April 6, 2015

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

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

A broader look at today’s business TfridayNovember 18,2015 2014Vol.Vol.1010No.No.17940 Monday, April 6,

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AmCham: Expand list of perks

PHIL THE HEAT

Life

The sovereignty of God

EAR Jesus, Your triumphal entry into Jerusalem fanned hopes in many that You might lead a revolution against the Roman occupants. But You chose to be the Messiah according to God’s plan, rather than the temporal Messiah expected by many Jews, including most of Your disciples. You had a better Kingdom to proclaim and establish. Your mission was to overthrow Satan, and to establish the sovereignty of God in the hearts of all. Amen.

EXPLORING GOD’S WORD, FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB S AND LOUIEE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

‘BITUING WALANG NINGNING’ GOES ONSTAGE

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lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com • Monday, April 6, 2015 D1

Phil the heat

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OVAK DJOKOVIC undoubtedly scored sales points for Uniqlo as a global ambassador that the Japanese apparel brand is enlisting another superstar athlete, football heartthrob Phil Younghusband, to be the Serbian tennis great’s local counterpart.

“Uniqlo clothing is a mix of casual and sports, and Phil fits the image because he is very sporty,” COO Katsumi Kubota said at the brand’s 23rd store opening at SM Marikina. He also expressed his elation over Uniqlo’s performance in the Philippines: “We are very much satisfied. It is exceeding our expectations. We will be expanding in the very near future in the Visayas and Mindanao, maybe in the second-largest city in the country first.”

Uniqlo’s “clothes are made for all, going beyond age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, and all other ways that define people. Our clothes are simple and essential yet universal, so people can freely combine them in their own unique style.” It’s this philosophy that highly appealed to the half-British Phil, who previously preened for Collezione.

“Uniqlo is one of the biggest brands in the world and I’ve been wearing

Uniqlo for a couple of years now. The clothes fit my lifestyle. I’m a very active person. I like to go training or coaching or hanging out with my family. I’m very proud and very blessed to be an ambassador of the brand,” the Philippine Azkals and Loyola Meralco Sparks striker said.

At the store opening, Phil wore a light blue pique short-sleeve shirt. “I wear a lot of the polos. This is something I pretty much wear every day. This is one of my favorite items,” he admitted, adding, “I like the jeans, the socks. One thing great about Uniqlo is that they have everything.”

Uniqlo’s massive stocks are dominated by linen shirts for men, women and children for the summer season, though LifeWear, Airism and quirky shirts using artworks from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Walt Disney are also in heavy rotation.

As for his summer plans, Phil will be deep in training for his club and the national team for the World Cup qualifiers. “If I get a few days off, I might go to Cebu, Palawan, or just somewhere in the Philippines,” the 27-year-old said. (He actually spent Holy Week in Cebu, swimming with whale sharks in Oslob.) He is also quite busy with a TV V show on T V5 with his brother James, called YH Tube, a compilation of sports bloopers from here and abroad.

Uniqlo is also known to collaborate with renowned artists, designers and celebrities, such as Michael Bastian, Ines de la Fressange, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bjorn Copeland of Black Dice, Kim Jones, Peter Saville, Gareth Pugh and Pharell Williams. Would Phil be interested?

“Yeah, if the opportunity comes around, then I’d love to. If it comes to do my own sort of line, that would be very interesting. I’d love it,” he said excitedly. “I would probably do boxers. Boxer briefs.”

Would you model them?

“If they ask me to, yes, of course, I will!”

FOOTBALL heartthrob Phil Younghusband does a Novak for global Japanese brand Uniqlo.

Not all who wander are lost B D C V

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OW liberating is it to go on a road trip with friends, destination unknown, with you on a motorcycle? This is something that not many people do these days but in the 1970s and 1980s, summer was a great time to cross towns and cities on motorbikes.

American denim brand Wrangler recently launched a digital competition, dubbed “True Wanderer,” to celebrate people’s love for the outdoors and adventure.

The competition is all about men and women, their motorbikes and adventures and journeys.

The winner will receive a motorbike and P100,000 worth of Wrangler products. He or she will then become the Philippine representative to the Asia Pacific-wide competition, where he or she will go head to head with other True Wanderer winners from across Asia Pacific.

“True Wanderer is our way of communicating our brand’s core as we inspire riders to get out there and discover their free spirit on the open road,” Wrangler Philippines President Daisy Go says.

Wrangler is known for tough quality apparel at affordable prices. Last

year’s “Philippine-exclusive” Timber Creek line was a success so Wrangler has expanded the collection to include underwear for men.

True Wanderer hopes to create a community of adventurers by engaging Filipino riders who seek new experiences.

The contest is open to all Filipino riders who can make an entry in the form of previous biking photos with a story on why they should be chosen as a True Wanderer. Ten rider finalists will be picked out by a panel of bike experts and travel enthusiasts from the pool of entries. The finalists will then embark on a five-day journey in select locales in the country while riding their bikes and wearing Wrangler’s key items.

“With jeans that are purposely designed to enhance comfort and style for the open road, Wrangler is the perfect companion of every True Wanderer as he goes off on his explorations,” Go said.

The contest’s main venue will be the True Wanderer microsite (www. wranglertruewanderer.com), where followers of the competition can also take part in each contestant’s journey. The microsite will serve as a travel diary where each contestant’s experiences will be documented through a mix of words, photos and videos. For updates, follow Wrangler on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: WranglerPH.

WRANGLER Philippines President Daisy Go launches “True Wanderer” at URBN Bar and Kitchen at Bonifacio Global City.

WRANGLER is known for tough quality apparel at affordable prices.

LIFE

THE setup at URBN

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LEADERS WIN TRUST WHEN THEY SHOW A BIT OF HUMANITY BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 6, 2015 E 1

SHOW A BIT OF HUMANITY B T L

RUST in business leadership is at historic lows, according to surveys by Edelman and the World Economic Forum.

One reason might be our tendency to think of leaders as either instrumental (pursuing a particular business goal) or heroic (pursuing a unique vision). In short, we want super-machines or superhumans, or both, at the top of our organizations, and many CEOs strive to meet those expectations.

They’ve been trained to hide vulnerabilities and to be consistent, levelheaded and in control at all times. Inevitably, they fall short.

It’s time for a different approach—one that allows leaders to fully acknowledge their humanity, thereby winning both the trust and respect of their staff. Here are three suggestions: Get emotional. Employees value heartfelt moments of connection. I will always remember when a former boss began to cry in my presence during a time of immense investor pressure. That moment of vulnerability cemented my loyalty to him. You’re probably comfortable showing happiness or excitement.

But, when it’s called for, you can also show disappointment, worry and anger.

Be whimsical. By exposing their idiosyncrasies, passions and whims, bosses can make themselves more human. Consider what aspects of your life or personality might surprise or delight your employees, and share that side of yourself.

Express doubt. Smart leaders know there is more than one right answer, and once they commit to a decision, they aren’t afraid to revisit and change it if necessary. Futurist Paul Saffo’s mantra is “strong opinions, weakly held”—one that managers should also adopt, especially if they’re trying to navigate complex situations. So express doubt, ask for contrarian options and be willing to change your mind, several times if necessary. If you’re a boss, have the courage to present yourself as a more complex being: a sinner, not a saint; a fragile identity, not a robust platform; a lively question-mark, not a dead-certain exclamation point.

Tim Leberecht is the author of The Business Romantic: Give Everything, Quantify Nothing, and Create Something Greater Than Yourself Yourself, and the chief marketing officer of NBBJ.

HOW LIFEE INSURERS CAN BRING THEIR BUSINESS INTO T THE 21ST CENTURY TO B P L  B D

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IFE insurance is—or should be—a central element in most households’ financial planning. Yet, life insurance sales have steadily declined for years.

Only 44 percent of households had any life insurance in 2010, a 50year low. In 1960, it was 72 percent of households.

One reason is that people are getting married and creating households later. The average age for a first marriage is now 27 for women, versus 21 in 1950; for men it’s now 28, versus 24 in 1950. And in a sluggish economy, many households simply do not have the extra resources for life insurance.

There’s also the “longevity paradox.” People are living longer now— a lot longer. Fears of an early death have now been replaced by fears of outliving one’s resources.

This fear has grown in recent years with the disappearance of defined-benefit pension plans.

Faced with these dramatic shifts, many insurers have fallen into the classic trap of trying to figure out how to sell their existing products, rather than creating new sales engagement models that focus on customers’ current needs.

To reverse declining sales trends, life insurers should modernize their products, services and marketing efforts in four key ways:

n

Understanding the customer.

Insurers can gain insight into what motivates customer decisions through sources, such as social media, analytics, mobile and call center data, and feedback from digital marketing efforts.

Developing customer-oriented offerings. New products should be n

made available at a range of price points through a variety of channels.

Companies need to bring products to market quickly and more efficiently. Digital distribution channels, including mobile and online applications, can provide new sources of revenue by helping insurers sell relatively inexpensive products to new customers.

n Providing a better customer experience. By collecting and

organizing data from sources, such as phone calls, online interactions and social-media conversations, life insurers can personalize what they bring to the customer. For instance, Vantis Life uses predictive analytics to anticipate mortality and longevity rates and thus can underwrite policies without the medical examination and tests usually associated with life policies.

n Increasing efficiency. Many life policies are still paper-based. By automating workflow and decision support, insurers can cut costs while giving customers the immediate responses, tailored products and personalized service. By harnessing innovative technologies and developing new approaches, life insurers can start to grow again, while performing their essential role of keeping families of all shapes and sizes financially secure.

Price-sensitive customers will tolerate uncertainty B R M

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HEN I help a company with their pricing strategy, the vice president always asks with a grin: “So, how are you going to help us raise prices?”

While price-raising opportunities do exist, the real creativity— and often, the bigger opportunity —involves growing a business by activating dormant customers. This usually requires offering selective discounts—in other words, lowering prices, not raising them.

A key pricing strategy involves using hurdles to identify price-sensitive customers. Hurdles separate

those who truly won’t buy without a price break from those who don’t care about price. For example, customers who clip coupons or ask for rebates would be jumping over multiple hurdles to prove they are discount-worthy Another way to create a hurdle is to introduce uncertainty into your product. Discount travel company Priceline is now valued at more than $61 billion based on a business model of using uncertainty to sell to the budget-minded. To book a highly discounted hotel room on Priceline.com, you select the area in a city you want to stay in, as well as hotel quality level (one to five stars) and then submit a

nonrefundable bid. Only then do you find out if your bid is accepted—as well as which hotel you won. The reward to consumers for jumping over these hurdles is big savings.

Priceline’s pitch to hotels is just as compelling. It offers a distribution channel to discreetly sell excess capacity without having to advertise rock bottom prices. Regular customers continue paying full price and the hotel’s brand is not tarnished.

But an interesting wrinkle has cropped up for Priceline and its rival Hotwire. Web sites, such as BetterBidding and BiddingforTravel are now helping bidders understand how much to bid, as well as which hotel

they’ll likely get. This resolves much of the uncertainty associated with purchasing through Priceline. Are these sites going to harm its business model? Not really. Using them takes time and savvy, which is simply another hurdle.

Creating hurdles can draw in new customers without cannibalizing full-price sales. Managers should ask themselves: What type of uncertainty can you introduce to your company’s products to grow sales?

Rafi Mohammed is a pricing strategy consultant and author of The 1% Windfall: How Successful Companies Use Price to Profit and Grow.

What to do when people draw different conclusions from the same data B W F

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N God we trust; all others must bring data.” That famous line from statistician William Edwards Deming has become a mantra for datadriven companies because it points to the promise of finding objective answers.

But in practice, interpreting data is a messy, subjective business. Ask two data scientists the same question, and you’re liable to get two completely different answers, even if they’re both working with the same dataset.

So much for objectivity.

But what if data analysis were crowdsourced, w ith multiple analysts working on the same

problem and data? The result might be a range of answers, rather than just one.

But it would also mean more conf idence t h at t he resu lts weren’t being inf luenced by any single analyst’s biases.

A paper released earlier this year indicates how it might work.

Researchers asked 61 analysts a question about soccer.

The analysts split up into 29 teams and were given a dataset that included numerous variables about both players and referees.

Eventually, all analyses were shared with the group.

From 29 teams came 21 different sets of variables. Different teams also used different statistical models. Not surprisingly,

they came to different conclusions. Had it just been a single team using a single method, they would have stopped at their result, declared a conclusion and been done with it.

But with 29 slightly different results, the group could see clearly that their analyses hinged on somewhat subjective decisions about the best model to use and which variables to include.

The authors suggest that taking the median result from the range might provide a less biased answer to the question.

The same approach to analysis could be used in smaller teams.

Rather than working together on a project, two analysts could each propose a method or multiple

methods, then compare notes.

Then each one could do her own analysis, and compare their results.

This could lead to the decision to trust one method over the other, for instance, or to average the results together.

“What this may help [to do] is to identify blind spots from management,” Raphael Silberzahn said of IESE Business School, one of the initiators of the research.

“By engaging in crowdsourcing inside the company we may balance the influence of different groups.” You can trust the results will be interesting, and thanks to the crowd, more likely to be right.

MONDAY MORNING

Patrick Lyons is a managing director with Accenture’s Insurance Client Services Group and leads Accenture’s Life Insurance Transformation Business Service. Brian Demaster is a managing director with Accenture and leads Accenture’s North America Life Insurance Business Services.

Walter Frick is an associate editor at Harvard Business Review.

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PERFECT ENDING Sports

WISCONSIN bench celebrates after ending the unbeaten season of Kentucky. AP

| MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

KENTUCKY Head Coach John Calipari wipes his face after their upset loss to Wisconsin. AP

WISCONSIN TOPPLES UNDEFEATE WIS A D KENTUCKY ATE

PERFECT ENDING B S R

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Chicago Tribune

NDIANAPOLIS—Wisconsin was considered the jovial team of jokesters who strapped video cameras to their chests, teased stenographers and asked each other silly questions at news conferences.

Of course, this jolly exterior wasn’t always most telling of their nature on the court.

“They have their fun,” Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said last week. “Believe me, when they get on the practice court, they’re looking at film, they’re playing in the games, they understand what competition is about.”

That stealthy predator mentality was perhaps never so evident as Saturday night, when the top-seeded Badgers handed Kentucky its first loss of the season with a 71-64 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament Final Four victory that propelled Wisconsin into the championship game for the first time since 1941.

The Badgers will face top-seeded Duke in Monday night’s tournament championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. It will be Ryan’s first championship game and the Badgers’ first since 1941.

The Badgers erupted in celebration at the end and silenced the droves of Kentucky fans who mostly

filled the 72,238 seats in the arena. When the team’s unofficial “Jump Around” anthem was played the stadium erupted again.

The victory was super sweet because the Wildcats had beaten the Badgers last season in a Final Four semifinal by one point on Aaron Harrison’s threepointer in the final seconds.

But that wasn’t the entire motivation for this group of Badgers.

“Last year’s game obviously was motivation, not because of Kentucky, but just because of how far we got,” said Frank Kaminsky, the Benet Academy product who scored a game-high 20 points with 11 rebounds. “That was a hump we wanted to get over. It didn’t matter who was in front of us. We just wanted to get a chance to play for the national title.”

Kentucky was on a quest to become the first undefeated championship team in college basketball since Indiana’s 1976 squad. The Wildcats (38-1) lost in last season’s championship game to Connecticut.

This season’s Kentucky team, filled with National Basketball Association-ready freshmen, was considered an undoubted favorite by many.

“It hurts,” Coach John Calipari said. “I would have loved to go 40-0. We’ll take another stab at it.”

Kentucky, which has become notorious for making big plays down the stretch to finish games, went more

than five minutes without scoring late to help the Badgers make a comeback.

“We didn’t finish like we were supposed to,” Harrison said.

The Badgers earned their way to a championship game by outrebounding Kentucky, 34-22, beating the Wildcats 13-6 in second-chance points and ending the game on a 15-4 run.

The rematch with Wisconsin lived up to its Final Four marquee status as the teams were always within singledigit leads of each other. The game was tied 60-60 with two minutes and 38 seconds remaining.

Wisconsin had fallen behind by 60-56 before pulling ahead 64-60.

Harrison drove for a three-point play to draw the Wildcats to within 64-63 with just less than a minute to play.

But Kaminsky hit two free throws with 24.5 seconds left for a 66-63 edge. Karl-Anthony Towns made the first but missed his second free throw on the other end with 16.1 seconds remaining.

Then two free throws from Wisconsin’s Bronson Koenig with 12.2 seconds left sealed the victory, providing a 68-64 edge.

Harrison’s three-point attempt for Kentucky with six seconds left hit nothing but air.

“I think the only time we really saw their confidence rattled was at the end of the game,” Kaminsky said of the Wildcats. “We finally took that lead. We weren’t going to look back.”

The victory now gives Wisconsin another revenge game.

Duke was one of only three teams to beat the Badgers in the regular season with an 80-70 victory in Madison, Wisconsin, last December 3.

“You know, they got us,” Ryan said. “So maybe we’re going to try to get them.”

Defensive-minded Duke can win in so many different ways B E P USA Today

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NDIANAPOLIS—Using a combination of repeated drives to the basket and stifling defense, Duke sucked the life out of Saturday’s national semifinal against Michigan State, moving Coach Mike Krzyzewski within a victory of his fifth national championship.

Thirty-eight games into this season, Duke continues to improve during this postseason, as was abundantly clear during the Blue Devils’ 81-61 victory against Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium. Duke (34-4) will play Wisconsin in Monday’s national title game.

“Being in a national championship game, it’s crazy how lucky you are,” Krzyzewski said. “This team has really earned it. This team has deserved to be in it, so it makes it feel even better. They have been so good in this tournament, so good.”

In five tournament games, Duke has only had one victory—a six-point victory versus Utah in the Sweet 16—decided by single digits. As a result, the Blue Devils have a chance to win another national championship in Indianapolis. Krzyzewski already has won two here.

In 2010 Duke edged Butler here in a game for the ages. And in 1991, the Blue Devils had to topple thenunbeaten University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) in the national semifinals before beating Kansas for the title.

This Final Four, Krzyzewski has eight players—

four of them freshmen—but neither depth nor the spotlight has been an issue for the Blue Devils. After falling into an early eight-point hole against Michigan State, Duke blitzed the Spartans, keeping control for most of the remainder of the game.

“We drove the ball with such strength,” said Krzyzewski, who improved to 9-1 against Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo. “I actually think our offense gave our defense a push. The last 36 minutes...that’s the best we have played in the tournament, and we have played very well in the tournament.”

This Duke team can win in so many different ways.

The Blue Devils have star freshman Jahlil Okafor in the middle. After scoring a combined 15 points in two regional games, Okafor had 18 against Michigan State on seven-for-11 shooting.

They have a host of capable three-point shooters.

They have young guards and a precocious forward in Justise Winslow who all are skilled at penetrating and drawing fouls, as they did throughout against Michigan State. Duke made 27-of-37 free throws.

The Blue Devils made 12-of-16 free throw attempts in the first half. The Spartans only attempted seven shots from the line before halftime. The most repeated sequence of the first half? Duke driving the ball and drawing a foul. The sound of an official’s whistle was prevalent and served as repeated gut punches for Michigan State fans who didn’t feel their players were getting their share of calls.

“We are just not deep enough with talent that we could overcome that,” Izzo said of the fouls called against his team.

Izzo added that he has to do a better job recruiting because “I’m just going to get guys that can drive.

That is the way the game has changed...it’s just a drive and get fouled. You are not allowed to touch anybody anymore. I was here when we had smashmouth basketball.”

On some occasions, the Spartans might have been better off not being overly aggressive. In one sequence, Okafor beat Gavin Schilling for a lay-up. Desperate to stop him, Schilling grabbed Okafor’s jersey from behind, drawing an obvious foul.

The Blue Devils also have a defense that has been stifling in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. That continued on Saturday night, especially in the first half when Duke held Michigan State to 22-percent shooting from two-point range. Leading by 17 points in the second half, Duke senior Quinn Cook, the team’s emotional leader, slapped the floor repeatedly to rev up the defense to an even higher intensity.

“We know we have a lot of competitors on this team,” Duke’s Matt Jones said, “and a lot of people say we can’t play defense. I think we have been a very good defensive team. We just have to do it one more time Monday night.”

Michigan State’s Travis Trice said the offense started too far away from the basket in the first half. So when the

shot clock wound down, they’d find themselves seemingly 40 feet from the basket.

The Spartans’ Branden Dawson said Duke was noticeably better defensively than the Blue Devils looked in Michigan State’s 10-point loss to Duke last November 18.

“They really don’t make a lot of mistakes,” Dawson said.

And now the Duke team that continues to improve, seemingly game by game, has one more performance looming.

“I wish they gave us a week to get ready for the game,” Krzyzewski said.

“I think we would improve.”

»

DUKE Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski rzyzewski is gunning for his third national championship title in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. AP

SPORTS

MERICAN businessmen in the country want the government to give investors more options in availing themselves of fiscal perks for qualified projects, instead of merely replacing the current incentives scheme.

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Forbes, senior adviser to AmCham.

The call comes amid efforts of the Department of Finance (DOF) to streamline fiscal perks given by major IPAs, such as the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).

The DTI has been struggling to keep the investment climate competitive by maintaining various fiscal and nonfiscal perks, while the DOF is making sure revenue collection will not continue to suffer.

C  A

HICCUP IN U.S. JOBS DATA MAY DELAY FED LIFTOFF

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BusinessMirror

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B C N. P

For instance, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) said the reduced 15-percent corporate income tax (CIT) for 15 years, as proposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in lieu of the current incentives program, should be considered as an additional package to be offered by investment-promotion agencies (IPAs).

“The option has come up for ‘15 for 15’; that should be in addition to what we already have,” said John

LEADERS WIN TRUST T WHEN THEY

T

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

AMCHAM SAYS GOV’T SHOULD ADD REDUCED C.I.T. TO INCENTIVES MENU AND NOT JUST IN LIEU OF I.T.H.

INSIDE

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n n

HICCUP in the jobs data may give Federal Reserve (Fed) officials pause, as they ponder the right time for a liftoff.

Employers in the US added 126,000 workers in March, the fewest since December 2013, Labor Department data showed on Friday. Revisions to prior months disappointed, as well, subtracting 69,000 jobs from the previous counts for January and February.

The Fed is watching for the economy to reach or approach full employment and generate higher inflation before raising interest rates from near zero. Fed Chairman Janet Yellen and her colleagues last month opened the door to an increase as soon as June, while also suggesting in forecasts that September may be a more likely time.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 44.7250

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Friday in a statement to Bloomberg that the report doesn’t alter his view on policy.

Lacker, who votes on policy this year, said in a March 31 speech that the case for raising rates will remain “strong” at the June meeting, unless economic reports diverge “ substantially” from projections.

“The payroll report was a bit disappointing, but this followed a fairly long run of strong reports,” Lacker said. “By itself, this doesn’t meaningfully change my economic outlook or my policy assessment.”

Winter weather

THE jobs figures followed a spate of data showing the economy cooled in the first quarter, as the oil patch C  A

CELEBRATING EASTER Participants in the Easter Sunday treat of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls’ Once Upon an Easter Wonderland brings to life some of the most popular children’s stories and fairy tales in seven eye-catching “Storybook Worlds,” each bursting with fun children’s activities, treats and other magical surprises. NONIE REYES

PLDT expanding data-center capacity through ₧1-B facility B L S. M

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ELECOMMU NIC AT IONS giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said it is investing P1 billion to expand its data-center footprint through the construction of a “state-of-the-art facility” in Makati City.

PLDT Executive Vice President Eric R. Alberto said the investment is in line with his company’s goal of being more competitive in the data-center space. The construc-

tion of the data center is set to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year.

“The PLDT Group is investing in ensuring that the latest Vitro facility is at par with data centers in leading countries, with world-class security features adhering to globalstandard operations,” said Alberto, who is also CEO of ePLDT Inc., the information and communications technology [ICT] subsidiary of the telecommunications giant.

“When completed, Vitro Maka-

ti will add 3,600 full racks to our network of Vitro Data Centers, and will ensure our readiness to support the growing ICT requirements of the enterprise market,” he added.

The newest Vitro Data Center will have the largest floor space among its current line of data centers at 18,000 square meters, and will deploy 8-level security to safeguard customers’ critical equipment and data with maximum protection.

C  A

n JAPAN 0.3726 n UK 66.3182 n HK 5.7687 n CHINA 7.2142 n SINGAPORE 32.6055 n AUSTRALIA 34.1256 n EU 48.0570 n SAUDI ARABIA 11.9238 Source: BSP (1 April 2015)

News

BusinessMirror

Monday, April 6, 2015

A2

AmCham: Expand list of perks Continued from A1

The DTI, however, recently buckled. It has announced a proposal to do away with the income-tax holiday (ITH) for BOI-registered firms, with the reduced CIT—from the normal 30 percent to 15 percent—for 15 years taking its place.

The BOI grants ITH of up to eight years. A registered pioneer enterprise with pioneer incentives is entitled to six years ITH and additional two-year bonus ITH. A nonpioneer enterprise is allowed up to four-year ITH and additional two-year bonus. For Peza firms, the existing scheme may be replaced with either of these two incentive packages: one inclusive of an ITH, and another without an ITH. For the package that includes an ITH, the period would be capped from the existing six to eight years to just four, but will be paired with either a 5-percent tax on gross income earned (GIE), except value-added tax (VAT) and realproperty tax (RPT) for 11 years, or 15-percent reduced CIT in lieu of local and national taxes, except VAT and RPT for 11 years.

If the ITH is not granted, registered firms may either be allowed to pay a 5-percent tax on GIE in lieu of local and national taxes, except VAT and RPT for 15 years, or 15-percent

BSP. . .

reduced CIT in lieu of local and national taxes, except VAT and RPT for 15 years.

Given the capped incentives, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo stood firm that the “15 for 15” option, renewable by the Peza board, will be more attractive to foreign investors and will translate to bigger revenue savings than the existing ITH structure.

“On the surface, the ITH looks attractive because of the [tax] exemptions. But that will only be for four years and you would then still be ramping up your production. And if that’s the case, what level of income will you be protecting? Incomes come in later and that’s where the 15-percent income tax will prove to be beneficial,” Domingo said.

The AmCham previously said it prefers the reduced CIT of 15 for 15 over the limited ITH since most businesses hardly profit in the first years of operation and essentially waste tax holiday. However, it is now suggesting that the reduced CIT be made an option in addition to the current scheme. “Cutting the ITH is essentially capping job creation; [the government] should offer ‘15 for 15’ but keep the status quo, and see what people will choose,” Forbes said.

The AmCham senior adviser explained that given the disadvantages the Philippine business environment is already saddled with, such as

high labor and electricity costs, luring investors in the country is already an uphill climb. Cutting the incentives may aggravate the situation, he said. “The point of the finance department is to have more revenue, but without investments, how can you have revenue?” Forbes said.

Forbes said streamlining incentives by limiting the mandatory list of permanent perks given to various industries, as enshrined in over 50 laws, would be a better move for the DOF, and yet, it has focused on dismantling the current incentive structure of IPAs. The bills operationalizing the change in fiscal and nonfiscal perks have been languishing at the committee level in both the Senate and House of Representatives, due to the continued disagreement between the DOF and DTI. With the 2016 elections fast approaching and a consolidated bill yet to take form, it would seem the measure is already dead in the water.

This may be welcome news, however, for Peza, which has long maintained that the incentive packages should not be changed in any shape or form, or the country will risk losing the confidence of existing and incoming investors. In a previous interview, Japanese Chaber of Commerce Vice President Nobuo Fujii also thumbed down the incentives-rationalization move, foreseeing less investments in the future from Japanese firms.

hood keep its policy rates intact the rest of the year because then the adjustment could hardly upset how things are at the macroeconomic sphere.

So-called forward guidance from the US Fed indicate an interest-rate adjustment later this year based on the astute use of language in

which Chairman Janet Yellen has dropped the use of the world “patience” at her most recent public statements.

However, other analysts still see US regulators keeping to a dovish path as the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee lowered its forecast federal funds rate.

Continued from A12

In particular, if the Fed so chooses to hike to a level of about a hundred basis points, the BSP will have to hike the Philippines own rates at the second half of the year.

According to Lorenzo, should the US Fed decide to hike interest rate by only 50 basis points, for example, the BSP will in all likeli-

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST APRIL 6, 2015 | MONDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER

TROPICAL DEPRESSION “CHEDENG” (MAYSAK) 95 KM EAST SOUTHEAST OF CASIGURAN, AURORA MAX. WINDS: 55 KPH MOVEMENT: ALMOST STATIONARY (AS OF APRIL 5, 5:00 AM)

Tropical Depression is a cyclone category with winds of 45 - 60 kph.

SBMA/CLARK 24 – 34°C METRO MANILA 23 – 34°C

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hilippine Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (center) and other dignitaries of the Asean Law Association (ALA) grant Manuel V. Pangilinan (third from left), managing director and CEO of First Pacific Co. Ltd. and chairman of Philex Mining Corp., a plaque of appreciation after his speech at the February 28 farewell dinner of the 12th ALA General Assembly held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel. Also in the photo are (from left) Michael Toledo, chairman of the Standing Committee on Legal Information at ALA Philippines; Avelino Cruz, newly elected ALA president and former president of ALA Philippines; Indonesian Chief Justice Hatta Ali, PhD, who is also the immediate past president of ALA; Regina Geraldez, secretary-general of ALA; and Indonesia’s Swandy Halim, ALA immediate past secretary-general. Pangilinan urges ALA to help facilitate the region’s economic integration by promoting the rule of law and crafting “converging laws” within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which must have production and supply chains for international exports. Conducted from February 25 to 28 in Manila for the first time since 1995, the assembly pushed for liberalization of cross-border legal services and harmonization of laws in the region. ALA, founded in 1979, is the exclusive affiliate for law as designated by the 2007 Charter of the Asean, which is having its economic integration this year.

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Watch PANAHON.TV everyday at 5:00 AM on PTV (Channel 4).

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MVP urges ALA to promote rule of law within Asean

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The Nation BusinessMirror

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Thousands in shelters as Chedeng hits Isabela

P-Noy talks politics as Catholics fete Easter

T

By Rene Acosta

HE elaborate preparation made by the government for Typhoon Chedeng (international code name Maysak) paid well as it has yet to list any casualty as of Sunday, albeit thousands of individuals still remained in government-run shelters.

By Butch Fernandez

I

N his message during a day Catholics celebrate their faith in resurrection, President Aquino stated the obvious: criticisms against his five-year-old administration would intensify as the election for his successor nears.

Those who would sow doubt and break our trust with each other would work over time, Aquino said in the vernacular. He recorded the message days before Sunday at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Presidential Palace.

Aquino has been receiving flak after refusing to issue an apology over the death of 44 Special Action Force commandos of the Philippine National Police in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

While not referring specifically to the case, Aquino said the Philippines is at a “crossroads: Do we hate and fear, or choose to end the cycle of poverty and violence in Mindanao?”

The President noted that even as the predominantly Catholic country marks the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the season should also remind Filipinos that whatever ordeal and sacrifices they endured in recent days, as long as their faith remains strong and they choose the right path, they can also claim God’s promise of redemption.

For the nth time, Aquino again blamed past administrations for tolerating loopholes in the system, allowing a few to profit at the expense of many, thus eroding public trust and the respect and confidence of the global community.

To note, Aquino’s predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, celebrated her 68th birthday on Sunday.

Aquino also asserted that the Philippines managed to bounce back as “Asia’s Rising Tiger” because the people refused to be bound by the old ways and voted for his administration anchored on the promise of good governance.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) officers said their fingers are still crossed there would be no casualties as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Serv-

ices Administration (Pagasa) expects Chedeng to weaken into a low pressure area within 24 hours.

Pagasa said Chedeng, which reduced wind strength of 55 kilometers per hour near the center, made land-

Cultural dancers perform the “Bati” (literally, greeting) dance in front of Saint Padre Pio Parish and Shrine Church in San Pedro, Santo Tomas, Batangas, as part of the Easter Sunday traditional dance. As Catholics all over the country celebrate the day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, President Aquino spoke of the imminent criticism against him as the election for his successor nears. Roy Domingo

Congress leaders urged to consult National Peace Council execs in BBL talks

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

A

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, April 6, 2015 A3

lawmaker on Sunday urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to invite the newly created National Peace Council on its deliberations on the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL).

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, a senior member of the Minority Bloc, said the House 75-man ad hoc panel on BBL should do so and get a “reality check” on the measure’s real status.

Albano said the panel should invite the leaders of the peace council—recently created by President Aquino to scrutinize the BBL—to openly discuss the “controversial issues” hounding the law. He said some of these are the legal infirmities and unconstitutional provisions that have thwarted the BBL’s passage into law.

The members of the council named by Mr. Aquino were Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., business tycoon Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See and Malta Howard Dee and Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman, founder of the Teach Peace, Build Peace Movement.

The council is expected to lead a National Peace Summit.

“The council of citizen leaders must be given full, firsthand knowledge on the real status of the BBL in the House before they embark on their mission to bring to the Filipino people the issue of passing the controversial measure,” Albano said.

The House ad hoc committee tasked to scrutinize the BBL will resume discussion on the measure on April 20. The discussions are expected to last until end of April.

Albano said the council “would be accorded the special opportunity to see for themselves and know the dynamics of legislation, especially on the issues raised against the controversial BBL and its impact on the Constitution.”

He also noted the need for members of the council to attend the hearings “to enable them to realize that the BBL is inextricably intertwined with the Mamasapano incident, whose fallout had created a congressional quagmire where the BBL is stuck now.”

“Most of all, the peace council leaders would know the obtaining sentiment in the House on the BBL. They ought to know and appreciate the fact that the opposition to the BBL was caused by the inordinate desire” to pass the original draft BBL ‘as is.”’

The proposed BBL seeks to create a Bangsamoro political entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

fall in Isabela province in Northern Luzon at midmorning on Sunday.

Public Storm Signal warning No. 1 was raised over Kalinga, Isabela, Ifugao and Mountain Province. These areas will have moderate to heavy rains with occasional gusty winds, according to the Pagasa.

The Pagasa added it expects Chedeng wou ld be 125 k m north, northwest of Laoag City on Monday.

The NDRRMC said a total of 525 families, or 2,140 persons, were preemptively evacuated in the provinces of Isabela and Aurora and are being assisted by local officials and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The residents are from the villages of Dimalansan, Bicoblan, Dicatian,

Dilakit, Dimapula and Dipalo in Divilacan; Fely, Minanga and Eleanor in Maconacon; and Digumased, Bucal Sur, Dibulo and Ayod in Dinapigue.

All these villages are in Isabela.

On the other hand, the evacuated residents from Aurora are from the villages (barangays) of Masagana, Diagyan, Dilaguidi, Diniog and Dimaseset, in Dilasag; Sabang and Zabali, in Baler; Esteves, Calagdan, Borlongan, Dianed, Calaocan and Lobbot, in Casiguran; and Ditale, Ipil and Puangi in Dipaculao.

According to the DWSD, the 258 families staying in 17 evacuation centers in Aurora already returned home on Sunday afternoon.

The storm also forced on Sunday the cancellation of four flights to Cagayan and Laoag.

On the other hand, the government said it is already preparing for the resumption of boat travel from the ports of Pasacao in Camarines Sur, Tabaco City in Albay, and Real, Infanta, Polillo and Patnanungan in Quezon province.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government urged all local government units affected by Chedeng to continue monitoring their respective areas despite the weakening of Chedeng.

Despite the weakening of Chedeng, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said two MMDA rescue and clearing operations teams were deployed in Isabela and Quezon provinces for possible clearing operations there.

Economy

A4 Monday, April 6, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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PSALM boss in hot water anew Ayala keen on Naia upgrade,

By Lenie Lectura

E

mmanuel Ledesma Jr., president of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), is again in hot water following recommendations from the Governance Commission for GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) to remove him from his post.

According to highly placed sources, the formal recommendation was already submitted to the PSALM Board, which is headed by Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima.

Ledesma and Purisima do not get along well, the sources added.

The GCG’s recommendation was confirmed by Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, vice chairman of the PSALM Board. “It’s only recommendatory and the GCG has every right to recommend,” Petilla said in an interview.

The recommendation was based on a complaint similar to the one filed last year by PSALM employees, who accused Ledesma of being involved in corruption.

But Petilla said a recommendation that was based on a complaint does not necessarily mean a conviction. “It’s unfair. It’s the Ombudsman that decides on corruption allegedly committed by a government official. Just imagine if all of us in the government receive a similar complaint and the recommendation for us is to leave, then there be no one left.”

Besides, the energy chief said it is the President’s prerogative if Ledesma will be removed from office. “At the

end of the day, it’s the President who will decide.”

Industry sources, however, believes that “there’s not enough evidence” to support the complaint received by the GCG. “I believe there is a case filed before the Ombudsman. Let the Ombudsman take care of it. It’s the proper venue for corruption allegations,” a source said.

Another source said the case is not strong enough to result in conviction.

“Unless the PSALM president is being remiss of his duties, to the point that the privatization efforts are already being aversely affected; but, I believe, we are not going there.”

In September last year, more than 100 of the state firm’s employees said Ledesma failed to take immediate action against a winning bidder who submitted fake documents.

The employees said JPMorgan Chase Bank informed PSALM through a letter that it did not issue a standby letter of credit to Genetron International Marketing (GIM), a local firm which submitted the winning bid price of P602 million for the decommissioned 850-megawatt Sucat thermalpower plant at the bidding held in April last year.

GIM was required to submit a P301-million performance bond after PSALM issued to GIM a certificate of effectivity. GIM, on May 5, 2014, submitted a standby letter of credit supposedly issued by JPMorgan; but the bank denied it did.

“Mr. Ledesma failed to take immediate action against the winning bidder. Moreover, Mr. Ledesma withheld critical information to the

PSALM Board in relation to the issuance of a fraudulent performance bond,” they alleged in the petition.

More than two months later, Ledesma sent a notice of termination on the asset-purchase agreement to GIM. The sale of the decommissioned power plant has been delayed since.

“We strongly believe, however, that Mr. Ledesma has been and is grossly remiss in his fiduciary duties and obligations as PSALM’s CEO by not delivering on his duties of due diligence and loyalty, and duty of confidentiality,” they said in their petition.

The Sucat privatization is only one of the many issues that the PSALM employees hurled against Ledesma, who assumed his post in September 2010.

“We, the employees of PSALM wish to petition the PSALM Board for the removal from office, and disqualification from reappointment of Mr. Ledesma as president and chief executive officer of PSALM in view of his [1] transactions which are grossly disadvantageous to the government; [2] lack of sound business principles and judgment; [3] noncompliance with PSALM’s Manual of Approvals and established rules and regulation; and [4] alarming governance issues, such as inefficiency, poor leadership skills, abuse of discretion, distrust on employees and unethical behavior,” the petition stated.

Back then, Ledesma did not comment, saying he was not aware of the petition. The PSALM official did not reply when sought for his reaction on Sunday.

but not on secondary airports

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

HE deal to redevelop, operate and maintain the country’s main international gateway in Manila has attracted at least one potential bidder—the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines.

As the government aims to bid out the contract for the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) sometime this year, Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia expressed his company’s interest in pursuing the project.

“In Naia, we are interested in that—if it happens. But for now, it is still up in the air. It is not as imminent, at least,” Francia, who also sits as the president of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., said in an interview last week.

The Department of Transportation and Communications aims to auction off the project once the National Economic and Development Authority Board approves the terms of the deal sometime this quarter.

The project, in a nutshell, aims to improve the services of the aging aviation hub in Manila by tapping the expertise of foreign airport operators, such as the operators of Changi in Singapore, or Incheon in South Korea.

The optimal capacity of the airport in Manila’s four terminals is at 30 million annual passengers, while the maximum capacity is at roughly 35 million passengers per year.

This year the airport is expected to handle 37.78 million passengers, bulk of which, or 21.31 million, would be domestic traffic, while the remaining 16.46 million would be international passengers. Come 2040 Naia’s passenger traffic would reach 101.49 million, according to estimates.

Despite his company’s keen taste on diversifying to include airport operations, management and maintenance, the conglomerate, Francia noted, is not interested in participating in the auction for the P108.19billion contract to operate and maintain secondary airports in the country.

The bundled deals “are, at this point, not a priority for us,” he said. “So that is why we haven’t bought documents and we are not likely going to participate.”

AC Infrastructure Executive Vice President Noel Eli B. Kintanar explained his company’s position, saying the multibillion-peso projects carry a lot of risk.

“Many of the airports don’t even have international flights yet. It is hard to predict and forecast what kind of growth it will achieve,” he said.

With an indicative cost of P108.19 billion, the projects are set to undergo a dual-stage public auction sometime this year. The prequalification conference is scheduled on Tuesday, while the deadline for the submission of prequalification documents is on May 18.

The first package is composed of the Bacolod-Silay Airport (P20.26 billion); and Iloilo Airport (P30.40 billion); while the second bundle consists of the New Bohol or Panglao Airport (P2.34 billion); Laguindingan Airport (P14.62 billion); and Davao Airport (P40.57 billion).

The Bacolod airport, also known as Bacolod-Silay Airport, commenced operations in 2008 and is one of the recently completed airports in the Philippines with modern facilities. The airport is in Silay City, Negros Occidental, and generally caters to traffic for Negros Island—including Bacolod City—which is one of the most populous cities in the Western Visayas region.

Tourism is one of the main industries in Negros Occidental and is fast growing, with domestic tourists reaching 1.33 million in 2013.

The Iloilo Airport, on the other hand, is in Cabatuan, province of Iloilo, and is among the top 5 airports in the Philippines in terms of traffic data. It started its commercial operations in 2007, providing both domestic and international connectivity with seven domestic destinations and two international destinations. The airport served roughly 1.87 million passengers in 2013.

Seen to start its commercial operations by 2017, the P3.36-billion New Bohol Airport in Panglao is designed to accommodate 1 million passengers annually. The contract to construct new aviation hub in Bohol was awarded to Japanese joint venture of Chiyoda Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp. last month.

Located at the northern tip of Misamis Oriental, the Laguindingan Airport has a design capacity of 1.6 million passengers annually. It started operations in

2013. It replaced the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, which was among the five busiest airports in the Philippines in terms of passenger traffic.

Also known as Francisco Bangoy International Airport, the Davao Airport is the third busiest airport in the Philippines after the Naia and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. Located in Catitipan, Davao City, the airport has been operational for more than 15 years, currently serving both domestic and international operations.

Davao region is one of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in the country, with passenger traffic settling at 2.79 million in 2013.

The government decided to bundle the projects into two to make the deals more palatable to the private sector.

The deals were first introduced to the public in December last year, after the department published an invitation to bid for the aviation contracts. Discussions as to how these projects will be bundled started as early as 2013.

Overall, the private-sector partners will be tasked to improve the services at the respective key regional airports. This includes concessioning the operations and maintenance to the proponents, including required enhancement of airside and landside facilities at the respective airports.

So far, JG Summit Holdings Inc., San Miguel Corp.

(SMC), Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Megawide Construction Corp. have signified their interest to bid for the airports. These companies have, so far, cemented their names as regular bidders in the public-private partnership (PPP) arena.

All, execpt one, are also the very companies that have won most of the nine deals that the government has successfully awarded since 2010. However, five years into the administration, not one of them has been completed due to, among others, delays in the delivery of the right of way, as well as regulatory and legal setbacks, including court cases.

The Aquino administration has awarded nine contracts since the program’s inception in 2010, namely, the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Ex pressway project bagged by Ayala Corp. in 2011;

the P16.42-billion first phase of the PPP School Infrastructure Program (PSIP), which went in 2012 to the consortium formed by Megawide Construction Corp. and Citicore Holdings Investment Inc., as well as the BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. consortium;

the P15.68-billion Naia expressway, given to SMC unit Vertex Tollways Development Inc. in 2013;

the P3.86-billion PSIP Phase II contract, partially awarded in 2013 to Megawide and the BSP & Co. Inc.Vicente T. Lao Construction consortium;

the P5.69-billion Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center project that went to the MegawideWorld Citi Inc. consortium also in 2013;

the P1.72-billion Automatic Fare Collection System contract awarded to the AF Consortium of Ayala and MPIC in 2014;

the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport New Passenger Terminal project bagged in 2014

by Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructures Ltd.;

the P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension deal, awarded in 2014 to Light Rail Manila Consortium of Ayala and MPIC; and

the P2.5-billion Integrated Transport System Southwest Terminal, won by Megawide and partner Walter Mart Property Management Inc. of billionaire and retail magnate Henry Sy in January.

The state intends to plug the gap in the country’s transportation facility in the next decade by rolling out massive infrastructure projects that are seen to spur economic growth.

Economy BusinessMirror

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briefs MINDANAO LOSES POWER FOR 7 HOURS A widespread brownout hit Mindanao early Sunday for up to seven hours. “It’s actually a Mindanao-wide blackout that happened at 1 am,” said Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla in a text message.

He said a team was immediately formed to come up with conclusive detailed report on the incident.

Initial reports indicated that a line tripping occurred in the state-run Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power complex in Lanao del Sur. “The tripping happened in Agus 6 and Agus 7 area. Restoration is priority task now and about 80 percent to 90 percent of Mindanao have their power now and we should have 100-percent normal power shortly,” Petilla said on Sunday morning.

The energy chief added that some of the line assets of Agus 6 and 7 are maintained by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP). NGCP spokesman Cynthia Alabanza said at 7:50 a.m. power-transmission services had been restored.

Lenie Lectura

NUMBER OF UNFILLED STATE JOBS RISING

Close to 200,000 positions in various government agencies remain unfilled, with the number of vacant posts going up since 2013, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said.

This, the DBM said, could lead to more unutilized funds allocated to pay the salaries and benefits of state employees amounting to P730.9 billion this year.

The 2015 Staffing Summary of the national government showed the number of unfilled positions in various government agencies reached 188,388 this year, which is13.1 percent of total permanent positions in 2013.

The number has been growing since 2013 when a total of 154,019 unfilled positions, or 11.1 percent of the total permanent positions, were not filled up. Estrella Torres

‘Consumers should start seeing lower power cost’

F

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

ollowing the general decline in the cost of primary energy sources, electricity rates should be going down by now, a party-list lawmaker said on Sunday.

“It is not just the cost of oil that is down. Coal prices are also deflated,” House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty said.

“In fact, geothermal power producers are already slashing their tariffs so they can compete more aggressively with coal-based suppliers of electricity,” he added.

Ty said that about 41.4 percent of the country’s power supply is derived from geothermal resources; 28 percent from coal; 15 percent from natural gas; 11.4 percent from hydro; 3.9 percent from diesel and fuel oil; and the rest from biomass, biodiesel, solar and wind energy.

“Power rates should be going down on account of the overall decline in energy costs. If producers are cutting their tariffs, electricity distributors should be rolling back and not jacking up their rates,” Ty added.

The Manila Electric Co. announced that its customers will see their bills go up by P0.46 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this April and by P0.72 per kwh in May, due to the one-month shutdown of the Malampaya natural-gas field that drives three large power plants in Luzon.

The lawmaker, however, said that even if the power generators dependent on Malampaya have to run on alternative fuels, the costs of those substitutes are also down, so the higher electricity

TY: “Power rates should be going down on account of the overall decline in energy costs. If producers are cutting their tariffs, electricity distributors should be rolling back and not jacking up their rates.”

rates may not be justified.

“Power producers and distributors should allow consumers to benefit from cheaper electricity, owing to the drop in energy prices,” he said.

Ty said that he expects the prices of leading energy sources to stay deflated, just like oil.

“The price of the global benchmark Brent crude oil has plunged below $55 per barrel, from a high of $115 in June last year, due to a global glut in supply amid falling demand,” he said.

Monday, April 6, 2015 A5

Caap opts to revise aviation rules after Germanwings crash

By Recto Mercene

A

lthough it remained silent on the issue of attaching camera video recorder or closed circuit television inside airplane cockpits, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) on April 1 approved amendments to aviation regulations requiring two persons inside the plane’s flight deck at all times.

The mandate takes effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette, or any newspaper of general circulation.

The Caap edict came, following the result of investigation that Germanwings Flight 9525 copilot Andrea Lubitz deliberately locked out of the cockpit the pilot-in-command before programming the aircraft to descend to almost 100 feet above the ground to crash.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Caap said for aircraft certified to be manned by two pilots, a flight crew member, not necessarily a pilot, should be inside the cockpit if a pilot leaves for personal reasons.

The Caap said the crew member should be preferably male.

“The mandatory regulation means that at the event either one of the pilots would like to get out of the cockpit for lavatory break or other reasons, they must allow another member of the flight crew to enter the cockpit that will serve as a backup, preventing the pilot outside from being locked out by the other pilot who is inside the cockpit,” it said.

The Caap also mandates that the cockpit door should be locked from the time all external doors are closed for embarkation. The door can only be opened until disembarkation time, except when necessary.

“Means shall be provided for monitoring from either pilot’s station the entire door area outside the flight crew compartment to identify persons requesting entry and to detect suspicious behavior or potential threat,” Caap added.

Caap chief William K. Hotchkiss III approved the amendments last April 1, and also ordered aircraft operators to include in their manuals procedures related to the amendments.

The changes shall be submitted to the Caap for review and approval, he said.

Tourism&En

Business

A6 Monday, April 6, 2015 • Editor: Gerard Ramos

CULTURAL HARMONY, T

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B B L

ANY of the Northern Luzon tribal cultures are worth immersing into.

THE street-dancing competition

BALETE Pass

IMUGAN Falls

One such cultural heritage, that of the Kalanguyas, is showcased in Santa Fe’s (Nueva Vizcaya) Kalanguya Festival. Santa Fe, the gateway to the Cagayan Valley region, hosted the 20th edition of this festival, which is held in conjunction with the town’s fiesta.

Started in 1996, the festival aims to conserve, preserve and protect the almost-forgotten but rich Kalanguya

cultural heritage, especially to the younger generation. Slowly, the Kalanguyas (about 70 percent of the town’s 14,500 population) are being recognized as a component for society’s progress, and a feeling of brotherhood now exists between the Kalanguyas and the lowlanders, thus dissolving lowlander discrimination and the prevailing differences between these

two peoples. The festival also brought enormous progress and development in the town and its people’s lives.

Joining a media group, consisting of two other print-media representatives and three staff from the Department of Tourism, we all left Manila by 7:15 a.m. and the 216.85-kilometer trip took all of six hours, including a stopover for lunch at San Jose City (Nueva Ecija). We arrived at the town by 1:30 p.m., and were warmly welcomed by Mayor Liwayway C. Caramat and Municipal Tourism Promotion and Development Officer Ma. Theresa Farrah C. Dugay.

As the grand parade, the highlight of the festival, was still scheduled for the next day, we still had time to explore Imugan Waterfalls, one of the town’s natural attractions. The

30-minute hike traversed mildly graded dirt trail, passing a hanging bridge, boulder-strewn streams and, along the trail, wild orchids clinging to trees, giant ferns and stems of tiger grass used in the manufacture of the popular walis tambo, or soft broom, another town product. Also along the way, we passed numerous orchards of sayote, all sprouting on vines clinging to a moderately spaced mesh of GI wire and supported on poles along the steep slope of the mountain side.

Back at the town proper, we were checked in at cottages within the 2,200-hectare Santa Fe Forest Park, a reforestation project with Benguet pine and West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni). The grand parade was to also start here and contingent members were billeted in the multi-

ntertainment

sMirror

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, April 6, 2015 A7

THE KALANGUYA WAY

KALANGUYAS performing the padit

THE walis tambo-themed float of Barangay. Bacneng

purpose hall. Our dinners and breakfasts were at the roadside Mrs. Gaddi’s Restaurant, with its good selection of hearty provincial fare, steaks, sandwiches and strong coffee.

The next day, after breakfast, we observed the parade of 16 floats (each representing a barangay) along the National Highway as it wound its way to the town proper. Each float had on board its barangay’s beauty candidate, wearing a Kalanguya costume. At the town proper, the street-dancing competition with ground demonstration was held, showcasing the Kalanguya’s costumes, dance and musical instruments. Each of the three contingents presented a story line regarding a

particular Kalanguya practice.

We also observed the padit, a grand canao (socio-religious celebration) ritual featuring the butchering of pigs, native chickens and two carabaos.

These were then boiled and served to all attendees. Tapey (native wine) was also served to guests, while the bahliw was chanted by tribal elders. Later, officials, guests and barangay officials danced the tayaw, to the beat of gongs.

Indigenous sports such as bultong (wrestling), tug-of-war, bamboo-pole climbing, wood chopping, gayang (spear throwing), hanggol (arm wrestling) and dapapnikillum (pig catching), plus tapey drinking and group chanting of the bah-liw were also featured.

FARM produce at the Agri-Tourism Fair

Within the festival venue were 16 booths selling jams and jellies made from guava, santol, bignay or wild berries; farm produce such as camote, gabi, vegetables, yakun, sayote, etc.; and Ifugao handicrafts such as rattan baskets, woodcarvings, tiger grass soft brooms, and exotic and beautiful handwoven fabrics used as tapis by

women and g-strings by the men.

On our way back to Manila, we made a short stopover at Balete Pass (formerly Dalton Pass), located 915 meters (3,000 ft.) above sea level.

The highest point in this pass has a 12-foot-high Japanese shrine and monument that recalls the “Battle of the Skies” fought in 1945 between the pursuing 25th US Army and Filipino guerrillas, led by Gen. James Dalton II (after whom the pass was named), and the rear guard of the Japanese Army retreating to the river mouth to the north. Seven thousand Japanese soldiers, as well as General Dalton were, killed in the battle. At its viewpoint, we had a good view into the headlands of both the Cagayan River and the Pampanga Valleys.

MAKING ‘VISIT THE PHILIPPINES’

YEAR 2015’ MORE FUN T HE Philippines’s largest homegrown fast-food chain, Jollibee, is not only bringing delicious food and quick service overseas but also relaying the invitation of “Visit the Philippines Year 2015” through its local 800 branches and nearly 100 stores in the US, Southeast Asia and the

Middle East. Jollibee is teaming up with the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) for the yearlong campaign to spread the word about the country’s fun-filled festivals.

Photo shows (from left) TPB COO Domingo Ramon Enerio III and Jollibee Philippines VP-Marketing Harvey Ong.

TheElderly

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Monday, April 6, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

Senior gays seeking govt support in getting own group residence

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By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

GROUP of senior gays recently called on the government to provide them with a residence, insisting that, as citizens, they have the right to a home for the aged exclusive for them.

The Golden Gays, which convenes its members in a makeshift home in a depressed community in Pasay City, requires a house conducive to making its members, talents still useful to society, said Mon Busa, the group’s president.

The group’s meetings in the makeshift house are disrupted when rain water drips into the interior of the house, he said.

The group had a home for over 10 years in the residence of its founder, Justo C. Justo, a newspaper columnist and Pasay councilor.

Due to its limitation to accommodate, some of them had lived in that house, others just frequented it to connect with their fellow gays.

After Justo passed away in 2012, however, his family closed the house to the group.

A 60-year-old Golden Gays member, who had nowhere to go, stayed in a barangay outpost, until a homeowner in the area offered him to stay in a makeshift house after a few months. He ekes out a living of

P1,000 monthly as a street sweeper.

It has been about three years now since their former home was closed, Busa noted.

The Golden Gays realized how hard it is not to have a house for its aging members, he said.

If the group will be provided with its own home by the government, by a charitable individual or group, it will be the first of its kind in the Philippines, Busa noted.

The group does not ask for a big house, he said. All it needs is one that can accommodate 25 occupants, including three staff members, who will clean the house, cook and do the laundry.

With their own house, the senior gays will have an ease to interconnect with each other, Busa said.

“Interconnectivity” is very important for aging gays, he said. It makes them feel useful and connected to one another.

Although the Department of Social Welfare and Development has allocation for senior citizens, it does

Golden Gays President Mon Busa OLIVER SAMSON

not allocate any for senior homosexuals as an exclusive group, Busa said.

It is something they feel is discriminatory to them, he said.

If they will be provided with a house, the senior gays can run it without subsidy from the government, Busa said.

They can engage in livelihood ventures, like running their own salon and employing their members in a fashion outfit and weaving bags to finance their needs, he added.

Golden Gays members can make

bags that can compete in quality with products made locally and abroad, Busa said. They can turn the house into a working space to plan and carry out livelihood projects, he said.

With their earnings, they can provide their own food, and pay water, electricity and other bills, he said.

They can also source their food from charitable individuals and groups that recognize them as part of society, he added.

Currently, the group has 40 active members from Metro Manila

and nearby provinces, like Bulacan and Cavite, he said. The oldest is 87 years old.

At least once a week, 25 of them dress like a woman to enliven a party, which runs from three to four hours, which includes a beauty contest.

In February the group performed at a party in Pasay hosted by Renee Salud, one of the country’s premier fashion designers.

Busa observed, however, that homosexuals in the country are more accepted in the Philippines than their counterparts anywhere else in Asia.

He recalled Filipinos were still thinking in a box in the 1960s. A job application would be rejected if the employer learned the applicant was a homosexual.

In the 1980s, however, they began to gain acceptance. The discrimination they suffered in recent decades began to recede.

Even the Muslim homosexuals in the country today have gained leniency from their own communities, Busa said.

The Golden Gays on David Street in Pasay, a walking distance from the corner of Gil Puyat and F.B. Harrison avenues, has been a landmark in the city. It was founded in that city in the late 1970s and was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission after over a decade on November 4, 2002.

They welcome groceries and other gifts from individuals and groups who recognize them as part of the society, not only as a reality, Busa said.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Grandmas are in centerfold: Rest home bares all for calendar

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KRON, Ohio — The stars of a charity calendar are in their 80s and 90s, but that didn’t stop the men and women from an assisted-living facility in Ohio from showing a little skin.

Miss March, who’s 88, wears a green top hat and not much else in the calendar from Pleasant Pointe Assisted Living, and the centerfolds are two women in their 90s who seem to be playing poker with strategically placed oversize cards.

Flip to February and you’ll see a smiling, white-haired Dottie Rutter soaking in a bubble bath and flower petals, with chocolates and lingerie nearby.

At 87, she’s the same age as the youngest of three models standing in the cover photo, where their bare feet and shoulders peek out from behind a banner they hold advertising the Barberton, Ohio, facility and the affiliated Pleasant View Health Care Center.

It reads: “Pleasant View, Pleasant Pointe.”

Another resident in the calendar is covered only by a large exercise ball.

Administrator Teresa Morris told The Akron Beacon Journal that the residents were clearly having fun the morning the photos were taken.

“The residents were like 20-yearolds—giggling, and having the time of their lives,” Morris said. “I do not believe the elderly should just sit around staring at each other. I want a fun environment where I challenge them and they challenge me.”

Money from the $12 calendars goes toward a fund providing shoes for children in the local schools in the city of Barberton. AP

Disaster expo shows innovations in thriving Japan industry

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ENDAI, Japan—Mankind is powerless to prevent calamities such as typhoons and earthquakes, but in Japan where the devastating 2011 tsunami still looms large, there’s a flourishing industry in devising ways to cope with catastrophe.

Some of the products on display at an exhibition on the sidelines of a recent United Nations disaster conference in the northeastern city of Sendai featured high-tech innovations and new materials. But many were just inventive, practical solutions for challenges such as quickly getting people out of harm’s way.

Products like Masayoshi Nakamura’s “Jinriki”—custom-made handles designed for easily hustling wheelchairs over debris and up hills.

“I just wanted to do something to help,” said Nakamura, jumping into a wheelchair as he urged a visitor to give it a try.

The snap-and-screw-on handles, which turn a wheelchair into a modern version of a “rickshaw” like the ones seen in old movies, enable a person to push or pull a wheelchair over sand and snow, up and down stairs, with relative ease.

Nakamura knew from early on that pushing a wheelchair can be hard work, having often pushed his disabled brother around as they played with friends as children. He thought up the idea for the Jinriki while working on a tourism-related project, but was only able to turn it into a reality after the March 2011 disasters.

Being able to quickly escape to higher ground was a life-or-death matter when a tsunami up to 40 meters (131 feet) high thrashed Japan’s northeastern coast, including Sendai’s port and coastal suburbs, killing more than 18,500 people.

Many of the elderly people living in Japan’s seaside villages could not escape in time. Pioneer Seiko Co.’s

GRANDPA’S HARVEST

Mang Boy Cadelina shows samples of his tomato harvest from his farm in Barangay Marasat Grande, San Mateo, Isabela. At 69, Cadelina claims that keeping himself physically busy serves more than an exercise. LEONARDO PERANTE II

people-carrier frame, something of a cross between a toddler backpack and an adult-sized chair, can be used by an adult to carry another adult on their back.

Exact figures on disaster-related spending and manufacturing are hard to come by. The market spans both government and private spending, and includes an entire universe of goods ranging from tarps and water containers to sophisticated early-warning systems for tsunamis and typhoons.

Globally, disaster-related spending is on the rise as losses from weather-related catastrophes surge.

Heeding estimates showing that $1 spending on prevention can yield up to $36 in savings from losses, in

2012-2014 the World Bank allocated $1.4 billion on preparedness, nearly half the $3 billion committed to postdisaster rebuilding.

Takahisa Kishimoto of Teijin Frontier Co., a subsidiary of textiles giant Teijin, was peddling a blanket with hand-holes that can be used to haul an injured person out of a disaster zone when a stretcher isn’t handy.

Many of the exhibitors in Sendai traveled from Japan’s western industrial center of Osaka, seeking to expand into northern Japan and beyond. That includes Takashi Torano, a disaster expert at Fujiwara Industry Co., a maker of tsunami-escape towers, among many other types of disaster equipment.

Fujiwara also makes beds fit-

ted with overhead steel slats to shield up to three adults from falling debris.

“The idea is to create a safe space in the home,” Torano said. Other offerings included an emergency kit for helping extricate people from collapsed houses, and hard-hats designed to look like baseball caps.

“You can walk around town and not have to worry about a quake knocking something onto your head,” Torano said.

On a larger scale, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Products Co. and contractor Shimizu Corp. have developed an “anti-seismic surgical floor” to keep operating tables steady in case of a quake.

As it strives to revive the slug-

KEEPING FIT IN BAGUIO

Senior citizens in Baguio City take advantage of the good weather by running or walking briskly every morning at Burnham Park. MAU VICTA

gish economy, the government is aggressively peddling disaster-related technology.

At the UN conference, the Japan Bosai Platform Bureau, set up with support from the Land and Transport Ministry, was offering its onestop online service center for major construction and building materials companies hoping to export their products and expertise.

The Japanese government announced plans this week for a new 10-year risk management strategy intended to slash in half estimated deaths and damages in the earthquake-prone Tokyo region.

Apart from retrofitting buildings and reducing congestion in fire-prone riverside districts, the government intends to stockpile 72 million meals, 6 million blankets and 54 million used portable toilets.

While the earthquake simulator, allterrain vehicles and other big-ticket items drew the biggest crowds in Sendai, some of the more innovative products were on a much smaller scale. Like the “Opticure Splint,” made of a resin that when exposed to LED light hardens into a light but strong and supple cast for immobilizing broken limbs, or even whole bodies, in the case of an infant. AP

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Regions BusinessMirror

San Miguel Foundation donates relocation site for GenSan squatters

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AVAO CI T Y—T he San Miguel Foundation has donated a 7-hectare site to the local government of General Santos City to relocate residents who had encroached in the property of the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in that city.

The new relocation site is located in Upper Tambler that the company purchased to clear the portion of its bigger 21-hectare property in Upper Banualan, Barangay Tambler.

The donation was formalized between SMC and the General Santos City government in a memorandum of agreement and a deed of donation on February 17.

“After talking with Mayor Ronnel Rivera and arranging things properly, instead of filing an ejectment [against the settlers], they [SMC] opted to donate a seven-hectare site,” said Mary Ann Bacar, City Housing and Land Management Office (CHLMO) head.

Bacar said the relocation site, “as per legal basis, is cleared or has no claimants.” She said the CHLMO would oversee the relocation of the families, “including a consultation program to compel the families to relocate.”

“The hardest part would be ours.

We have to thoroughly explain to

these families that they have to relocate,” Bacar said, but warned that “those who refuse to relocate would be dealt with by the court.”

She said SMC already provided basic amenities in the area such as water and electricity.

Rivera said he was happy with the recent donation. “I know that these families have been residing on San Miguel’s private land. This relocation site will provide a winwin alternative for them.”

“I also hope that San Miguel will donate more lands for the city,” Rivera said. The city information office said General Santos City “is an urbanized city being surrounded by mainly rural municipalities. This geographical scenario alone might prove that many are moving in to GenSan for better livelihood and opportunities.”

It said Rivera “would like to confirm this phenomenon through a thorough migration study to be conducted by the Sociology Faculty of the Mindanao State University–General Santos City in partnership with the City Population and Management Office.” It said the budget for the research was already approved by the Sangguniang Panglunsod. Manuel T. Cayon

MGB: Negros coastal-soil erosion a natural phenomenon B J L. M

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S the southern coast of the Negros Occidental shrinks because of coastal-soil erosion, building up of coasts may also be happening elsewhere, Director Leo L. Jasareno of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said. Jasareno said coastal-soil erosion is a natural phenomenon but he said there are engineering interventions that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) or the local government units (LGUs) can do to prevent it.

Mangrove reforestation, he said, can help prevent coastal-soil erosion but not all coastal areas can be planted with mangrove. Asked whether it is adversely affecting the environment, Jasareno said: “Coastal-erosion is adverse on a particular locale because of the diminishing beaches. But on a broader perspective, it is part of the balancing act of nature.”

The MGB said coastal geohazards assessment and shoreline mapping conducted in several cities and municipalities in Negros Occidental showed the southern coast of the region had been losing approximately 9.5 hectares annually in the past 58 years because of coastal erosion.

An MGB report said postsurvey data processing and interpretation of shoreline mapping data using ArcGIS software revealed that coastal erosion is more widespread than sediment accretion in the south-central coast of Negros Occidental. The survey is based on the coastal geohazards assessment and shoreline mapping carried out in December 2014 in Bago City and the municipalities of Pulupandan, Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Hinigaran, and Binalbaga.

The report showed an analysis of coastlines between 1956 and 2014 in southern Negros Occidental suggested that the corridors eroded away by waves and currents totalled 550 hectares, while the accreted zones summed up to about 226 hectares. The emergent landmass along the southern coast of Negros Occidental lost 324 hectare (550 has eroded minus 226 has accreted) to coastal erosion, the report said.

The widths of eroded corridors within the study area range approximately from 9 meters to 334 meters with a median value of 144 meters, the widest being in Barangay Enclaro (334 meters) in the town of Balibagan. Barangay Tapong, Pulupandan (272 meters); Barangay San Juan, Binalbagan (266 meters); Barangay Barangay Calumangan, Bago City (231 meters), and Barangay Poblacion, Valladolid (195 meters) follow the list of widest eroded corridors in terms of width respectively.

Barangay Miranda, Municipality of Hinigaran (77 hectares) has the most extensive zones of eroded corridors in terms of hectarage. The areas of eroded corridors ranges more or less from 0.01 hectare to 77 hectares. Barangay Tapong, Municipality of Pulupandan (75 hectares); and Barangay Enclaro, Municipality of Binalbagan (71 hectares) follows the list of most eroded corridors in terms of hectarage.

The survey concludes that Hinigaran (133 hectares) has the largest distribution of eroded corridors per municipality and city. Binalbagan (108 hectares); Pulupandan (100 hectares); Bago City (88 hectares); Valladolid (78 hectares); Pontevedra (42 hectares); and San Enrique (2 hectares) follow the list from largest to least distribution of eroded corridors.

For the same period, the total area gained through sediment accretion is estimated to be 226 hectares.

Assuming a uniform rate, the area formed through sediment accretion is roughly 3.90 hectares per annum.

The study team recommended a mix of soft engineering measures or bioengineering, and well-engineered hard structures to be launched by the concerned LGUs to prevent further shrinking of its beaches.

These include planting of tree species adaptable to coastal environments at the upper beach slope and on emergent accreted zones, as well as massive planting of mangroves, mangrove reforestation, and aforestation complemented with adequate coastal setbacks to mitigate the serious effects of coastal erosion in settlement centers behind high energy areas.

The team also recommended that land titles should not be issued to individuals who may apply or claim for occupancy rights on the emergent accreted lands to reduce the risk of exposure to coastal geohazards as the zones are situated in fragile environments. The study area is also highly prone to coastal flooding. The study showed that the coastal hazard could be a direct consequence of either storm surges or tsunami wave trains, which could be aggravated by extreme high tide regimes and ground subsidence.

The potential tsunami generators are the Negros Trench and the Sulu Trench.

The areas rated to have Very High to High susceptibility potentials to coastal flooding are those with ground surface elevations of 0 meters to 3 meters and 3 meters to 6 meters above mean sea level, respectively, particularly those areas facing the open sea and without wide and dense mangrove forests as buffers or wave-energy dissipaters.

Mindanao goes dark on Easter Sunday

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B M T. C | Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—Mindanao went dark at predawn of Easter Sunday in an occurrence likened to what happened a year ago, when the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) was able to explain the massive blackout 15 days later.

As of the afternoon of Easter Sunday, neither the NGCP nor the National Power Corp. forwarded any explanation to the blackout that sent the entire Mindanao island under darkness for seven hours.

The NGCP sent only a brief advisory through mobile text saying that “power interruption in Mindanao, April 5” and that it was “working to restore power transmission services to affected customers in Midnanao.”

“We are still determining the cause and extent of the problem,” the same advisory text read.

It was sent at 4:47 a.m. The Davao Light and Power Co. said the blackout in its entire franchise area, covering Davao City and the Davao del Norte towns of Santo Tomas and Braullio Dujali, and Panabo City, “happened after supply from the NGCP was suddenly cut off.” It said that it resorted to tapping on its embedded power sources: the Hedcor’s Sibulan Hydro Plant and the standby Bajada Diesel Power Plant.

“The power from the latter plant was served prioritizing key service providers, such as hospitals,” the

company said. Davao Light was able to start restoration at 4:29 a.m. The city’s northeasternmost barangays from Bunawan going to Panabo City and up to Santo Tomas town remained cut off from power.

Although the company reenergized back its entire franchise area at 7:17 a.m., outages were reported again at past 8 a.m. in many areas of Davao City, and said it was due to the inadequate power supply from the Mindanao grid.

The Davao City Water District continued to pump potable water, but subdivisions still unserved by the water district were able to pump water for only a few hours, and their water pumping in black soil or fine black sand, such as those at the Elenita Heights in Mintal.

“As of press time, Davao Light is still awaiting for the advice from NGCP as to the cause of the said total blackout,” it said.

On February 27 last year, the entire Mindanao grid conked out, after the Steag turbines malfunctioned, affecting the transmission systems.

But it took authorities 15 days to explain the blackout, raising suspicion of government reluctance to immediately reveal the cause.

‘Bloodless’ Lenten tradition in Macabebe, Pampanga

ONE of the 14 stations of the cross showcased on Good Friday in downtown Macabebe, Pampanga. LEO VILLACARLOS B J P Correspondent

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ACABEBE, Pampanga—It was 59 years ago when a group called Everybody’s Club started a “bloodless” Lenten tradition in Barangay San Isidro, here.

Pampanga—notably at the cities of Angeles and San Fernando—is the country’s center of self-flagellations during Holy Week. At least six villages in San Fernando and two in Angeles are known to hold crucifixion rites on Good Friday.

Everybody’s Club has been creating replicas of Jesus Christ’s stations of the cross since 1956. Every year, the club chooses what to replicate among the 14 stations of Jesus.

Then it will imitate the scenario of the station chosen and create the costumes for club members representing Mama Mary, Joseph, Jesus,

Roman soldiers, and the apostles, to name a few.

The 14 stations of the cross were all represented and each displayed at vacant lots and façade of houses along major roads in San Isidro and villages near the municipal hall.

The tradition went on for almost 60 years but it was during the time of Mayor Annette Flores-Balgan when the Maleldo activity “grew and improved,” San Isidro Barangay Captain Romy Manansala said.

Macabebe Tourism Officer Katherine Flores said Balgan started to support the tradition shortly after she became mayor in 2010.

Flores said the two-term mayor had given financial subsidies to the participating clubs and groups. She said the mayor had given cash gifts to winners because it was then a competition. Flores said the municipal government and the clubs

chose to forgo the “cash gifts” last year because “they were celebrating the Passion and Death of Jesus through religious rites that showcased devotion.”

She said there was still a competition in 2014 and trophies were given to the top winners.

Flores said this year, they decided to completely let go of the prizes and contests. She said a subsidy of P6,000 each was given to the 13 groups or clubs that participated in this year’s Holy Week traditions.

“It was all voluntarism to express faith and love for God. All were winners,” Flores said.

“A club had spent at least P300,000 for their station. The money came from volunteers. They wanted to have a permanent station of the cross so they don’t have to build a temporary one every year,” Balgan said.

PPA to formulate Eastern Visayas seaport master plan

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A C L O B A N C I T Y —T h e Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is now checking existing seaports in Eastern Visayas as part of formulating the region’s seaport master plan. The evaluation is in response to a proposal of the Regional Development Council (RDC) to connect the three primary islands of the region through nautical highway.

“The concerns have been referred to the engineering office for evaluation and assessment of the configuration of the PPA ports within the

Leyte, Samar and Biliran provinces,” said Raul T. Santos, PPA assistant general manager for operations in a letter to RDC. The RDC passed the resolution during the council’s meeting on October 27, 2014, in Palo, Leyte. The council sent a copy of the resolution to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya late last year. The council’s vice chairman and National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Bonifacio Uy hopes that formulation of the plan will be completed within the year.

Uy said the proposed master plan will encourage interisland commerce and trade, as well as domestic tourism in the region, hence creating more employment opportunities.

“Much like roads and highways on land, the seaport master plan will be a highway through the sea using rollon, roll-off [Roro] ferry terminals and Roro vessels to link the islands,” he said. The RDC pushed for the formulation of the plan considering that shipping remains the major infrastructure that connects island provinces in the region to commercial hubs. PNA

Monday, April 6, 2015

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Mindanao senator cites criteria for new Comelec appointees

B R M

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MINDANAO solon had proposed that the next commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should be independent and very familiar with election laws. He also called for the inclusion of a Muslim appointee, whose credentials fall within the stringent requirements of the job.

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, a member of the powerful Committee on Appointments, said he would exercise his right to block the appointment of those who fail to meet the criteria.

“I would only bat for independent-minded appointees familiar with the automated-election system, and preferably very knowledgeable in information technology,” Pimentel said. “The appointee should not be a political personality. If once upon a time a politician, the appointee must have shown independence in the past and has retired from politics completely.”

The recent retirement of Comelec Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. and Commissioners Elias Yusof and Ramoncito Tagle created vacancies in the poll body which is preparing for the 2016 elections.

The commissioners, including the chairman, serve for seven years without reappointment. They must be natural-born Filipinos and at least 35 years old at the time of the appointment.

The chairman and majority of the six commissioners must be members of the Philippine Bar who have practiced law for at least 10 years and did not participate in the immediate past election.

Pimentel said he favors the appointment of independentminded candidates, who have no political bias or potential conflict of interest to ensure fair, honest and transparent elections.

Central Visayas DENR urges public to buy lumber only from legal dealers

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EBU CITY—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Eastern Visayas has urged the public to buy lumber and wood products only from accredited lumber dealers.

Dr. Eddie Llamedo, DENR public information officer in Region 7 (DENR 7), said his agency is continuing its inventory of the stockpile of lumber from accredited dealers to determine the volume coming in and the volume sold based on official receipts.

He said DENR wants to achieve zero illegal-logging activities by preventing dealers from sourcing lumber from illegal sources.

DENR 7 Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo also urged all their field officers to closely coordinate with the regional and provincial anti-illegal task force in joint enforcement operations with the military and the police.

He said illegal loggers brought their logs to Metro Cebu through misdeclaration of shipment, expired documents, excess in volume as stated in the permit, or the permit is issued by a former DENR officer.

Llamedo said the DENR and other law-enforcement units will also confiscate illegal forest products, such as logs, lumber, fitches, charcoal, firewood and timber to be used as evidence in court cases. Illegal forest products without court cases will be donated to the Department of Education for school repairs to other beneficiaries. PNA

A10 Monday, April 6, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial Property loans; so what’s the problem

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HE Philippine property sector has been under intense scrutiny for many years. Because of the total collapse of the real-estate markets in the United States and Europe, which led to the current global financial crisis, property is an easy whipping boy for any potential economic problems.

However, the industry is totally different here in the Philippine from how the projects are funded, constructed and sold. Further, the terms of the mortgages that the buyers take out are significantly different than in the West.

Yet, the self-proclaimed experts both here and abroad continue to chant the cult-like mantra, “If property is booming, it must be bad.”

The primary reason that the Philippine property sector is financially sound is that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is not “owned” by the banks as in the West. The Western central banks, through political donations by global financial institutions, in effect bribe politicians to make sure the central banks favor the policies that these institutions desire.

The central bank must act like a referee in a boxing match to insure that things do not get out of control. But that requires that all the players accept the need for an independent referee as happens here in the Philippines.

Property lending practices are much tighter and controlled in the Philippines and that has created a sound and growing property sector.

The BSP released numbers on property-sector loans data showing real-estate loans of the banks increased by 6.8 percent at end-2014. Immediately the wailing began that there is a property loan “bubble.” Yet, a closer look shows how sound these loans really are.

The loans represent 85 percent of the banks’ exposure to the real-estate sector. The other 15 percent is the banks’ investment in real-estate securities.

Sixty percent of the real-estate loans were extended to land developers, construction firms and other corporate entities. The remaining 40 percent went to individual households.

In other words, the majority of the loans went to multibillion-peso companies that develop the projects, all backed by hard assets. Further, BSP rules now require that these loans carry higher collateral, allowing loans of up to 60 percent of the market value of the collateral, from the previous 80 percent.

But if these property loans are as dangerous as we have been told for years, we should see the negative symptoms. That is not happening. At end-2014, the banks’ nonperforming real-estate loans equal 2.47 percent of the total real-estate loans. This was also the lowest nonperforming real-estate loan ratio since December 2012.

Further, all nonperforming loans (NPL) dropped to an historic low of 1.82 percent of total loans in December last year. The banking industry’s loan-loss reserves represented 142 percent of their NPLs, including real estate.

The only way property loans are going to be a problem for the Philippines is if the BSP and the banks begin acting as foolishly with their financials as the banks did in the West for 20 years. That is not going to happen in the Philippines.

04062015

PCSO on standby for Chedeng Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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REPARATIONS at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) are being made for the expected landfall of Typhoon Chedeng (international code name Maysak) within the next few days.

The PCSO branch offices in Northern and Central Luzon, the areas expected to be affected, have been placed on alert and are ready to extend any needed assistance.

Under the PCSO’s Quick Response Program, the PCSO will shoulder the cost of medical treatment in government hospitals for victims directly affected by natural disasters and national emergencies, in line with the PCSO’s mandate.

The PCSO will also be distributing Family Emergency Medicine (FEM) kits and other relief goods as needed, in coordination with PCSO branch offices and local government units.

FEM kits contain medicines, such as paracetamol and loperamide for quick relief of pain and fever and other common ailments, and are useful in emergency situations and where displaced persons are living in shelters and other temporary quarters.

Depending on the severity of the emergency or disaster, the PCSO

has also, in the past, donated rice and equipment such as water-treatment plants, power generators and tents, notably in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan).

We regularly remind the public that the type of assistance that the PCSO primarily extends is medicaland health care-related; therefore, the agency shoulders the cost of care in government hospitals of victims directly affected by national emergencies and calamities.

This is an automatic response of the PCSO and our branch offices are in close coordination with the government hospitals in the affected areas to implement this.

The PCSO employees also mount drives for used clothing and canned food and bottled water for donation in stricken areas, above and beyond the assistance the PCSO extends as an entity. For Yolanda, the PCSO employees gathered together more than 20 boxes of goods.

Sometimes, the PCSO receives corporate donations; the agency distributes the donated goods in the areas where they are most needed.

Included among the secondary responses of the PCSO, in addition to the donation of relief goods and equipment, is the dispatch of medical teams of physicians, nurses, and other health-care personnel, as required.

Local government units are aware of the ways the PCSO can assist their constituents, and are in close contact with the heads of the PCSO branch offices in their areas.

We remind people in the areas expected to by hit by Chedeng to take the necessary precautions for their safety, and we wish everyone well as we prepare for yet another storm. nnn

SPEAKING of branch offices, the PCSO is set to establish more branches nationwide this year, especially in the underserved areas of the Visayas and Mindanao.

First to open this year and sometime this month will be a branch in Samar province. Others are slated for opening later on in the year.

The policy of the current PCSO board of directors is to open a branch office in every province to widen the public’s access to the agency’s services. There are already 43 branches around the country, from 25 when the current board assumed office in 2010.

The PCSO is able to extend its network with cooperation from local government units that offer the

PCSO free office space in its government buildings, thereby helping the PCSO save on administrative costs and making more funds available for public medical assistance.

Having a PCSO branch in the province’s capitol or sports complex makes it more convenient and easier for the residents of the area to avail themselves of services of the PCSO. nnn

HAPPY Easter—He is Risen!

Christians celebrate this occasion each year and it is always a joyous feast and a reminder of God’s love and sacrifice.

In the same manner, may we live the spirit of Holy Week year-round, finding ways to make it better for others whether through self-sacrifice or through charitable works and deeds.

It need not be difficult to lend a hand. Just look around you and be aware how our family, our kasambahay and staff, officemates and friends will benefit from our help. This need not be in cash, if our circumstances do not allow. A gift of food, clothes, or books will mean a lot to the right person at the right time.

Even simple things like a word of encouragement or taking time to listen to a friend might be all that’s needed, and in these little ways you can change someone’s life for the better.

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

China isn’t ready for creative destruction William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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AS China’s Joseph Schumpeter moment arrived? China has suggested its decision to roll out deposit insurance for bank accounts beginning on May 1 will usher in a wave of creative destruction, chastening the cronyism that plagues the country. And there is some logic to the official spin. There’s a flip side, after all, to Beijing’s declaration that normal consumers will be kept safe in a period of market turmoil—namely, the banks themselves could be permitted to go bust.

If there were reason to believe that would really happen, it would be an important step toward straightening out China’s financial system, and to achieving the country’s longer-term goal of making the yuan a global reserve currency. Unfortunately, China’s system of moral hazard won’t be worth much until it passes far more ambitious financial reforms. Here are three reasons why.

First, China’s banking system is still very closely tied to the state.

China has a long history of organizing bailouts for state-owned companies, including one of Asia’s

biggest-ever bank bailouts in 1998.

“As long as banks are state owned and senior officers are appointed by the organization department of the Communist Party,” says Shanghaibased Andy Xie, former Asia-Pacific chief economist at Morgan Stanley, “reforms will always be superficial.”

When Beijing allowed the solar company Shanghai Chaori Solar to default on domestic bond payments in March 2014, it seemed to signal a shift. But that turns out to have been an aberration. In the 12 months since, China hasn’t seen any further defaults. An important upcoming

test will be how Beijing handles the Shenzhen-based real-estate developer Kaisa, which could soon renege on its US currency notes. Whether Beijing lets Kaisa default will say far more about its commitment to capitalism than the creation of deposit insurance.

Second, China may not even know the extent of the problems in its financial system. Guan Jianzhong, chairman of China’s Dagong Global Credit Rating Group, recently told Bloomberg News that the debt ratings issued by his “irresponsible” Chinese competitors are often “useless.” He went on to say that “the ratings are creating credit risks and blindfolding people, instead of revealing the risks.”

Questionable accounting practices also extend to China’s local governments, which have amassed at least $4 trillion of debt. Their use of off-balance-sheet financing vehicles means even Chinese President Xi Jinping doesn’t know the true magnitude of China’s debt profile. Beijing won’t be able to accurately assess the risk of letting individual companies or banks to go bust until China’s regional finances are less opaque, its companies more shareholder-friendly, and its shad-

ow-banking sector less massive.

Third, there’s reason to doubt the commitment of Chinese policy-makers to creative destruction. Consider China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan. On Monday he lowered mortgage requirement to save China’s markets from turmoil. He also assured Chinese investors that more such measures might be on the horizon, insisting “China can have room to act” to keep the economy afloat in tough times.

Zhou’s statement came at a time when China’s economy seems to be vastly overcapacity and on the downside of a credit glut that’s pushing the country toward deflation. A government committed to capitalism would seize the opportunity to let creative destruction do its work: an economic slowdown could pop the country’s growing bubbles in credit and real estate. Beijing, however, has so far shown little interest in cleaning up the previous decades of economic excess.

It’s safe to say that China’s leading economic actors have taken note of this hesitance, and will continue to act accordingly—that is to say, irresponsibly. And the creation of deposit insurance is unlikely to weigh very heavily in their decision-making.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Having more moms breast-feed benefits us all

Lee’s legacy

By Katrina Pavlik

Teddy Locsin Jr.

Chicago Tribune/TNS

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EEK into any discussion on parenting, and you’ll notice a repeating theme: The so-called Mommy Wars are raging all around us, and we had better suit up and stock our armory.

YouTube, The New York Times and the thousands of parenting blogs all have something to say on the subject, lobbing grenades of judgment and superiority to the “other side,” whatever that side may be.

Personally, I don’t buy into the Mommy Wars idea. Find me a mom who has the time to judge every other mother she meets and I’ll find you a brilliant ad agency behind her, capitalizing on fear and insecurity.

No. I’m far more concerned about the war the rest of us have waged on mothers.

This insidious war is built on a foundation of shame and guilt. It has nothing to do with clever marketing schemes, and has everything to do with putting ourselves above the needs of mothers and babies.

Not long ago, Nikki, a Chicago mother, was visiting her case manager’s cubicle at a social-service agency. Her 6-monthold was with her and got hungry, as babies often do. As she was breast-feeding, Nikki pulled up her shirt and latched her baby on while continuing the conversation. Her case manager got up from the desk, stood to block the entrance of the cubicle and told her to cover up or leave—she didn’t want to see breast-feeding in her office.

Unfortunately, this story is hardly unique. Since 2011, I’ve helped run an organization that supports breastfeeding mothers in Chicagoland. In that time, I’ve heard of mothers being asked to leave their friends’ living rooms for breast-feeding, of employers threatening termination for breast-feeding, of grandparents warning of spoiling and starvation because of breast-feeding and of health-care providers giving ridiculously unfounded and damaging advice to breast-feeding mothers.

These are the true weapons of the war on moms: The incremental dismantling of a mother’s confidence in herself and her ability to nourish her child.

The cost of this behavior is great. The number of breast-feeding moms in Illinois is dismally low. Fewer than 50 percent of mothers are still breast-feeding to some extent at six months, which is only halfway toward the minimum duration recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). As a state we’re behind the rest of the country, and if you look at data for our low-income moms, we’re even further behind. Research shows that only one-third of all mothers who want to breast-feed reach their own breast-feeding goals, much less the AAP’s recommendations.

Some say that breast-feeding is fine, as long as mom covers up, or doesn’t show too much skin, or hides in a bathroom.

Are our sensibilities so delicate that we believe our needs for comfort are greater than a baby’s for nourishment?

Do we tell Victoria’s Secret models and Oscar contenders to “cover up” so we’re more comfortable?

Hypocrisy like this negatively impacts moms and babies in a big way: If moms can’t comfortably fit breast-feeding into their everyday lives, they won’t do it. Hiding under unwieldy covers, sneaking away to a dirty bathroom or otherwise trying to please others’ ideas of modesty does not make for a momfriendly community. This is not to say that breast-feeding is always easy, nor

that it fits into every mother’s life. The lack of quality health care and timely access to accurate information, medical and physical limitations, diagnosed low milk supply and lifestyle choices are among many impediments to exclusive or part-time breast-feeding success.

Mothers who don’t breast-feed are also doing the best they can to be good parents and deserve respect and support. Unfortunately, the war on mothers extends to all mothers—mothers are literally damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Regard less of how ind iv idua l mothers feed their babies, we have a vested interest as a community in helping more moms to breast-feed.

Just as we can agree that having more students graduate from high school is better for our entire community, having more mothers breast-feed benefits all of us.

The data tell us that mothers who breast-feed reduce their own risks for cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Their breast-fed children also have lower chances for chronic diseases, obesity and sudden infant death syndrome. Breastfeeding mothers who work outside the home save their employers money, missing fewer work days, staying in their jobs longer and visiting the doctor’s office less often. A 2010 study featured in Pediatrics claimed that if 90 percent of moms breastfed exclusively for the first six months of their children’s lives, we could collectively save $13 billion annually in health-care costs alone and prevent the deaths of about 900 individuals each year, almost all of them infants.

Several recent national developments have begun to turn the tide toward better support. The Affordable Care Act provides pumps and lactation services, amenities that were formerly only provided to moms with premium health-care plans or generous employers. Additionally, in 2011, the US surgeon general rolled out a Call to Action to Support Breast-feeding, outlining many of the barriers to breastfeeding success, as well as what health-care professionals and communities must to do address them.

While these efforts are integral to encouraging more moms to breast-feed, they don’t completely disarm our war on mothers. Our families, communities and workplaces all hold incredible power over a mother’s experience of parenting. If we want more moms to choose to breastfeed, we’re going to need to do a much better job of setting aside our notions of what’s “normal” and start doing what’s right for moms and babies.

Accepting that moms have a right to feed their babies in public, whatever that looks like and however that makes us feel, is right. Giving moms time and space to express milk for their children during the work day is right. Setting aside our experiences and prejudices so our friends and coworkers can make their own choices is right. Giving a thumb’s up and a comfortable chair to moms like Nikki is right.

Free fire

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Y TV producer is going back to Singapore, where she had worked 13 years for a news channel. After a brief stint working with me, she wants to go back to Singapore. In an e-mail she sent friends—but not me—she explained why she is going back.

For one, she said, over here she takes taxis to work, and they always take her for a ride. The taxi drivers never give back her change—no matter how big it is.

One day she complained, “You know I work for a living!” The taxi driver answered back, “I also work but you can afford to take a taxi.”

So, it is timely, she said, for her to go back to Singapore; and at that so soon, after the passing of its great leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

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T’S easy to dismiss yet another outbreak of fighting in the Middle East—this time led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Yemen—as more of the same; more fighting in a region of perennial turmoil.

But that would be a mistake. This new war in Yemen, in which the KSA leads an alliance of 10 countries, is a big deal, with a potential to become even bigger.

The decision by the KSA and its allies, mostly Sunni Arabs, to take action represents a historic turning point for many reasons. n First, Saudi Arabia and its allies have concluded they cannot trust the US to oversee their security. n Second, they have decided it’s time to stop Iran’s advance in the region. n Third, the fighting in Yemen, with an unpredictable outcome, has the potential to affect all of us.

As soon as Saudi planes started bombing Yemen, oil prices spiked on global markets. The rise receded, but it was telling. The future trajectory of oil will depend on how the fighting unfolds, among other factors. But there is no question that the conflict in Yemen has the potential to cause major disruptions in the global economy. The economy is only one reason why what is happening in the Arabian Peninsula, 7,000 miles away from the United States,

them to avail themselves of working transport systems—not those that break down and force the passengers to walk to the next station, if not run to avoid the oncoming train.

And to be safe in the streets.

It enables residents, including foreigners like herself, to avail themselves of government services without too much hassle. And, I would add, without being deported when their Filipino partners cheat them, like what happens here all the time.

And to pay reasonable income taxes. And see where the taxes go, I added that, too.

It enables them to set up businesses without having to give a commission to the mayor—okay, I also added that; and to find employment. Good luck finding any here.

It enables people to travel in and out freely, without the constant fear of being extorted from. Like my own poor pedicurist, who has paid hundreds of thousands in facilitation fees.

Or be held back arbitrarily or kept

out, like that poor American who was cheated and immediately reported to the immigration commissioner so he could be deported before he could go to court and get back his business.

My producer dreams of the Philippines one day being such a country; “one that, by providing the fundamentals, enables its people to be the best they can be, to go as far as they want to go.”

I’ll stop there and say, at the end of the day, which is to say, at the end of his life, Lee Kuan Yew’s greatest achievement lies in creating a country of infinitely more service and of vastly greater benefit to all of its own people, rather than creating the city-state whose standing in the world is way out of proportion to its small size. Indeed, Singapore is flat out outstanding under any terms of reference. Cory Aquino said it best at the United Nations: “There are many ways to govern a country but only one way to treat people—and that is with decency.”

There you have Lee’s legacy.

What makes an apology real? Guilt? Forgiveness?

By Gina Barreca

Is it a surprise that such unconscious stratagems don’t exactly increase intimacy? A conversation that includes the lines “What else do you want from me? How many times can I say I’m sorry?” rarely ends with a cuddle and a smooch.

I was raised that way, and it’s a tough habit to break.

People seek forgiveness for lots of reasons: They are tired of the oppressive nature of their wrongdoing; they would make life easier for themselves; they want to make life better for others.

They want to go to heaven. Even if they’re not sure there is a heaven, they don’t want to go to hell. They want to get rid of a shadow life, they want to express their sorrow for pain they caused, and they want to air out every piece of dirty laundry.

Or maybe self-reproach overwhelmed them. Guilt is like prickly heat; it’s rarely fatal, but it sure is uncomfortable. Some people can stand

it, while others are driven almost crazy by it.

Is there ever a time when one person’s need for forgiveness or confession overrides the other person’s need not to be hurt?

“No,” says my friend Maggie Mitchell. Author of the forthcoming literary thriller Pretty Is, where questions of guilt and innocence abound, Mitchell argues that “if your apology is driven by a desire for forgiveness, you’re not only missing the point but probably compounding the original offense: It’s still all about you.”

But two other friends disagree.

Melissa Baartman Mork explains that “the offender doesn’t need to receive the forgiveness. The offended needs to forgive.” And Kathleen Thompson reminded me that “forgiveness isn’t earned. It is given by choice.”

That’s probably a reason it was hard for my family to seek forgiveness: We were big on earning, but not on receiving.

If forgiveness was a gift, then it had one strike against it. We were encouraged to be wary of anything simply given to us. What looks like a generous offering might be an act of war. Hey, the Trojans learned that the

hard way: They should have looked that gift horse in the mouth.

But lately, I’ve discovered that saying “I’m sorry” is not mere window dressing but instead is the only way to keep some doors from slamming in your face.

Here’s what an apology isn’t: An apology is not an excuse; it’s not an explanation; it’s not a justification; it doesn’t come attached to a returnreceipt request.

The person asking for forgiveness should not be tempted to provide a context where upon the recipient of the apology is supposed to then feel sorry for the offender. An apology does not blame the victim (which is what the bankrupt and meaningless line “I’m sorry you feel that way” does) but instead comes from a willingness to humble oneself and to accept responsibility.

And you can’t ask for forgiveness with either your hand in a fist or around a noose; you can’t threaten or cajole others or yourself in the process.

Yet, a heartfelt apology and sincere forgiveness can both offer a way to conclude life’s unfinished business: There’s a reason the word “end” is tucked into “amend.”

Hadi. The fighting could end quickly, with a swift defeat of the Houthis and a decision by (Shia) Iran to retrench, rather than continue arming the rebels, who belong to a branch of Shiite Islam.

There is also the possibility that the battle will go on, that the Houthis will not give up, that Iran will keep boosting their position, or that it could expand.

Saudi-Iran proxy fighting is not new, but the sides are coming closer to direct confrontation.

Making matters worse, Yemen is a stronghold of al-Qaeda’s deadliest branch, and Islamic State, too, is trying to stake its ground there. The fighting in Yemen could intensify. And the chaos is a godsend to terrorist organizations.

Yemen is already a production line for Jihadi terrorists. The plots assembled there have reverberated across the

globe. Anwar al-Awlaki, the militant imam who was a US citizen and a Yemeni, used his position there to send terrorists to the West. He inspired Maj. Nidal Hasan, who killed more than a dozen US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, and he recruited the so-called underwear bomber who tried to blow up an airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit. When terrorists massacred Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris, al-Qaeda in Yemen said that was their operation.

A chaotic Yemen spreads destruction around the world and scatters extreme Islamist ideology that knows no national borders. The first tragedy is for the people of Yemen, caught in the crossfire, but the impact could expand vastly, just as the first air strike on Wednesday evening sent oil prices spiking. It is a fortunate coincidence

that global oil production had already climbed ahead of the crises. Oil prices had dropped because the US is producing more oil than ever, even as Europe and China were undergoing a slowdown. That meant oil supplies climbed while demand was lower, sending prices plummeting.

Yemen stands at the mouth of the Red Sea, where oil tankers move more than 3 million barrels daily and commercial traffic from Asia, India and the Persian Gulf moves to the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, Europe and the Americas.

Keep your world maps handy. Keep up with the news from this war. Everything is connected: the talks about Iran’s nuclear program, the price you pay for gas, the security checks at the airport.

Yemen is much closer than it seems.

The Hartford Courant/TNS

W

HAT goes into the perfect apology? My family wasn’t big on apologies. There was too much pride, too much hurt and too little empathy.

We made up for it by being big on guilt and denial.

Living on the lower east side of emotional life, in the pushcart section where everybody held onto a bundle of emotional baggage, we never unpacked our grievances and we never put them down.

Of course, if you never unpack it, it isn’t really baggage, is it? It’s just a heavy weight you carry around.

There were aunts who held the pink slip to their spouses’ souls, never quite forgiving them but instead showing them their ever-open wound whenever some heft was necessary to win an argument.

These were men who wanted nothing more than a chance to prove themselves reformed or remorseful, but the aunts wouldn’t permit it. Instead, they seethed and settled down into smug procrastination; they patented the art of being patient, wounded and “excused” from life the way sick kids are excused from gym.

Yemen war: A historic turning point

By Frida Ghitis Miami Herald/TNS

She concedes there are differences of opinion about the Singaporean system. But one thing is clear to her having lived here and there: “The Singapore that Lee and his team have built is a country that enables rather than obstructs.”

It enables most people to put a roof over their heads. Actually, there are no homeless in Singapore. It enables most people to get an education for their children. Actually, education is universal and mandatory. It enables

Monday, April 6, 2015 A11

can impact practically every person on earth, including the West. At the risk of oversimplifying, this is a confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites, between Arabs and Iranians. It is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The original revolt in Yemen is complicated, but the international involvement is, to a large degree, about fear of Iran’s rising power.

Why should non-Muslims worry?

Where to begin? Yemen is small, but the sides are massive. Not only are Arab countries joining in, but also Turkey and Pakistan could become more deeply involved. Wars are unpredictable. They can end quickly and decisively; they can linger, or they can expand. The stated aim of the coalition is to push the Iranbacked Houthi militias out of power and restore President Abdurabuh Mansur

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, April 6, 2015

Debt servicing dropped 8% in 2014 to ₧515B

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oney set aside to pay down maturing government debt in 2014 amounted to only P515.01 billion, which was 8 percent lower than debt servicing made by the government the previous year amounting to P559.01 billion.

The lower debt service last year was traced to lower amortization on principal debt, which amounted to only P193.82 billion versus P235.58 billion amortized in 2013.

The reduced debt service was reflected on both the payments made to domestic creditors and their foreign counterparts.

Paying down debts owed to domestic creditors dropped to only P103.45 billion in 2014, from P117.99 billion, while those made to foreign creditors totaled only P90.37 billion, from P117.59 billion in 2013. Interest payments continued to be the bulk of the required paydowns, constituting 62 percent of the total disbursement made by the government.

Interest payments for 2014 amounted to P321.18 billion, slightly lower than interest payments made in 2013, which amounted to P323.43 billion. Paying down the debt burden has gone down in 2014, as the government tries to extend the average maturities of its debts. But interest payments continued to be at almost the same level as those made in 2013, and it is only the amortization on the principal loans that has gone down. David Cagahastian

PHL firms may get fresh $300-M equity from CAF

T

By Catherine N. Pillas

he Philippines may get as much as $300 million from the China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF), which can be used by the private sector to fund projects, an official of the Philippines-China Trade and Investment Council said.

Council President Francis C. Chua said the equity fund, which is sponsored by the Export-Import Bank of China and other institutional investors, is set to be recapitalized this year.

“We already received $125 million from its capital of $1 billion last year. This time, it can be recapitalized with another

$3 billion, and we can get 10 percent, or around $ 300 million, for projects hopefully by the end of the year,” Chua said.

He, however, declined to name specific projects that may get financing from CAF. According to its web site, the fund targets investment opportunities in infrastructure,

energy and natural resources in Asean countries.

Chua said the infusion of capital from CAF, which could come in by the second semester of 2015, can be granted to any private sector provided it meets certain criteria, such as the enterprise’s environmental and social business practice.

Ty p i c a l i n v e s t m e n t s through CAF range from $50 million to $150 million. Listed and non-public companies that have assets in the Asean region, or are registered in an Asean country, may avail themselves of the fund.

Chua said CAF is part of China’s strategy to strengthen commercial ties with the rest of Asean and is a major tool in pushing its “South to South Cooperation” agenda, which focuses on increasing the exchange of resources and technology among developing economies.

The fund was launched in April 2010 and made its first investment in the Philippines in December of the same year.

The investment of a CAF subsidiary in Negros Navigation Co. Inc. has made it possible for the shipping firm to purchase Aboitiz Transport Systems Corp.

T he Ph i l ippines- C h ina Trade and Investment Council was created under the auspices of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the China Council for Promotion of International Trade in 1998.

It was revived during President Aquino’s visit to China in 2011.

China is one of the major trading partners of the Philippines. In December 2014 alone, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that China was the third-biggest importer of local products.

PLDT expanding data-center capacity through ₧1-B facility. . .

Vitro Makati will have data center-rated generators designed to run continuously to eliminate the need for periodic cut-over to other gensets during long commercial power failures. This ensures the continuous operations of client servers colocated at Vitro Makati, even during lengthened power outages.

The new data center will also have isolated rooms for the air handling units which are intended to increase

security and privacy of client-availed colocation services.

Maintenance work can be done without having to access or expose the client’s servers. This new configuration will also minimize the possibility of dust and dirt entering the colocation space. In addition to the new technology that the PLDT Group has invested in, Vitro Makati will also be PCI-DSS compliant and ISO certified.

Strategically centered in Makati, Vitro’s fourth data

center will largely cater to the colocation and other datacenter service requirements of large corporations, and the banking and finance companies with headquarters in the business district.

The new facility will also be designed according to the TIA-942 infrastructure standards for data centers based on global parameters on network architecture, electrical design, system redundancy, network access control and

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security, and environmental power management.

The network of Vitro Data Centers currently operates three other facilities in Subic, Cebu, and its flagship facility in Pasig having more than 2,000 racks capacity—currently the largest in the country. Aside from ePLDT Vitro, the PLDT Group also operates three other data-center facilities under ePLDT subsidiary IP Converge Data Services.

‘BSP ACTION DEPENDENT ON EXTENT OF FED HIKE’

By Bianca Cuaresma

A

n interest-rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) lower than a full percentage point downstream was not likely to convince the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to make appropriate adjustments of its own, market analyst Luz Lorenzo of Maybank Kim Eng said.

For Lorenzo, an economist by training, the magnitude of any US Fed adjustment would matter to the BSP, which may not be convinced to scale up the rate at which it borrows from or lends to local banks so long as the incremental US Fed adjustment is too small to matter.

In an interview at the sidelines of Maybank’s annual Invest Asean Conference in Singapore, Lorenzo said the BSP’s next move will depend on how wide the Fed’s incremental interest-rate adjustment will be later this year.

The magnitude of the US Fed policyrate adjustment is important because Lorenzo said the BSP has sufficient policy legroom to ignore such a decision should this prove too thin or small to matter a quick monetary-policy response of its own.

See “BSP,” A2

EASTER IN BORACAY The white-sand beaches of Boracay in Aklan are filled with foreign and local tourists on Easter Sunday. NONIE REYES

Hiccup in US jobs data may delay Fed liftoff. . .

weakened, bad winter weather limited consumer spending and the strong dollar hurt the nation’s manufacturers.

The gain in March payrolls snapped 12 straight months of 200,000-plus monthly gains, the longest such stretch since 1995.

“This single report will not necessarily result in the Fed changing tack on its view of policy tightening this year,” Millan Mulraine, a research strategist at TD Securities USA LLC in New York, wrote in a note after the report. “What it will do is weaken the argument for a mid-year

hike” and raise the stakes riding on the next few reports, he said.

The odds of a June liftoff implied by federal funds futures fell to 11 percent after the report from 18 percent Thursday. The implied probability of a September rate rise also slumped after the release, dropping to 35 percent from 39 percent as of 12:15 p.m. New York time on Friday.

Options on eurodollar futures imply traders see only a 47 percent chance the Fed will raise rates this year and just a 55 percent chance of an increase by March

2016. The central bank has kept its main rate near zero since December 2008.

Upbeat outlook

Even with the softer jobs numbers, employment opportunities are keeping Americans upbeat, laying the ground for a rebound in spending. The unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent, the lowest level since May 2008, and worker earnings improved, the report also showed.

Hourly pay was a silver lining, rising by 0.3 percent from the prior month

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs ➜HENARES MAKES S.I.R.

OPTIONAL FOR APRIL FILING

Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares has again suspended the mandatory disclosure of particular income items, such as interest income and dividends which are already subjected to withholding taxes, in the income-tax returns (ITRs) of individual taxpayers due for filing by April 15, 2015.

Henares has relented to the request for the deferment of the mandatory disclosure made by business groups, led by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, due to the possible discouraging effect that the new reporting requirement would have on individual investors.

Henares issued Revenue Memorandum Circular 13-2015, which makes the filing of the Supplemental Information Return (SIR) optional on the part of an individual taxpayer for income-tax filing covering the calendar year 2014.

Among the income items that are required to be disclosed in the SIR are passive income items/receipts, which are either tax-exempt or have already been subjected to final withholding taxes.

Some of these tax-exempt income are proceeds of life-insurance policies, return of premium retirement benefits and pensions and gratuities, while some income items/receipts that have already been subjected to final withholding taxes include interest income, dividends, fringe benefits, and sale of real properties considered as capital assets, which is already subject to the capital gains tax.

However, the suspension of the mandatory disclosure of these items in an SIR is only for another year and the disclosure will again be made mandatory for income items to be reported for calendar year 2015.

“Thus, the taxpayers are advised to demand from their payors, and properly document their Bureau of Internal Revenue Form 2307 and other pieces of evidence for final taxes withheld. Likewise, said taxpayers should properly receipt and book their taxexempt income,” it added. David Cagahastian

➜PALACE TO REVIEW LAW

ON DISASTER-RISK REDUCTION

The Aquino administration is poised to undertake a timely review of the five-year-old law known as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act due to the law’s sunset provision and the recent events showing that with better preparedness, the country can avoid incurring heavy casualties during disasters.

Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. last Sunday recalled that the disaster-risk reduction (DRR) law enacted in 2010 mandates a review of it’s accomplishments and shortcomings five years into it’s implementation, which began in President Aquino’s first year in office.

Coloma made the pronouncement amid the challenge aired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Head Margareta Wahlström for disaster-prone countries to “make DRR a household word.”

He said the DRR is also a pillar of the Philippine Development Plan and is being given priority up to the highest level of the Aquino administration under the Climate Change Cabinet Cluster. “Within the administration of President Aquino, we have laid down national strategy to face the challenges of climate-change adaptation and mitigation and this is the source of our program for disaster-risk reduction and management of our country,” Coloma said. Butch Fernandez

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and 2.1 percent from a year earlier and in line with the average since the expansion began in June 2009.

Goods producers, including factories, builders and oil and gas support companies, cut jobs last month. Manufacturing payrolls dropped for the first time since July 2013 and the employment gain in the restaurant industry was the weakest since June 2012.

Payrolls in mining and logging, which include oil-field services, declined by 11,000 after a similar drop in February.

Over the past three months, employ-

ment has fallen by 29,000 in those fields, the worst since a similar period ended in July 2009. Crude prices have slumped 54 percent since a June 2014 high.

Recovery dented

“We’ve taken a bit of a dent in the recovery,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global eco nomics research at Bank of America Corp. in New York, and a former Fed analyst. At the same time, “the broader economy is not as weak as the recent numbers have suggested, and we expect wage pickup going

forward. We think there’s going to be enough improvement that the Fed can tick the wage box, tick the labor market box, and raise rates sometime later in the year.”

Mulraine of TD Securities maintained his projection for an increase in September, though he said the “balance of risks” is shifting to a later start.

Policy makers will get two more employment reports before their meeting on June 16-17, when they will also release new economic and interest-rate forecasts. Bloomberg News