BusinessMirror January 9, 2016

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Saturday, January 9, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 93

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

BILL SKIPS BICAM AS HOUSE OPTS TO ADOPT SENATE VERSION

PDIC reform bill ready for Aquino’s signature

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HE legislative leaders reached a consensus to adopt the Senate version of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) reform bill to expedite its submission for signing into law as soon as Congress reconvenes on January 19.

INSIDE

‘DEMOCRATS FURIOUS OVER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DEPORTATIONS The World BusinessMirror

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US recruits tech leaders to help disrupt IS group

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ALO ALTO, California—With extremists finding fertile ground for recruitment online, the White House is dispatching top national security officials to Silicon Valley to seek the tech industry’s help in disrupting the Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorists.

At a high-level session on Friday, industry leaders and government officials will discuss ways to use technology to stop terrorists from radicalizing people online and spurring them to violence, according to a meeting agenda obtained by The Associated Press.

But it’s unclear what will come of the meeting: While tech industry leaders say they want to be good citizens, they don’t want to undercut free speech or be viewed as government agents. And tech leaders have clashed with the Obama administration before over encryption of online data and messages.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper are slated to attend the session, along with President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and his top counterterrorism adviser.

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and LinkedIn are sending representatives. While it appeared the government wants the companies to send their top executives, there were indications some were still deciding late on Thursday who to send, and it couldn’t be learned on Thursday if any CEOs will be attending.

The meeting on Friday in San Jose, California, comes as the Obama administration tries to beef up cooperation with social-media groups and online companies whose platforms are often used by extremists to attract followers, disseminate their message and organize attacks.

Obama said in a recent speech that he planned to “urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.”

At Friday’s session, government officials plan to brief industry leaders on how terrorists use technology, including encryption. They also hope to discuss ways to make it harder for terrorists to use the Internet for recruiting and mobilizing followers.

Also on the agenda is a discussion of how the government and tech companies can “help others to create, publish, and amplify alternative content that would undercut” the IS. Another goal is to identify ways for law enforcement to better identify terrorists online and stop them from carrying out attacks.

Some of those goals may lead to thorny discussions. Leading Internet companies say they remove violent or threatening content that violates their policies, but they are reluctant to infringe on free speech.

They also cite technical challenges to monitoring or policing the vast mountains of messages, photos and other material that are posted on popular online sites.

And particularly after the revelations two years ago about widespread datagathering by the National Security Agency, tech companies are concerned about making sure that customers around the world don’t see them as agents of the US government.

The government, however, says that digital platforms are increasingly becoming tools of radicalization used by the IS, a group Obama recently denounced as “bunch of killers with good social media.”

Slick online magazines, highly produced videos and social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, have all played roles in the group’s propaganda machine.

After last month’s shooting in San Bernardino, California, Facebook found messages by 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik around the time of the attack that included a pledge of allegiance to the IS’s leader, although there were no indications IS had directed the attack.

Confronting the IS on the Internet has raised difficult questions for US policymakers about how to balance counterterrorism against privacy, civil liberties and the hands-off tradition that has fueled the Internet’s growth.

Especially thorny is the federal government’s desire for a way to circumvent encryption technology that individuals use to protect their privacy but that terrorists can exploit to keep their actions hidden from law enforcement.

In Congress, lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring social-media companies to report online to law enforcement any terrorist activity they detect, such as planning, recruiting or distribution of terrorist material. AP

Saturday, January 9, 2016 B2-4

Democrats furious over Obama administration deportations

REP. Luis Gutierrez (center), Democrat-Illinois, joined

by Rep. Juan Vargas (left), Democrat-California, and Rep. David Cicilline, Democrat-Rhode Island, leads a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington in this January 2015 file photo. Congressional Democrats are denouncing the White House over recent deportations of Central American immigrants. AP/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

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ASHINGTON— Congressional Democrats confronted White House officials on Thursday over holiday-season raids seeking Central American immigrants for deportation, accusing the administration of spreading terror through immigrant communities.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez said President Barack Obama risks all the goodwill he has built up over the last year through his executive actions sparing millions from deportation, actions now tied up in court. And he complained that the administration did not alert congressional allies before conducting the raids, which first became public when The Washington Post published a story about the plans just before Christmas.

Gutierrez and other lawmakers raised those complaints and others during a meeting with administration officials, including Cecilia Muñoz, director of the Domestic Policy Council.

“In the Hispanic Caucus there’s a real sense of outrage,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said he pointed out to Muñoz that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, running on an anti-immigrant platform, has praised the raids—and

taken credit for them.

“Look, what I said to her is, I said, ‘Think about it a moment. Donald Trump is praising your public policy on immigration. You should need no further evidence of how wrong it is,’” Gutierrez said.

Separately, at a news conference in Las Vegas, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he’d contacted the Homeland Security Department “to have them just back off till we can find out a better way to do this.”

A White House spokesman, Peter Boogaard, declined to comment beyond a statement on Monday issued

by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. In that statement, Johnson said that 121 people with final orders of removal, who had exhausted their legal claims and remedies, had been targeted for removal.

“This should come as no surprise.

I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed,” Johnson said.

Despite the small numbers involved Democrats say the publicity around the holiday-season raids has

Often, it’s like telling the PDIC to step into a crematorium.”

—Osmeña on the current setup

B B F

121 People target for deportation reverberated throughout immigrant communities. And several of the immigrants have subsequently gotten their removals put on hold, prompting Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, to argue that they need more lawyers and more help.

“We need to obey our laws. But we also want to, in obeying our laws, make sure that the process is fair to people,” Pelosi said on Thursday.

Sen. Sergio R. Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions, said on Friday their House counterparts opted simply to adopt the Senate version of the measure that, Osmeña said, “aims to make the

PDIC more effective in carrying out its mandate to protect depositors.”

Asked to elaborate, he said that under the existing regime, PDIC is authorized to step into ailing banks and financial institutions “only when the

damage is too serious.”

Often, Osmeña told the BM, “it’s like telling the PDIC to step into a crematorium,” where assets that it could have used to service the depositors’ needs have been burned or dissipated. The PDIC bill will allow the agency to step in “much earlier”.

C  A

The Center for American Progress, traditionally a close administration ally, also released a statement criticizing the raids.

The planned deportations come as administration officials worry about another surge of Central American women, children and families at the southern border as people flee violence and persecution in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

A similar situation consumed the attention of Congress and the administration in the summer of 2014, though Congress never acted on an emergency budget request and policy changes sought by the administration.

The crisis subsequently receded from public view as the number of arrivals dropped, but they are back on the rise.

Democrats said administration officials pointed to that increase in justifying the raids.

“This was an announcement to send a message to Central America: Don’t come here,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Democrat-California. “But if your mother, your father and your brother have just been murdered, the message is not going to do it and that is the problem.” AP

Man in fake explosives vest killed amid high Paris tension

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ARIS—A man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher knife was shot to death by police outside a Paris police station on Thursday, jolting an already anxious French capital with a new dose of fear as the nation grimly marked a year of terror that started with the newsroom massacre at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper.

The assailant—who shouted “Allahu akbar!” or “God is great!”—as he waved the knife at officers, was carrying a document with an emblem of the Islamic State (IS) group and “an unequivocal claim of responsibility in Arabic,” the prosecutor’s office said.

The extremist group claimed responsibility for the January 7, 2015, attack at Charlie Hebdo and on a kosher grocery store three days later that killed 17 people.

The IS group also claimed the November

13 attacks on Paris cafés, restaurants, a sports stadium and a music hall that killed 130 people.

Thursday’s attempted attack shortly before noon in Paris’s multiethnic Goutte d’Or neighborhood came almost one year to the minute after two Islamic extremists burst into the offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people. Just moments earlier, President François Hollande had paid respects to fallen security forces— three of whom were killed last year in terrorist violence—saluting their valor in protecting “this way of life, the one that terrorists want to attack.”

The fallen were killed “so that we can live free,” Hollande said, describing the November attacks as “acts of war.”

But there was no reprieve for France.

Scores of police descended on Thursday on the northern neighborhood that

was the site of the attempted attack, blocking it off to pedestrians and ordering shops to close.

Metro stations in the area, which is not far from the Montmartre district that is home to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral, were closed and buses halted, leaving scores of residents, including many elderly, to walk long distances only to find they could not get into their homes.

“It’s like the Charlie Hebdo affair isn’t over,” said Nora Borrias, a 27-year-old waiting for her barricaded street to reopen. She said she no longer feels a sense of safety.

Video shot from a window above the station and provided to The Associated Press showed the suspect’s body lying on the ground in a pool of blood as a sniffer dog was called in to check the body, along with a bomb-detecting robot.

More video aired later on iTele TV

showed a police explosives specialist cutting open the dead man’s jacket to check for live explosives.

Alexis Mukenge, who witnessed the shooting, told iTele that police shouted, “Stop! Move back!” before firing twice at the man, who immediately fell to the ground.

Authorities did not publicly identify the suspect. However, a French security official said police were “working on the hypothesis” that the assailant is a 20-year-old Moroccan who was involved in a minor 2013 robbery in the southern Var region.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, said that while the fingerprints of the dead attacker matched those of the robbery suspect, who identified himself at the time as Ali Sallah of Casablanca, the assailant in

Thursday’s attack appeared older than 20.

He said Sallah, who had been in France illegally, was ordered to leave the country after the 2013 incident. Investigators were trying to determine if and when the man had returned to Paris.

Earlier, the Paris prosecutor’s antiterrorism unit said it had opened an investigation into Thursday’s attempted attack. Besides the IS emblem and claim of responsibility in Arabic, a cell phone was also found on the suspect’s body, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. It did not elaborate on the claim of responsibility.

France declared a state of emergency after the November attacks, and thousands of security forces have spread out around the country, concentrating especially on places of worship and other sensitive sites. AP

WORLD

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SENIORS WANT Q.C. GOVT TO GIVE THEIR I.R.A. SHARE B4 Saturday, January 9, 2016 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

OurTime BusinessMirror

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Seniors want QC govt to give their IRA share

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ENIOR citizens in Quezon City will formally seek from the local government their share of the annual 1-percent internalrevenue allotment (IRA) as soon as city officials become ready for a discussion.

The seniors will use their part of the city IRA to purchase their own transport vehicle, as well as medical goods, Elpidio A. Suniega, Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (Osca) technical consultant, noted in a recent interview.

“We observed seniors in Quezon City are left behind by their counterparts in other cities in Metro Manila in terms of services,” Suniega said.

Quezon City seniors based their observation on the preparedness and logistics of seniors from other cities who attended a seminar on active aging sponsored

by Unilab in Mandaluyong last November 18, he said.

Their counterparts in other

cities showcased products in that event, while Quezon City seniors were not aware of the product exhibit component of the seminar, Suniega added.

Seniors from other cities were transported to and from the seminar in comfortable vehicles while the Quezon City contingent took public-utility transport to the venue, he said.

Their service vehicles are very nice, Suniega said. All those things would not be possible if they are not supported by their local governments.

Suniega said senior citizens in the city’s six congressional districts, especially the poor, need free pneumonia and flu vaccines.

Rosita A. Lacson, Southeast District 2 senior citizens president, said free flu vaccines should be received by seniors yearly, and pneumonia vaccine every five years.

“It has to be consistent to be effective,” she said.

“We do not blame the Mayor’s office since its budget is for the same office only,” Suniega said.

Mayor Herbert Bautista, however, complained of disunity among seniors in Quezon City, Suniega said.

Lacson denied it, saying they are generally organized, except for a small number.

In an interview last year, Rene Altuna, Osca Quezon City legal officer, admitted conflict of interests between two factions of seniors in Barangay Tatalon.

Barangay officials failed to encourage both parties to come to terms, he said.

Osca-Quezon City saw the root cause of the misunderstanding to be a political one, Altuna said.

The Quezon City seniors should demonstrate unity, through which their shared aspirations may be heard and achieved, Suniega said.

Although seniors are receiving 1 percent of the barangay IRA,

STUDY SHOWS NEGATIVE BELIEFS ABOUT AGING LINKED TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

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ASHINGTON—People who hold negative beliefs about aging are more likely to have brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a study led by Yale University said on Monday.

In contrast, combating negative beliefs about aging, such as elderly people are decrepit, could potentially offer a way to reduce the rapidly rising rate of Alzheimer’s disease, a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that causes dementia in up to 35 million people worldwide.

The study, published online in the US journal Psychology and Aging and led by Becca Levy, associate professor of public health and of psychology at Yale, is the first to link the brain changes related to Alzheimer’s disease to a cultural-based psychosocial risk factor.

“We believe it is the stress generated by the negative beliefs about aging that individuals sometimes internalize from society that can result in pathological brain changes,” Levy said in a statement.

Levy and her colleagues examined healthy, dementia-free subjects from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, initiated in 1958 and the

longest-running scientific study of aging in the US. Based on magnetic resonance imaging scans, they found that participants who held more negative beliefs about aging showed a greater decline in the volume of the hippocampus, a part of the brain crucial to memory.

Reduced hippocampus volume is an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.

Then researchers used brain autopsies to examine two other indicators of Alzheimer’s disease: amyloid plaques, which are protein clusters that build up between brain cells; and neurofibrillary tangles, which are twisted strands of protein that build up within brain cells.

Participants holding more negative beliefs about aging had a significantly greater number of plaques and tangles. In both stages of the study, the researchers adjusted for other known risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, including health and age.

“Although the findings are concerning, it is encouraging to realize that these negative beliefs about aging can be mitigated and positive beliefs about aging can be reinforced, so that the adverse impact is not inevitable,” Levy added. PNA/Xinhua

SENIOR citizens taking their concerns to the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs at the Quezon City Hall.

they are yet to receive the 1-percent city IRA, Lacson said.

They will purchase their own bus and get medical goods and services once they start receiving the 1-percent city IRA, she said.

Lacson said much of the IRA

OLIVER SAMSON

will go to senior citizens since they greatly outnumber persons with disabilities in the city.

Q u e z on C it y re c e i v e d a n IRA amounting to P2.8 billion, the largest among Metro Manila cities, for 2013, the Pinoy

Governance web site shows.

Under Republic Act 9994, otherwise known as The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, seniors are entitled to a part of the 1 percent of the local government IRA.

Makati City gave its senior citizens ₧82.453-million gift for Christmas B C M-C Correspondent

I

N Makati City senior citizens had one reason to be happy last Christmas.

The senior citizens of the city government of Makati, through the Elderly Welfare Section of the Makati Social Welfare Depar tment (MSWD), star ted last December 2 the distribution of the year-end cash gift for BLU Card holders in the city, which was conducted until December 12, 2015.

In a report to Mayor Kid Peña, MSWD officer in charge Remedios Ramos showed that some of the 70,203 qualified beneficiaries received their cash gifts starting December 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, at designated venues.

Ramos said the qualified beneficiaries received half of the yearly cash gift for specific age groups, which amounted to P1,000 for those aged 60 to 69 years old;

P1,500 for those aged 70 to 79 years old; and P2,000 for those aged 80 and above.

The cash gift for all age groups is given in two equal installments every June and December.

For this year the total amount of the year-end cash gift is P82,453,000.

As of December 10, the distribution of cash gifts for Barangay Poblacion happened in Makati High School Main from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In Barangay Urdaneta, the distribution took place at their covered court at the same time.

Last December 9 BLU Card holders from Barangay Pio del Pilar claimed their cash gifts at Pio del Pilar Elementary School.

The covered courts of barangays Dasmariñas and San Lorenzo will be the venue of the cash-gift distribution last December 11, while recipients from Magallanes claimed their cash gifts at their barangay hall.

Last December 12 also from

9 a.m. to 3 p.m., distribution was done at Pembo Elementary School for Barangay Pembo, and Rizal Elementary School for Barangay Rizal.

BLU Card holders from barangays La Paz, San Isidro, Valenzuela, Santa Cruz, East Rembo and Cembo received their cash gifts last December 2.

Beneficiaries from barangays Northside, Pinagkaisahan, Southside, Pitogo, South Cembo, Comembo and Guadalupe Viejo got their cash gifts on December 3.

On December 4 cash gifts were distributed in barangays San Antonio, Palanan, Bangkal and Forbes Park, while recipients from barangays Carmona, Kasilawan, Tejeros, Singkamas and West Rembo got theirs on December 5.

In Barangay Bel-Air, the distribution took place last December 7, and last December 8, cash gifts were distributed at

barangays Olympia and Guadalupe Nuevo.

In claiming the cash gift, beneficiaries unable to come in person sent their duly authorized representative whose name appears at the back of the BLU Card to the Cash Division at the third floor of Makati City Hall.

The representative should be able to present a medical certificate as proof of the beneficiaries’ condition, whether bedridden, disabled or confined in a hospital.

Authorization forms are available at the MSWD office at the fifth floor of Makati City Hall.

Senior citizens who are out-oftown or abroad during the distribution of the cash gifts are not entitled to claim the said benefit, and authorization presented by a representative was not honored by the Cash Division.

For 2015 the city government allotted P194 million for this program.

250 4Ps beneficiaries in Legazpi start small businesses

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GRANDMA’S SPICE BULBS

Despite her age, Linda Balberan, 74, keeps her spice stall at the Santiago City Public Market in Isabela abundant with garlic. She claims she sent her kids to school selling the popular bulbs in the last six decades. LEONARDO PERANTE II

EGAZPI CITY—At least 250 recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Socia l Welfa re a nd Development (DSWD) and 240 women belonging to the poor sector in this city have started embarking on their microenterprises.

These individuals were trained by the Entrepinay Legazpi City Chapter on making powder soap and fabric conditioner, as well as food products like puto pao, siomai and polvoron.

The training also had values formation, basic cash management and simple bookkeeping as components.

The participants were divided into eight groups, with about 30 persons for each session.

Aside from the training, the participants also received starter kits, like materials and equipment, in making the products which were distributed before Christmas.

The project is part of the Addressing basic needs through initiatives that provide ppportunities and viable economic resources that yield income (Antipoverty) Pro-

gram of the Legazpi City Poverty Reduction Action Team (LCPRAT), conceived and spearheaded by the Entrepinay Legazpi City Chapter with the assistance of the Legazpi City government, the DSWD and the Department of the Interior and Local Government under its Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (formerly Bottom-Up Budgeting System) of the government under the administration of President Aquino.

It is envisioned to provide livelihood for the beneficiar ies to give them a source of income or at least save on the cost of buying these products.

The DSWD provided P2 million for the project, while the Legazpi City government contributed P400,000 as its counterpart.

“As we all know, soap is one of our basic needs. We need to wash our hands as often as necessary. We have to wash our dishes and utensils at least three times a day. We have to wash family members’ clothes, sometimes daily,” said Irene A. Solmirano, Entrepinay president.

Business establ ishments,

especially hotels and restaurants, Sol m i ra no sa id , need soap to maintain cleanliness.

“And, of course, food is indispensable from our tables,” she added.

Antipoverty is a joint project of Entrepinay-Legazpi Chapter, as the main proponent, and five other civil-society organizations that are members of the 2014 LCPRAT, namely Legazpi City Senior Citizens Organization Inc., Legazpi City Slum Dwellers Federation Inc., Legazpi City Finest Retirees Association Inc., Legazpi City Women’s Federation Inc. and Bicol Consortium for Community Development Inc. This project aims to contribute to the overall national goal of reducing poverty from 26 percent to 16 percent by 2016.

The Entrepinay-Legazpi will conduct a regular monitoring of the groups to guide them on their respective selected endeavors.

It further plans to form the trainees into a cooperative and conduct business clinics in 2016 with the support of the DSWD and the city government of Legazpi. PNA

OUR TIME

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‘PAHALIK’ Devotees line up during the traditional pahalik on the eve of the Feast of the Black Nazarene at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila. Millions of devotees are expected to join the feast today. Story on A6. ALYSA SALEN

HSBC: PHL TO OUTPACE NEIGHBORS’ GROWTH, BUT STILL MISS TARGET

The domestic economy is firing on several cylinders, namely, private consumption, government spending and private investment.”

—Incalcaterra

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B B C

HE Philippines, according to HSBC, will keep its billing as one of the region’s brightest growth stories this year, although the government’s ambitious growth target for this year will still be out of reach, as more investments are needed to support the country’s economic acceleration, HSBC said.

In its most recent report on Asia’s 2016 prospects, HSBC economist Joseph Incalcaterra said the Philippine economy is expected to grow by a mere 5.7 percent in 2016, below the government forecast of 7 percent to 8 percent.

But at an expansion rate of 5.7 percent, the country is seen to outpace most of the countries in the region this year, including peers such as Indonesia, which is seen to grow 4.7 percent; Malaysia, 3.6 percent; Singapore, 1.8 percent; and Thailand, 3.1 percent.

“The domestic economy is firing on several cylinders, namely, private consumption, government spending and private investment; shrugging off a drag from exports,” Incalcaterra said, adding that the economy is relatively less vulnerable to the weak external factors weighing down growth in much of the region.

The projected growth in 2016 is a touch higher than the bank’s previous forecast of 5.6 percent.

“Consumer spending is supported by remittance inflows, which continue to grow at robust levels in peso terms—despite some recent volatility in headline USD growth. Moreover, private consumption is buttressed by better employment opportunities, partly on the back of government spending,” Incalcaterra said.

Private consumption accounts for more than 70 percent of nominal GDP of the Philippines.

“Private investment has also displayed a steady trend in recent quarters. However, we tend to see a slight deceleration in investment right before an election due to uncertainty surrounding the outcome— which isn’t missing this time around as the race heats up,” he added.

S “HSBC,” A

DOTC, Busan Transport ink ₧3.8-B MRT 3 maintenance contract B L S. M

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R ANSPORTATION Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya reported that his office has signed on Thursday the P3.8-billion deal with the new Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 maintenance contractor Busan Transport Corp.

“We have signed the three-year

maintenance on Thursday,” the transport chief said. “There was never a walkout; the contract signing was delayed by a bit because of a language barrier.”

Abaya explained that the South Korean train experts who came to the Philippines for the contract signing had initial reservations on the wording of the contract. It was,

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.0700

ABAYA: “We are one step closer to having a safer and more reliable MRT 3 system with our new world-class rail maintenance-service provider.”

however, later clarified by a translator from his ranks.

The Busan-led consortium— composed of Edison Development Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMI Corp. Inc. and Castan Corp.—was supposed to take over the upkeep requirements of the MRT on January 6.

“It was not really to negotiate

the contract, more on to clarify,” Abaya said. “It is in that process of communication that understanding took awhile.”

But with the signing of the agreement and the takeover of the maintenance provider, which has been operating and maintaining the Busan Metro since 1999, operations of the MRT are expected to improve

in the coming months.

“We are one step closer to having a safer and more reliable MRT 3 system with our new world-class rail maintenance service provider.

With the operator of the Busan railway network in South Korea sharing their technical expertise, the riding public can expect an increase C  A

n JAPAN 0.4003 n UK 68.8305 n HK 6.0703 n CHINA 7.1395 n SINGAPORE 32.8564 n AUSTRALIA 33.0525 n EU 51.4899 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.5403

Source: BSP (8 January 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, January 9, 2016

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Govt needs to seek more trade deals DOTC, Busan Transport as robust growth in imports expected ink P3.8-B MRT 3

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B B C

HE country’s import numbers is set to grow substantially this year, giving the government more reason to seek concessions with its major trading partners, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

In its recent economic bulletin the finance department said that the country’s imports is set to expand, opening more opportunities for the country in terms of concessions and investments.

“In a world of shrinking markets, the government should use this as negotiating tool to convince trading partners for more concessions and better treatment for our export products and for more trade agreements that will help generate markets for Philippine products,” Finance Undersecreatary Gil S. Beltran said.

“Also, we can use this as springboard to lure producers in other countries to invest in the Philip-

pines,” he added.

Merchandise imports in October increased 16.8 percent, boosting the year-to-date growth to 3.9 percent. Net of petroleum products, the year-to-date growth was 17.3 percent.

The DOF said this indicates robust investment and production activities. Electronic inputs, meanwhile, accounted for 32.3 percent of the total imports and posted the highest year-on-year growth of 70.1 percent.

The imports growth could have been faster, according to Beltran, if not for the mineral fuels and lubricant segment, which dropped 41.8 percent due to price effects.

PDIC reform bill ready for Aquino’s signature C  A

He recalled the PDIC bill was approved on third reading by both chambers, and lawmakers from both houses were scheduled to hold a bicameral meeting in two weeks, to reconcile conflicting provisions in their respective versions.

“But I just got word today that the House panel agreed to adopt the Senate version,” Osmeña said. “So the bill will be enrolled and sent to the Palace for the President’s signature,” he added. An enrolled bill is a final copy of a bill passed by the Senate and the House in identical form. The final enrolled legislation is submitted to Malacañang, for either the President’s signature or veto.

When both chambers resume their sessions on January 18, each chamber will approve in plenary a motion to transmit the enrolled bill—actually, the Senate version of

OSMEÑA

the enrolled bill as adopted by the House—to Malacañang for signing into law.

The Senate had earlier approved Senate Bill 2964 to amend the PDIC Charter, while the House of Representatives passed on second reading recently its own version.

The bill is seen to boost the state deposit insurer’s capacity to protect depositors of the Philippine banking

system through the increased minimum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC) and the adoption of corollary measures that will reinforce the institutional and financial capabilities of the PDIC. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by IH Lee, had earlier endorsed financial strengthening recommendations, including enhancements in the deposit insur-

ance system. The IMF expressed its support to the strengthening of the capabilities of the PDIC as a coregulator of the banking system through the amendments of its Charter. The IMF Staff Report for the 2008 Article IV Consultation released on December 22, 2008, called on a number of measures to enhance the institutional and financial capabilities of the state deposit insurer to support the doubling of the maximum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC) from P250,000 to P500,000.

The IMF had also recommended enhancement of the PDIC by the doubling of the MDIC, the creation of a bridge bank as a bank resolution method, and the recapitalization of the PDIC. The IMF also noted that the PDIC must be given the flexibility to temporarily raise the MDIC amid a turbulent financial sector. The IMF likewise. recommended enhanced legal protection for PDIC staff.

maintenance contract C  A

in the number of running trains and the efficiency of operations,” Abaya said.

Under the agreement, Busan will undertake maintenance works of the rolling stock and signaling system, the most critical maintenance discipline, starting on Saturday.

Already, 12 qualified technical experts, including rolling stock, signaling and track specialists, from Busan have started to carry out the necessary activities for transition and system assessment.

Included in the contract is the general overhaul of 43 coaches over the course of the agreement period, and the total replacement of the signaling system within two years.

New trains to start working by end-March

DURING the same briefing, the transport chief also announced the arrival of another train car for the MRT. This, however, will only be utilized on or before March 31, as it needs to be linked with two other light rail vehicles to be configured with the design of the train line’s stations.

“The second Dalian train is here, and so before the end of the month, we should have it cleared from Customs. It is still not deployable, as it needs two more to make a set.

Hopefully, we can have a new train set working within the first quarter this year,” he said.

Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. won the project in 2013, and was supposed to deliver 48 new cars starting end-2015. The staggered delivery of the actual coaches, however, was delayed by a quarter.

Once the 48 new train cars come in, MRT 3’s trips per hour will increase from 20 to 24, which will

translate to a 60-percent rise in the number of passengers per hour per direction.

This means that there will be 37,824 passengers who can avail themselves of the rail service every hour heading towards one direction.

Currently, only about 23,640 people ride an MRT service per way every hour. But that number still depends on how many trains are running that day.

“The 48 trains should be completed by February 2017, with the frequency of the delivery pegged at four light-rail vehicles per month,” Abaya said.

The MRT is in a chronic state of decay, with the 16-year-old trains already maxed out of their rated capacities and the rails already experiencing difficulties in handling almost 560,000 passengers per day.

The state wants to address this problem through a P9.7-billion investment plan. Private groups, however, are proposing a different scheme to modernize the train system.

The group of businessman Robert John L. Sobrepeña is proposing to do a “quick fix” solution to make the train system safe for public transport.

Together with foreign firms Sumitomo Corp. of Japan and Globalvia Infrastructuras of Spain, Metro Global Holdings Inc. is proposing to “fix” the ailing system through a $150-million investment that involves the procurement of a total of 96 new train cars, and the rehabilitation of the existing 73 coaches, increasing its capacity by fourfold to 1.2 million daily passengers.

Under the proposal, a single point of responsibility will be implemented: meaning the rehabilitation and the maintenance of the line will be handled by a single company.

HSBC. . .

C  A

The Philippines will have its presidential elections in May. For 2015, HSBC estimates growth to have slowed down in the last quarter to 5.7 percent from the 6-percent acceleration in the third quarter. With this, Incalcaterra said the 2015 growth likely hit 5.6 percent.

Below target

DESPITE the optimism, both forecasts are still below the government’s targets, as several risks—external and local—still loom. The government has set a 7-percent to 8-percent growth target for 2015 and 2016.

The HSBC said for the government to reach its growth target, infrastructure spending must be ramped up, public-private partnership projects should be accelerated and more initiaives to attract foreign direct investments should be launched.

Also, among the cited risks to the Philippine economy is the low level of investment and key shortages in electricity and transport system.

“Capital outflow is also another concern. The BSP has ample foreign reserves to support the currency, but is still worried about potential volatility alongside Fed tightening,” Incalcaterra said. “That said, we believe soft external conditions and low inflation have motivated the BSP to tolerate some peso weakness, while keeping rates on hold for the foreseeable future if conditions permit. Although there are risks of higher food prices alongside El Niño, we believe the inflation outlook remains very benign.”

News BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Aquino moves to settle ROW issues, power woes in south B L L

D

AVAO CIT Y—President Aquino on Friday said that a meeting would be convened next week to address the worsening power situation in Mindanao due to right-of-way (ROW) violations and bombing of transmission towers.

“Meron kaming scheduled meeting by next week, precisely how to address ’yung [isues] on land valuation at ’yung concerns ng mga landowners. Having said that, [since] this is an industry imbued with national interest, surveyors can be utilized to ensure access to repair of the towers,” he said during a brief news conference here after the power plant inauguration of Therma South Inc.’s 300-megawatt (MW) power facility.

Officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) will attend the meeting, Mr. Aquino said.

In the past few days, Mindanao was placed on red alert by the grid operator due to the isolation of National Power Corp. (Napocor)-owned generating facilities Agus 1 and Agus 2 hydropower plants. As of 1 p.m., power reserve in Mindanao stood at 76 MW. The NGCP even warned of a possible grid collapse should the remaining transmission line, which delivers power from Agus hydroelectric power plant, encounters a glitch.

By grid collapse, the NGCP meant that brownouts would likely happen.

“It’s the kind that takes several hours to recover from restoration. It’s like restarting a smart phone. So, it takes time,” NGCP Spokesman Cynthia Alabanza said.

The Maramag-Bunawan 138-kiloVolt (kV) line is the remaining line that currently delivers power from the Agus hydro complex. If the said line is in any way compromised, no power will flow from the remaining Agus hydro facilites to south of Mindanao, where the bulk of power demand is located.

Both Davao City and General Santos City are in the south, and are at risk of being completely cut off from the bulk supply coming from the hydro facilites, the NGCP said.

There is only one transmission line left because the NGCP has yet to repair the Agus 2 Kibawe’s 138kV line. The Agus 1 and 2 hydro facilities are connected to the grid through Agus 2-Kibawe 138-kV line.

The NGCP has yet to restore bombed Tower 25 along said Agus 2-Kibawe 138-kV line in Ramain, Lanao del Sur, due to uncooperative landowners.

The line has been unserviceable since Christmas Eve, when it was bombed by unidentified lawless elements.

Task force

ENERGY Secretary Zenaida Monsada said a task force is being created to ensure the problems would be addressed at the soonest time possible.

“We are creating a task force, an interagency task force. The proposal is for the executive secretary to head the task force,” Monsada said.

She added that the participation of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) is extremely important in mapping out a security plan.

“Bombing is a security issue. So, we need the involvement of the DND and the PNP. That will be the main thing to tackle. What is going to be the strategy here?” Monsada said.

The NGCP is appealing to the public, local and national government, the PNP and Armed Force of the Philippines to help monitor the safety of the towers so that transmission services remain uninterrupted.

The company also appeals to local community leaders to help identify the perpetrators of the bombings, and to negotiate with uncooperative landowners to prevent longer power interruptions.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, January 9, 2016 A3

Paje sees major boost in PHL mining sector with approval of two ‘world-class’ projects

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HE country’s total metallic mineral production value is expected to rise by as much as 40 percent in the next three years, with the approval of two big-ticket projects late last year, Director Leo Jasareno of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said.

The approval of the projects was announced by Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) at a news conference in Quezon City on Friday.

Paje said the projects, King-King Copper-Gold Project and Silangan Project, are “world-class” projects that are expected to boost the country’s minerals sector.

“These are world-class projects

that were added to our existing mines,” Paje said.

Total metallic production value went down last year, he added, because of an increase in the price of metals last year, prompting mining companies to slow down production, particularly on nickel.

The MGB earlier reported that total metallic production from January to September went down by as much as 20 percent, from P107.24 billion in 2014 to P85.78 billion, recording a P21.46-billion decrease. The MGB is still consolidating its report for the last quarter of 2015.

Jasareno said the approval of the King-King Copper-Gold Project came in the last week of December, while that of Silangan Gold Project came as early as the third quarter

also of last year.

The two projects slightly boosted the mining investment in 2015, reaching a total of $750 million.

“Part of the project costs of KingKing and Silangan were already used last year for the project that’s why mining investment increased last year,” Jasareno said.

King-King is a $2.2-billion copper-gold project of Nationwide Development Corp. and the Villar-led St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. in Compostela Valley Province, while the Silangan Gold Project of Philex Mining Corp. is an $850-million project in Surigao Province.

These two new investments, plus FCF Minerals Corp.’s $200-million project in 2015 that was deferred, boosted mining investment.

The King-King project is expected to produce 3.16 billion pounds of copper and 5.43 million ounces of gold over its 25-year mine life.

Once King-King starts operation, it expects to create 5,000 direct jobs and about 20,000 indirect jobs during its construction phase, and around 1,700 workers once it starts commercial production, projected to begin in 2017, at the earliest.

Targeted to start commercial production in 2018, the Silangan project expects to produce 5 billion pounds of copper and 9 million ounces of gold in its 25-year mine life.

The project involves the development of Boyongan and Bayugo mineral deposits. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Legislators seek House probe into ‘anomalous’ DOTC, LTO plate deal

T

POST-HOLIDAY SALE

The holiday season may have come and gone but a number shoppers still find time – and the money to spend – for some post-holiday discount buying spree at a mall in Greenhills, San Juan. NONOY LACZA

RH advocates slam Senate’s ₧1-B budget slash for contraceptives B J M N. D C

T

HE principal author of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) Law on Friday scored the Senate for removing from the 2016 national budget the P1-billion allocation for free condoms and other contraceptives.

Former Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay, in a news statement, said the decision of the Senate to cut the budget of the Department of Health’s family-planning programs has deprived at least 7 million women of RH services.

“During the bicameral conference on the 2016 General Appropriations Bill [GAB], Sen. Vicente Sotto III caused the deletion of P1 billion from the P1.157 billion for the procurement of Modern and Natural Family Planning Supplies,” Lagman said.

Last Monday Health Secretary Janette Garin said that it will be a big challenge for the agency to implement the government’s family-planning programs because

the allocation for contraceptives has been removed from its 2016 budget.

“The Congress, particularly the Senate, reneged on its obligation to adequately fund the speedy and full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law,” Lagman said.

According to Lagman the remaining P157 million is inordinately inadequate for the purchase of family-planning commodities.

“The P1 billion, which was meanly cut

by Sotto, is a drop in the bucket in the P3trillion 2016 national budget, and it is a minuscule amount compared to government mega projects, which have lesser number of beneficiaries,” he said.

Lagman added that the original funding of P1.157 billion, which was slashed

by Sotto, was recommended by President Aquino in his National Expenditure Program and adopted en toto by the House of Representatives in its version of the 2016 GAB, or the newly signed General Appropriations Act for this year.

The RH Law was approved by Congress in December 19, 2012, and signed into law by President Aquino on December 21, 2012.

Both Sections 2 and 9, among other provisions of the RH Law, are clear directives for the Congress to appropriate the requisite funds for the law’s effective implementation.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Women’s Party, in a separate news statement, said that cuts to women’s health services for the sake of boosting the Department of National Defense (DND) modernization program as proof of President Aquino’s fake concern for inclusive services for women.

“The rechanneling of P1-billion cut for the Department of Health’s 2016 purchase of reproductive health supplies to beef up DND’s air fleet merely confirms the sense of priorities of the matuwid na daan budgets for the last six years of the Aquino administration,” said Arlene Brosas, spokesman of Gabriela Women’s Party.

‘We have enough jobs for displaced Saudi OFWs’

P

RESIDENT Aquino allayed fears of a massive displacement of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in the Middle East that could be trigered by the diplomatic tiff between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and assured that the Philippines has generated enough jobs to accommodate OFWs if the incident escalates into a full-blown war.

“According to Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz ng DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment], we have a capacity to absorb all of these people and get them gainfully employed in case all of them are repatriated,” President Aquino said

at a news conference in Davao.

The government puts the number of OFWs in the Middle East at around 1.1 million, although workers groups estimate that there are some 2.5 million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia alone, on top of thousands more in other countries in the Middle East.

Mr. Aquino said that he had already ordered the embassies and consulates in the Middle East to contact all Filipinos within their respective jurisdictions to make sure that when an actual emergency arises, OFWs could be evacuated.

However, President Aquino said that,

based on his meetings with officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there has yet to be an assessment that the diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran will escalate to a full-scale war that will necessitate a massive evacuation of Filipinos.

Mr. Aquino held a meeting in Malacañang with the DFA and the DOLE officials in which he instructed them to coordinate with embassy and consulate officials in the Middle East to make sure that the safety of Filipinos is prioritized amid tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. David Cagahastian

B J N. D C

WO party-list lawmakers on Friday filed a resolution asking the House Committee on Transportation to conduct an inquiry into the “anomalous” Motor Vehicle Plate Standardization Program.

Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna, authors of House Resolution 2601, said the Plate Standardization Program of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) is only a burden to 9 million car owners.

“The LTO has gotten flak from the public when it undertook the unnecessary Plate Standardization Program due not only to its added cost to motorists but moreover, for the delay in the delivery and the poor quality of the new standardized plates,” the lawmakers said.

According to the resolution, in February 21, 2014, instead of the LTO, the DOTC undertook a contract with the DutchFilipino Consortium Power Plates Development Concepts Inc.J. Knieriem BV-Goes Philippines Inc. (PPI-JKG) for the supply and delivery of new plates.

It said that the DOTC would have to pay PPI-JKG in two tranches amounting to P1.9 billion for 5,236,439 pairs of motor vehicle plates and P1.2 billion for 9,968,017 motor vehicles.

“Suspiciously, the LTO Memorandum Circular AVT-20141895, mandating vehicle owners to replace their old license plates with the new standardized plates only by January 2015, only almost a year after the contract had been undertaken,” the resolution added.

The Bayan Muna lawmakers said the Supreme Court noted the project did not follow what was prescribed under Government Procurement Reform Act, and, thus, decided to discontinue the procurement of new plates.

In July 2015 the Commission on Audit (COA), the resolution said, issued a notice of disallowance ordering to stop any additional disbursement for the deal between the LTO and the PPI-JKG. Colmenares and Zarate added the deal did not comply with procedures prescribed under Republic Act 9184, or the Revised Procurement Law. “The COA, in its decision, remarked that DOTC violated both the Administrative Code of 1987 and the Government Auditing Code when it procured license plates and approved the contract cost for the same in excess and in utter disregard of what is appropriated in the 2013 GAA [General Appropriations Act], which is P187.29 million only,” they said.

The COA said that “no contract involving the expenditure of public funds by any government agency shall be entered into or authorized unless the proper accounting official of the agency concerned shall have certified to the officer entering into the obligation that funds have been duly appropriated for the purpose, and that the amount necessary to cover the proposed contract for the current calendar year is available for expenditure on account thereof, subject to verification by the auditor concerned.”

The lawmakers said “the deal is overpriced as while the stipulated cost in the contract is only P3.2 billion, it has been overpriced by P1.51 billion, as the budget requested for the same in the 2014 GAA amounted to P4.8 billion.” They said that Transportation Secretary Joseph A. Abaya and Transportation Undersecretary Perpetuo Lotilla should be liable for the transaction.

“For such a multibillion deal, the only reason that [the] DOTC could only give to justify the forced availment by motorists of this plates is that the new plates have enhanced the security features through the inclusion of bar codes. Yet, these bar codes are useless because not only does it not contain the information of the owner,” the solons said.

“It would have been wiser for the DOTC to instead allot such amount to more relevant projects that could have helped in solving the country’s traffic situation. Instead, they dumbfoundingly have done otherwise,” representatives of Bayan Muna said.

A4 Saturday, January 9, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Lucky China?

I

F the sovereign nation of the People’s Republic of China did not exist, an author would have to write a book and create it.

China’s political system is an authoritarian dictatorship, but not in the traditional manner like North Korea or the one-man rule of Cuba, for example. It is a dictatorship by committee and there are always factions within the committee jockeying for power.

The country has been under perpetual martial law since its inception. A citizen—or noncitizen for that matter—can be arrested by the police or military at any time without even the semblance of proper due process of law. A person can be tried, sentenced and executed in complete secrecy.

This nation stretches its octopus-like economic tentacles around the world. North Korea is China’s colony. It holds Cold War era type clientstates throughout Africa.

This past week has seen the Chinese stock markets crash, the same stock markets on which, just a few months ago, the government spent billions supporting stock prices. While previously saying that the Chinese yuan renminbi would be allowed to float within a narrow specified limit, this past week the currency was allowed to move outside of those limits and officially devalued to its lowest level since 2011. The Australian dollar dropped 4 percent to keep its exports competitive.

Global markets reacted with volatility with stock prices dropping violently. And then in the midst of all this, as added fuel to the financial market carnage, North Korea suddenly—to China’s benefit—sets off a nuclear weapon, giving another excuse to allow the Chinese currency to depreciate particularly against the Japanese yen.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government “spent” $108 billion out of its $3-trillion foreign-currency reserves last December. No one seems to know where that money has gone. Was it pumped into Chinese banks and corporations to keep them from defaulting on their debt? Is this a stopgap measure to pump up the money supply because of massive capital flight from China?

Seemingly unrelated but actually good news for the Chinese economy—is that crude oil prices collapsed by 10 percent.

Here is the summary. China’s stock-market selling has injected billions into the China economy. Its currency devaluation—aided by North Korea’s nuclear test—has made its exports much cheaper, especially to Japan, a major Chinese trading partner. Crude oil price falling has offset any increase in the cost of oil imports caused by the Chinese currency devaluation.

On Thursday night Chinese regulators said they might change the trading rules and help support their stock markets. Financial commentators in the West responded like a prisoner thanking the torturer for beating him now with a smaller hammer.

Either China is a very fortunate nation or the men running things in Beijing are much smarter than the financial world gives them credit for.

The year the experts become extinct John Mangun

S

OUTSIDE THE BOX

AINT Thomas Aquinas outlined an almost perfect philosophy for stock-market investors. “Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”

Further, a stock market-investment strategy is almost like a religion. You have to believe it. You have to follow it. You have to stick with it.

“To know what he ought to believe” for the stock market means that a person has examined the strategy in depth. It has been backed, tested both for a long enough time and under many economic and market conditions. Like religion, all your prayers are not going to be answered exactly the way you want, but you can see that things are better with the strategy than without.

“To know what he ought to desire” means that you need to keep your expectations within the realm of possibility. Winning the big lotto as an answered prayer is possible; winning 10 times in a row is unlikely. You may buy and hold an issue like D&L Industries Inc. at P3.50 and have it go up 300 percent in two years. But do not expect every stock price to

do that, and also do not expect an issue to triple in price every two years forever.

“To know what he ought to do” is the hardest principle to observe both in Catholicism and the stock market. We all know the “rules” about everything, from what we should eat to driving a car. But that little voice of our human nature whispers in our ear that there might be a better way outside of the rules. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.

It is interesting that when things do not go the way we want them to, some people run back to their religion and more often than not, people run away from what they previously held as the right path.

That is particularly true for the stock market.

Virtually, all expert stock-market strategies are not strategies at all but a “system”. A system works well in an environment of known “odds”.

For example, betting on the “banker” in the game of Baccarat gives you a 50.7-percent chance of winning versus a 49.3-percent chance betting on the “player.” A betting system based on the banker might make sense.

Likewise, averaging down on the price of an issue in a market that is trending higher also might make sense as prices do go up and down even within an upside trend.

However, systems only work in an environment that the system is designed for. Averaging down would not have worked on the Philippine stock market from 1996 to 2002, unless you were willing to continually following it until 2007. And even then, on the Composite index, you would have only been back to breaking even.

A proper strategy works in any environment, the simplest being buy when prices are going higher and sell when prices are going down.

Unfortunately, you cannot sell many books when the best stock-market strategy takes only one page to present and explain.

This is the year that we will see many stock-market experts become extinct because, unlike religions (strategies) that endure through the ages, religious cults (systems) only last until the “Paradise is coming” prophecies fail to materialize. It is difficult to “stick with it” when your faith is shattered by reality.

I know exactly what path the Philippine stock market is going to take

between now and July and then to November 2017. The market will first go to 6,000 on the Philippine Stock Exchange Composite index. Then it will move to 5,300 and to 4,300.

On second thought, forget all that. We are now at a bottom and will head back up to 8,000 then to 8,500. Actually after further review, it goes like this, 6,000, 7,000 and then 5,000 before going to 4,000.

One of those scenarios is going to be proven an absolutely perfect forecast.

The only question is, which of the expert trading systems is going to work regardless of which scenario is correct? The answer obviously is none of them, which is why during the great extinctions of world history, some species survive and some do not make it.

Certain species always survive and thrive—sharks, the sea sponge and jellyfish—because they each have a strategy to succeed no matter what the environment throws at them.

Sharks will eat almost anything and are not afraid of anything. Sponges can restore the lost body parts. Jellyfish do not have a brain or nervous system. Maybe stock-market traders evolved from these animals.

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

North Korea tests the world with its latest nuclear detonation

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HE earth rumbled beneath the Korean peninsula on Tuesday evening, signaling an underground nuclear test by rogue nation North Korea. Pyongyang claimed to have set off its first hydrogen bomb, but experts looking at seismographs saw evidence of a much smaller explosion—likely the country’s fourth atomic bomb test since 2006. Possibly, it was an atom bomb boosted by additional nuclear material.

H-bomb or A-bomb, the impact is clear: a nasty reminder that one of the world’s most isolated regimes poses a great danger.

There’s a clockwork-like predictability to North Korea’s belligerence and brinkmanship: Every so often—just when the world seems fully focused on other crises—the North ratchets up tension by testing a bomb or ballistic missile.

There’s a frightening pattern to the world’s response too, which began again on Wednesday: condemnations followed by threats of more sanctions, though the North already is thoroughly sanctioned. Then, expect an uncomfortable shrug because past negotiations failed, and war is not an option against a nucleararmed country that values the survival of its regime and not much else.

Within weeks, the world probably moves on, and so will North Korea, on its march to perfecting weapons of mass destruction.

So what do we have to show for decades of patience with North Korea? Um, four nuclear tests.

About that shrug. The Obama administration actually has a name for it: “strategic patience.” The phrase was first used by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. The idea is to wait out the North, using subtle pressure to coax it back to the negotiating table to strike a grand bargain on its nuclear program.

So what do we have to show for decades of patience with North Korea? Um, four nuclear tests. And some ballistic missile tests too, putting the North further along the path to its presumed goal of testing nucleararmed missiles capable of striking the US. This is the problem with endless patience and wandering attention.

A wily foe such as North Korea will not waste its opportunity to cause trouble.

About that wily foe: Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s third-generation leader, shows no more interest than his father or grandfather in changing North Korea’s paranoid approach. He uses threats and bluster to keep the outside world off balance. At home, his regime keeps the population under absolute control, in near complete isolation, allowing the government to spin a fantasy about North Korea as a worker’s paradise bravely facing down enemies.

In North Korea’s alternate reality, testing an “H-bomb of justice” is needed to fend off “a gang of cruel robbers”—yes, the US. A North Korea statement on Wednesday justifying the nuke test was filled with such flourishes: “Nothing is more foolish than dropping a hunting gun before herds of ferocious wolves,” it said.

What to do? Waiting around for North Korea to change is folly. The country, bumping along in poverty and always at risk of famine, has an apparently limitless capacity to endure hardship. North Koreans don’t know any better. The Kim family designed their country that way.

There is one untapped vulnerability. Most of North Korea’s imports, including food and energy, come from China. A Congressional Research Service report said it plainly: Food and energy aid from China is “an essential lifeline for the regime.”

China’s main worry is preventing the collapse of North Korea, which could cause a refugee crisis on China’s border. Just as bad, from China’s vantage point, would be for the North to be absorbed by South Korea, a key American ally.

Still, there are signs Beijing may be frustrated with Kim Jong Un. The Chinese government protested the nuclear test as loudly as the US, and China’s President Xi Jinping has

never met Kim, seemingly a snub.

Beijing knows that the more Kim stirs up trouble, the more active the US will get in defending the Pacific, tightening ties along the way with South Korea and Japan. That threatens to hem in China.

Relying on China to protect American interests shouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s New Year’s resolution list, but with four nuclear tests in the bag, it’s time for the US to replace strategic patience with some urgency. Let’s find out if China is ready to push North Korea into serious talks.

Meanwhile, the US should put additional pressure on North Korea through a greater show of military force in the Pacific.

North Korea’s menacing behavior is a reminder of why the US has to demand strict adherence from Iran on its nuclear deal. The negotiators of that deal seemed to learn something from the failed nuclear agreement with North Korea reached by Bill Clinton in 1994. But that lesson will be lost if the US, as it seems to be doing so far, is willing to let Iran duck and dodge.

Nor can the US allow other issues—including Iran—to distract from the threat of nuclear North Korea. The next bomb Pyongyang detonates in a test could be big enough to truly frighten the world, or small enough to place on an intercontinental ballistic missile. TNS

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

‘Must-do’ economics for the next administration Alvin Ang

EAGLE WATCH

E

VENTS that have recently unfolded during the first week of this New Year seem to foreshadow rough sailing ahead for many emerging economies in 2016. The sudden drop of the Shanghai Stock Market and the Saudi-Iran tension have clearly shaken global financial markets.

Closer to home, politics is taking center stage as the election season goes full blast. The combination of external and internal factors is making many stakeholders anxious about the sustainability of the current Philippine growth.

It’s already a known fact that the Philippine economy has broken through its 40-year growth average to its current above-5-percent trend. Will these factors put a cap on the higher growth path yet again?

Answers to this question aren’t simple, and these will be placed squarely on the shoulders of the next national and local leaders who will be taking charge starting July. This reminds us, Filipino voters, of the need to carefully understand the direction of the Philippine economy in the next six years.

We should be concerned about how the different candidates perceive current challenges and what their responses are likely to be. Moreover, candidates, whether national or local, should clearly prioritize issues that need to be tackled this year.

From our perspective here at Eagle Watch, there are at least three “mustdos” that the incoming administration should immediately address to sustain economic growth. These are international finance, global climate change and the Metro Manila traffic. Let us discuss these in turn.

International financial landscape

AMONG the contributing factors to Philippine growth in the last five years have been the low interest rate regime and quantitative easing in many developed countries. These have resulted in movement of financial resources to our economy, whether as portfolio or direct investments. This condition has now changed significantly.

The United States has already increased interest rates and may continue to increase them further.

Meanwhile, China has been exhibiting declining growth, which has led to expectations of weaker global demand, primarily for oil.

The recent Saudi-Iran debacle and the continued fall in oil prices are causing concerns that overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances may fall way below expectations. For the Philippines, this could shake the major engine of growth over the last 10 years.

Climate change

WEATHER forecasters from all over the world have already warned that the current episode of El Niño could be the worst. It could lead to longer droughts, as well as fewer but more destructive typhoons.

These warnings do not augur well

for the sustainability of economic growth. Although agriculture has already lagged behind significantly in terms of contribution to GDP, a huge El Niño might further weaken this languishing sector.

There are two negative implications. First, falling output in agriculture will not improve the poverty scenario. Most of the poor Filipinos are employed in this sector. Second, food prices could sharply rise and, thus, pull inflation and possibly interest rates.

Metro Manila traffic

IT is critically important to resolve the Metro Manila traffic as soon as possible. Forty percent of Philippine GDP is generated in the capital, which is the gateway to all other economicgrowth engines, such as the tourism and business-process outsourcing (BPO) sectors.

As it is, the national government continues to treat this challenge as a local and segmented issue. It remains lacking in pushing for a long-term and strong-hand solution to a problem that is causing significant losses of productivity and efficiency to the whole economy.

These three challenges have disastrous proportions, and so those who are running must have very clear strategies on how to respond to them immediately. They are surely posing serious risks not only to growth sustainability, but to the overall capacity of the economy. Their combined potential negative impacts could further worsen the already stubborn level of poverty and exacerbate inequality.

A quick look at the pronouncements of the national candidates show they focused mostly on the usual challenges of jobs, poverty, agriculture and corruption. There is more to be desired, considering that the country is not growing out of isolation. It would be good to bring these challenges to the core of their economic agenda.

In particular, we can demand from the candidates a clear action plan on the following: 1) declining OFW remittances and the impact of lower oil prices on OFW job security; 2) potentially higher inflation due to higher food prices; and 3) lower supply of water and power, among others. Indeed, it is necessary for the next leaders of this country to understand external issues in order to predict their impact on domestic affairs.

We would like to invite you to our First Quarter Macroeconomic Briefing to be held on February 4 at the Ateneo Rockwell Campus from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

For reservations, please contact 4265661 or e-mail eaglewatch.soss@ateneo.edu

Traslación 2016 Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

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ODAY, January 9, we once again commemorate the Traslación, or the transfer of the miraculous image of the Black Nazarene from Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park to the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene or Quiapo Church in Manila.

The theme for this year’s Traslación is “Banal na Eukaristiya, Buhay ng mga Sumasampalataya sa Poong Hesus Nazareno sa Taon ng Awa.” The Poong Nazareno, or the Black Nazarene, is the icon of mercy of the Archdiocese of Manila. In the words of His Holiness, Pope Francis in Misericordiae Vultus—the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him…Jesus

Evil men at work Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE Part Three

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HE Newsweek’s story cited the former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos as one of “History’s 11 Greediest People,” and this had been repeated many times over by her critics.

Even the Guinness Book of Records (GBR) mentioned her and former President Ferdinand E. Marcos as thieves. They also mentioned her collection of shoes.

Does Mrs. Marcos want to react on these?

Bloomberg View

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HINA’S stock market is crashing again. After two days this week with big and rapid declines—the latest of which shut off trading only a few minutes after the open—Chinese stocks are back in the neighborhood of their mid-2015 lows. The raft of administrative measures that the Chinese government has used to prop up its markets since the big plunge last year seems to only have postponed further declines, rather than prevented them.

US stock markets have also fallen a lot, probably as a result of the Chinese decline. Perhaps investors were expecting US corporations to make

fortunes selling to the Chinese market. Or, perhaps, leveraged investors, hurt by the Chinese crash, are selling US stocks to keep their total leverage low. Maybe large stock market crashes just generate waves of freefloating pessimism.

Whatever the reason for the latest sell-off, the big question is what the stock-market crash means for the Chinese economy. For more than a decade, the Chinese economy has been the engine of world growth, so if it grinds to a halt, countries that depend on trade with China may be in for a serious recession. If the slowdown is only mild, the danger obviously is less ominous.

If a stock bubble and crash were China’s only problems, the danger

‘I’ll give up politics for the sake of your health. I love you!’

“Believe me, it was love that transformed my pain into joy, refined my feelings that I may be pure and allowed me the privilege of serving, caring, nurturing and giving; it was love that gathered my faults and tied them up into bouquet of blossoms; and it was love that constantly put a prayer on my lips in thanksgiving.

“I told myself: This man, my other half, my whole, deserved nothing less than all of me. No moment, since then, has been lived apart from him.

His dreams, his visions and his commitments became mine, too.

‘I shall build the house and you shall make it a home,’ he told me on our return to Manila.

“My marriage to Ferdinand was a marriage to mothering: the mothering of a husband, of three children, of eight grandchildren [all boys] and of the Filipino people. Not in any order of priority, but simultaneously, as a drop of water dissolving naturally into the vastness of the ocean,” Mrs. Marcos said.

Briefly, the country’s political conflict and complexities for almost a generation now are centered on two families, the elite Aquino-Cojuangco of Tarlac and the Marcoses of Ilocos Norte, a peaceful and progressive province known for windmills, beautiful beaches, old churches and Mrs. Marcos’s all-purpose mothering centers meant to ameliorate people from all walks of life.

In contrast, Tarlac, then the hotbed of communism, now known for its controversial Hacienda Luisita and whose population is twice that of Ilocos Norte’s more than half a million people (2010 census), is still stuck in its worst social and agrarian unrest between the elite and the masses.

development, such as construction.

This shadow-banking system has enabled a large buildup of bad debt, much of it related directly or indirectly to real estate. If property prices fall, trust companies will go broke, and banks—having invested in the trust companies—will be on the hook. That will create the conditions for a really destructive crash.

In that case, the stock-market gyrations we’ve seen might simply be a sideshow to the underlying debt-andhousing cycle. China’s stock markets began to soar in late 2014, just as property prices began to tumble. Investors may have been looking for some alternative to the housing market. Those investors probably pushed prices to unreasonable levels, which, in turn,

Can we talk about your husband before we touch on other issues?

might not be so great. Research shows that bubbles are less damaging to the real economy when they mostly involve equity rather than debt. Debt crashes inflict harm on the financial system, creating major recessions that take years to repair.

Equity crashes, meanwhile, merely reduce paper wealth. A good example of an equity bubble that wasn’t very harmful was the late 1990s US dot-com boom. When it ended, stock prices were devastated, but the crash led to only the mildest of recessions.

The problem with China is that the stock-market crash looks like it’s only the most visible sign of a much deeper and broader distortion in the country’s financial markets. Chinese property prices, while

“My marriage to Ferdinand was a marriage to mothering: the mothering of a husband, of three children, of eight grandchildren and of the Filipino people. Not in any order of priority, but simultaneously, as a drop of water dissolving naturally into the vastness of the ocean.”

they have fluctuated from year to year, fell steadily in late 2014 and most of 2015. The long-anticipated deflation of the Chinese housing market may finally be at hand.

China probably also has a debt problem. Chinese banks, local governments and many companies have relied heavily in recent years on various debt instruments sold directly to individual Chinese people through a system of so-called shadow banks.

In a typical arrangement, a bank will set up a trust company that borrows money from individual investors by selling them securities that are, in effect, high-yield junk bonds. The proceeds from these bond sales are then invested, usually in real estate or in companies related to real-estate

What’s your most unforgettable experience?

“The most significant and most

relic in the Philippines, Santo Niño de Cebu is usually depicted in red and gold vestments. The image, believed to be miraculous because of the countless answered prayers and healing, is housed at the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu.

Devotees may visit the miraculous image of Santo Niño de Cebu from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Our Lady of Veritas Chapel at the second floor of Veritas Tower, 162 West Avenue corner Edsa in Quezon City. For inquiries, please call Ms. Renee Jose or Mr. Rey Isabela at (02) 925-7932 to 39 local 129.

A Eucharistic Celebration will be held on January 17, 12 noon at the Our Lady of Veritas Chapel in honor of the Feast of Santo Niño.

Devotees may bring their images of Santo Niño to be blessed by the mass presider.

We will continue with Misericordiae Vultus next week.

“Ferdinand was the guest speaker

exacting for me was the honor of having brought the image of Our Lady of Fatima to be consecrated with the Liturgical Service in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. That was October 1985, the month of the Holy Rosary. As I left the Church, together with a large retinue of Catholic bishops from the Philippines, a spray of snow descended on my face and before I could wipe them out, an old woman from nowhere sidled close and whispered: ‘Madam, for the blessings you have brought to Russia by opening our Church to honor the Virgin Mother, much will be exacted from your life!’

“Those words were indeed prophetic. In a few months, we were forced into exile, and shortly thereafter, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began to dissolve, and the freedom of religion was restored along with other fundamental liberties throughout what was once the solid bastion of communism.

“It symbolized in a way the sacrifices expected of my own life, the life of my husband, lives of my children, our country and our people.”

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mercy through the means of promoting new evangelization.

Radio Veritas 846, the leading faith-based AM radio station in the Philippines, is currently airing today, January 9, a special programming to commemorate the Traslación.

Updates and reports from Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, where the traditional Pahalik (kissing of the image of the Black Nazarene) happen and updates, from rout of the procession till the image of the Black Nazarene returns to the Quiapo Church, is being aired throughout the day.

The Black Nazarene is a lifesized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ that was brought to Manila by Augustinian Recollect Friars in 1606. The image has been known to be miraculous by its Filipino devotees. It is attended by millions of devotees, making it one of the country’s biggest annual religious procession.

Meanwhile, devotees of the Santo Niño de Cebu may visit His pilgrim at the chapel of Our Lady of Veritas in Quezon City from January 6 to January 17, 2016.

Dubbed as the oldest religious

at our high-school graduation. He was a charming young congressman from Ilocos Norte, a bar top-notcher from the University of the Philippines and reputed to be a highly decorated war hero. He was 29 at that time; I was 18.

“Seven years later, a friend, the late Manila Times columnist Jose Gueverra, formally introduced him to me at the coffee shop in Congress.

It was the 6th of April, my mother’s birthday.

“Since then, he doggedly pursued me and after 11 days, we were married and that merely affirmed the dream that both of us sought to realize someday.

“In Philippine mythology, our marriage was like the genesis of man and woman from a single bamboo. We were one in the tree and in life, two beings united in spirit, Malakas [strong] at [and] Maganda (beautiful).

“When I entered into the political life of my husband, there was, in the beginning, a great discomfort on my part. My system rejected the demands of being married to a politician and this caused me mental anguish, emotional stress and severe headaches.

“He took me to the US for medical treatment. There, the doctors said the only cure was for me to have a sedate life, away from political activities. Unmindful of the presence of the doctors, Ferdinand whispered:

“Yes!” “Genghis Khan was on the Newsweek list too, and he was the greatest conqueror of mankind; I did not conquer the world with weapons but with peace.”

“Greedy?”

“My shoes?”

“I plead guilty to being greedy for the true, the good and the beautiful. I don’t want to waste my time answering the GBR reference to us as thieves because records will show we are not.

Neither were my shoes an issue at all.

My shoes were mostly collections from our successful shoe industry but our critics turned them into a propaganda hyperbole. I am glad they did not find skeletons in my closet.

“This much I can tell you, though, that our political enemies will never succeed in comparing me with the world’s embezzlers, adulterous and ambitious mistresses who sold their bodies and souls because I live a moral and ethical life. My behavior in and outside the government can attest to that.”

Be scared of China’s debt, not its stocks B N S

of Nazareth—by His words, His actions and His entire person—reveals the mercy of God.” (Misericordiae Vultus 1) This year’s theme for the Traslación is in line with the two liturgical events—the International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Cebu from January 24 to 31 and the declaration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy by Pope Francis.

The Eucharistic Congress and the Jubilee Year of Mercy promote to all faithful the importance of the Eucharist as the center and vortex of all forms of piety and to spread

Saturday, January 9, 2016

To know more about the programs of Caritas Manila, visit www.caritas.org.ph. For donations, call 563-9311. For inquiries, call 563-9308 or 563-9298.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846. ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

To be continued

likely drew in speculators looking to ride the wave of momentum. A crash at that point becomes unavoidable.

So China’s stock market might simply be a symptom of something much bigger and more troubling going on beneath the surface—the end of a huge property-based debt-fueled boom. That happened in Japan in the late 1980s—the Nikkei 225 bubbled and crashed, but it was the long, slow, debt-powered rise and fall of the housing market that really undermined the Japanese financial system.

There is good reason to be worried about the performance of the Chinese economy. How much its woes will affect developed economies is another question entirely—and it’s the one everyone wants answered.

News

BusinessMirror

Saturday, January 9, 2016

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news@businessmirror.com.ph

Lee seeks dismissal of ₧6.6-billion case

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B J R. S J

ETAINED businessman Delfin Lee on Friday sought the immediate dismissal of the P6.6-billion syndicated estafa case against him and other executives of Globe Asiatique (GA) “as it no longer has any leg to stand on.”

Lee’s lawyer Rony Garay told reporters that apart from the decisions of the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City clearing Lee in the charges, the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund or HDMF) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) have also already conceded that there was no such P6.6-billion loss or damage incurred by the

government as earlier alleged against Lee. “The P6-billion housing scam is fabled and an outright lie. That’s why Lee’s continued detention in [the] Pampanga jail is a clear case of injustice,” Garay told journalists in the Supreme Court (SC) upon filing of the urgent motion for resolution of cases involving Lee and GA. “This is exactly the reason why we are pushing for the immedi-

ate resolution of the petitions before the Supreme Court questioning the Court of Appeals’s decisions that dismissed Lee’s syndicated estafa case and quashed the arrest order issued by the trial court against our client,” the lawyer stressed.

In its charges against Lee, PagIBIG Fund had earlier alleged that it suffered damage in the amount of P6.6 billion in loans taken by GA, but Garay said, “such claim is an outright lie as clearly shown not only by HDMF’s own documents, but by its officers’ express pronouncements.”

“No less than HDMF President and CEO Darlene Berberabe admitted during the Senate Blue Ribbon Sub-Committee hearing on April 13, 2015, that respondent [accused] Delfin Lee representing Globe Asiatique did not obtain any P6.6-billion loan from petitioner Pag-IBIG Fund,” Garay pointed out.

“On the contrary, it is Globe Asiatique, as further admitted by

Entertainment icon German Moreno, 82 B G R

Lifesteyle and Entertainment Editor

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IDELY known in recent years as “ The Master Showman,” and more simply as “Kuya Germs” in and out of show business for the better part of his long-running career, German Moreno passed away at 3:20 a.m. on Friday, at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City where he was rushed following a heart failure.

He was 82.

The entertainment icon’s death came a year after he suffered a stroke. He took several months off hosting his long-r unning weekly late-night program Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman on GMA television network, to convalesce, returning to the show only last June.

John Nite, Moreno’s nephew and cohost in Walang Tulugan, announced the showbiz veteran’s passing in a statement he sent to GMA News Online.

“He passed on in the company of his family and friends. He lived a full life, touched so many hearts through the years, and helped make dreams come true for most of the biggest stars in the Philippine entertainment industry,” he said. “We are deeply saddened by his passing but we are comforted by the thought that his legacy will live on.”

GMA Network Inc., the media giant that has been home to German Moreno for decades, issued the following statement: “GMA Network deeply mourns with the entire entertainment industry the passing of our beloved German ‘Kuya Germs’ Moreno. The Master Showman will be greatly

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missed by his friends and fans both here and abroad, especially those in show business, where he devoted the best years of his life. Kuya Germs was responsible for building the careers of the biggest stars we now have. The epitome of a loyal Kapuso, his dedication to the industry will serve as an inspiration to all. We pray for his eternal repose.”

In the 1980s, That’s Entertainment, his top-rating daily program on GMA, trained the spotlight on a gaggle of aspiring unknown young talents, providing them with a national platform on which to shine.

These included Judy Ann Santos, Lea Salonga, Manilyn Reynes, Janno Gibbs, Gladys Reyes, Billy Crawford, Donna Cruz, Ramon Christopher and Lotlot de Leon.

Tweeted Salonga: “RIP, Kuya Germs. And thank you. #ThursdayGroup.”

Mikee Cojuango-Jaworski also said on the social-media platform: “Rest in peace, Kuya Germs. What

B R A

WELVE Filipinos were injured after a wooden ferry boat that was carrying them along with more than 100 others struck a barge in Malaysia, a belated report reaching the military said.

Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesman for the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command, said that based on the report of their Malaysian counterpart, the incident happened at around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Malaysians reported that the boat, M/V Juhari, was sailing toward Semporma, Malaysia, when it hit the barge near Bum-bum Island, also in Semporma. The ferry, owned by a Malaysian and registered in Malaysia, was carrying at least 158 Filipinos.

All of the Filipinos, including the injured were rescued by Malaysian authorities.

Tan said the report indicated all the injured were taken to a hospital in Semporma for medication.

an amazing contribution this man made. Prayers for his family and the loved ones he left behind.”

On Instagram, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid posted a photo of German Moreno with this caption: “Thank you Kuya Germs we will miss you. ‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.’ Matthew 5:14.”

German Moreno began his entertainment career as a janitor and curtain-raiser in Clover Theater in the 1950s. He went on to appear in a slew of bodabil productions and made the transition into films in Sampaguita Pictures. Apart from his f lamboyant suits, German Moreno was known for his kindness and loyalty.

Upon learning of the veteran entertainer’s death, Alden Richards, who was in Dubai for his first-ever show in a UAE destination, tweeted: “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving, that’s Kuya Germs. Rest in peace ’Tay.”

ter more than six years, respondents [Lee] and Globe Asiatique have not received to date any demand letter or summons in any pending civil case, for the payment of this fabled P6.6-billion damage allegedly,” Garay added.

“Besides, there can be no damage on the part of petitioner HDMF for P6.6-billion because it is fully secured by the collateral town house units at the Xevera Bacolor and Mabalacat township projects,” he added.

Such being the case, Garay said the SC should now dismiss the petitions of Pag-IBIG Fund and the Department of Justice (DOJ) justifying the syndicated estafa case filed against the GA executives before the RTC in Pampanga.

Instead, Garay urged the Court to uphold the earlier rulings of the CA and the RTC in Makati clearing Lee in the case.

He pointed out that this summary judgment of the RTC in Makati had been affirmed by the CA in a case denominated as CA GR SP

128262, and the ruling had become final and executory.

T he tria l court’s summar y judgment “practically invalidated the factual findings in the review resolution of the DOJ” that led to the filing of the syndicated estafa case, Garay said.

With regards to the double sale and ghost projects, Lee and his lawyers said that, out of the 10,000 buyers of Bacolor and Mabalacat township projects in Pampanga, a total of only 27 individuals filed cases against GA and most of these individuals are the “delinquent ones” who took advantage of the issue that beset the project more than five years ago.

As for allegations of ghost projects, Lee said that all of the more than 10,000 units were fully constructed, including all of the amenities to make a model township.

Last month affected homeowners of the Globe Asiatique’s subdivisions in Pampanga have also pushed for resolution of the cases in the SC.

SC urged to ignore survey on Poe disqualification case B J R. S J

Collision at sea injures 12 Pinoys in Malaysia

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Berberabe, that has receivables of P600 million from petitioner HDMF, more than sufficient to pay off or cover the alleged P18-million claim of the 28 other complainants of petitioner HDMF, according to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV,” he recalled.

Garay said as early as April 2013, the Pag-IBIG Fund could not justify in hearings on the case why it has not filed any case against GA for the collection of the alleged P6.6billion damage.

He recalled that the Pag-Ibig Fund’s counterclaim was only for P12 million, adding that the agency is now barred from increasing the amount in any proceedings.

The lawyer said the OSG also confirmed this admission of PagIBIG when it “admitted in its comment dated March 19, 2013, to the petition for certiorari in CA GR SP 127553, that there is no such thing as P6.6-billion damage to petitioner HDMF.” “This is also the reason why af-

AWYER Estrella Elamparo on Friday accused Sen. Grace Poe of not really being interested to be recognized as a Filipino, but only after her ambition to become a president.

In her 90-page comment-opposition, Elamparo sought the dismissal of Poe’s petition seeking the Court’s reversal of the resolutions issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last month, disqualifying her from seeking the presidency for not being a naturalborn Filipino and for her failure to meet the residency requirement.

Elamparo explained that Poe, according to some legal scholars and jurists, is a Filipino citizen by virtue of an abbreviated form of naturalization, considering that she has been de facto considered by the government a Filipino, and has, in fact, been issued a Philippine passport.

However, Elamparo said, Poe’s insistence in her petitions that she is not a naturalized Filipino only proves that she is not after being a Filipino national only since mere citizenship or nationality is not enough to catapult her to the presidency.

“Viewed in this light, one can easily see the hypocrisy behind her quest for the presidency. Enough with the sentimental plead. This petition is not about being recognized as a Filipino; it is about her misguided ambition, which regrettably runs roughshod against the fundamental law,” Elamparo said.

Elamparo was one of the petitioners in the Comelec who sought the cancellation of her certificate of candidacy (COC) for president.

The poll body granted the petition along with the separate consolidated petition filed by former Sen. Francisco Tatad, De La Salle University Prof. Antonio Contreras and former University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez.

T he compl a i n a nt s a rg ued that Poe, being a foundling, cannot be considered natural born because identity of her parents is still undetermined.

Elamparo urged the Court not to ignore the glaring facts about Poe just to accommodate her ambition and the clamor of her followers.

Among the undisputed facts on Poe, according to Elamparo, are the following: (a) she is a foundling; (b) she renounced her Filipino citizenship to become an American; (c) to reacquire Filipino citizenship, she lied in her petition under Republic Act 9225 that she was born to Filipino parents; (d) it was this lie that misled the Bureau of Immigration into granting her dual citizenship; (e) prior to reacquiring Filipino citizenship, she registered in her and her spouses’ name three pieces of real estate misrepresenting that they were Filipinos; (f) prior to reacquiring Filipino citizenship in July 2006, petitioner had no permanent resident’s visa; (g) she declared in her 2012 COC that her residence in the Philippines as of May 2013 consisted

only of six years and six months.

“Indeed, the Honorable Court should not be misled and must only decide the case based on law and not the latest survey results. To suggest that petitioner should be allowed to remain a candidate because of public clamor is to reduce this case to a popularity contest and makes a mockery of the Honorable Tribunal’s authority.

This can never be countenanced,” Elamparo said.

Last December 28 Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno issued a tempora r y rest ra i n i ng order (TRO) enjoining the Comelec from implementing its two resolutions nullifying the COC of Poe. Aside from the issuance of a TRO, the Court ordered public respondent Comelec and private respondents to comment on the two separate petitions filed by Poe. Sereno also ordered the two petitions be set for oral arguments on January 19.

Poe’s c a mp, t hrough l awyer George Garcia, filed two separate petitions assailing the two resolutions issued by the Comelec’s First and Second Divisions that were both upheld by the Comelec en banc last month.

The poll body’s First Division, in its decision last December 11, disqualified Poe based on the petitions filed by Tatad, Contreras and Valdez.

The Second Division, on the other hand, unanimously voted last December 1 to disqualify Poe based on the petition of Elamparo.

‘Don’t bring selfie sticks, tripods during Traslación’

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HE city government of Manila on Friday advised those joining the Traslación to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene to avoid use of selfie sticks and other gadgets that might pose inconvenience, if not danger, to the safety of millions of people expected to participate in the event.

Johnny Yu, officer in charge of the Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said while they do not see any lethal threat from selfie sticks, tripods and other gadget extension tools, it is just practical that people do not bring these in the midst of crowds, especially the Traslación and other gatherings related to the feast. He said all concerned local and national authorities are doing their best to ensure the effective management of the event.

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, being the Hermano Mayor for the Black Nazarene Feast, earlier said the city government’s main role and priority is “to keep peace and order, to ensure the safety of all the people in the procession, and to ensure there will be no

obstruction in the procession; and to maintain cleanliness of all the roads where the procession will pass.”

Yu said the occasion is expected to draw a huge crowd of about 13 million to 15 million participants and observers, thus, making this year’s feast the biggest Nazarene celebration to date.

“Hindi naman po nabanggit na ipinagbabawal ang mga gadget accessories na iyan pero mas maganda nga sana kung huwag nang magdala ng ganyan. Kung meron mang magdadala niyan ay huwag doon sa mismong prusisyon at mga crowd ng tao dahil baka may matapilok o matamaan, iyon po ang delikado,” Yu stressed.

Yu said he does not recall any incidence in past celebrations of the feast or other large gatherings in the city where a selfie stick or other gadget extension devices caused an untoward incident, but insisted that it is still better to exercise caution.

Yu also reminded devotees that bringing of backpacks, bull caps, weapons and alcoholic drinks during the event is prohibited.

Meanwhile, security and medical assistance are in place for the Feast of the Black Nazarene, as millions of devotees are expected to participate in the annual Traslación on Saturday. The Social Communications Department of the Quiapo Church said the preparations for the Traslación were already in place on Friday, like the pre-positioning of medical and security stations along route of the Black Nazarene procession.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Emerson Carlos, on the other hand, said the agency is all set for the procession.

“We will deploy 1,680 traffic enforcers and as of this time there is still no need or request for additional personnel,” Carlos said in an interview. He added that the MMDA personnel also installed orange plastic barriers at Quirino Grandstand to make sure that the queue for the Pahalik will be strictly observed.

Meanwhile, Msgr. Hernando Coronel, rector of Quiapo Church, reiterated his call on candidates in the May elections to spare

the event of personal promotion.

Coronel said candidates should refrain from putting streamers and posters along the route of the procession to increase their popularity.

“Our focus is the Black Nazarene.

Let’s give Him our due respect and love,” Coronel reiterated as he also warned against distribution of shirts bearing not only an image of the Black Nazarene but also names and faces of politicians.

On Thursday a total of 47 medical cases have been reported to the Quiapo Church Command Center by the Medical Committee, including a 60-year-old man who was taken to Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital owing to dizziness and hypertension. He is in stable condition as of press time. A 15-year-old boy was taken to the National Orthopedic Hospital in Quezon City for a dislocated right clavicle.

There were also 45 cases of foot open wounds which were treated on site by various medical and rescue volunteers. Joel R. San Juan with Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Sports BusinessMirror

SCRIBES HONOR ATHLETES J

CARLOS

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HE Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) salute once again the best and brightest of 2015, as it holds its Annual Awards Night on February 13 at One Esplanade in Pasay City.

Highlight of the formal affair, presented by Milo and San Miguel Corp., is the awarding of the coveted Athlete of the Year award, won by BMX rider Daniel Caluag in 2014 for providing the country’s lone gold medal in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Several prominent athletes in different sports are in the running for the prestigious award solely handed out by the country’s oldest media fraternity, which turns 67 this year.

Major awardees and citations will also be given out to athletes, entities and organizations, which did the country proud in the year just passed.

Also to be honored are the goldmedal winners during the country’s campaign in the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

The PSA, under President Riera Mallari of the Manila Standard, will also hand out the President’s Award, Executive of the Year, National Sports Association of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and Posthumous Award.

Also to be given out are the Tony Siddayao Awards for outstanding athletes 17 or younger, and the Milo Outstanding Athletes for boys and girls.

OBIM CARLOS and Harmie Constantino built enough cushion to buck a pair of faltering finishes and complete their domination of the Philippine Amateur (Stroke Play) Open Golf Championship at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club’s Aoki course on Friday in General Trias, Cavite.

Carlos, who virtually sealed his title-retention drive in the country’s premier amateur championship with a 10-shot lead on a bogey-free 66 in the third round, closed out with a four-over 40 for a 75 and still beat Gen Nagai by seven on a six-under 282 aggregate.

“Hopefully, this win will inspire me to excel more next week when I join the Asian Tour Qualifying School in Thailand,” said Carlos, referring to the region’s premier circuit final eliminations stage in Hua Hin, Thailand, where he seeks to earn a Tour card starting this year.

The diminutive Constantino, eight-up on Korean Lee Ji-hyeon and Yuka Saso at the start of the final round, padded her lead over Lee to 10 after 10 holes on two birdies but wavered with a double-bogey on the par-3 17th

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MILIO AGUINALDO College (EAC) spoiled Perpetual Help University’s bid for outright entry in the men’s and boys’ finals, while Arellano University clinched the second semifinals berth in the women’s contest on Friday in the 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) volleyball tournament at the Arena in San Juan City.

EAC, the reigning men’s champions, dealt the Altas their first loss in eight matches in the season, 25-20, 25-22, 25-17, and the Brigadiers also halted the Junior Altas’ five-game winning run, 25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 21-25.

The Generals grabbed the No. 1 spot with an 8-1 win-loss record for a twiceto-beat advantage in the semifinals.

Reigning Most Valuable Player Howard Mojica unleashed a match-best 20 hits, 15 of which came on kills and five off his powerful jump serves.

“All the players, especially Howard [Mojica] want to win,” EAC Coach Rodrigo Palmero said.

Ralph Joshua Pitogo uncorked 22 hits, while skipper Cee-Jay Hicap and Ederson Rebusora fired 18 and 12 points, respectively, as the Brigadiers get the twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four with a 6-1 mark. The Junior Altas fell to 5-1.

Arellano University, meanwhile, survived College of Saint Benilde (CSB), 25-20, 22-25, 28-30, 25-18, 19-17, to advance to the women’s semifinals.

Jovielyn Grace Prado led Arellano University’s charge with 23 hits on 18 spikes and five service aces.

The defending champion Lady Chiefs finished the regular season at second spot with an 8-1 win-loss record, also for a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals. Lance Agcaoili

KARATEDO WORKSHOP

SUPERAL GRABS Carlos, Constantino capture crowns TITLE IN HK GOLF P to settle for a 72 for an eight-shot romp on a 283 total.

The 23-year-old Carlos is also set to join the local pro tour starting next month after finishing fourth in the recent Qualifying School, which he actually topped last year before deciding to stay in the ranks and further hone up his talent and skills.

Playing pressure-free in the final round, Carlos bounced back from a bogey on No. 2 with two birdies to close out his frontside stint then just went through the motions at the back, making bogeys on Nos. 10 and 12 before dropping two shots on the par5 16th, miscues he could afford given the huge lead he had built after 54 holes.

The victory also came on the heels of his triumph in the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP National Doubles at Aguinaldo last week, where he teamed up with Iñigo Raymundo in a win that helped fuel his drive to post a dominant victory this week in the event, the kick-off leg of this year’s PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour and sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation,

Smart, PLDT and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

Nagai matched par 72 in windy condition and wound up with a 289, while Korean Jang Jun-ha ended up with a 73 for a 293, followed by Aidric Chan (73-298), while Jang Yu-bin, also of Korea, and Weiwei Gao finished tied for fifth at 301 after identical 75s.

Rupert Zaragosa carded a 74 to place seventh at 302, while Luis Castro and Ira Alido took the next three spots at 303 and 304 after a 72 and 78, respectively, while Lanz Uy shot the day’s best of 70 to tie reigning Hong Kong Junior champion Leon Philip D’Souza, who skied to a 77, at 306.

Lee also matched par 72 and took solo second at 291 as Saso sputtered with a 74 and wound up third at 293 followed by Hwang Min Jeong of Korea (77-297), Malaysian Nur Durriyah Damian (75298), LK Go (76-301), Felicia Medalla (75-305), Koh Eua A of Korea (78-307), Genevieve Ling I-Rynn of Malaysia (79-310) and Kristine Torralba (78313) in the event organized and conducted by the NGAP.

RAIN or Shine rookie Don Trollano (right) is confronted by San Miguel Beer veteran Marco Lassiter.

ROOKIE RISES

EAC prevents Altas sweep B D C

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PPORTUNITY, they say, knocks at your door the least you expect it. In the case of Don Trollano, the moment he’s been waiting for came on Thursday, when Rain or Shine Coach Yeng Guiao tapped him to start for Game Two of the Smart Bro Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinal series.

The rookie reserve guard-forward confessed he was stunned. Who wouldn’t? With Paul Lee back in the rotation, Trollano—who bore a hole on the bench two nights ago—knows well there’s little chance he could play. Not to mention the team was hard-pressed

to bounce back after blowing a 22-point lead in a 100-76 loss to defending champion San Miguel in the Tuesday series opener.

Fortunately, Guiao is one coach who doesn’t subscribe to keeping a fixed starting lineup. His starting five depends on the matchup they’re up against.

“As a rookie, I don’t expect to play all the time.

But when the chance comes, I’ll have to do my best,” Trollano, a former Adamson University Falcon, said.

“I’m very happy, it’s my first time to play in a PBA [Philippine Basketball Association] semifinal game so I gave it everything I’ve got.”

Trollano played a total of 19 minutes and Guiao swore he was impressed with the performance of his rookie, who finished with 13 points on a five-of-six shooting, as the Elasto Painters defeat the Beermen, 105-97, to even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

Trollano said he was so thrilled when he knocked down the first basket of his first PBA semifinal game—a three-pointer at the10:30 mark of the first quarter. “[Marco] Lassiter was in front of me when I made the shot, and it went in. That raised my confidence,” he said.

His performance certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

“I always give my players their chances, whether they’re doing badly or not, just to give them their confidence,” Guiao said. “But I’ll be crazy if I don’t give him credit [for his performance]. He definitely deserves another chance. He’s a strong kid and he has the smarts,” Guiao said.

BEST Center opens new year with clinics

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HE Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training (BEST) Center starts the new year with a bang, as it holds its award-winning basketball clinics in three venues starting on Saturday.

The Ateneo courts are expected to be filled with young students hopeful of following in the footsteps of their basketball idols when they join the Saturday-

only clinics for Preparatory Level and Levels 1 to 5 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The clinics, sponsored by Milo, then heads to the Xavier School from 1 to 4 p.m. for classes in Preparatory Level and Levels 1 to 3. Sunday classes are set from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Starmall in Alabang for students in Preparatory Level and Levels 1 to 3.

Swede, de los Santos lead Bora leg cast

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TTE KAPPEL of Sweden and local bet Doque de los Santos go for back-to-back victories as they banner another crack international field vying in the second leg of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Philippine Kiteboarding Tour Season 3, which got under way at Aqua Boracay on Friday.

Kappel bested Philippine Kiteboarding Association (PKA) President Jay Ortiz in the kick-off leg of the four-stage $40,000 circuit in Siargao last month, with the Swede ace tipped as the rider to beat again in the centerpiece Masters Twin Tip Race on his Flysurfer.

Saturday, January 9, 2016 A7

But Ortiz and a slew of top riders from Australia, Germany and Poland are raring to foil his bid and fuel their own campaign in the three-day event, sponsored

by ICTSI and organized by PKA. De los Santos also looms as the rider to beat in the Twin Tip Division after turning in five aces in five races to dominate the Siargao stop of the event, sponsored

by Cabrinha, GreenYard, Aqua Boracay, Coca-Cola, Sailor Jerry, Municipality of Malay, Freestyle Academy, Vaavud, Lemon Café, Valhalia, Double Dragon Apparel and By Da Way, which hosted the opening night on Thursday.

Instructors, speakers and participants pose for posterity after the Karate Coaching Accreditation Workshop held recently at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City. Among those in the photo are Kyoshi David Lay, Sensei Ali Parvinfar, Renshi Raymund Lee Reyes, Kyoshi Eman Velez, Philippine Karatedo Federation President Joey Romasanta, Kaicho Alejandro VaHesquez, Renshi Rommel Raymundo, Kyoshi Ramon Franco, Renshi Emerson, Kyoshi Dacanay and members of the All Blackbelt Nationwide Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao Group.

NBA RESULTS Atlanta 126, Philadelphia 98 Chicago 101, Boston 92 Houston 103, Utah 94 Sacramento 118, LA Lakers 115

RINCESS SUPERAL rode a fiery finish at the front to wrest control, then outsteadied Tiffany Chan in a tense-filled backside duel to fashion out a four-stroke victory over Mimi Ho on a closing sixunder 66 in the Hong Kong Ladies Amateur Open at the HK Golf Club’s New Course in Fanling on Friday.

Superal leaned on a crucial two-shot swing on No. 15 to go four-up over Chan, then took the crown in emphatic fashion with a birdiebirdie windup that drew cheers from the gallery for her best round in the 54-hole world ranking event, beating a rallying Ho, who fired a 67, by four on a 205 aggregate.

“It was a tough win. I just hung in there and made some clutch putts,” said Superal, who birdied three of the last four holes at the front to go from one down to two-up en route to victory, her fifth straight counting her two wins in Malaysia and one each in Singapore and Jakarta the last two months.

With Chan, No. 16 in the current world amateur ranking, fading in the face of Superal’s superb finish, Ho came from behind to snatch runner-up honors at 209 with the former ending up third at 211 despite an eagle-spiked 72.

Michelle Cheung, also of Hong Kong, also shot a 67 to tie compatriot Isabelle Leung, who carded a 73 at 214, while Superal’s teammate and reigning Thailand Amateur champion Pauline del Rosario turned in a 72 for sixth at 218.

Sam Martirez, the other The Country Club (TCC) bet in the event, wound up at joint 11th at 229 after a 75.

“She’s in control of her game and has been working hard on her putting to reach her current form,” said TCC Coach Bong Lopez of her prized ward, way down at No. 174 in the world who actually won the 2015 HK Am crown, this being originally scheduled last September but was moved to this week due to bad weather.

Unable to shake off the long-hitting Chan, who eagled No. 9 to stay within two after nine holes, the former US Girls’ Junior champion matched the local’s ace’s pars and birdie in the first five holes at the back, then came through with a clutch 6-foot birdie putt off a solid approach shot on No. 15 to pull away by four, as Chan missed her target from close range then three-putted.

That big two-shot swing was all Superal needed to secure the victory she capped with that blazing birdie-birdie finish inside 10 feet.

“It’s nice to win again and it’s a big morale-boost heading to the Philippine Ladies Open later this month,” said Superal, referring to the country’s premier championship slated from January 22 to 25 at Tagaytay Midlands.

Tied with the Filipina ace after two rounds at five-under overall, Chan birdied the opening hole to take charge only to reel with poor putting. She three-putted the second hole, birdied the next but dropped two strokes on the par-3 No . 4 on four putts.

Superal parred the first three holes and bogeyed the fourth after missing the green to remain tied at four-under total. After both parred No. 5, Superal hit two solid approach shots in the next two for birdies to seize a two-shot lead as Chan settled for pars and went three-up after the latter stumbled with another three-putt miscue on No. 8.

Sports BusinessMirror

REED OPENS WITH 65

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| SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

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APALUA, Hawaii—The first round of the new year on the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour was not an encore for Jordan Spieth—or defending champion Patrick Reed.

Spieth had said earlier in the week that an encore means the show is over, and it sure didn’t look that way at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He opened with seven birdies and no bogeys for a 7-under 66 that left him one shot behind when Reed finished strong and made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole for a 65.

Reed hasn’t won since he rallied to win at Kapalua a year ago, though, he hasn’t been far off. He ended last year with six top 10s in five countries, and he showed his comfort level on a Plantation Course in gorgeous sunshine and only a stiff breeze that picked up in the middle of the round.

Reed and Spieth both had eagle putts on three of the par 5s.

The difference was Reed converting on the final hole. They were in the last group and part of a five-way tie for the lead, when Reed smashed a 3-wood from 309 yards that trickled onto the front of the green and let the grain take it 15 feet below the hole.

“I didn’t think I could get it all the way to the green,” Reed said. “I thought if I smoked it, I’d get to the front edge and it just happened to ride the wind a little bit and kind of just kept on going. And once it gets on that green, I know it’s going to just keep feeding.”

That capped off a finish that took Reed from the middle of the pack to the lead.

He was 6 under over the last six holes with that eagle.

Spieth came up some 60 yards short and hit a great shot of his own, a flip wedge that rolled to 4 feet for birdie.

Brandt Snedeker, still battling a head cold, JB Holmes and Danny Lee were all at 67, while Fabian Gomez of Argentina was another shot behind.

Jason Day, who has a chance to replace Spieth at No. 1 in the world this week, has not played in three months since the Presidents Cup. And it showed. In ideal scoring conditions, Day didn’t make a birdie until the ninth hole and made only two on the back nine for a 70.

Only seven players from the 32-man field of PGA Tour winners last year failed to break par. One of them was Dustin Johnson, a past winner at Kapalua, who had to birdie the 18th for a 73. Johnson had the longest drive on six of the holes, including three of them just short of 400 yards. It didn’t help him score.

Smylie Kaufman, one of 14 players making their debut at Kapalua, hit the opening tee shot of 2016 so far left that he played his next shot from the ninth hole. He still made birdie, and wound up with a 70.

Spieth won the Masters and US Open last year, along with three other titles that led to the FedEx Cup and a sweep of all the awards. He wanted this to me a continuation of last year and brought that attitude to the opening tee shot.

“It’s another event in the course of my career,” he said. “The calendar changed.”

It only took two holes from a familiar look—Spieth walking across the green as a long putt dropped for birdie. He had long two-putt birdies on the par 5s on the front and missed a 15-foot eagle on the 15th that was such a weak attempt that he said even Reed said to him, “Nice effort.”

They typically do well together, which includes a 2-0-1 record as partners in the Ryder Cup two years ago. Reed picked up his first PGA Tour victory in a playoff over Spieth in 2013 with a shot out of the trees to 3 feet. Spieth got him back last year at Innisbrook with a 30-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole.

“Whether we want to feed off each other or we want to beat the crap out of each other, we somehow play well together,” Spieth said.

Reed wasn’t converting many chances, with two-putt birdies on the par 5s on the front. His round turned with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 13th. He followed with a pitch to tap-in range on the 14th and 15th holes, and a shot over the gorge to two feet on the 17th.

Snedeker has been at Kapalua for a week, playing four times before the official start of tournament week. He was ready to go, and when it counted, he looked sharp.

“I know the golf course pretty well and I think getting over here early, the greens always pose a big problem,” Snedeker said.

“You get comfortable on greens and be aggressive on putts that you know are fast or slow. You just have to know putts. They’re hard to read. So that’s kind of the reason I came over to do that. AP

PATRICK REED squeezes himself from the middle of the pack to the first-round lead.

‘BYE, BYE FIFA’ IF IFA’ Michel Platini told the Associated Press that he remains determined to overturn the eightyear ban he was handed by Fifa’s ethics committee last month, but that the deadline for the February 26 elections is too short and renders his candidacy impossible.

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B S P

MICHEL PLATINI withdraws from Fifa presidential race. AP

The Associated Press

YON, Switzerland—Michel Platini’s dream of becoming the next International Football Federation (Fifa) president is over.

Platini told the Associated Press (AP) that he remains determined to overturn the eight-year ban he was handed by Fifa’s ethics committee last month, but that the deadline for the February 26 elections is too short and renders his candidacy impossible.

“I’m withdrawing from the race for Fifa presidency,” Platini, the suspended president of European football’s governing body Union of European Football Association [UEFA], told the AP in an interview on Thursday. “The timing is not good for me. I don’t have the means to fight on equal terms with the other candidates. I have not been given the chance to play the game.

Bye, bye Fifa. Bye, bye Fifa presidency.”

Platini’s bid to succeed Sepp Blatter in soccer’s top job was put on hold because of a payment he received from his former mentor back in 2011. Blatter and Platini were last month banned for eight years for conflict of interest in the 2-million Swiss franc ($1.35-million) payment deal that is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland.

Platini hopes to clear his name at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The 60-year-old Frenchman was not authorized to bypass Fifa’s appeal procedure, which states that he will only be able to turn to CAS once Fifa’s appeal committee has ruled on the case.

“I’ve spent more time in hearing rooms than on football pitches speaking about 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 or football news,” Platini said. “I’m taking this philosophically, let’s wait and see what happens. But injustice is revolting me and I’m trying to fight it.”

Platini and Blatter were cleared of corruption charges in December, but suspended for a series of breaches, including conflict of interest. But Platini, who worked at Fifa as Blatter’s special adviser from 1998 to 2002, said he has no regret over the payment.

“I can’t have any regret in that story because things fell upon my head while I haven’t done anything wrong,” Platini said during an interview in a Nyon hotel. “I’m struggling to understand what happened, unless there was a will somewhere to prevent me from bidding.”

Also Thursday, Fifa ethics judges formally opened a case against Jerome Valcke, Fifa’s former secretary-general, who faces a nine-year ban from football.

Valcke is charged with violations of the Fifa code of ethics while serving as Blatter’s top aide. The charges include accepting gifts and conflicts of interest.

Valcke, who denies wrongdoing, was suspended from work

by Fifa in September. A hearing in Zurich is likely within weeks.

In Paraguay authorities raided the headquarters of the South American confederation known as Conmebol in connection with the sprawling Fifa probe being led by US and Swiss prosecutors.

Three former presidents of Conmebol were among 16 men indicted in December on corruption charges after a predawn raid at a luxury hotel in Switzerland where Fifa officials were meeting.

A statement from the Paraguayan Public Ministry said investigators were searching for documents or information on computer hard drives related to the case.

Another top official who was indicted, Marco Polo del Nero, the president of the Brazilian football federation, announced he would go on leave for up to 150 days starting Friday to work on his defense against the charges. He is accused of racketeering and money laundering.

And in New York, a US magistrate set bail at $4 million for Hector Trujillo, the general secretary of Guatemala’s soccer federation, who was also arrested last month. Trujillo, who faces racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering charges, was taken

into custody in December on a cruise ship docked in Florida waters.

Platini’s fall from grace has been similarly quick and unexpected. Just four months ago, he was considered the favorite in the race for the Fifa presidency.

But his campaign derailed after he was questioned on September 25 in a Swiss federal investigation of suspected criminal mismanagement at Fifa.

Platini was paid in February 2011, just before Blatter began campaigning for re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Platini’s UEFA urged its members weeks before the June 2011 elections to back Blatter, who was elected unopposed when Bin Hammam was implicated in bribery.

Few Fifa officials knew of the Platini payment, which emerged during a wider Swiss probe of the governing body’s business affairs, including suspected money laundering in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.

Asked whether he understood critics saying he should have been more careful with the way he handled the Fifa payment, Platini said: “There is nothing wrong in claiming what one has promised.”

“I’ve done what I needed to do. I have nothing to reproach myself with,” Platini said. “I think they are making me pay for being UEFA president, I think the Zurich administration does not wish someone from UEFA to head Fifa. Because we are beautiful, we are big, we are rich, and we are the strongest.”

Video technology trials set this year L

ONDON—Video technology is set to arrive in soccer this year with trials to assist referees who find it harder to keep up with the faster, modern game when the financial stakes are so high.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) on Thursday “overwhelmingly supported” progressing with experiments and the body’s full annual meeting is expected to approve them in March.

“It’s a fundamental decision, something we’ve been debating for many, many years—ultimately, it could lead to referees being assisted by video,” Football Association of Wales chief executive Jonathan Ford, who chaired the

meeting, told the Associated Press (AP).

“The reality is that refereeing is a very difficult job. It’s one person, two eyes and, in many games now, we have 10, sometimes 20 cameras, millions of people watching games, so we’ve got to do what we can to assist referees.”

To gain sufficient information on different systems, trials will take place across entire competitions in the coming seasons.

The use of video would be restricted to referees ruling on whether a goal has been scored, a penalty should be awarded, a player should be sent off or cases of mistaken identity. It comes three years after Ifab approved systems that send a signal to the referee determining if the ball crossed the line.

Reacting to calls for more technology, Ifab envisages various video systems being tested in games, including a person watching on monitors in a truck outside the stadium feeding information into the referee’s ear, or the referee being able to go to the sideline to view replays or see the clips on a wearable device.

“There’s a lot more to the game than sitting and watching a screen,” Ford said. “So in an ideal world the referee will be able to make that decision with his own eyes watching that footage.”

International Football Federation controls half of the eight votes on Ifab, which also features four United

Kingdom football associations. A motion requires at least six votes to be approved.

English Football Association Chief Executive Martin Glenn said it is proving “physically harder for referees to keep up” in games and high-tech assistance is proving essential.

“The game has never been faster, referees have never been fitter but players are getting quicker,” Glenn told the AP. “So those difficult snap-shot decisions at high speed are ones where we think, and certainly the English FA would think, technology might help and we’ve just got to test that.” AP