let us be kind and gentle to each other. Let us be hardworking and perseverant in making new progress for the betterment of China-Philippines relations.”

As the Spring Festival welcomes the lunar calendar of the year, Zhao cited China’s major milestones last year in terms of economic and social development.

Among them were: sustained growth of 7.4 percent in terms of the gross domestic product; 13 million new job opportunities; 100 million outbound Chinese tourists; 605 million tons of grain as farm output and additional 8,427-kilometer railway lines built. But no matter these achievements the past year, the ambassador said 2015 will be a crucial year for reforms, growth and structural adjustments. He noted that, to meet its

goals, a peaceful bilateral relations with its neighbors play a major role in long-haul development.

“We will focus on achieving the dual objectives of maintaining a medium-to-high level economic growth rate and moving toward a medium-to-high level of social development,” Zhao said. “To reach these targets, it is essential to maintain regional peace and cooperation with our neighbors and countries in other parts of the world.”

With the success of China in hosting the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting last year, the ambassador said Beijing expressed its support for the Philippines who is hosting the Apec meetings this year.

“We are very glad to see that President Xi Jinping and President Aquino had a brief but friendly and significant talk during the Beijing Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting last year, which has ushered in a fresh progress to improve and enhance our bilateral relations,” Zhao said. “Our two peoples are bound by a profound and resilient friendship forged through a millennium-long amicable exchanges.

It is the common aspiration of our two peoples to deepen friendship and cooperation.”

As he toasted with government officials, private-sector leaders, envoys and members of diplomatic corps, and distinguished members of the Chinese community for greater cooperation and friendship with countries in the region, Zhao expressed the hope that “the Year of the Sheep will bring good luck and happiness, and bring more warmth and vitality to the China-Philippines relations.” With Bloomberg News

bers, with a three-fourths vote required from them.

According to the speaker, the lower chamber is still the main proponent of the economic Cha-cha, and senators would still wait for the House version once it passed the third reading before the upper house tackles it.

Meanwhile, Belmonte has instructed members of the lower chamber to fast-track the floor deliberations on the measure.

Belmonte said the proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution should be passed this year, so he incorporated a plebiscite for Cha-cha with the 2016 national and local elections.

In June last year, President Aquino announced his stance against Cha-cha until 2016, saying Congress is wasting time on Cha-cha.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said that he has yet to see a signal that the President had relented on his firm belief there is no need to amend the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Purisima to tweak segmentation of large taxpayers

F

inance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima disclosed his plan to institute changes in taxpayer segmentation, admitting that current collections from large taxpayers do not reflect the growth of the economy and the industries they belong.

About 64 percent of the total tax collection of the government comes from only 2,000 large corporations, but the underlying industries where those same large corporations are classified into constitute a bigger part of the total Philippine economy, indicating that more could be collected from large taxpayers.

Purisima said at a recent event of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Large Taxpayers Service (LTS) that the underlying economies of the top industries in the country are growing.

However, tax collections from the corporations engaged in these industries are actually contracting.

He noted that although there is a growth in the actual figures collected from large taxpayers, this growth does not reflect the expansion experienced by corporations in a particular industry. David Cagahastian