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Thursday 18,December 2014 Vol. 1023, No.2015 40 Wednesday, Vol. 11 No. 76

he Philippines and the European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that they have agreed to start formal negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA), three years after laying down the foundation for it.

amaia steps advocates for cleaner environment

Outgoing Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and EU Trade Commissioner Anna Cecilia Malmström said they “share the ambition” to conclude an FTA that covers a broad

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PHL, EU launch formal FTA talks T

INSIDE

property

A broader look at today’s business

range of issues, including the elimination of customs duties and other barriers to trade, services and investment; access to public procurement markets; and protection of

intellectual-property rights.

The prospective FTA would also include a comprehensive chapter that will ensure that closer economic relations between the Philippines and the EU go hand in hand with environmental protection and social development.

“The EU is one of the country’s largest trading partners and investment sources. We would like to lock in the duty-free market access we obtained through the EU-Generalized System of Preferences Plus [GSP+] last year, and expand this preferential Continued on A2

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‘Star wars’ director jj abrams

BSP HIKES FDI FORECAST FOR 2016 TO $6.3 BILLION

By Bianca Cuaresma

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he influx of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country is expected to improve in 2016, due largely to the improvement in the local and global economic conditions, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

With this, the BSP hiked its projection of FDI in the country to $6.3 billion in 2016. This is higher than the projected FDI inflows to the country in 2015, at $6.3 billion.

“The expected FDI in 2016 is seen to amount to $6.3 billion, which is higher than the $6 billion for 2015. This is in line with the sustained positive developments in the domestic economy and some improvement in the global economic conditions, as

well as the implementation of PPP [private-public partnership] projects that were awarded earlier—in 2014 and 2015,”BSP Department of Economic Research Director Zeno Ronald Abenoja said.

FDI are long-term investments placed by nonresidents into the country in search for long-term prospects, making them less volatile and more coveted than foreign portfolio investments.

The January-to-September FDI inflows stood at $4.53 billion, as reported by the central bank earlier, after the investments surged to a record-high monthly volume of $1.5 billion in September.

“The surge in FDI inflows in September 2015 reflects investor confidence in the country’s strong See “BSP,” A2

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Colombia seethes at ‘stolen’ Miss Universe crown

China’s M&A boom in S. Korea news@businessmirror.com.ph

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015 b2-3

German steps up deportation of failed asylum-seekers

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AMBERG, Germany—Faced with an unprecedented inf lux of refugees and growing anxiety among voters, German authorities have stepped up the depor tation of fai led asylum-seekers.

New figures show that the number of deportations almost doubled this year from 2014. By the end of November, authorities had deported 18,363 people whose asylum request had been rejected, compared to 10,884 in all of last year. “[T he increase] can be explained on the one hand simply by the increasing number of people who are getting negative [asylum] decisions,” Interior Ministry Spokesman Johannes Dimroth said on Monday. But the trend is also affected “by the states’ increasing willingness to carry out these procedures,” he said.

The task of handling asylum requests falls to Germany’s 16 states and some have been more r igorous in apply ing the law than others.

Bavaria, the state that most asylum-seekers first set foot in, more than trebled its deportations to 3,643 in the first 11 months of 2015 from 1,007 last year.

The conservative government there has been particularly forceful in pushing to limit the number of refugees coming to Germany— estimated at about 1 million this year—and speed up deportations of those already in the country.

E a r l ie r t h i s y e a r B av a r i a opened a special center for people unlikely to get asylum. Situated on a former US Army barracks in Bamberg, 50 kilometers north of Nuremberg, the Arrival and Return Facility II currently houses about 850 people. Almost all are from western Balkan na-

tions, chiefly Albania, followed

by Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. Germany considers them to be safe countries where individuals are unlikely to face the kind of persecution that would warrant asylum. Some were sent to the center straight from the border, others have been in Germany for more than a year. Most said economic hardship made them travel to Germany.

“In Serbia there’s no work,” said Elvis Asani, a Roma from Serbia who is being sent back with his wife and children. “So we thought we go to Germany and work a little bit.”

“I go back, but we have no home,” Asani said when asked what he would do in Serbia. “Where shall we go with three kids?”

Since the center was opened in mid-September, the 15 staff processing asylum requests haven’t issued a single permanent residency permit, officials said.

Meanwhile, 463 people were deported voluntarily and 170 were forcibly deported. Decisions are made within five to 10 days.

“We don’t want to paint a discouraging picture, we want to paint a realistic picture,” Stefan Krug, an official with the regional government of Upper Franconia, said on Monday. “The mood ahead of Christmas is obviously a bit depressed,” he added. “But all in all it’s peaceful.”

Dimroth said, unlike in previous years, none of Germany’s states have suspended deport at ions for t he w i nter — a nd says federal authorities also see “no place for a halt to deportations.” Authorities are planning to increase the Bamberg center’s capacity to 1,500 by the end of December, and to 4,500 by the end of March. AP

NYC unveils new rules vs gender discrimination

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EW YORK—Restaurant owners can’t require ties for male diners only. Gyms can’t tell clients which locker room to use. And in most cases, an employer can’t put “John” on a worker’s ID if she prefers “Jane.”

New York City’s Human Rights Commission is establishing what advocates called some of the most powerful guidelines nationwide on gender-identity discrimination, releasing specifics on Monday to flesh out broad protections in a 2002 law. “ Today’s guidance makes it abundantly clear what the city considers to be discrimination,” which can lead to fines of up to $250,000, Commissioner Carmelyn P. Malalis said in a statement. Officials said complaints about genderidentity discrimination have risen in recent years but couldn’t immediately provide statistics.

Some cities around the country have added transgender people to antidiscrimination protections, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did, likewise, for his state this fall. Other communities have rebuffed them: Houston voters this fall defeated an ordinance that would have established nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people.

“New York City vaults to the front of the line” with its new guidelines and strong legal framework for human-r ights complaints, said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. “These are real, every day struggles for transgender people.”

T he g uidelines apply to many businesses, landlords and employers. Public schools already have their own, somewhat similar rules. Some religious institutions and private clubs can be exempt.

Groups representing restaurateurs and landlords didn’t immediately respond to inquiries about the new provisions, nor did a major fitness-center chain. An estimated 25,000 transgender or gender nonconforming people live in the city, officials said.

Besides overall bans on discrimination in housing and hiring, the new guidelines speak to such specifics as balking at using the personal pronoun of someone’s choice—“Ms.” or “Mr.,” for instance.

Commission officials say they understand there can be honest mistakes, but repeating them, refusing to correct them or ridiculing the person can be a violation.

The rules also declare that transgender people can’t be denied access to the restroom or locker room where their gender identity belongs, at their discretion. Unisex, single-occupancy bathrooms are suggested but not required.

Objections from fellow patrons or employees “are not a lawful reason to deny access,” the guidelines say. Officials point to existing harassment and sex-crime laws to address any concerns about sexual predators gaining access to intimate settings, a concern raised during the Houston referendum, though its supporters called the problem minimal.

New York’s rules also address topics ranging from health coverage to employee dress codes. They needn’t be reduced to one unisex outfit, but a business can’t require dresses or makeup for women only, for instance, or bar only men from having long hair. Federal courts have upheld gender-specific dress requirements in some cases, but the commission says that such differentiation “reinforces a culture of sex stereotypes” and that there’s legal room for the city to set its own guidelines. AP

Refugees walk through a deportation center in Bamberg, germany. Hundreds of asylum-seekers, most of them from western Balkan nations who have had their applications rejected, are awaiting deportations. Nicolas armer/dpa via ap

China’s M&A boom in S. Korea advances Xi’s economic dream

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ompanies in China are merging with and acquiring (m & a) their south Korean counterparts at a record pace, tapping into one of the world’s most innovative countries to accelerate president Xi Jinping’s push for an economy led by technology and consumer services.

Chinese investments in Korean companies soared 119 percent this year to $1.9 billion, led by deals in the insurance, technology, health care and cosmetics industries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The acquisition spree is likely to accelerate as China seeks to hasten a transformation away from smokestack industries that South Korea began more than 20 years ago, according to Samsung Asset Management Co. and Hyundai Securities Co. South Korea’s spending on research, patents and postsecondary education made the country No. 1 on the Bloomberg Innovation Index in 2015 versus China’s global ranking of 22. Listed Chinese companies, whose cash reserves rose 12 percent from a year ago to 15.2 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion), are taking advantage of Korean

know-how to serve a domestic consumer market that now accounts for more than half of the country’s economic expansion.

“The proximity and the high level of technology available in Korean companies make them more attractive to China,” said Bernard Aw, a strategist at IG Asia Pte. in Singapore. “Chinese companies are snapping up acquisitions because they are sitting on a good cash hoard.”

Anbang Insurance Group Co. agreed to buy Tongyang Life Insurance Co. for 1.13 trillion won ($934 million) in February in this year’s biggest deal, while Champ Investments Ltd. acquired a stake in Jeju Semiconductor Corp. for $35 million. Jumei International Holding Ltd. made a $125 million cash investment in cosmetics maker It’s Skin Co. and biological researcher Dream Cis Co. lured a $23 million injection.

R ese a rc h - d r ive n K ore a n companies are spearheading a “creative economy” envisioned

by President Park Geun-hye, helping revive growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Medical and consumer companies based in the country dominate the top 10 performers on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index this year, with Hanmi Science Co. surging eightfold after clinching deals to sell lung cancer and diabetes treatments overseas. Celltrion Inc. more than doubled after developing an arthritis medicine.

Acquiring new technologies could help Chinese companies meet demand for a growing domestic market. Consumption accounted for more than 58 percent of the nation’s expansion in the first nine months of the year, versus 43 percent for investment. Retail spending climbed 11.2 percent in November, its fastest pace this year.

“Entertainment, media platforms or games companies are among sectors they are targeting,” said Lee Seung Jun, managing director for active investment at Samsung Asset Management in Seoul, the nation’s largest fund manager.

Chinese companies “need cutting-edge technology and high-end design for quality of growth.” The benchmark Kospi dropped 0.1 percent at 9:07 a.m. in Seoul. Chinese investment in Korean companies remains comparatively small.

China’s acquisitions involving companies worldwide jumped 83 percent in 2015 to $516 billion, as buyers snapped up premier assets ranging from the world ’s big gest-lug gage handler to Italian tire brand Pirelli and C. SpA. The AsiaPacific region represented 87 percent of the total, followed

by Europe at 5.9 percent.

Investors betting that Chinese investment will lead to sustained share-price gains may be disappointed, said Im Sangkook, Seoulbased head of portfolio strategy team at Hyundai Securities.

Redrover Co. has fallen about 4 percent since Suning Universal Co. agreed to invest $10 million in the company on June 15. Chorokbaem Media Co. has given up most of an 89-percent rally sparked by DMG Entertainment and Media Co.’s investment of $21 million on September 29.

“People tend to blindly pursue these names without considering the synergy effect or actual fundamental improvement,” Im said.

Still, Chinese deals in Korea are likely to increase as the country’s increasingly affluent middle class spend more on health care, entertainment and technology, according to Li Xiaoyang, a professor at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing.

“The booming middle class in China tends to care about brands and quality,” Li said. “Korean firms tend to emphasize quality and efficiency, which are lacking among Chinese firms.” Bloomberg News

World

Former Miss Universe Paulina Vega (center) reacts before taking away the flowers, crown and sash from Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez (left) before giving it to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach at the Miss Universe pageant on Sunday in Las Vegas. Gutierrez was incorrectly named Miss Universe. AP/John Locher

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OGOTÁ, Colombia — For Colombians, Sunday might have been the ugliest night in the beauty business.

For a few brief minutes, this looksobsessed Andean nation thought it had held on to the Miss Universe crown for the second year running.

But when the pageant’s host, Steve Harvey, announced that he’d made a mistake and that the honor belonged to the Philippines, the mood turned

into that of a jilted prom queen.

The gaffe made the front page of most of Colombia’s dailies, sent the Internet into overdrive, and may be sparking a lawsuit.

Barranquilla’s El Heraldo splashed “Universal Error” across its front page, while Bogotá’s ADN read: “Miss Universe for Three Minutes.”

By Monday, the Twitter hashtag #Lacoronaserespeta—“the crown must be respected”—was the trend-

ing topic in Colombia, as social networks seethed with memes and conspiracy theories.

One popular clip focused on a moment where a spectator in the Miss Universe audience seems to be handing Harvey an envelope shortly after the flawed announcement. For many, that was dubious proof of a rigged event.

“It wasn’t a mistake by Steve Harvey, it was a dirty humiliation, a See “Colombia,” A2

Jan-Oct PHL tourism earnings up 8.24% T Support for legal abortion at highest in 2 years

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ASHINGTON—Support for legal abortion in the US has edged up to its highest level in the past two years, with an Associated Press (AP)-GfK poll showing an apparent increase in support among Democrats and Republicans alike over the last year.

Nearly six in 10 Americans—58 percent—now think abortion should be legal in most or all cases, up from 51 percent who said so at the beginning of the year, according to the AP-GfK survey. It was conducted after three people were killed last

month in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.

While support for legal abortion edged up to 40 percent among Republicans in this month’s poll, from 35 percent in January, the survey found that Republicans remain deeply divided on the issue: seven in 10 conservative Republicans said they want abortion to be illegal in most or all cases; six in 10 moderate and liberal Republicans said the opposite. Count 55-yearold Victor Remdt of Gurnee, Illinois, among the conservatives who

think abortion should be illegal in most cases. He’s adopted, and says he “wouldn’t be here talking” if his birth mother had opted for abortion rather than adoption.

Remdt, who’s looking for work as a commercial driver, said he’d like to see abortion laws become more restrictive, but adds that he’s not a one-issue voter on the matter.

John Burk, a conservative Republican from Houston, Texas, is among those whose position on abortion is somewhere in the middle. He reasons that banning

the procedure would only lead to “back-alley abortions.” But he’s open to restrictions, such as parental-notification requirements and a ban on late-term abortions.

Burk, a 59-year-old computer programmer, said he tracks his beliefs on the issue to his libertarian leanings and the fact that he’s not religious. He doesn’t see the nation coming to a resolution on the divisive issue any time soon, saying hard-liners on both sides of the question are entrenched and “they’re never going to change.” AP

ourists visiting the Philippines in the first 10 months of the year generated P186.89 billion in revenues, an 8.24-percent increase from the P172.66 billion recorded in the same period last year, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported on Tuesday.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito

C. Bengzon Jr. told reporters in an interview that the target tourism receipts by the end of this year is approximately P270 billion.

“People now really have to start looking at a different perspective,” Bengzon said, referring to how tourism-performance indicators did not rely on tourist arrivals or

PESO exchange rates n US 47.3020

headcount alone, but also on receipts and job generation.

“The focus is not so much in headcount,” he added, noting that it was more important to sustain the tourism brand.

In October receipts amounted to P18.13 billion, 21.52 percent higher than the P14.92-billion earnings re-

corded in the previous year’s receipts.

From the July-to-October period, receipts acquired double-digit gain, with September posting the highest growth. January recorded the biggest receipts of P22.48 billion.

In October alone, the average daily expenditure for foreign tourists was See “Tourism earnings,” A2

n japan 0.3904 n UK 70.4138 n HK 6.1019 n CHINA 7.2988 n singapore 33.6095 n australia 33.9399 n EU 51.6585 n SAUDI arabia 12.6065

Source: BSP (22 December 2015)

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

News

BusinessMirror

PHL, EU launch formal FTA talks Continued from A1

access to substantially all the traded products to the EU,” Domingo said in a statement.

“As with our recent experience with GSP+, we are optimistic that investments will start to come in with improvements in market access” he added.

The Department of Trade and Industry said the first round of negotiations would take place in the first

BSP. . .

half of next year in the Philippines.

According to an earlier report by the BusinessMirror, a “compelling” factor that helped move negotiations forward is the Philippines’s progress on good governance, environmental compliance and trade liberalization.

The Philippines is one of the 10 members of Asean, as well as the fifthlargest economy in the region and the second-biggest market in Southeast Asia. It is also the fifth country of the Asean to start negotiations for a

bilateral FTA with the EU. The EU is the Philippines’s fourth-largest trading partner with bilateral trade amounting to P738 billion. The Philippines is the EU’s sixth-largest trading partner in Asean and 44th worldwide.

The Philippines’s main exports to the EU were office and telecommunication equipment (45 percent), machinery (15 percent), food products (12.5 percent), and optical and photographic instruments (11

percent). Philippines’s imports from the EU were transport equipment (31 percent), machinery (15 percent), food products (13 percent), chemicals (11.5 percent) and electronic components (11 percent).

The trade in services between the EU and the Philippines was worth P169 billion in 2013. The EU is also the largest foreign investor in the Philippines, with a foreign direct investment stock in the country of over P366 billion. Catherine N. Pillas

Continued from A1

macroeconomic fundamentals [sustained GDP growth of 5.8 percent in the second quarter of 2015, manageable inflation, consistent build up of foreign exchange reserves and stable exchange rate],” the central bank said.

The nine-month FDI total inflows is still 5.5 percent lower than the inflows in the same period last year, and $1.47-billion short of the government’s $6-billion projection for 2015.

Officials are confident that FDI inflows will continue to be strong in the last quarter of the year, as indicated by the bullish business confidence of the international community in the Philippines.

“That is being supported by positive developments in the domestic economy, and the implementation of various PPP projects approved in recent quarters by the national government. The potential FDIs are seen to be channeled to following sectors: manufacturing; electronics and motor parts; utilities like renewable energy and water works; as well as real estate and entertainment,” Abenoja said.

santa in town Life-size Santa Claus figures are displayed at a bazaar in Pasay City. According to the stall owner, prices of christmas decorations drop as Christmas nears. ALYSA SALEN

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Tourism earnings. . . estimated at P5,200.30, while average length of stay for the same month registered at 9.66 nights.

The DOT also said average percapita expenditure of visitors for the month in review was P50,234.92.

The top visitor-generating market is still South Korea at P4.57 billion; followed by the US at P3.99 billion; and Canada at P1.05 billion.

Canada overtook Japan, which was the third-highest receipt generator the month before.

Rounding up thetop 5 markets

Colombia. . .

Continued from A1

are Japan, with P0.97 billion; followed by Australia with P0.95 billion.

Among the top 12 markets of the country, visitors from Canada registered the highest per-capita expenditure for the month of October with P94,792.31, while visitors from Indonesia recorded the second-biggest per-capita spending of P79,434.77.

Meanwhile, the DOT said it is still eyeing between 5.2 million to 5.3 million tourists by year-end. PNA

Continued from A1

manipulation to make Miss Colombia look ridiculous in front of the world,” one commenter wrote of the widely circulated clip.

A page on www.change.org called “Give Miss Universe Colombia back her crown” had almost 17,000 likes

by Monday afternoon.

Harvey apologized profusely on air for the error and held up the winning envelope to prove there was no foul play. But when he took to Twitter to apologize, he doubled the insult: he misspelled both the winning and slighted countries.

“I want to apologize emphatically to Miss Philippians and Miss Columbia,” he wrote. “This was a terribly honest human mistake and I am regretful.”

The message was corrected soon afterward, but not before it was retweeted more than 30,000 times and USA Today and other outlets managed to grab screenshots.

Colombia takes its beauty pageants seriously, and the nation has generated a number of finalists in

the race. In 2014 Maria Paulina Vega became the country’s first Miss Universe since the 1950s. In fact, it was Vega who had the dubious honor of placing the tiara on Ariadna Gutierrez’s head, only to be forced to transfer it to the dome of Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Philippines. Vega herself was crowned at a less controversial pageant at the FIU Arena in Miami.

The Colombian law firm De la Espriella said two of its attorneys are filing a lawsuit against the pageant.

“The crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us,” the company wrote on its Twitter account. “At this moment we’re writing the lawsuit.”

Not surprisingly, the error during the globally televised contest caught high-level attention. US presidential candidate Donald Trump had owned the Miss Universe franchise until last year. Amid Sunday’s mistake, he retweeted a comment from a follower. MCT

A4 Wednesday, December 23, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Why not a return to the unicameral legislature?

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ome of the provisions of the Constitution that seem ambiguous or internally inconsistent have been explained away by interpreters as having been the result of the failure of the framers of the Constitution to change some terms in the document when they changed their minds from adopting a unicameral legislature to adopting a bicameral body. If that interpretation is right, we say what a pity that the framers changed their minds; they should have stuck to a unicameral legislature, and served the people better.

This matter comes to mind in reaction to a recent report that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., confronted with the question as to why the 15th and 16th Congress under the leadership of President Aquino passed only 62 laws in a span of close to six years, explained that the congresses focused on quality and responsive legislation rather than quantity. Faced by more or less the same question, there is little doubt that the Senate will give more or less the same explanation.

The Speaker was being diversionary to hide the intellectual mediocrity of his wards. The intellectual mediocre persons in the House, not to mention their lack of moral character, pose a serious problem to our democracy.

But the real problem of our democracy is that the Legislature, said to be a coequal branch of the Executive and Judicial Branches, has degenerated into an inferior branch. For many years now it has been unable to function except in compliance with the Executive’s recommendations, in furtherance of the wishes of the President.

What can be said of the House can be said of the Senate, except that here the lapdogs are more spell-binding in their orations, better masters of appearing to work when they are actually doing nothing, more accomplished in the concealment of their crimes against the Filipino people. Remember how they succeeded in making most of us believe in their impartiality in the impeachment of the Chief Justice when all the while they, excepting two or three of them, were receiving bribe money, of at least P50 million each, from the Executive.

Our legislature was unicameral until it was converted to the bicameral to suit, according to historians, the personal wishes of the charismatic late President Manuel L. Quezon. Time has shown that that change was a mistake.

The amount of P10 billion a year is much too much to spend for the maintenance of lapdogs. Perhaps only half of that, as for the maintenance of Unicameral General Assembly, can be justified to the Filipino people.

But, of course, we must not only change the structure of our legislature.

We must also see to it that the quality of the people we send to it is responsive to our highest expectations. We must elect people who have the intellectual equipment to conceive laws (don’t forget, they can mobilize their intellectual superiority against us) and the moral courage to stand against evil practices and fight for their convictions.

Let’s return to the Unicameral General Assembly of our government.

A family tradition and peace of mind Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

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N my family, celebrating Christmas is the No. 1 family tradition that we observe. No matter where the members of the family are, everyone makes it a point to come home for Christmas.

Even when both parents are now gone, I and my siblings continue the family tradition of being “home” for Christmas. Thus, on Christmas Eve, usually after coming from church, the whole family—grandchildren, nephews and nieces, brothers and sisters— all gather around the table to celebrate the joyous birthday of our Savior Jesus Christ.

After the Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve dinner, comes the part most awaited by everyone, especially the kids: the opening of gifts. It is often a riotous time with children squealing in delight or dismay over their gifts.

Yes, some of the kids cry when they see their siblings or cousins get more exciting gifts than they did. All these add to the fun and joy of the occasion.

For us adults, it’s not the gifts that matter, but the chance to bond and catch up with one another’s news.

Conversations often revolve around the maintenance meds we take, the diet restrictions we have, the prepa-

rations we made for retirement and so on. And when we talk about retirement, we inevitably speak about social-security protection. Fortunately, most of us have contributed enough number of years to qualify to lifetime pensions and had set aside some modest nest eggs to see us through, barring catastrophic medical emergencies.

Thinking about the future suddenly made me realize that there is a gift that all of us want: peace of mind.

Freedom from worries on how to get by when contingencies take place.

The Social Security System (SSS)

The perils of raising rates

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By Mark Whitehouse | Bloomberg View

ith any luck, the world economy will eventually be strong enough for central banks to follow the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) in ending what has been an unprecedented period of extremely low interest rates. If and when they do, they’ll run straight into the same issue that the Fed now faces: Raising rates will precipitate unusually large losses for investors.

Over the past several years, investors have gone to great lengths in their search for returns in a lowrate environment. They’ve done so in part by buying longer-maturity bonds, which tend to offer higher yields but are also more sensitive to changes in rates. One gauge of this risk is effective duration, which estimates the percentage decline in a bond’s price given a one-percentagepoint increase in yield. The measure is near all-time highs in the US, according to a report issued last week by the Office of Financial Research.

The situation globally is no less precarious. Consider the effective duration for the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market

Index, which tracks about $45 trillion in investment-grade bonds issued in major currencies—including government, corporate, mortgage and other asset-backed securities. As of last week, it stood at 6.6, meaning that a one-percentage-point increase in yield would wipe almost $3 trillion off the value of all the bonds included in the index. That’s a larger potential loss than at just about any point since the index’s inception in 1996. Here’s how that looks (see graph).

The high level of interest-rate risk illustrates a dilemma for central bankers everywhere. The power of traditional monetary stimulus depends in large part on the willingness of people and companies to borrow

The Social Security System gives the assurance of providing financial assistance to its members in times of contingencies, such as sickness, childbirth, disability, old-age and death. The right to benefits is assured by the number of contributions that a member has paid as provided under the law. There is no “means” or “needs” testing required unlike in other socialsecurity institutions in the country and around the world. gives the assurance of providing financial assistance to its members in times of contingencies, such as sickness, child birth, disability, old-age and death. The right to benefits is assured by the number of contributions that a member has paid as provided under the law. There is no “means” or “needs” testing required unlike in other social-security institutions in the country and around the world.

If a pensioner-member is survived by his or her legitimate spouse, the spouse gets 100 percent

for new projects and purchases. But as the debt burden grows, it makes markets and the entire economy more susceptible to rate increases.

It can also undermine the effect of rate cuts, as borrowers increasingly struggle under the weight of their existing obligations.

The longer-term solution is probably to get debts down to a more manageable level and ensure that

of the basic pension for life as long as he or she does not remarry. If he or she has no primary beneficiaries, his or her pension is guaranteed for five years, i.e., the number of months’ worth of pension remaining of the five-year period will be paid to his legal heirs. While the cash benefits might not be enough to pay today’s prices, members get 10 to 20 times more than what they paid for in contributions.

Hence, to employed workers (in the private sector), self-employed and voluntary persons (overseas workers and nonworking spouses of SSS members), the best gift that you can give yourselves this Christmas is a membership to the SSS, the gift of peace of mind.

Merry Christmas to one and all. May peace reign in our hearts and homes.

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

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

they stay there. This won’t be easy, and may ultimately require policies as radical as widespread writedowns, or allowing central banks to buy and retire obligations—options that Adair Turner, a British academic and former financial regulator, explores in his book Between Debt and the Devil. In the meantime, the world’s central banks will have to move carefully.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Why we can’t ignore Burundi’s crisis

Cursed or cussed erudition

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ar is brewing in Burundi.

The central African nation is “at bursting point, on the very cusp of a civil war,” warned United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in an appeal last week for international action.

The ingredients of war, and what many say could become another genocide, have been simmering since April.

That’s when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a disputed third term, which he won by a landslide in a July election that the US, European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) say was not credible. Protests that began in April have become increasingly violent. At least 400 people have been killed, and more than 220,000 have fled Burundi, mostly to refugee camps in neighboring countries. Earlier this month 87 people were killed in the capital, Bujumbura, in clashes between government and opposition groups at three military bases. And a team from the AU says it has heard “reports of arbitrary killings, torture and the arbitrary…closure of some civil-society organizations and the media.”

Like conflicts in other parts of the world, the unrest in Burundi—a country of 10 million about the size of its former colonial ruler, Belgium, and nestled in Africa’s Great Lakes region between Rwanda, Tanzania and Congo—can be pinned in part to ethnic and tribal differences. Since independence in 1962 Burundi has experienced long periods of civil war and violent clashes between the majority Hutu population and the minority Tutsis, the traditional ruling class.

Yes, those are the same ethnic groups that many of us first learned about in 1994, when the horrors of a brutal genocide unfolded in Rwanda and Burundi. As many as 1 million people were killed over several intense weeks of systemic massacres.

As tempting as it is to ascribe Burundi’s troubles to ethnic strife, the roots of unrest are far more complex.

The colonial powers that carved up Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries exploited ethnic and tribal divisions to gain control over large populations.

Decades after independence, too many modern African politicians resort to the same divisive tactics to win and hold power. In Burundi observers say political opposition groups are using rhetoric loaded with ethnic inferences to incite violence in the hope that it that will destabilize the government. The government, in response, is becoming ever more authoritarian.

So we have an opposition group (consisting of both Hutus and Tutsis) that ultimately seeks power sharing with the government (which is also ethnically mixed) on the cusp of provoking a civil war that could easily flare out of control and reignite Burundi’s HutuTutsi divisions, which could lead to another genocide.

Alarms are sounding, and the world appears to be listening—which is encouraging. In the months before the 1994 genocide, the international community largely looked away. Warning signs were ignored, and 100 days of slaughter began.

Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry joined a growing international call for an end to the violence in Burundi and a start of dialogue, just as the US (and other countries) warned its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible. Al Hussein urged immediate action, saying, “The time for piecemeal responses and fiddling round the edges is over.” Yet, the only action his UN group could take was to authorize a team of experts to go to Burundi and investigate abuses.

The AU is in the best position to intervene, and—at last—it did, announcing last week that it would deploy 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi, and that it would not allow genocide to occur. The move, which requires UN approval, would be the first time the AU is invoking a rule in its charter that allows it to send forces to a country without that country’s consent.

We’re relieved that the AU is stepping forward, but we don’t expect peace in Burundi without continued pressure from the UN, EU and US. The 54-member AU has struggled since its inception in 2002 to figure out its role on the continent. Its military forces are often poorly trained and equipped, and its record of diplomatic intervention is spotty. Its reputation has been marred by efforts to protect African leaders from the International Criminal Court.

A war in Burundi could easily spill across borders, leave thousands dead or displaced and destabilize an alreadyvolatile region. The AU can prevent another brutal massacre on its continent and drive for a political solution in Bujumbura. But that is no excuse for the rest of the world to turn away. The AU will need global support, and the Burundi people deserve the same. TNS

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Teddy Locsin Jr.

‘P

Free fire

ROFANITY is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly,” someone famous said; it is ironic that he or she is forgotten. But Ross McGuinness writes in Yahoo! News that swearing, far from “being the preserve of the uneducated,” is the surest sign of an overeducated mind. And there’s science to back it. A study in the Language Sciences Journal found that foulmouthed people have a bigger vocabulary than those who speak politely. Indeed, says the study, “those who are more confident using foul words” tend to be more articulate all around.

“The experiment asked participants to say as many curse words as they could in a minute. And then they were asked to do the same with animals in the amount

of time.” Ross isn’t clear whether the participants first said only as many curse words in a minute as they could think of, or that they uttered the same curse word in a

minute, or that, when they said the names of animals, it was just the name of the animals or added the names of the cursed animals—as in “friggin’ sloth,” “fucking ape,” “shit-faced slug,” and so on.

The result, in any case, was that those who swore the most in any of those fashions also named the most animals. This proves that those who curse a lot have a wider vocabulary. “The overall finding is that cursing measures verbal fluency,” McGuinness says.

But why curse if you are so fluent that you can describe effortlessly and, well, what is annoying you and why? Mark Twain famously said, “Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”

Okay, I can relate to that. There are people so unspeakably disagreeable that words fail even the

Economic restrictions are out of fashion Kent Marjun Primor

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Driving Momentum

et’s face it: The Philippines remains less attractive among its Asean peers on foreign direct investments (FDI), primarily because of constitutional economic restrictions that breed numerous statutory and regulatory limitations across sectors. The restrictions are embedded in the fundamental law and, therefore, no amount of statutory enactments or executive issuances can eliminate those restraints. Laws passed by Congress cannot deviate, alter or supersede the provisions of the Constitution, hence, since the enactment of the Foreign Investment Act in 1991, there had not been any substantial changes in the Foreign Investment Negative Lists (FINL). That is the main culprit why despite stellar economic growth in the past years, it has never been inclusive.

Take for instance Article II, Section 19, which reads, “The State shall develop a self-reliant and independent national economy effectively controlled by Filipinos,” already comes with a limiting condition imposed upon foreign investments. From a Filipino point of view, it sounds noble that our land is nourished by our own people, but also worrisome because in reality, only the very few and fortunate are given the opportunity to further themselves, while majority of the population lacks the same opportunities. Income inequality and poverty rates continue to rise, while the rich become richer.

Economic restrictions are real and the ordinary people and businesses suffer from its consequences.

Several industries have been limited from productive investments that could uplift millions of poor communities and sustain economic growth for decades. In the 2013 study of the World Bank Investing Across Border, the Philippines is seen to be the most restrictive in Asean-6.

In other words, employment potential of these sectors are limited because foreign investments are discouraged. Thus, it is not surprising that the Philippines has the highest unemployment rate among its peers, often exchanging

Source: WB Investing Across Border Report (2013)

Source: World Bank (2000-2013)

the top spot with Indonesia since 2000. Singapore remains progressive because it is the most open economy in the region, which would also explain why it has consistently been the

favorite destination of FDI. Without doubt, therefore, economic openness translates to higher investments, which would address joblessness, income inequality

A5

erudite to describe and denounce them simultaneously.

But I have a simpler explanation for the correlation between the frequency of cursing—or rather “cussing,” which is the world McGuinness really wants—and the number of associated animals.

As many public officials as you can compare to animals, is as many times as you want to curse or cuss ’em for their animalistic behavior or lack of any response to a public problem.

Think Department of Transportation and Communications and you think sloth and you curse. Think Peace Panel and you think snakes and you curse. You think Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and see road barriers floating in the flood, and you think what a friggin’ waste of time and money all that was. Merry Christmas.

and ultimately poverty. FDI is key to attaining and sustaining inclusive growth as evidenced by the experiences of South Korea, Singapore, China and, most recently, Vietnam.

Now, the call for amendment to the restrictive economic provisions of our Constitution must be taken seriously by our incumbent legislators if the Philippines, as a nation, wants to be First World in our lifetime. Resolution of Both Houses 1 is a very good piece of legislation that provides flexibility for Congress to adjust policies in addressing economic realities.

With the Asean Economic Community (AEC) taking place, European Union-Philippines Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations about to start, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being just around the corner, our country cannot afford to be uncompetitive due to much protectionism.

These regional FTA are meant to promote free flow of goods, services, labor, capital and investments to achieve inclusive growth. But seriously, how can the Philippines stay true to its commitments in AEC where its Constitution imposed limitations on foreign participation?

How can it join TPP or sign higher level FTAs when trade and investment restrictions are outright and explicit in its fundamental law?

If there is one lesson from all of these facts and circumstances, the Philippines should not discriminate investments, especially if it brings substantial relief and development to its own citizens. In an era of economic integration, a country secluded from convergence is left with uncertainty.

Kent Marjun Primor serves as the Market Research and Communications Specialist at the Nordic Business Council of the Philippines (NBCP). For comments and inquiries, please direct it to kent.primor@nbcp.com.ph.

News

BusinessMirror

A6 Wednesday, December 23, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

PHL online hiring plunged -46% in November–MEI

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By Cai U. Ordinario

lection jitters and the threat of El Niño has significantly reduced online hiring in the Philippines in November, according to a global online-employment firm.

In the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), Monster Worldwide Inc. said online hiring in the Philippines contracted -46 percent in November.

“The overall performance of the Philippines amid the economic downturn has been notable, and there is no doubt the nation will

continue to perform in the coming months. As the nation’s growth tracked slower than expected in the third quarter, partly due to the halting investments ahead of the elections and the dry spells of the El Niño, hiring has also begin to slow down,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director, Monster.com

(India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong).

The decline in online hiring in the Philippines in November was the third consecutive month that the MEI was in negative territory.

In October online-hiring activities of firms nationwide posted a year-on-year contraction of 30 percent, while in September the contraction was at 16 percent.

The banking, financial services and insurance industry registered the least year-over-year decline of 3 percent, while the production/ manufacturing, automotive and ancillary sector fared the worst with a contraction of as much as 68 percent.

In terms of jobs, customer-service employment experienced the least decline with a contraction of

9 percent in November.

Monster Worldwide added that the jobs that reported the steepest decline were hospitality and travel jobs, with a contraction of 64 percent last month.

“This all will likely see a rebound in 2016, given the country’s strong private consumption, as well as higher government spending in order to drive growth in the country. Philippines’s exports, however, may influence overall business sentiments in the country,” Modi, however, said.

Monster Worldwide said the MEI is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity created in 2012.

It is based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a selection of career web sites and online job listings nationwide. With Roderick Abad

Aquino signs ₧3.002-trillion budget for 2016

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resident Aquino on Tuesday signed into law the P3.002-tr i l lion nationa l budget for 2016, adding another record for the country for passing the General Appropriations Act (GAA) on time.

Mr. Aquino said that passing the budget on time is important to enable the government to continuously provide ser vices for more Filipinos and achieve inclusive growth.

“Malinaw ang hangad natin: Inclusive growth. Sa paglalaan ng makatwirang pondo sa ating mga ahensiya at programa, nabibigyan ng pagkakataon ang ating mga kababayang makasabay sa pag-angat ng ekonomiya,” he said.

The Chief Executive said his administration has been pushing for thorough consultations so the people themselves will determine key projects that should be funded.

For 2016 President Aquino said that the Department of Education will receive the largest budget of P436.5 billion.

He stressed that the funding will enable the government to address inherited backlogs in classrooms, books, school armchairs and teachers.

“Bahagi nito ang pagpapatayo ng 47,553 classrooms, pagbili ng 103.2 million bagong textbooks, at pag-hire ng 79,691 positions para sa teaching and nonteaching

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he Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) has denied reports of pilferage of incoming luggage at the premier airport following a video going the rounds of the Internet purportedly showing an unidentified man trying to pilfer the contents of an incoming cargo.

The Miaa said the video was taken while airline agents are retrieving cargo documents from an Eva Air flight.

“We would like to clarify that nothing anomalous took place in the video uploaded recently online of a ground personnel opening a bag at the apron of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,” the airport’s Media Affairs Department (MAD) said.

The video titled “Hulicam, mga tauhan ng Naia binubuksan ang mga gamit ng pasahero. Kailangan kumalat ito,” showed a ramp agent getting a white envelope from a bag beside the aircraft.

MAD said the video spread online starting December 16, and was mistaken to be a case of pilferage committed by airport personnel.

“Investigation conducted by the MIAA revealed that the certain ramp agent merely retrieved cargo documents loaded in Eva Air Flight BR 271, which arrived

Bongbong to P-Noy: Ensure grant of retirement benefits for barangay officials, workers

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en. Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. urged President Aquino on Monday to sign into law as early as possible the measure recently approved by Congress giving retirement benefits to barangay officials and workers.

“It is already an enrolled bill and has been transmitted to Malacañang for the President’s signature. Marcos, chairman of the Committee on Local Government, is the principal author of the bill approved in the Senate.”

“The Senate and the House [of Representatives] have approved the bill. I hope the President would sign it into law as soon as possible,” Marcos told reporters in an ambush inter view in Nueva Ecija.

“I am optimistic that our barangay officials and workers will be able to enjoy this benefit very soon,” he added.

The measure provides a retirement pay of P100,000 for each qualified barangay chairman; P80,000 for each member of Sangguniang Barangay; and P50,000 each for the barangay treasurer and secretary, barangay tanod, member of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, and barangay healthand day-care workers.

Skilled workers registry

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, has recently approved on third and final reading a measure creating a registry of skilled workers in every barangay.

National People’s Coalition Rep. Pedro B. Acharon Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Local Government, said House Bill (HB) 6285 aims to make available to residents of a barangay a list of skilled workers who shall be able

MARCOS: “I am optimistic that our barangay officials and workers will be able to enjoy this benefit very soon.”

to provide needed services.

Acharon is one of the authors of HB 6285.

For his part, Liberal Party Rep. Roman T. Romulo of Pasig City, principal author of the bill, said the proposed barangay skilled workers registry is “a practical, sensible and inexpensive way of promoting the full-time or part-time employment of local residents with a wide range of acquired proficiencies.”

“For instance, once a new industrial, commercial or service establishment comes into the community, or an existing one decides to expand, it simply has to access the barangay’s skilled labor registry. The firm does not have to look elsewhere for potential technical-vocational workers and other employable staff,” said Romulo, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.

Under the measure, barangay skilled workers registry refers to the database of all skilled workers who have registered their information and qualifications at the barangays where they wish to make their services readily available.

For a skilled worker to be included in the registry, he or she should provide his or her name, address, contact details and skills and nature of job offered, the bill states. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

briefs President Aquino (seated, second from left) signs into law Republic Act 10717, or the P3.002-trillion General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2016, during the Presidential Enactment Ceremony at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday. Witnessing the ceremony are Senate President Franklin M. Drilon (seated, left), Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (seated, second from right) and members of the House of Representatives Senate, Cabinet and Diplomatic Corps, business development partners, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program’s beneficiaries and other guests. Malacañang Photo Bureau

personnel,” he added.

The Chief Executive said P62.7 billion has been earmarked to support the expanded povertyalleviation program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, to cover an estimated 4.6 million beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, President Aquino said the Department of Public Works and Highways will receive P400.4-billion budget next year.

Mr. Aquino reiterated his administration’s goal to increase infrastructure investments to 5 percent of the country’s GDP in

Miaa disputes veracity of luggage pilferage video shots at Naia

By Recto Mercene

news@businessmirror.com.ph

from Taipei on December 15.”

Senior Traffic Officer of the airline Jhun Añonuevo clarified that, as a matter of procedure, airline ground personnel retrieve a document pouch from the compartment of an aircraft upon arrival.

The said pouch contains records such as airway bills, cargo manifest, mail manifest, delivery bills, and an inbound handling report.

He added that an on-duty ramp agent receives the said cargo documents and submits these to concerned offices.

Añonuevo added that corrective measures are being undertaken by the airline concerned regarding the handling of documents to prevent any misinterpretation in the future.

Miaa General Manager Jose Angel Honrado thanked the public for continuously being vigilant when it comes to airport procedures.

“Ensuring safety and security is truly a community effort. We encourage the riding public to directly report any concern to the airport management so we can help you better,” Honrado said.

He added that airport security personnel are always on heightened surveillance to protect passengers and their belongings especially this holiday season.

2016 from this year’s 4 percent.

Moreover, Mr. Aquino said that P38.9 billion has been also allotted for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund meant to prepare the country for the effects of climate change. PNA

Erap eyes tougher measure to impose road discipline in Manila’s city streets

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HE Manila City government has announced that it will be deploying Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and other armed personnel to restore order in the city’s perennially chaotic roads.

In a news statement, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has ordered SWAT personnel, along with other police operatives, to be part of a new trafficenforcement body to enforce “discipline zones” in key areas of the city.

“The many years of neglect by previous city administrations on traffic and order concerns have brought about this major problem that had thus bred a seeming anarchy in some areas in Manila,” said Ver Eustaquio, director of the Manila Barangay Bureau (MBB) and operations head of the Task Force Organized Vending (TFOV).

TFOV will perform a key role in the expanded traffic-management body which will include the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB), the Manila Police District (MPD), the MBB and the SWAT. He said the main forces the soon-to-be-formed Discipline Zones Team (DZT) will be the current 450-man MTPB, the TFOV, the MBB and more than 2,000 barangay volunteers who will be trained for the task.

These main forces, Eustaquio added, will closely coordinate with the MPD and the SWAT in their implementation of Estrada’s directive.

The DZT, according to Eustaquio, will initially start restoring order along the stretch of Recto Avenue going to Divisoria, which is also known as the “Pambansang Pelengke.”

He said the project will primarily ensure smooth flow of traffic for motorists, pedestrians and products in the Divisoria area, one of their declared 10 “hot spots,” which are priority areas for the project’s implementation.

The areas of concern include Blumenttrit, Reina Regente, Soler, Abad Santos, Antonio Rivera, Juan Luna, Narra, Plaza Ruiz and Santa Elena.

“Mayor Erap’s directive to us in the Discipline Zones Team is to ensure in all the identified hot spots the smooth and efficient flow of traffic, cleanliness and orderliness, and the safety and security of pedestrians, commuters, motorists and the moving goods,” Eustaquio underscored.

He further said that the team, by its mere visibility in the streets, will likewise serve as deterrent to crimes which are usually rampant in these areas, especially during the holidays, such as snatching, holdups and the like. Joel R. San Juan

lawmaker calls for immediate approval of D.I.C.T. bill The chairman of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology on Tuesday asked President Aquino to sign into law the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) before the year-end.

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Susan A. Yap of Tarlac, the panel chairman, said the DICT will concentrate on information and communications technology, which is an emerging, fast-evolving and increasingly complex phenomenon.

“The fate of the proposed Department of Information and Communications Technology to develop a world-class Philippine information and communications technology, thereby ensuring a better future for all Filipinos, is now in the hands of the President,” she said.

“The creation of the DICT will provide the leadership our telecom sector badly needs. It will help pave the way for faster Internet at cheaper cost in the country,” Yap added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

d.o.j. creates 10-man team for biodiversity cases THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has assigned a 10-man team composed of special prosecutors to handle cases involving violations of laws and regulations in environmentally critical areas.

Isabelo Montejo, regional director for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas, said the availability of special prosecutors would speed up the litigation of environment.

Members of the team are prosecutors Gilmarie Fe Pacamarra, Liezel Aquiatan, Tofel Austria, Alejandro Daguiso, Katheryn May Penaco-Rojas, Ferdinand Fernandez, Karla Cabel, Charlie Guhit, Monica Liwag and Ma. Richell Oliva.

“This will truly advance the enforcement of the laws and regulations for protected areas. We have many issues in the environment which need to be focused on. The special prosecutors for protected areas will be more familiar with the laws governing environment protection, which will greatly help in the resolution of cases,” Montejo said. Joel R. San Juan

p.u.v. mark meant to curb driver abuse on the road

ALL public-utility vehicles (PUVs) and buses will be required display their markings as a measure to prevent, or at the least minimize, the abuses of drivers by year-end or “face stiff penalty.”

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Winston M. Ginez said operators have until December 29 to comply with the order.

Those issued permit by other Regional Offices have 90 days from October 29 or until January 29 to display the required markings.

It should have the height of 3 inches, width of 1 inches, thickness of halfinch, and with designated colors to be displayed in either the rear portion or side part of the vehicles.

The markings include the agency’s hotline for commuters aggravated by drivers.

“Nais po namin matugunan agad ang mga puna at suhestiyon ng ating mamamayan sa napansin nilang maling pagmamaneho ng mga pampublikong sasakyan kaya lahat ng pampublikong sasakyan at minamandato namin na maglagay ng kaukulang markings na madali matatawagan ng mga mananakay,” Ginez said. Lorenz S. Marasigan

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

Sports BusinessMirror

TABUENA UP FOR BIG YEAR

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IGUEL TABUENA’S conquest of the fabled Philippine Open— the culminating event of the Asian Tour’s 2015 season— opened the door wide open for more challenges and, at the same time, obliged him not to rest on his laurels.

“I have to work harder,” said Tabuena, who graced Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate, accompanied by his father, Luigi, also the Philippine Golf Tour manager.

Tabuena capped a brilliant season against an elite international field with a fiery 66 windup to win the Open by one over Australia’s Scott Barr at the Luisita Golf and Country Club course on Sunday in Tarlac.

The 21-year-old Tabuena pooled a 14-under 202 at the end of the weather-shortened championship to pocket $54,000 (P2.5 million) for a three-day job.

Tabuena has set his focus on the Singapore Open on January 28 and the $3-million Malaysian Open in February next year.

“I will join more tournaments next year. Now, I know I can do it,” said Tabuena in the forum, presented by San Miguel Corp., Shakey’s, Accel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Tabuena couldn’t wait to go back to the course, especially in the coming Singapore Open which will be headlined by current world No. 1 Jordan Spieth of the United States.

From Malaysia, Tabuena will vie in a Philippine Golf Tour leg in Anvaya, then the Thai Golf Classic and another one in India.

On top of it all, Tabuena, who booked his biggest career victory in Tarlac, is looking at the great opportunity of vying in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Tabuena moved up to No. 48 in the International Golf Federation Olympic rankings. If he holds on to a top 60 spot until July or a month before the Olympics, he could make it to Rio in August.

“I hope I can make it. I’m joining bigger tournaments next year so I can earn more points,” Tabuena said.

As a golfer, making it to the Olympics will be a dream come true.

“It would mean the world to me,” he said. “I never thought I can have the opportunity to represent the country in the Olympics. It’s a chance to compete against the best in the world.”

Tabuena reclaimed the country’s premier golf championship since absentee Angelo Que won it in 2008. Elmer Salvador and Artemio Murakami also ruled in 2009 and 2010, respectively, but against an all-Filipino field.

With Lindsay Renolds reeling back early with three bogeys against a bogey in the first six holes and limping with a 73, Barr wrested control with an eagle-spike frontside 33, but fell back two miscues at the back, including a costly wet bogey on the par-three 17th that dropped him two back off Tabuena.

Needing an eagle on the par-four to force a playoff, Barr settled for a birdie and a 68 for runner-up honors at 203 worth $33,000.

Himmat Raj of India came out of nowhere to snatch third place, firing the tournament-best 63 for a 204, the same output put in by Thai Chinnarat Phadungsil, who fired a 67. Each received $16,950.

Korean Seukhyun Baek also rallied with a 66 to finish tied for fifth at 206 with Englishman

Simon Griffiths, who shot a 68, and Korean Jeunghun Wang, Ireland’s Niall Turner and South African Keith Horne, who both had 69s, while Renolds doublebogeyed No. 15 and hobbled with a 73 to drop to a share of 10th at 207. Lance Agcaoili

Chiang Kai Shek Dragons in high spirits

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HIANG Kai Shek recently won the Secondary Schools Basketball Championships (PSSBC), but the Blue Dragons are already looking forward to defending their title next year.

With most of its key players returning

for another tour of duty next season, the Filipino-Chinese school is aiming to become the first team to win the annual Jumbo Plastic Linoleum Cup, which it ruled three days ago at the expense of De La Salle-Zobel, 85-82.

“We’re looking forward to defend [our

THE Blue Dragons rule the Secondary Schools Basketball Championship.

Al Mendoza alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

Migs meets magical fate ABOUT 10 years ago today, I was with Miguel Tabuena in a trip to spanking Shanghai. No, I did not cover Miguel’s golf exploits in that bustling Chinese city now being widely dubbed as the New York City of Asia. Although Miguel was playing golf already at that time (he “started” golf—believe it or not—at age 2), there was no way he could be a participant in the HSBC Golf Championship that year. He was barely 11 years old. And the tournament was for professionals. The world’s top guns were all there, one of which was then world No. 1 Tiger Woods. But am I getting ahead of the story?

Now, why was I in Shanghai? What was my business in being there? Golf? Formula One? Shanghai Motor Show? Long hsiao bao?

Golf, it was. But not as a player, though.

I was there as a guest of HSBC, which was staging the HSBC Championship. I earned that precious trip after having had the luck to win the major prize in the HSBC tournament at the Tagaytay Midlands that staked two plane tickets first-class, plus a suite booking at Shanghai Hilton. Life’s been good, you know.

Didn’t know Miguel (lovingly called Migs

by Dad Luigi and Mom Lorna) was there, too, accompanied by his Mom, Lorna.

I got to see Migs on the fourth and last day of the tournament. In a rather funny, if not kid stuff, encounter.

It went like this.

Woods had just planted his approach on the 10th green some 12 feet off the hole. He was two shots off Graemme McDowell the leader.

The usual huge throng of Woods followers was there, ringing the green shoulder to shoulder. I was, myself, being tightly sandwiched by two burly men on the fringe when, under my legs, a crawling toddler would emerge. Why, it was Migs!

“We are here to satisfy the bawling Migs’ craving to be with Tiger,” Lorna said. “It’d be that way from the first tee up to the 18th green.”

When Woods missed his putt and miss inching to within a shot of McDowell (the Irish would win it in the end; Tiger third, I guess), Migs punched the air in dismay.

It wasn’t until 6 years later that I would see Migs again. This time, he was a professional in a tournament at Valley. He was barely 17, I

title],” said Blue Dragons Head Coach Goldwyn Monteverde, who appeared with members of the team in the last session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum for the year on Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate.

The Blue Dragons won the tournament unbeaten behind Batang Gilas stalwart and Mythical Five member Jonas Tibayan, finals Most Valuable Player Miguel Oczon, Sam Banes Donn Lim and Joshua Ramirez.

No school has won the “Battle of Champions” for two straight years. The past champions of the tournament are Hope Christian High School, San Sebastian and deposed titlist San Beda.

The Blue Dragons dethroned the Red Lions via a 65-58 win in the semifinals.

The championship capped a highlight year for the school, which also won the secondary level of the Palarong Pambansa in Tagum City.

Monteverde attributed the successful basketball program of the Blue Dragons on the school putting premium not only on talent but also on the players’ good moral character. Lance Agcaoili guess, but he had that regal bearing already— almost with a mien of a champ the way he carried himself.

Then he started winning in the Tour.

Then he almost won the Philippine Open at difficult Wack Wack, succumbing only to rookie jitters after blowing the lead going to the last round of Asia’s first professional golf event.

And then only on Sunday, he finally captured the one that mattered the most in his young career—the Philippine Open in its 98th staging at soggy-free Luisita. He won it not just in sterling style but with guts not commonly seen from twenty-something dudes like him: He gunned down five birdies in his last nine holes to win by one. What could be more classic a win than that?

“To see my name on this trophy with so many legends in it is a dream come true,” said Migs, now a man of 21 with a pocket lined up by a winner’s purse worth P2.5 million.

I don’t even have a fraction of that in my wallet—almost 10 years to the day I first met Migs in Shanghai. Lap it up, Migs. Swell.

THAT’S IT My heartfelt congratulations to siblings William and Mary Kim Hong for winning the men’s class I and ladies categories, respectively, of the BMW Golf Cup International National Final 2015 that was again expertly handled by that suave BMW point man, Karl Magsuci, under the combined tutelage of Maricar Parco and Demosthenes “Bobby” Rosales of the Asian Carmakers Corp. With the Hongs’ victories, they will be joined by men’s class II winner Emmanuel Barcelon in the prestigious BMW World Final in George, South Africa, in March 2016. Cheers!...Merry Christmas!

MIGUEL TABUENA aims high in 2016.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

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‘Don’t bring boxers to South Africa’

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OXING manager Ryan Gabriel urged fellow handlers to avoid bringing their fighters to South Africa, a country that has become notorious for all sorts of maltreatment of Filipino pugs.

“I experience it myself and I want to speak out and do something about,” Gabriel told Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s, Malate.

Gabriel was recently in South Africa to accompany trainer Benjie Gonzales and boxer Rens Rozia, who fought local hero Moruthi Mthalane for the International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight title.

The trouble was when Gabriel was indirectly threatened when the Mthalene’s trainer, Nick Durandt, pulled out a gun and waved it during the manager’s meeting, when Gabriel insisted on getting his boxer’s purse a day before the fight as stipulated in the contract.

Durandt reportedly presented the purse but insisted to give it on fight day.

“It’s [bringing out a gun] in a boxing bout. I simply

cannot take it. Our boxer saw it and lost his focus on the fight,” added Gabriel, who had already sent a formal complaint with IBO President Ed Levine.

Gabriel, however, said he was not satisfied with Levine’s explanation that the incident was just a “misunderstanding.”

Another questionable move by the host, Gabriel said, was Rosia’s having his blood drawn for HIV test the day before the fight.

“We’re not against the test but it should have been done a few weeks before the fight,” he told the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Rozia went on to lose to Mthalane via a ninth-round technical knockout.

“If our boxer won, who knows? Out boxer may not have brought home his prize,” Gabriel said.

Prior to Gabriel’s experience, two Filipino boxers, Edrin Dapudong and Rey Loreto, who both won their matches in South Africa by knockouts, remain unpaid of their prize purse up to this day. Lance Agcaoili

Pinoys vie in Jakarta

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HE Philippines is seeing action in Asean JAPFA Chess Championships that started on Tuesday and ends on Wednesday at the GM Utut Adianto Chess School Jakarta, Indonesia.

Grandmaster Darwin Laylo heads the men’s team, which is also composed of International Master Paulo Bersamina and Jan Emmanuel Garcia.

Women IM Janelle Mae Frayna heads the Philippine campaign in the women’s section.

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines

is fielding both squads in the year-ending competition.

The winners of the tournament in both divisions could snatch GM and Women’s GM titles or norms.

Laylo is seeded second in the tournament.

He was a vice champion in the 2015 Guam Open and was the top Filipino top performer by placing fourth in one of the strongest tournament hosted and organized by the country in the recent Chess Challenge in Subic.

Bersamina, a National University chairman, on the other hand, has one GM norm. He played on the Philippine team in the 2014 Norway Olympiad.

Sports BusinessMirror

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ednesday, December 23, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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TOUR de France Director Christian Prudhomme at work during the 16th stage of the race in July. AP

From bad to worse P

ARIS—The Tour de France and other major races are being pulled from the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) elite calendar in 2017 in a renewed fight for control of the sport.

Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organizer of the Tour, last month rejected the UCI’s proposed reforms for the 2017 WorldTour, and has the support of a majority of race organizers in its bid to be free of cycling’s governing body.

ASO said in a statement on Friday it told the UCI “it has opted for the registration of its events on the Hors Classe calendar for season 2017,” meaning it will have more freedom to invite the teams of its choice to its events.

ASO described the UCI reform of the 2017 WorldTour as “a closed sport system.”

It fears the new plan will only reinforce the power of the most powerful teams, and ultimately lead to a franchise system.

“More than ever, ASO remains committed to the European model, and cannot compromise the values it represents: An open system giving first priority to the sporting criterion,” it said. “It is therefore in this new context and within its historical events that ASO will continue to keep these values alive.”

The UCI said later Friday it remains determined to implement the reforms, which it “believes properly balances the interests of all those involved in professional cycling.”

ASO owns the Tour de France and classics, such as Paris-Roubaix and Liege-BastogneLiege, as well as the one-week races Paris-Nice and the Criterium du Dauphine.

The UCI, which has been regularly at odds with Tour organizers for 15 years, announced in September reforms aimed at streamlining the calendar and providing the top level of men’s cycling with a more stable operating environment.

Among the measures planned are the implementation of three-year licenses granted to a maximum of 18 World Tour teams from 2017 to 2019, and stricter antidoping protocols. A limited number of new races will also be added, while new and existing races will be subjected to a strict set of standards.

Teams will also be required to follow rules on how they manage riders and staff.

But the association of cycling’s major race organizers—chaired by Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme—voted overwhelmingly against the reforms last month, expressing its “utmost concern” about the UCI plans. The Association Internationale des Organisateurs de Courses Cyclistes also called “for a working group to be set up as soon as possible that brings together all the stakeholders in order to propose the necessary corrective measures.” AP

SAN ANTONIO’S Manu Ginobili shoots against Indiana’s Paul George. AP

‘I WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE END’ Guilty verdicts were expected.

So were the subsequent denials of wrongdoing and promises of urgent appeals to Fifa and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

By Graham Dunbar

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The Associated Pres

URICH—Banished from soccer’s ruling body for eight years for unethical conduct, Sepp Blatter won’t give up the presidency of his beloved International Football Federation (Fifa) without a fight.

“I will fight. I will fight until the end,” Blatter said on Monday at a news conference that started 90 minutes after he and former protégé Michel Platini were each banned by Fifa’s ethics committee.

It was a stunning removal of world soccer’s most powerful leaders over a $2-million payment by Fifa to Platini, the president of European soccer’s ruling body Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

The payment is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland.

“I’m sad. It can’t go on this way. It’s not possible,” said the 79-year-old Blatter, who has spent more than half his life working for soccer’s scandal-hit governing body. “After 40 years, it can’t happen this way. I’m fighting to restore my rights.”

Already serving a provisional ban, the elected Fifa president and his longtime likely successor were kicked out of the sport just two months before 209 member-federations elect a new leader.

Platini, a Fifa vice president, whose bid to succeed Blatter on February 26 now looks over, described the proceedings as a “true mockery.”

Their offences were judged to be conflict of interest and disloyalty to Fifa. They avoided life bans because corruption was not proven.

Platini’s lawyer, Thibaud d’Ales, told the Associated Press it came as no surprise that the corruption charge had been dropped.

“They used it with the sole purpose of dirtying Michel Platini, although they knew from the start it was an untenable

argument,” D’Ales said.

Guilty verdicts were expected. So were the subsequent denials of wrongdoing and promises of urgent appeals to Fifa and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter’s defiant display was a bonus for international media summoned to Fifa’s former headquarters, just hundreds of meters (yards) from the new building, where he spent eight hours with four ethics judges on Thursday.

The choice of venue hinted at a vintage Blatter show. He did not disappoint.

Blatter invoked Nelson Mandela within a minute, pointing to the spot, where the iconic South African leader had lifted the World Cup trophy 11 years ago, when his country was chosen as the host nation for the 2010 tournament.

Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, the Nobel organization and the United Nations were also referenced in a spirited 52-minute performance as he held court with more than 100 journalists.

His last words were “I’ll be back, thank you.”

Blatter’s trademark fighting talk was delivered while still sporting a strip of surgical tape on his right cheek after a minor medical procedure five days earlier.

Blatter made it clear he regretted his current position, but declared he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

“I am not ashamed,” he said. “I am sorry that I am a punching ball. I am sorry for football.... I am now suspended eight years, suspended eight years. Suspended eight years for what?”

Platini was also dismissive of the ethics commission’s work.

He said its proceedings, which included a hearing earlier this month that he did not attend, had been “orchestrated... by governing bodies that I know well” to tarnish him.

“I’m convinced that my fate was sealed before the December 18 hearing and that this

decision is just a pathetic maneuver to hide a true will of taking me out of the football world,” the Frenchman said.

“My behavior has always been faultless and I’m at peace with my own conscience.”

Platini said he will also file a lawsuit in a civil court to seek damages for what he has endured during the ethics commission’s proceedings. In a brief statement, UEFA said it was “extremely disappointed” with the ruling and supported its leader’s right to clear his name.

Fifa’s ethics judges decided that Blatter and Platini had broken ethics rules on conflicts of interest, breach of loyalty and offering or receiving gifts.

Platini took $2 million of Fifa money in 2011—a payment approved by Blatter as uncontracted salary for work as a presidential adviser from 1999 to 2002.

In Monday’s verdict, Blatter was fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($50,250) and Platini 80,000 Swiss francs ($80,400).

“Neither in his written statement nor in his personal hearing was Mr. Blatter able to demonstrate another legal basis for this payment,” the judges said. “By failing to place Fifa’s interests first and abstain from doing anything which could be contrary to Fifa’s interests, Mr. Blatter violated his fiduciary duty to Fifa.

“His [Blatter’s] assertion of an oral agreement was determined as not convincing and was rejected by the chamber.”

Blatter hit back at that conclusion during his news conference, portraying the ethics committee as saying of Platini and himself: “He’s a liar and I’m a liar.”

“This is not correct,” Blatter said.

Blatter acknowledged an administrative “error” in failing to register Fifa’s debt to Platini in its accounts for eight years, though he insisted: “This is nothing to do with the ethics regulations.”

The Swiss had started tentatively and the

PERFECT AT HOME

AN ANTONIO—San Antonio extended its perfect home record and notched the second-best season start in franchise history when it beat Indiana, 106-92, on Monday.

The Spurs are 16-0 at home and 21 of their 24 wins this season have been by double figures.

They moved eight games clear atop the Southwest Division, while Northwest leader Oklahoma City retained its six-game break by edging the Los Angeles Clippers, thanks to a couple of big plays by Kevin Durant in the closing seconds.

Also on Monday Houston squandered a big lead in the fourth quarter before recovering to defeat Charlotte, and Nikola Vucevic led Orlando to a road win at New York.

San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard had 24 points and Tony Parker scored 15 points for the Spurs, who have won six straight.

George Hill and Jordan Hill each had 15 points for Indiana.

Oklahoma City’s Durant hit a go-ahead jump shot with 5.8 seconds left before blocking a potential game-winning 18-footer

by Chris Paul as time expired, giving the Thunder a 100-99 win against the Clippers.

Russell Westbrook scored 33 points and Serge Ibaka added 17 for Oklahoma City.

Paul had 32 points and 10 assists in another classic duel with Westbrook.

A third straight loss equaled the Clippers’ longest skid of the season.

Houston’s James Harden scored 36 points as the Rockets escaped a late fade-out and beat Charlotte 102-95.

The game was tied before Harden drove into the lane and was fouled as he made a lay-up. He hit the free throws to put Houston up, 94-91, with 31.6 seconds left.

Harden made 16 of 19 free throws and secured Houston’s third straight win by making two with 13.9 seconds remaining.

Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 14 points.

Orlando’s Vucevic tied his season high with 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, powering the Magic to a 107-99 win at New York.

Vucevic had a pair of baskets and Evan Fournier added a threepointer and another basket in an 11-2 spurt after the Knicks had cut it to 93-92 with 3:25 left.

Lance Thomas was nine-for-nine and tied his career with 24 points for the Knicks, who had won their previous four.

Atlanta notched a fourth straight win by defeating Portland 106-97.

Dennis Schroder, Atlanta’s backup point guard, lost a cap bonded to a tooth in a collision early in the fourth period, but was seven-for-10 from the floor in a little more than 17 minutes on the court. He had 18 points, among six Hawks in double figures.

The Trail Blazers played without starting guards Damon Lillard and CJ McCollum. Lillard has plantar fasciitis in his left foot and missed a game for the first time in his career, ending his streak of playing in 275 consecutive games. McCollum has two sprained ankles.

Allen Crabbe had 19 points for Portland in a fill-in start. The Trail Blazers have lost four straight.

Boston beat Minnesota 113-99, but Celtics fans were deprived the chance to see one of their former favorites Kevin Garnett in action, as the 39-year-old stayed on the bench throughout what could have been his last visit to the city.

Utah opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run to set up a 11089 win against Phoenix.

Brooklyn snapped a five-game skid by beating Chicago, 105102, with Brook Lopez contributing 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Washington’s John Wall had a career-high 19 assists and also scored 12 points, leading the Wizards to a 113-99 victory against Sacramento. AP

grey bristles on his chin—that clearly showed he hadn’t shaven that morning—added to his aged appearance.

Yet his voice grew stronger, seeming to take heart from gentle prompts and notes given by his only child, daughter Corinne, sitting to his left.

He spoke in four languages and translated his own German, French and Spanish answers into English, clearly relishing the attention of a big audience again.

By the end, with his top shirt button undone and tie loose, it was possible to forget that Blatter had faced a health scare on November 1.

“I am back, I am back, I am doing better,” he said.

“I have the support of my daughter, I have the support of Linda [Barras], my love.”

While Blatter wants to leave Fifa with his head high, the 60-yearold Platini wants to clear his name, pass a Fifa integrity check and be declared an official candidate in the election he had been favored to win.

SEPP BLETTER: “I’m sad. It can’t go on this way. It’s not possible.” AP