Businessmirror september 17, 2015

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ThursdaySeptember 18, 2014 Vol.17, 10 No. 40 Thursday, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 343

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D.O.T.C. CLUELESS ON RATIFICATION OF POLICY THAT ENSURES AIR CONNECTIVITY IN THE REGION

PHL delaying Asean open skies

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

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Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Philippines remains as the last holdout to signing the open-skies aviation policy for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), one of the key measures to ensure air connectivity and increased visitor arrivals in the region.

INSIDE

feds: Arctic sea ice levels shrink to 4th lowest level BusinessMirror

World The

B2-3| Thursday, September 17, 2015 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

A womAn looks at a damaged vehicle swept away during a flash flood on September 15 in Hildale, Utah. The floodwaters swept away vehicles in the Utah-Arizona border town, killing several people. AP

Floods kill at least 16 in polygamous town

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ILDALE, Utah—Rescuers trudged through muddy streambeds on Tuesday in a small polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border and found the bodies of several children who died when their two vehicles were swept away in a torrent of floodwaters that killed at least 12 people.

The same flash floods claimed at least four lives in nearby Zion National Park.

The van and sport-utility vehicle (SUV) were filled with three women and 13 children when a wall of brown water overtook them on Monday evening, carrying the vehicles several hundred yards downstream and sending them plunging down a floodedout embankment with terrifying force. The SUV was smashed beyond recognition. Three people survived, all of them children, in the secluded community that is the home base of Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect.

A witness described rushing to where the vehicles came to a stop and seeing a gruesome scene of body parts, twisted metal and a young boy who survived the flood.

“The little boy was standing there,” Yvonne Holm said. “He said,

‘Are you guys going to help me?’”

Only one person was still missing on Tuesday in the border town, and authorities had not identified the dead. The children in the vehicles ranged from 4 years old to teenagers.

At nearby Zion National Park, authorities found four bodies and searched for three missing hikers who set out Monday to rappel down a narrow slot canyon. They left before park officials closed the canyons that evening because of flood warnings, park spokesman Holly Baker said. The hikers, from California and Nevada, were all in their 40s and 50s, Baker said. She had no details on their identities.

In Hildale, the streets were caked in red mud, and earth movers cleared the roads and piled up mounds of dirt. As a helicopter buzzed overhead, crowds of boys in jeans and girls and women wearing deep-colored prairie dresses watched the rescue effort.

Residents called it the worst f lood in memory for the sister towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, located about 507 kilometers south of Salt Lake City at the foot of picturesque red rock cliffs. AP

New Australian prime minister wants more women in Cabinet

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A NBER R A, Australia— Australia’s new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday flagged that more women would be included in his first Cabinet to be sworn in Monday.

“There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing more women in positions of power and influence in Parliament, in ministries right across the country,” Turnbull told reporters in his first news conference as prime minister. “I am very committed to that, but I am not going to say any more about the new ministerial arrangements,” he said.

Turnbull replaced his unpopular predecessor Tony Abbott in a surprise leadership vote of lawmakers in the ruling conservative Liberal Party on Monday night.

Abbott was widely criticized for including only two women in his

19-member Cabinet, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Health Minister Sussan Ley. Bishop was the only woman in Abbott’s first Cabinet sworn in in 2013.

Turnbull said there would be “some changes” in his Cabinet, but gave no indication of the scale. He declined to comment on the future of the government’s chief economic minister, Treasurer Joe Hockey.

In challenging Abbott’s leadership, Turnbull indirectly attacked Hockey with the criticism that “the government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need.”

The government’s popularity plunged in opinion polls and never recovered after Hockey revealed his first annual budget in May last year.

That budget was widely criticized as unfair toward the poor. AP

Feds: Arctic sea ice levels shrink to 4th lowest level

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ASHINGTON—Summer Arctic sea ice shrank to its fourth lowest level on record this month, dispelling faint hopes of a recovery, US scientists said.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center announced on Tuesday that the Arctic hit its summer minimum last week with 4.4 million square kilometers (sq km) of sea ice, down 621.6 million sq km from 2014.

“The ice is decreasing over time, which you would expect because the Arctic is warming,” data center scientist Julienne Stroeve said.

Summer minimum sea ice has

shrunk since satellites started measuring in 1979. It reached a peak of 7.5 million sq km in 1980 and hit an all-time low of 3.3 million sq km in 2012.

It went back up to 5 million sq km in 2013 and hovered near there in 2014.

Variations in weather mean sea ice levels drift a bit year to year, but Stroeve said there’s a long-term trend that is best seen when looking at averages

of five years or more. The five years between 1979 and 1983 averaged 7.15 million sq km during the summer minimum.

The last five years average 4.45 million sq km, a decrease of 38 percent.

That means there’s no recovery in Arctic sea ice, despite claims of some climate-change doubters, said Stroeve and Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn’t part of the government measurement team.

The world overall so far this year is easily the hottest it has been in more than a century of record keeping, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. However, the El Niño that has been helping

push temperatures even warmer isn’t having as much an effect up north, which is farther away from the tropical Pacific Ocean, Stroeve said.

It has been hot, but not near record breaking in the Arctic this summer. With human-caused warming continuing, computer simulations show on average that around the year 2040, sea ice will disappear from the Arctic during some summers, Stroeve said.

“We remain on a trajectory that is actually ahead of model predictions,” Mann said.

“Arctic sea ice is one of several aspects of climate change that his happening even faster than originally predicted.” Sea ice in Antarctica, which had been at record high levels in recent years, are about average, Stroeve said. AP

California wildfire evacuees return home, find charred ruins

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IDDLETOWN, California—Some residents cried as they walked through the rubble of their homes while others shared amazing stories of survival as more people returned to their houses on Tuesday and surveyed the twisted metal and smoking ruins left behind by a devastating California wildfire.

Gary Herrin sobbed as he walked through what had been his childhood home in Middletown.

“Yep, grew up here, was able to walk to school from here. Many friends lived close by,” Herrin recalled, looking around. “There’s a lot of good people here, but it’s a ghost town now, it’s really eerie.”

His brother had been living in the home and members of his extended family resided nearby.

“I go to my brother-in-law’s house, my niece’s house, and there’s nothing, nothing, ashes,” Herrin said. A number of people saw the devastation for the first time since the massive flames sped on Saturday through rural Lake

County, less than 160 kilometers north of San Francisco. Aided by drought, it has consumed more than 269 square kilometers and was 15 percent contained.

Authorities say 585 homes were known to be destroyed, and the number was expected to increase. Another 9,000 structures remained threatened. The Lake County fire and another blaze about 193 km to the southeast have displaced 23,000 people and were the worst of a dozen wildfires burning in the state.

The Lake County fire spread into northern Napa County, but the region’s famous wine valley was not threatened.

Rancher Lisa Comstock said she and her three dogs survived the raging fire in rural Middletown by jumping into a water trough as flames neared her home.

Comstock was also able to keep her horses nearby as the fire burned around them.

“The flames were coming over that mountain and surrounding

this place like there was no tomorrow,” she said. “I jumped in the water trough with all the dogs, and the horses came up around. Thank God they just stayed here.”

At one point she was sure she wasn’t going to make it but talking to her animals helped keep her and the animals calm.

“If this is how I go, I’m not leaving these animals. That’s all I could think of,” she said.

Thousands of utility crew members and firefighters were working diligently to control the blaze and get life back to normal for as many people as possible, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Spokesman Dave Shaw said.

The utility companies were trying to restore power to the area and water was flowing in some areas of town.

One person has been confirmed dead, and others were unaccounted for, but authorities said they could be staying with relatives, on vacation or elsewhere and not impacted by the fire. The dead woman has

been identified as Barbara McWilliams, 72. She told her caretaker she didn’t want to leave her home near Middletown. The world traveler and sharp-minded woman with advanced multiple sclerosis said she would be fine.

Her body was found on Sunday in her burned-out home after flames kept Lake County sheriff’s officials from reaching her.

Scores of people in Lake County were escorted back to their homes on Tuesday to check on pets and farm animals. They were allowed to remain for 15 minutes to feed and give water to the animals.

Lake County has been particularly hard-hit. In late July a wildfire east of Clear Lake destroyed 43 homes as it spread across more than 260 sq km.

Another fire erupted on August 9 several miles from the community of Lower Lake. East of Fresno, California’s largest wildfire had moved away from the Sierra Nevada’s Giant Sequoia trees, some of which are 3,000 years old. AP

World

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‘HENERAL LUNA’: THE POLITICS OF ELITE RAGE AND DISCONTENT www.businessmirror.com.ph

Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, September 17, 2015

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

in terms of heft in build and character, John arcilla’s general luna is gravitas personified in the powerful film directed and cowritten by Jerold tarog.

tito genova valiente

titovaliente@yahoo.com

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H

ENERAL LUNA is a powerful film.

That said, this power that compels us to look and look and be in awe of this general of the Philippine-American Revolution is also what devaluates the Filipino people of that period, and of any period that is marked by radical change.

The film begins at a time when a new wave of colonizers have hit Philippine soil. The revolutionary army is lost in the memories of the Spanish forces now not in command of the islands, and is surprised that in place of a mighty power comes an even mightier force: the Americano.

Gen. Antonio Luna is in command at the trenches and has two duties: to defend their position and to stop the ordinary soldiers from running away. The general doesn’t know fear but under him are men cowering in fear. Not the presence of women-warriors can dispel the fact that the general faces both courage and cowardice in the trenches.

The great tactician that General Luna is known for, sends urgent words for the Kawit group to bring support. The group does not send any and the general rides his horse to catch ordinary soldiers playing cards and resting. He catches Janolino in bed with a woman.

All this happens while soldiers are dying in another place. Absurdity is the better word to describe the scenario; in reality, the inutil makes his day in history.

Early on in the film, one finds demarcated and articulated how grossly unprepared our soldiers were during the revolution. Early on, we find—and marvel at—a general who is ready, as in willing, to die for what could have been an abstracted notion of a nation.

General Luna was schooled in the rules of war and governance that he was willing to ride his horse anytime and run into enemies’ territory. He was educated but he did not have time to educate those who would form the rank-and-file of his army.

Was General Luna even aware that he was issuing commands to uneducated men?

In the newly formed Cabinet, debates are fierce and cruel. At stake are personal interests, wealth and statuses. The elite forms the majority of the members of the Cabinet. Outside there is the war with the Americans; inside there is the animosity among the so-called patriots and Ilustrados. Nowhere is the common man factored in the discussion and if you find this statement atrocious, then it is because history is always written large, with monumentalism forming the curlicued frame for the past events illustrated for the consumption of those who write them or related to the authors at least of the documentarian.

So, why are thinkers and artists declaring a golden age of cinema with the coming of Heneral Luna?

There are reasons to celebrate this film. There is the sense of narrative daring, which perhaps comes with the distance from that historical past: the fact that we can now call the Paternos and the Buencaminos traitors.

There is the screenplay—a series of unfolding and foreboding—attributed to EA. Rocha, Henry Hunt Francia and Jerold Tarog. Each move of the general bears with it the dark, dank scent of danger. Even as we know General Luna is a fierce warrior, the story gleams with the threat of the next day or the enduring night. The screenplay also leaves off where histories terminate. The linear narrating is suffused and intervened by flashbacks which are not really flashbacks but memories of a personal past. For the general, the memory is personal; but for us readers of histories, they are the substance of what could make us into citizens of a nation. Sadly, the story of Luna is not mainstream in history classes. We have lighted candles at the grave of Rizal and mourned the hacking of Bonifacio. We have forgiven the Paternos and the Buencaminos. We have made Aguinaldo a hero and we raise each year the Philippine flag at his balcony and sacralize even the spot of his heroism. And yet—and yet—no one is outraged that the leaders and heroes of this nation would have time to plot and engineer the butchering of a real general while we were at war with the enemy. And that all these patriots would wash their hands in order to declare their innocence of the crime.

This brings us to the inner power of Heneral Luna: the character himself. Drawn in broad strokes when the battlefield looms near but etched in sharp and silken details when the spirit of the general is under grave examination, General Luna thunders at the enemies and bellows in front of the president. General Mascardo

his nemesis, postures and preens but Luna plants both his feet on the ground and we know this is a man who could not be killed (murdered, yes, as we would find out) because he is already dead.

The same general who is serious about the arts of war simmers and glimmers in front of the moon and his woman. He writes poetry and, part of his self-effacing way, does not even recall he has written those lines.

There are many grand and colorful characters in the film. Epy Quizon provides a shock of recognition as Apolinario Mabini. All those rotogravures of Mabini, the “Sublime Paralytic,” are replicated in this film. We know Mabini is wise but there is pathos in his presence because, by prescience, that intelligence and wisdom do not have currency in this land. He sits beside Aguinaldo who does not seem to listen to him.

Mon Confiado is a master of subtlety (I am not calling it deceit) and strategy as Aguinaldo. He is indecisive and compromising. When Luna arrives to see Aguinaldo, the latter, who is entertaining Paterno and Buencamino, orders the two to hide—“and please do not forget your glass of wine.” Beside Mabini, Aguinaldo is sublime and pathetic.

Aaron Villaflor provides the poignant turn in this account as the young man documenting the great general. We believe his tears as he recites once more the lines from the poetry of General Luna.

The reason, however, for the conviction of the audience as to the greatness of this film is the man who plays General Luna: John Arcilla. In terms of heft in build and character, Arcilla’s Luna is gravitas personified. Arcilla’s warrior is really a gracious man, an individual not even balancing but just keeping

within his soul, an artist, a lover, a patriot, and a man whose bravery is both lunacy and largesse, madness and foresight. Arcilla squints and smiles, grins and grimaces.

He is human and grand in gestures. Arcilla is as huge as the battle he fights as Luna, and as magnificent as the defeat he incurs because his enemies are within his camps. Credibility can be the bane of many of our heroes, but in the portrayal of Arcilla as Luna, his truth is lightning and his performance a blistering spark in our shadowed history.

If all of Heneral Luna is history, I doubt there would be exclamatory writings about it. But history, it is not merely; the film finds a space for creation and there Jerold Tarog, the director, conjures what all historical past is all about: that is, memory rekindled by a nurturing element. In the film, it is the mother of Luna, played with such candor by Bing Pimentel, who asks our hero to close his eyes. Soon, the sala of the Lunas opens and an ardent childhood is remembered. But more than that, the histories in which Luna himself will play a great role is retold.

Away from metaphors, Heneral Luna reminds us how we failed as people during the revolution because our leaders were splendid fiascos. There was one general but he was angry at the weaknesses of others and he was called a madman. In the end, he dies and, together with his aide, pulled like the dead gladiators in his brother’s masterpiece, Spoliarium.

We remember in art what we do not recall in history.

We await some dead mothers to ask us to close our eyes and go back again to what made us great.

Heneral Luna is produced by Artikulo Uno Productions and released through Quantum Films. n

MBC seeks Best Choirs nationwide

MANILA Broadcasting Co. (MBC) has launched the 2015 MBC National Choral Competitions, open to academic institutions, churches, special interest groups, as well as companies or agencies in the public and private sectors.

At stake is P150,000 for the grand-prize winner in the open category, with P100,000 going to the champion in the children’s choir division.

Live auditions will be held in Iloilo City (September 26), Cebu City (October 1), Palo, Leyte (October 3), General Santos City (October 10), Cagayan de Oro City (October 11), Calasiao, Pangasinan (October 17) and at the Aliw Theater in Pasay (October 24). Choirs from distant provinces may opt to send video audition packets consisting of the application form and a DVD recording of the group in performance.

These should be sent to MBC, Sotto Street, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, on or before October 10.

Detailed competition mechanics and application forms are downloadable from the official Facebook page of the MBC National Choral Competitions.

SHOW

10 potent herbs and spices

D3

he leaders of the House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected the Palace proposal to lift certain bank-secrecy provisions as compensating revenue for losses arising from the proposed income-tax rate cuts.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the proposal will only scare businessmen in the country.

“I am against it because this will scare off local and foreign investors,” Belmonte said.

Instead, Belmonte challenged the

CAUGHT BY SURPRISE A police officer stands near the seal of the US Embassy after protesters managed to slip past them to splatter red and blue paint following a rally to mark the 24th anniversary of the termination of the US military bases in the country, on Wednesday, in Manila. Riot policemen have dispersed dozens of left-wing students, who stormed past a police cordon after dawn and splattered red paint on the seal of the US Embassy in Manila to protest the American military presence in the country. AP

Continued on A2

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to catch big-time tax cheats, smugglers and money launderers to generate revenue for the nation’s coffers.

“My challenge to the BIR is to expand the minuscule tax base of the country, and start with the country’s richest families and those ostensibly not rich that deport themselves with super expensive cars,” Belmonte said.

House Independent Bloc Leader and Lakas Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte considers the proposal “good and very laudable See “Bank-secrecy,” A2

Palace ignores JFC plea on tax cut

By Butch Fernandez

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alacañang practically ignored the Joint Foreign Chambers’s (JFC) call for the lowering of individual and corporate tax rates as part of the administration’s comprehensive tax reform.

In a news briefing on Wednesday, Secretary Edwin Lacierda pointed anew to President Aquino’s remarks in Iloilo earlier this week that the options offered to fill the resulting revenue hole are not good enough.

The JFC said on Tuesday that the Aquino administration can cut individual and corporate income-tax rates, while making upward adjustments in the valueadded tax and oil-excise tax. The International Monetary Fund’s resident representative to the Philippines had also advised a two-track approach of widening taxpayers’ base while cutting income-tax rates.

Asked if the Palace would heed the JFC’s appeal for President Aquino to reconsider its rejection of the

chamber’s proposal—which is meant to spur investments and commerce while avoiding deficit spending—both Lacierda and Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. affirmed Mr. Aquino’s position on the issue.

“The President prefers to stay the course for the remainder of his term in order to preserve and consolidate the gains achieved through sound management of macroeconomic fundamentals,” Coloma said in response to JFC’s bid for reconsideration. But Lacierda admitted that Palace officials have yet to sit down to take up JFC’s alternative proposals. “Well, we haven’t discussed it other than the statement that he [President Aquino] has already made yesterday [Monday], so it hasn’t been discussed yet. But I believe the President responded to this yesterday,” Lacierda said.

At the same time, Lacierda shrugged off negative comments by disappointed netizens that the See “JFC,” A2

Mining, prices of metals to recover strongly in 2019–expert

D health&Fitness

Clemente, who is also president of Rajah Travel Corp., noted that the goal of Asean’s current tourism strategic plan is to “provide an increasing number of visitors to the region with authentic and diverse products, enhanced connectivity, a safe and secure environment, increased quality of services, while, at the same time, ensuring an increased quality of life and opportunities for residents through responsible and sustainable tourism development by working effectively with a wide range of stakeholders,” by 2015.

‘Bank-secrecy revision to scare off investors’

‘Heneral Luna’: The politics of elite rage and discontent reeling

Aileen Clemente, president of the Asean Travel Association (Aseanta), made this revelation during the recent Third Philippines Tourism Forum, and urged the Aquino administration to ratify the policy immediately. “Our signing is, first of all, symbolic—that we are already willing to be taken as Asean and that [we are prioritizing] economic benefits over protectionism,” she later told the BusinessMirror.

She added that being an archipelago, the country “will need connectivity with our neighbors as we grow tourism in the Philippines, as well as trade and business.”

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

espite the multiple threats to the global mining industry, base metals—such as gold, silver, platinum, aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc—and metals prices in the world market will recover in 2019, according to international mining and metals market expert Julia Ralph.

“Zinc, tin, nickel, in particular, will recover very strongly in terms of market prices,” she told participants of the Mining Philippines 2015 Conference and Exhibition at the Solaire

PESO exchange rates n US 46.7430

Resort and Casino in Manila on Tuesday.

“Lead and copper global market prices will have a mild improvement,” she said.

A three-day international event organized by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), the conference invited experts to discuss the global trend in mining.

Ralph said the recovery in metals will be pushed by factors, such as room to manage oversupply; more value being placed on costand-savings management; and optimism for new projects.

“Mining companies are facing multiple

threats, such as slower demand growth, flexible competitors, new low-cost production and competition in managing project costs,” she said.

According to Ralph, there is oversupply right now. But for base metals, the “oversupply is limited” and that the appetite to invest in high-risk new mines is still low.

The key, according to Ralph, is “limited sustainable and cyclical cost savings” or simply put, managing project costs.

COMP President Philip Romualdez said that threats, such as the flexibility of certain competitors, as well as the competition

in managing project costs, are something that the Philippine mining industry and the national government could work together if the country would still want to be a “prime mining investment” destination.

“The Philippine government must help current and prospective mining projects and investors manage costs and be flexible amid competition by ensuring there is stability and consistency in mining policies and regulations, especially in the fiscal regime,” Romualdez said.

See “Mining,” A2

n japan 0.3882 n UK 71.7225 n HK 6.0314 n CHINA 7.3380 n singapore 33.3545 n australia 33.1746 n EU 52.6794 n SAUDI arabia 12.4675 Source: BSP (16 September 2015)

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Thursday, September 17, 2015

News

BusinessMirror

PHL delaying Asean open skies Continued from A1

The Aseanta, is a nonprofit tourism association formed in 1971, which is composed of public and private tourism sector organizations from the Asean, such as national tourism organizations (e.g., the Philippines’s Department of Tourism), airlines, travel associations, and hotel and restaurant associations. One of its goals is to support and help implement the Asean strategic tourism plan—a road map to ensure that the region remains a successful tourism destination.

The Department of Transportation and Communications, however, could not say when the Philippines would ratify the said policy, which should have been implemented this year, in preparation of the integration of Asean into one economic community.

In a brief text exchange with Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, he said “a check with the Office of the President is that the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] has some modification on the ratification document.”

Asked what these modifications were, he said: “To make clear that the protocols are

Mining. . .

subject to slots in Manila, which I understood from the start is written into the agreement.”The protocols refer to opening up third, fourth, and fifth freedom rights for foreign carriers flying into capitals, for instance, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila.

But he stressed that “clearly the decision and policy of government is ratification,” but failed to say when this would happen.

Abaya said he would follow up the issue with the DFA. Clemente, countered however, that “the excuse that there are no slots in the Naia is isolated from the principle of open skies.” She pointed out that Indonesia already signed [the protocols] even if the Jakarta airport currently doesn’t have slots to provide [foreign carriers].”

About half of the Asean population of 600 million lives in Indonesia, making it an important signatory to the region’s open-skies protocols.

Abaya is the chairman of the Philippine Air Consultation Panel, which negotiates airservice agreements with other countries. While the Aquino administration continues to protect Manila, it frees up flying rights of foreign carriers in secondary cities or other provincial capitals The Asean open-skies policy, or Asean Single

Aviation Market (Asean-SAM), guarantees third and fourth freedom rights, which allow carriers to fly from their home country to another foreign country, sans government approval.

It also ensures fifth freedom rights, allowing any carrier to fly between two foreign countries during flights originating or ending in said airline’s home country. This means, a Philippine carrier can offer return flights between Manila and Kuala Lumpur, then onward to Bangkok.

The document is silent on seventh freedom rights that will allow a carrier to fly between two foreign countries, even if said carrier isn’t offering flights in its home country.

Even Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. expressed support for the Asean openskies policy, saying it would afford greater connectivity in the region and benefit the Philippines. In a text message, he said: “Absolutely. I believe that, with the right preparation, the Philippines could benefit in terms of tourist arrivals. Anything that makes it easy/efficient for people to get to, pass through and leave from the Philippines will add to arrivals. Whether our airlines are prepared to compete on this basis may be another story.”

Clemente stressed further that it was

time for government to think of the economic benefits of signing on to the Asean-SAM. “Connectivity is inclusive of intra- and inter-country and islands. If the current hub for air traffic is mostly connected via Manila—that’s where most foreign carriers can go. But if it can also be allowed that all carriers can pick up from multiple points within the Philippines, this then becomes economically beneficial and assists in the decongestion of one airport.”

She added that if the government’s goal is to make the Philippines a major tourism destination in Asean and the world, then all its regulatory agencies must support that one common vision. “Our goals should be beyond our businesses and be beyond the scope of each department in government, but rather, everyone must take one vision, one goal and work around it even if it means it gives up turfs or current areas of responsibilities—all these, bearing in mind, that we need safe, secure and seamless travel [to and around the islands].”

The 10 members of the Asean are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“We have been talking about inclusive-growth goals and we believe the Philippine mining industry can contribute a lot toward attaining those goals; but we have to be practical about the dynamics of how global markets and the economy work, like we have to have certain sound fundamentals for the mining industry,”

Romualdez said.

Romualdez added that one of these fundamentals would be “to have a mining fiscal regime that would encourage foreign investors to gamble on large financial, environmental, and social costs needed to put up a sustainable minerals development project in the country.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

➜GOVT DEBT RISES 38%

Total borrowings by the government as of the end of July amounted to P219.64 billion, 38 percent higher than the P159.27 billion in total borrowings made by the government for the same period last year.

The net borrowings of the government, which is the difference between the total gross borrowings and amortization on the principal debt, also increased to P35.45 billion as of the end of July from the figures a year ago at only P28.02 billion.

Gross external borrowings from January to July amounted to P100.85 billion, while gross domestic borrowings amounted to P118.80 billion.

Amortization on the country’s external debt brought down the net external borrowings for the said period to only P54.50 billion.

Amortization on the country’s domestic debts, on the other hand, has resulted in a net repayment, or an actual reduction of P19.15 billion, on the principal domestic debt. David Cagahastian

➜DOMINGO KEEPING POST Continued from A1

Romualdez said developing the Philippines’s vast mineral resources also entails a “partnership between the government and the private mining companies and investors.”

“Our country has the potential to

benefit hugely from the recovery of metals prices by 2019, but we have to stabilize our mining industry with consistent policies and regulations so investors can help us develop our mineral resources properly,” he said.

TILL DECember 31

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo confirmed that he has decided to stay in his post until December 31, 2015.

In a chance interview with reporters at the sidelines of an interagency meeting on Wednesday, Domingo said he is willing to post-

pone his departure as head of the DTI, but did not cite the reason.

He, however, said that as he plans to return to the private sector, he has to set the clock running on the one-year prohibition of appointed government officials. “I can’t work in the areas that I supervised for one year. Even if I stop now, I can’t work until October next year,” Domingo reasoned. Catherine N. Pillas

➜10% HIKE IN PENSION

OF STATE WORKERS OK’d

President Aquino signed late last week Executive Order (EO) 188 approving the 10-percent increase in the compensation pension of all government workers.

The Palace said the upward adjustment in state workers’ pension was due to the “need to continually improve benefits under the Employees’ Compensation Program to make them more responsive to the welfare and development needs of persons with work-related disabilities.”

Mr. Aquino’s EO also pointed to the Employees’ Compensation Commission’s earlier approval of the increase, as well as an actuarial study done by the Government Service Insurance System indicating that the additional benefit could be funded by the State Insurance Fund without increasing contributions from the national government.

Butch Fernandez

Bank-secrecy. . .

Continued from A1

for transparency and accountability” purposes. Romuladez said amending certain provisions of the Bank Secrecy law is not good because of “government bias against the political opposition.” “Passing this right now is ill-timed because we have a color-blind government [that is] selective in giving justice and not sincere in prosecuting violators of the country’s laws,” Romualdez said.

“This could be used as a tool for persecution or harassment against members of the political opposition.

This government has a track record of demolishing the image of its enemies,” Romualdez added.

Earlier, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Liberal Party Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina favored examining the Palace proposal with an open mind.

“We will tackle the bill soonest. I am personally willing to sponsor the bill so it can be discussed immediately.

If it is truly the solution for the BIR to finally meet its targets, then we should take a look at it seriously,” he said.

JFC. . .

Continued from A1

President’s rejection of the JFC’s counterproposal is likely to backfire on the candidates the Aquino administration will endorse in the 2016 elections.

“What the administration is batting for is a comprehensive discussion on the tax system,” he said. “So, we are looking not just at the income- tax system, but we are looking at the entire comprehensive taxation reform that we want to happen. In fact, that has already been mentioned by [Finance Secretary CesarV. ] Purisima.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, September 17, 2015 A3

Lebanese-led human-trafficking syndicate busted A.a.v.a. officials on carpet over traffic congestion

T

RAFFIC congestion in a gated village in Muntinlupa City has resulted not only in frayed nerves among the residents but also a complaint by the residents against the leaders of the homeowners association before the government housing regulator.

The members of the Ayala Alabang Homeowners Association (Aava) filed the complaint following Aava's proposal to open other gates in the subdivision.

Aava President Epifanio S. Joaquin said the village is (constructed) like a funnel, whose content flows out of one and only exit point.

Its vehicular traffic flows to and from one direction, which is Commerce Avenue, he said, citing a traffic study commissioned and conducted by development giant Filinvest Corp. released in March 2013.

The study said that on

the average, 36,664 vehicles use Commerce Avenue daily.

Morning rush hour data showed that 7,989 vehicles traverse Commerce Avenue between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. while the evening rush hours brought 7,791 daily.

Joaquin said the proposal involves the opening of two new gates—at Champaca Street on the western side of the subdivision and San Jose Street on the east—to create alternative entry and exit routes to better facilitate traffic flow within and around Ayala Alabang.

A referendum has been set on September 20 to determine the majority’s sentiments and bring a closure to a hot issue.

A complaint has been filed against Joaquin and other Aava officers before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board by residents who oppose the proposal.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

T

By Rene Acosta

he government smashed on Monday a Lebaneseled human-trafficking ring believed working with some corrupt immigration officers during simultaneous operations in Bulacan, Caloocan City and Zamboanga City, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) said.

During the operations, government agents arrested the ring leader identified as Pascal Sreih alias Kuya Mario, a Lebanese and his Filipino wife Vilma Rosa Matagay alias Sarah.

The operations were launched in the wake of intelligence reports indicating that the couple was smuggling young Filipino women to Malaysia and Lebanon with the assistance of some rogue immigration officers who are in their payroll.

The Paocc said government agents, including those from the Naval Intelligence Security Force, busted the syndicate, which has gained notoriety for recruiting young Filipino women as domestic helpers in other parts of Europe.

The victims are also being made to pay hefty placement fees.

An investigation showed that the young Filipino women with tourist visas are being smuggled to Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia via Zamboanga City on their way to Lebanon with the help of some corrupt immigration officers.

On Monday the government launched the simultaneous operations in Zamboanga City, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan and Camarin, Caloocan City, which resulted in the arrest of Sreih, his wife, and two immigration personnel identified as Joey Escobar and Fedel Mendoza and two others.

Undercover agents placed the Lebanese under close surveillance

after his name was repeatedly mentioned in the affidavits given by some victims rescued in Zamboanga City on May 28.

The May 28 operation led in the rescue of 10 female human-trafficking victims and the arrest of three suspects inside the Atilano Pension House in Zamboanga City.

The 10 victims claimed they were recruited by suspects based in Harmony 1 Italy Street corner Middle East, San Jose del Monte City.

On August 16 another 10 female would-be victims of the syndicate were also rescued, while one was arrested in a Zamboanga City hotel.

T he i nvest igat ion showed that the victims who came from different places in Ilocos-Pangasinan Region, Cagayan, Isabela, Manila, Caraga region, Laguna and Manila were recruited by the same syndicate.

The victims claimed that Sreih and his wife recruited them as domestic workers in Lebanon and were promised that they will reach Lebanon with the help of the immigration contacts. All were issued tourist visas.

During the investigation, it was discovered that Sreih had assured his recruits that their stay in Lebanon will be “legal and aboveboard.”

However, the Lebanese de-

manded that each of his recruits surrender their passports to him before they leave the countr y through the Southern backdoors.

The investigation showed that the applicants who surrendered their passports to the Lebanese were housed in an apartment in Camarin, Caloocan City.

After a week, they will travel to Zamboanga City with spurious travel documents and proceed to Lebanon via the Sandakan route onboard MV Danica Joy 2, a passenger cargo vessel owned and operated by A leson Shipping Lines Inc. with business address at 172—174 Veterans Avenue, Zamboanga City.

Investigators also discovered that the recruits are made to go to the Zamboanga City International Airport where they are fetched by a “facilitator” who usually took them to the Blue Shark Hotel or Atilano Pension House, both in Canelar, Zamboanga City, while waiting for their travel documents.

The victims are also given instructions to buy two-way tickets M/V Danica Joy 2 tickets and place pink pony tails on their wrists to serve as a “pass code” to the syndicate’s immigration contacts. The pink pony tail will serve as a hint to the immigration officer to stamp their passports without any delay.

a4

TheBroa

Business

Thursday, September 17, 2015

New 10-year plan to sh

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

he Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) is one of the most influential regional trade blocs in the world, second only to the Group of 20 (G-20). Composed of both developed and developing nations, Apec member-countries together account for as much as 57 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran also said that in terms of trade, Apec accounts for 54 percent of inward and 56 percent of outward foreign direct investments (FDI).

“Apec members include the most dynamic economies [in the world]. You look at the growth rates of member-economies as a whole, they topple that of world growth so [Apec] is growing faster than the rest of the world,” Beltran said.

“Adopting policies that will enhance [Apec’s] resiliency will push up growth rates, avoid the dampening impact of disasters and volatilities. We have had several crises in the past and we have learned from them. Based on these lessons, we are trying to adopt policies that will help us avoid crises in the future,” he added.

The need to shield Apec countries from future crises was the impetus for the Cebu Action Plan (CAP). The 10-year road map was drafted by the Philippines with inputs from other Apec members, multilateral institutions and the private sector through the Apec Business Advisory Council. Apec finance ministers formally launched CAP on September 11.

The road map enjoys broad support from various Apec members and is seen as the legacy of the Philippines—the host of Apec meetings this year. Peru, the host of Apec 2016, has already expressed its commitment to champion the CAP.

“The CAP also continues the progress toward the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment. In particular, economies committed to work toward more liberalized financial services and capital accounts across Asia-Pacific,” the Apec secretariat said in a statement.

“Likewise, economies emphasized how promoting trade and supply-chain finance, as well as alternative financing mechanisms in Apec, can boost inclusive growth, especially in improving access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises, 40 percent of which are underserved in the region,” it added.

CAP’s four pillars

The CAP has four pillars—improving financial integration; promoting fiscal reforms; having greater financial resiliency; and accelerating infrastructure development and financing. The plan outlined short-term, medium-term

and long-term “deliverables.”

“I would expect it [CAP] to develop and change as the years go on,” Apec Secretariat Executive Director Alan Bollard said. “It’s [CAP] one of the big deliverables this year.”

The first pillar, financial integration, is aimed at easing trade and investments, such as by rationalizing and harmonizing rules on cross-border flow of funds. The short-term deliverables under this pillar include expanding financial inclusion and literacy through the Asia-Pacific Financial Inclusion Forum and adopting domestic strategies to meet this deliverable.

Another short-term deliverable is the signing of the Statement of Understanding for the Asia Region Funds Passport (ARFP) that seeks to facilitate cross-border offering of funds across participating economies. To date, six of the 21 Apec member-economies have signed the ARFP. The signatories are Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines.

By next year, participating Apec economies must acknowledge the ongoing G-20 effort to facilitate remittance flows and begin working toward the reduction of transaction costs of remittances.

The G-20 aims to enhance migrants access to less costly remittance services. This will help advance financial inclusion of migrant workers, including millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Apec members are targeting to reduce the transaction costs of remittances to 5 percent in 10 years.

Bollard said that in some parts of the region, the average transaction cost for remittances is around 16 percent.

In 2012, World Bank Migration and Remittances Unit Manager and Lead Economist Dilip Ratha said transaction costs vary from country to country and from one sending agent to another. However, Ratha said remitting $200 would cost anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent of the principal amount.

Cutting transaction costs for remittances is one of the targets identified under Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or reducing inequality within and among countries. The target on remittances states that by 2030, countries must reduce to less than 3 percent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 percent.

“The costs of a remittance

transaction include a fee charged by the sending agent, typically paid by the sender, and a currency-conversion fee for delivery of local currency to the beneficiary in another country. Some smaller money-transfer operators require the beneficiary to pay a fee to collect remittances, presumably to account for unexpected exchangerate movements,” Ratha said in a blog posted on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) web site.

Other deliverables include developing regulations governing sharing public data with Credit Information Systems (CIS) between and among participating economies, and creating a common data format for Apec-based data collected by CIS. The list also includes the development of new financial instruments for the use of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as developing policy frameworks for alternative finance.

Under CAP, Apec members must promote financial services liberalization; Capital Account Liberalization; and sign a multilateral memorandum of cooperation by participating Apec economies and increase the number of participants in ARFP.

The second pillar, fiscal reforms and transparency, promotes sound fiscal policy and accessibility of data on state revenues and expenditures. By allowing greater scrutiny, CAP proponents believe, governments will be forced to improve efficiency of public spending.

These will be done by initiating fiscal reforms such as public investment frameworks; rationalizing and phasing out of inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies; and scaling up public investments such as those for infrastructure projects.

The second pillar also advocates participating economies to adopt an Open Data Initiative on the government’s budget; sources and uses of funds; and debt borrowing and lending data. Participating Apec economies must also consider the benefits of joining the Open Government Partnership.

Participating Apec economies must also cooperate in terms of exchanging tax information and automatic exchange of financial account information (AEoI) when it comes to tax matters. Apec economies must also acknowledge the work of the G-20 on AEoI and common reporting standards.

The road map also provides for Apec cooperation in addressing cross-border tax avoidance, tak-

“Adopting policies that will enhance [Ape rates, avoid the dampening impact of disa several crises in the past and we have lear lessons, we are trying to adopt policies tha future.” — Finance Undersecretary Gil Be

aderLook

sMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, September 17, 2015

a5

hield Apec from crises

ec’s] resiliency will push up growth asters and volatilities. We have had rned from them. Based on these at will help us avoid crises in the eltran

Filipino student activists hold the logo of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) beside a picture of US President Barack Obama, during a protest against Apec near the Malacañang presidential palace in Manila on September 7. The protesters are denouncing Apec’s foreign investment and free-trade promotion, which they say amounts to an “unabashed sale of Philippine patrimony to foreign corporations led by the United States,” and does not solve basic problems like joblessness. AP/Aaron Favila

ing into consideration the ongoing work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and G20 on the Base Erosion Profits Shifting (BEPS).

The third pillar, financial resilience, seeks to make households, communities, enterprises and governments resilient to various shocks, including natural calamities. A key feature of this pillar is the promotion of accessible and affordable insurance products.

It specifically addresses concerns on Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance. In the medium to long term, participating Apec economies must develop disaster-risk exposure models and disaster-risk insurance facilities for Apec economies covering central and local governments and individuals.

Apart from the ill effects of disasters on the financial resiliency of Apec economies, CAP also provides for measures that seek to develop and support capital markets. These measures include the promotion of cross-border investment in capital markets.

The third pillar includes the development of local currency bond markets in Apec economies that seek to promote risk-transfer and financial stability, as well as MSMEs and infrastructure financing.

Infrastructure development and financing—CAP’s fourth pillar—is geared toward improving mobility and connectivity in the region, by promoting more publicprivate partnerships (PPPs) for public infrastructure projects.

This pillar involves the creation of a knowledge portal that will serve as the online repository of infrastructure projects, including policy, legal and regulatory framework, tender process and sample contracts for PPP projects. The online portal will include best practices in PPPs; PPP pipelines across the region; directory of private firms, managers and consultants; and financial, legal and risk-mitigation instruments available for infrastructure investors.

‘Unique and ambitious’

In the course of its history, the Apec has had many road maps.

These include the recently adopted Beijing Roadmap for Apec’s Contribution to the Realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific; the Healthy Asia Pacific 2020 Road-

“Apec members include the most dynamic economies [in the world].

You look at the growth rates of membereconomies as a whole, they topple that of world growth so [Apec] is growing faster than the rest of the world.” map; and the Implementation Roadmap to Develop Successful Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects in the Apec Region, among others.

At the outset, it would seem that the CAP would be treated as just one of those road maps in the Apec collection of action plans.

However, Bollard said the CAP is “unique” in the sense that it was the first time a road map was created by Apec finance ministers.

“This is new in that I think this is the first time we’ve seen a road map like this from the finance ministers’ work. Actually, the finance ministers’ work tend to be different in the past,” Bollard said.

“The Philippines has changed things at this level by [having] this road map by the finance ministers to give us a work program for the next 10 years. We will ensure that it’s picked up and the different component parts will get moni-

tored and reported on,” he said.

Apart from being unique, some Apec observers believe that the plan is also ambitious, given its many deliverables. However, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said that while this was true, the CAP was meaningful since it seeks to address the pressing concerns of the region.

Gurria said the OECD will work closely with Apec economies to support the CAP’s implementation, particularly in the areas of taxation, SME financing, PPP and infrastructure investment.

For his part, Russian Federation Vice Minister of Finance Sergei Storchak said he believes that the CAP is a “comprehensive” work that seeks concrete results.

Storchak said this will play an import role in the Apec region’s development.

“Every pillar in the Cebu Action Plan is very important. But what is most important is that the

plan by itself is a comprehensive work aimed at very concrete outcomes and results. The fact that it is comprehensive, summarizing different aspects of previous jobs of different presidencies, plays a very big role,” he said.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said Peruvian Vice Minister of Finance and Economy Enzo Defilippi expressed his support for the CAP in their meeting. Purisima said Defilippi also shared his optimism that the initiatives stated under each pillar of the CAP will be carried over when Peru hosts the Apec meeting next year.

“We also talked about strengthening the linkages between Latin America and Asia, in areas like trade, tourism and transportation. The Philippines’s relationship with Latin America stretches back centuries. We are optimistic we can work to improve the Galleon Trade of the 21st century,” Purisima said.

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Thursday, September 17, 2015

editorial

Heed the call of your bosses

A

re you sick and tired of the unending traffic problems in Metro Manila? Go ahead and shout. It’s healthy to express your displeasure in a civilized way.

All of us are getting impatient, angry even, at the worsening traffic situation in the metropolis. That’s why most everyone supports an online petition spearheaded by change.org asking Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis N. Tolentino to step down—https://www.change.org/p/mmdachairman-francis-tolentino-resign-chairman-francis-tolentino.

Tolentino’s resignation is long overdue, said one petitioner: “A government official who can’t do his job must have the conscience to humbly admit that the job is too huge for him and that he wills himself to step down to allow a more competent leader to step in.”

A petitioner from Bulacan wrote: “I am signing because I’m just plain tired and helpless at the way this government works. Maybe there is still hope if somebody will take responsibility and do the needed action to solve our traffic woes. We need results, not talk and blame and more talk.”

Another signatory was more blatant and to the point: “The MMDA is useless. I’m always late for work because of heavy traffic.”

Still, another wanted more heads to roll: “Let’s not single out Tolentino. We must also demand the resignation of [Transportation] Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] Chairman Winston Ginez, and other officials of the transportation group. Severe traffic congestion may be an indication of having a good economy, but failure to address the traffic problem is also a potent indication of a crippled and severely useless government.”

The myriad reasons given by those who signed the petition boils down to this: The insensitivity and arrogance of the government has caused the ordinary Filipino worker unnecessary suffering.

Indeed, haggard commuters needlessly suffer every day because of the MMDA’s incompetence.

Our traffic problems have worsened because Tolentino’s attention is elsewhere, especially lately.

Poor commuters have no choice but to bear the consequences of inefficient leadership. Consider: an office worker has to spend at least four hours in traffic every day if she lives in Quezon City and works in Makati City. Only in Metro Manila can you see a motorist needing two ridiculous hours to navigate a relatively short distance of 15 kilometers. Thanks to MMDA’s brand of public service efficiency, cars along Edsa cannot move faster than the giant tortoises on Galápagos Islands.

On the financial side, we are losing billions of pesos every day because of the traffic problem. Our government leaders know this, as they are aware that a study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2013 quantified daily losses due to traffic in the metropolis at P2.6 billion. That’s a lot of money going to waste every day!

If there is still a sense of decency left among our transportation officials, especially the MMDA execs, they should heed the call of their bosses. The MMDA needs a more competent leader. We want somebody with vision who can propose concrete solutions to our traffic problems. We don’t want to reach the point where traveling by foot along Edsa would be more efficient than taking the bus, taxi or train.

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How will the Philippines handle the coming storm?

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

A

ssume for a moment that the following analysis is correct and we are about to enter at the end of this month into a new phase of the Economic Confidence cycle.

The price of debt—bonds—will peak and interest rates will begin rising regardless of any action or inaction by the US Federal Reserve.

The “safe haven” of government debt will come to an end as the potential of sovereign debt default, such as Greece has committed, will rise significantly, with Brazil being on the brink. Investors will lose confidence that the government and the central banks have everything under control and will shift funds back to the private sector as they will no longer accept zero or negative interest rates from loaning money to governments.

The global economy will turn down as more economies fall into recession or near recession as seen in the performance of China, Canada, Brazil, and others. Global trade data shows deep trouble as evidenced by the latest export figures out of India. India’s exports fell for the ninth month in a row in August by a somewhat unbelievable dip of 20.66 percent from 2014.

In tandem with the fall in the

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have probably bottomed out in comparison to most of the other nations’.

Overseas Filipino remittances come mainly from workers in the Middle East. The latest number shows a decline in growth but this is due to the appreciation of the dollar against host-country currencies.

All this speculation about how the Philippines will handle this cycle change is just that—speculation. However, we can monitor it on a real-time basis by looking at the exchange rate of the Philippine peso. A nation’s currency-exchange rate is like your blood pressure. A reading that is too high or too low can reveal a wide variety of health problems that might not show other symptoms. If we start seeing the peso falling more rapidly or the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) spending foreign currency reserves to keep the peso up, then we know we have a problem.

Currently, the peso is gently reacting to a stronger dollar and the BSP is not in the market in any significant way.

As the global rains come, the Philippines is more like the group of twentysomethings holding a few extra bucks and comfortably sitting in a warm bar to ride out the storm.

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.

Bernie Sanders sounds like a Republican Ramesh Ponnuru

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global economy is a large depreciation against the US dollar for many important currencies. The Malaysian ringgit is at a 17-year low. Turkey’s lira is one of the world’s worst-performing currencies since China’s devaluation. Russia, Thailand, and even Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are all feeling the effects of dollar appreciation. The euro and the Japanese yen are holding relatively firm against the dollar as the central banks of these countries want stability at least for now.

However, the US is the only major economy that has the capacity to weather a global economic storm due to its size and, more important, because the US dollar is unquestionably the global reserve or benchmark currency.

If this cycle change, which will create this global economic reversal, does happen (and there is no question in my mind that it will), where does the Philippines fit in the big picture?

National economies are as interconnected as people are through the Internet. But it is not all equal or

the same. The most popular Google search to complete the phrase “How much does a [blank] cost” in Canada is the word “passport.” In Germany, the word is “BMW.” In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is “Ferrari.”

Japan wants to know about “watermelon” and the Philippines is concerned about “to retire.” All economies are different and will not be affected the same way by the same set of external circumstances.

Imagine this silly scenario: A strong rain hits Metro Manila. The “seniors” are in front of the television watching news reports and telenovela. The “middle aged” are fighting the traffic and the rain coming home from work. The “twentysomething” group has decided to wait out the weather and is sitting in a bar with beer and pulutan. Children are out playing in the rain.

A nation’s individual situation and condition will determine what happens during and after this cycle change as age and circumstances might determine how you behave during a rainstorm.

The Philippine economy does not make much income from its merchandise exports although these export companies are an important employer. India sends 25 percent of its exports equally to the US and the UAE. However, its major export is refined petroleum products, the price of which has collapsed.

The Philippines’s major moneymaking export is outsourcing services that go primarily to the US and Australia, two economies that

I

t’s not particularly noteworthy that a presidential candidate should go to Liberty University, a conservative evangelical college, and deliver a tough critique of President Barack Obama’s record. It is unusual when the critique is delivered by a Democratic candidate who’s challenging Hillary Clinton from the left. Yet that’s what Sen. Bernie Sanders did on Monday.

Sanders didn’t mention Obama by name. But he sketched a bleak picture of the country at the tail end of his two terms in the White House. “In my view there is no justice in our country when youth unemployment exists at tragically high levels,” he said. A fifth of children live in poverty, he noted, and the US jails more people than any other country on earth. We have “a rigged economy, designed by the wealthiest people in this country to benefit the wealthiest people in this country at the expense of everybody else,” he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who launched his own presidential campaign at Liberty, could have delivered parts of Sanders’s speech quite comfortably. “Today the

top 1 percent earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928,” Cruz said in January. Sanders said in his speech that 58 percent of the income gains from 2009 to 2014 went to the top 1 percent.

Cruz and other Republicans who cite such figures think about inequality very differently than Sanders does, of course.

Sanders talked about a small number of people who have “huge yachts, and jet planes and tens of billions” while others “are struggling to feed their families.” Most Republicans would say that an economy that fed all people well would still have yachts—gaudy ones, even—and there’s no problem with that. But they would wholeheartedly

agree with Sanders that happy days aren’t here again.

Even on health care, Sanders offered no credit to the Obama administration.

He claimed that thousands of Americans die each year for lack of care, either because they have no insurance or have excessively high deductibles. If Obamacare had done anything to improve this situation, Sanders didn’t think it worth mentioning.

Sanders’s ascent in the polls suggests that many Democrats like what they’re hearing from him. And what they’re hearing from him is that in year seven of the Obama presidency, the US is a nation of Oliver Twists.

Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden typically offer more praise for Obama and his policies, but they too complain about the economy in ways that typically come from members of the out party. “We’re going to go back to enforcing labor laws,” Clinton says. Back? Biden says he’s mad about how workers have been getting “clobbered.”

All these Democrats are demonstrating the difficulty of campaigning to extend a two-term streak in the White House at a time of economic discontent. Republicans at the end of Ronald Reagan’s second term and Democrats at the end of Bill Clinton’s could ask to be rewarded for helping to bring about a

satisfactory economy (although Al Gore muddled that message and lost the 2000 election partly as a result). The current mood of the country isn’t conducive to that kind of campaign, though, and the Democratic candidates know it. But campaigning as though they’re mad as hell about the economy raises an obvious question: If workers are still getting clobbered, what’s the point of a third Democratic term? Is the promise that workers will get clobbered a little less?

Republicans don’t yet have a policy agenda that answers voters’ economic discontentment. But the Democratic candidates are helpfully putting some of the premises in place for their eventual argument for the fall of 2016. The Republican nominee will be able to draw on a rich trove of quotes from Democrats about the inadequacy of what they’ll call “the Obama economy,” and then say that it’s time to go in a new direction.

President George H. W. Bush was mocked in 1988 when he appropriated the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” as part of his campaign to succeed Reagan.

Sanders finished his speech by saying that we had to “take on very powerful and wealthy people whose greed, in my view, is doing this country enormous harm.” That’s a very different note, and one that ought to sound rather jarring to the Obama White House.

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Opinion

Smuggling 101

The least of all as the first

BusinessMirror

Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Atty. Filamer D. Miguel

Tax law for business

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n the past few months, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been under fire and the consistent subject of netizens’ ire on social media due to the bureau’s tactical move on balikbayan boxes. While some corrective measures have been recently issued and hopefully implemented to the satisfaction of the concerned overseas Filipino workers and their families, one begins to wonder why the government agency concerned seems to be focusing only on the smaller fishes in the big pond.

Before I digress any further, it is worth noting that, the general duties, powers and jurisdiction of the BOC shall include, among others, the prevention and suppression of smuggling and other frauds upon the Customs.

Smuggling can be defined and classified based on the manner it is committed. Outright smuggling arises when goods and articles of commerce are brought into the countr y without the required importation documents, or are disposed of in the local market without having been cleared by the BOC or other authorized government agencies, to evade the payment of correct taxes, duties and other charges. Such goods and articles do not undergo the processing and clearing procedures at the BOC, and are not declared through submission of import documents, such as the import entry and internal revenue declaration. This crime is referred to as unlawful importation under Section 3601 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).

On the other hand, technical smuggling takes place when the goods and articles are brought into the country through fraudulent, falsified or erroneous declarations, to substantially reduce, if not totally avoid, the payment of correct taxes, duties and other charges. Unlike in outright smuggling, the goods and articles in technical smuggling pass through the BOC, but the processing and clearing procedures are attended by fraudulent acts in order to evade the payment of correct taxes, duties, and other charges.

This is often committed by means of misclassification of the nature, quality or value of goods and articles, undervaluation in terms of their price, quality or weight, and misdeclaration of their kind.

Un for t u n ate ly, suc h for m of smuggling is made possible through the involvement and or collusion among the importers, the brokers and even some Customs officials and personnel. Section 3602 of the TCCP pertains to this crime as various fraudulent practices against Customs revenue.

The Supreme Court (SC) en banc made a clear-cut discussion on smuggling in G.R. 193253 promulgated on September 8, 2015.

This case arose from the complaint affidavit filed by the Anti-Oil Smuggling Coordinating Committee that investigated the alleged illegal withdrawal by Unioil of oil products consigned to Oilink, valued at P181,988,627 with corresponding duties and taxes in the amount of P35,507,597, invoking violations of Sections 3601 and 3602, in relation to Sections 2503 and 2530, paragraphs f and l (3),

(4) and (5) of the of the TCCP. In determining whether the private respondents committed a violation of the TCCP, the SC followed the earlier pronouncement laid down in the 2006 case of Jardeleza v. People. It was clarified therein that the crime of unlawful importation under Section 3601 of the TCCP is complete, in the absence of a bona fide intent to make entry and pay duties when the prohibited article enters Philippine territory. Importation, which consists of bringing an article into the country from the outside, is complete when the taxable, dutiable commodity is brought within the limits of the port of entry. Entry through a Customs house is not the essence of the act.

On the other hand, in Section 3602 of the TCCP, which particularly deals with the making or attempting to make a fraudulent entry of imported or exported articles, the term “entry” in Customs law has a triple meaning, namely: (1) the documents filed at the Customs house; (2) the submission and acceptance of the documents; and (3) the procedure of passing goods through the Customs house. Thus, it is only for charges for unlawful importation under Section 3601 that the BOC must first prove that the subject articles were imported.

For violation of Section 3602, in contrast, what must be proved is the act of making or attempting to make such entry of articles.

In the instant case, the SC declared that the charges against private respondents are without merit as the allegations of the BOC fell short of the acts or omissions constituting the crime contemplated under either Section 3601 or 3602 of the TCCP. In fact, it was clearly established that Oilink was the one that filed the import entries and that Unioil locally purchased from Oilink such products as indicated in the sales invoices, hence for Unioil there can be no importation to speak of.

For guidance, the BOC and all concerned must be apprised of this latest jurisprudence.

The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices, a member-firm of World Tax Services Alliance.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed, as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at filamer. miguel@bdblaw.com.ph, or call 403-2001, local 360.

Alálaong Bagá

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he Lord is my helper, He hears my prayer. In praise of His name, I shall offer Him sacrifice (Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6-8). To follow Jesus means to follow someone set to be killed though to rise again, and who challenges his followers to be first by being the last and the servant of all (Mark 9:30-37).

The Lord sustains me

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result will be unsatisfying unless both Greek and European leaders can get with a simple, straightforward program: No more muddling though. Either Greeks accept the painful reforms necessary to keep the country in the euro—or they reject them, return to their currency and take full control of their economy.

That’s not the choice Greeks will

Handed over to his enemies

IF last week in the first prediction

by Jesus of His passion and death and resurrection we saw the incomprehension by His followers and the rebuke given Him by Peter, to this second prediction of the passion in the account by Saint Mark still the reaction was lack of understanding.

In a way it should not be surprising that the disciples could not put

Floods of discontent

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Many studies have already revealed the primary causes of massive urban flooding in Metro Manila. Location wise, it lies in the catch basin between Laguna Lake in the southeast and Manila Bay in the north, with two major water systems—Pasig and Marikina—plus the tributaries flowing amid it.

In the early 1990s up to 2000, land development plans envisioned big open spaces dedicated for watersheds and parks, particularly in those areas that were designated as floodprone. These were meant to offset the possibility of rain water coming from the uplands which have undergone considerable deforestation. Unfortunately, the sheer number of residential and commercial developments, like subdivisions, malls, shops and other establishments, have swallowed all these green spaces.

face this weekend. Tsipras and the leader of the establishment New Democracy Party, Evangelos Meimarakis, both offer qualified support for the bailout, and seem eager to change the subject. In a televised debate on Monday night, the two men quarreled over which had the more feckless record.

In a less polarized political environment—and a more healthy

But the disciples, as they were walking with Jesus, were able to discuss among themselves, with some heat at that, who was the greatest among them. Jesus must have noticed their heated argument on the road, and so once in the house in Capernaum among themselves He asked them about it as a matter of fact without any reprimand? And the disciples were again silent. This time with embarrassment. As Jesus talked to them in all openness about His passion and death, now He wanted them to speak openly, too, about what they have been considering regarding their life in terms of status, rank, honor and power.

Alálaong bagá, to be a follower of Jesus, the Christian must be ready to be the last of all and the servant of all. That is what Jesus was doing in His passion, on the cross, with full confidence on the goodness and protection of God. And He illustrated this subordinate status by identifying with a child: to receive whom is to receive Jesus. To receive and identify with Jesus in a child is to be a faithful child of God. Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

Solutions

ON May 27, 2010, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management law was signed. This paved the way for the creation of a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework and a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan. While it appears that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has basic responsibility for management of flood risks, it is clear that it cannot do this alone without proper coordination with and support from other agencies and units within the

democracy—one option might be to form a coalition between the two main parties, so they could take joint responsibility for making the bailout work. Meimarakis has made just such a proposal, but Tsipras has ruled out the idea. Regrettably, he’s probably right: Such a deal could empower fringe parties, such as the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, by making them sole champions for

opposition to the bailout.

The calculation being made in Berlin and Paris is that if Tsipras’s Syriza party were to lose Sunday’s vote, it would return to the opposition and abandon its (already lukewarm) support of the bailout. Far better, the thinking goes, to leave Tsipras in charge—of the country and the bailout. Even in opposition, Meimarakis’s party is likely

to still support the bailout. It’s a convoluted rationale that suggests how the debt crisis has distorted Greek democracy.

It may well be that a Tsipras victory is the most desirable outcome for Europe, offering the best hope for a period of stability. If so, it is a faint hope. The result that Greece and Europe need most is clarity about their future. Bloomberg View

N Metro Manila, when it rains, it does not only pour. On the contrary, the result is massive flooding…big time.

The fast and widespread urbanization of Metro Manila and its environs, coupled with the sad reality of its natural topography, pose a challenge to how this country can manage the crippling effects of floods to its development goals.

Cause of perennial floods

The servant of all

As in the first prediction of the death and resurrection of Jesus the evangelist linked it with the need of the followers of Jesus to come after Him in self-denial and carrying one’s cross, so now the passion of Jesus challenges them personally and concretely in the way of servanthood and with preferential option for the little ones. Servants and children had no social status; they might as well hang naked on a cross. But though they might not count in the eyes of the world then, for Jesus they signify something vital in relationship with God. Their “nothingness” makes them available and ready to be filled with God’s grace, to be open and obedient to the divine will. And Jesus offered Himself as the example one who empties himself becoming the slave for the sake of others.

government like the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government plus local government unit chiefs.

But, oftentimes, jurisdictional squabbles, plus funding issues between these diverse groups, do not solve our problems and they hardly offer quick solutions for the public when the onslaught of floods occur.

Perhaps, a flood tsar of sorts must be appointed to act as the captain ball like the role being successfully played by Secretary Rene Almendras in decongesting our ports and now, the traffic mess.

That urban flooding is a serious and growing development challenge for countries in East Asia, including the Philippines, was emphasized in a World Bank guidebook entitled Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century. According to the guidebook, the most effective way to manage

DECISION TIME

Maring, Ondoy, Sendong, Pepeng and all the rains these typhoons brought, paralyzed the entire metropolis with work and school unceremoniously halted, government services impeded, public and private transport at a literal standstill due to traffic, productivity decreased, not to mention the huge damage to property and senseless loss of lives.

together the mysterious romantic figure Jesus identified with, the Son of Man expected to come on the clouds at the end of age, and the terrifying projection of Jesus as handed over and killed by His enemies though to rise again on the third day.

If the first time there was rebuke to Jesus by Peter, this time there was only silence and the disciples’ obvious fear to question Jesus. His strong reaction calling Peter “Satan” and His unyielding demand for anyone who wishes to follow Him to deny oneself and to carry one’s cross must have baffled and nonplussed them. Or were they afraid to hear more about its terrifying details and what it all means for them as well? Were they so fearful to go deeper into the issue of the cross and dying to self?

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flood risk is to take an integrated approach which combines both structural and nonstructural measures. These include: a) creating flood-warning systems, b) good land-use planning; c) building floodways and drainage systems; d) urban greening.

In 2012 the government approved a 25-year Metro Manila Flood Management Master Plan which was funded by a $1.5-million grant from the World Bank-administered Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) Trust Fund. The grant was provided by the GFDRR using funds by the Government of Australia through the Australian Agency for International Development. GFDRR is a partnership of 32 countries and six international organizations committed to help developing countries reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and adapt to climate change.

This is in addition to the earlier initiative by the World Bank when it announced way back in 2011 the immediate release of $500 million to assist the Philippine government’s recovery and reconstruction efforts in the wake of Sendong, which devastated huge parts of the country in December 2011.

With all the help coming from foreign countries, international organizations and benevolent, well-meaning corporations and individuals, both here and abroad, the hardships and challenges that come with floods and natural calamities can be met and managed by the country if all these forms of support be harnessed in an efficient, effective and appropriate way by both the national government, by showing political will, and by the citizenry, by cooperating and taking to heart the lessons learned from these natural calamities.

From floods of discontent to floods of abundance. There we should move.

Ariel Nepomuceno

Europe’s best hope for Greece? t wasn’t so long ago that Alexis Tsipras was describing the International Monetary Fund as “criminal” and demanding that Germany pay war reparations to Greece. That he is now Europe’s favored candidate for prime minister of Greece is a paradox that should reassure no one.

Whoever wins Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Greece, the

Anyway, the psalmist in his confidence in God’s help and goodness promises to freely offer a sacrifice in honor of God’s name. By this thankoffering a neat balance is expressed between the opening petition of “by your name save me” and the concluding commitment “I will praise your name.” The divine name signifies not only power but justice and truthfulness and goodness. This psalm is associated with Jesus facing death from the hands of His enemies but trusting in God to vindicate Him.

This psalm is an individual prayer of supplication, directly pleading in the first person for God’s assistance in the psalmist’s bleak situation. In the opening petition, there is the poetic double parallelism between God’s “name” and “might,” as well as between “saving” and “defending.” The God who reveals His name to His people is the God Almighty, who saves and vindicates those who trust in Him. The psalmist who calls on God to act as judge is confident that God hears those who pray to Him and will give ear to the words of his pleading, because he knows himself to be righteous and expects from God protection.

The reason for the psalmist’s entreaty is his insolent and ruthless enemies bent on seeking his life.

In their arrogance they have no regard for God, completely taking no account of the fact that God is there protecting him and sustaining him.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Gone are the rice fields, grasslands and meadows and what we have are sprawling urban centers —jungles of concrete in the literal sense. On the other hand, our drainage systems, esteros and waterways are decreasing so fast due to proliferation of informal settlers who are not known for sound solid-waste management practices. Garbage disposal is also a constant problem.

More important, Metro Manila is also home to some 13 million people and the numbers are still growing. Sadly, we are now harvesting the fruits of a sordid lack of good urban planning.

And the politics is not helping.

With all the help coming from foreign countries, international organizations and benevolent, well-meaning corporations and individuals, both here and abroad, the hardships and challenges that come with floods and natural calamities can be met and managed by the country if all these forms of support be harnessed in an efficient, effective and appropriate way by both the national government, by showing political will, and by the citizenry, by cooperating and taking to heart the lessons learned from these natural calamities.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Thursday, September 17, 2015

China may be harboring plans to ‘sabotage’ 2016 polls–Comelec

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

a US company,” he said.

fter receiving an intelligence report that there might be an attempt by China to “sabotage” the country’s 2016 elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has decided to transfer the manufacturing of the new Optical Mark Reader (OMR) units from Suzhou, China, to Taiwan.

Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, during the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms hearing on government preparation for the 2016 elections, said an intelligence report indicated that China may sabotage next year’s national and local elections.

Lim said a Comelec commissioner with militar y contacts relayed this information to the Comelec en banc.

‘Sheer fabrication’

The Chinese Embassy in Manila denied the possibility that China is planning to sabotage the elections, saying the accusation is “totally groundless and a sheer fabrication.”

“China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference into other countries’ internal affairs,” Chinese Embassy Spokesman Li Lingxhao said. The deal on votecounting machines is between the Comelec and Smartmatic, which is

Negotiations

“WE want to emphasize that the move to Taiwan was a product of the contract negotiations because we have received intelligence reports [in July] that there may be an attempt to sabotage the elections

by China,” Lim said.

In August the Comelec announced that the voting machines will be made in Suzhou, China.

“We made a condition in the contract negotiations that they [Smartmatic-TIM] will do it [voting machines] outside China. We don’t want the complications. Also other reason we want all deliveries of machines by January, because we are anticipating the release of the arbitration decision [that might affect the elections]…so we don’t want that, we want to avoid the complications,” Lim said.

The Philippines expects the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal at The Hague, the Netherlands, to rule on territorial dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) early next year.

“Once China decides to make a trade embargo there will be no trade, so any product made in China will not be coming in the Philippines. There’s a lot of possibilities,” the commissioner said.

Current conditions

Comelec Cha ir man A nd res Bautista, for his part, said the poll body decided to transfer the manufacture of the machines to Taiwan “because of current conditions [between the Philippine and China].”

The poll body has decided to acquire 77,000 new OMR units and lease new 23,000 more from Smartmatic for the 2016 elections. Project Manager Marlon Garcia of Smartmatic said it was 5 percent more expensive for Smartmatic to transfer the manufacturing of voting machines to Taiwan.

“It was going to be more expensive for us, and we absorbed the cost for that in order to increase the comfort of the commission on the manufacturing of the machines,” Garcia said.

He, however, said the Smartmatic “cannot blame the commission,” for its decision. With Recto Mercene

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

‘financeasia’ names phl top, most professional sovereign borrower

The Philippines has been named Top Borrower and Most Professional Sovereign Borrower in Asia by FinanceAsia.

The results of its 2015 Fixed Income research poll, announced on September 11, will be featured in print in its upcoming FinanceAsia bondmarket supplement.

“This is very encouraging news; it shows the market has its confidence firmly placed in us and our performance as a sovereign borrower.

Especially in these turbulent times, reputation is everything,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said.

The Philippines has just recently concluded its Domestic Liability Management Transaction, with total tenders amounting to P388 billion—a show of force especially since it was executed in uncertain and troubled times.

The award follows last year’s Region’s Best Borrower Award for the Republic of the Philippines, due to its innovative execution of an accelerated one-day switch tender offer in January 2014, its first transaction as an investmentgrade sovereign. PNA

kenney awards taguig city english-language scholars

Deput y Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Kristie A. Kenney will award certificates to 66 English Access Microscholarship Program scholars from Signal Village National High School (SVNHS) in Taguig City on Thursday.

Joining the former US ambassador to the Philippines are officials from the US Embassy Manila and the Department of Education, SVNHS administrators and teachers, the scholars and their parents.

The English Access Microscholarship Program is a two-year US State Department program that provides a foundation of English-language skills to economically disadvantaged 13 to 20 year olds through afterschool classes and intensive learning activities.

There are currently 370 Access scholars from Muntinlupa National High School, Navotas National High School, Taguig National High School, Marinduque National High School and the following schools in Mindanao: Araibo National High School, Ginatilan National High School, Kablon National High School, Talandang National High School Impasug-ong National High School and Tagbina National High School. Recto Mercene

2 Metro Manila flood-control projects done in 2016–DPWH PHL to pilot test Apec policy toolkit for women

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he Depa r t ment of P ub l ic Work s a nd Highways (DPWH) on Wednesday said that two major flood-control projects in Metro Manila are expected to be finished next year.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson, during the budget deliberation of the agency’s proposed P378.2 billion for 2016, said these two major flood-control projects are the P609- million Mandaluyong Main Drainage Project and the P600-million Blumentritt Interceptor Catchment Area.

“We are 80-percent complete for Blumentritt flood [-control] project and we expect this project to be completed in March 2016 while the Mandaluyong project, which is 64-percent complete, will be finished in June 2016,” Singson said.

According to Singson, the P5billion high-impact flood-control project for Metro Manila will be

SINGSON: “We are 80-percent complete for Blumentritt flood [-control] project and we expect this project to be completed in March 2016 while the Mandaluyong project, which is 64-percent complete, will be finished in June 2016.”

finished in November 2015.

Singson said these flood-control projects are part of the P351.7-billion Master Plan for Flood Management in Metro Manila and surrounding areas which will be completed in 2035.

Meanwhile, other projects under the Master Plan for Flood Management include Pasig-Marikina River Improvement and Dam Construction (P198.4 billion); Meycauayan River Improvement (P14 billion);

Malabon-Tullahan River Improvement (P21 billion); South Parañaque-Las Piñas River Improvement (P17.3 billion); East Mangahan Floodway (Cainta and Taytay River Improvement) (P25 billion); West Laguna Lakeshore Land Raising (P25.1 billion); Land Raising for Small Cities around Laguna shore (P7.1 billion); Improvement of the inflow rivers to Laguna Lake (P637 million); Manila Core Area Drainage Improvement (P27.2 billion); West Mangahan Area Drainage Improvement (P5.5 billion); and Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan Improvement (P8.6 billion).

The DPWH is seeking a budget of P378.35 billion higher than this year’s budget of P290 billion.

Singson said that of the DPWH budget, P202 billion is allotted to national roads and bridges program, while P59.8 billion is for flood-control nationwide. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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he Philippines will pilot test an AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) initiative to promote women protection at the workplace.

The Apec Women and the Economy (WE) Fora has launched on Wednesday the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Toolkit, which provides a menu of policies that targets to address barriers that hinder women’s productivity at workplace, as well as increasing women’s participation in the economy.

“The pilot of implementation of this toolkit will be done here in the Philippines,” Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial said at the Apec WE Fora news conference.

Ubial mentioned that the

DOH targets to roll out the policy toolkit in 10 selected private companies inside the Clark Economic Zone in Central Luzon starting January 2016.

The policy toolkit focuses on five key categories: workplace health and safety; health access and awareness; work-life balance; sexual and reproductive health; and gender-based violence.

The DOH, along with the Department of Labor and Employement and the Department of Trade and Industry, will be developing the scorecard next month to rate companies’ implementation of the toolkit.

Under the scorecard, the public sector will rate the companies according to colors: green for 90 points and up; yellow for 71 to 89 points; and

red for 70 points and below.

Ubial said the government will be providing grant of P500,000 per company, or a total of P5.0 million for the entire pilot testing which shall be used by companies to document and create an impact study of the policy toolkit on how it benefited the company.

“Those rated green will be provided grants so that they can actually document the interventions and the effect on their businesses, whether there has been significant gains in their financial and commercial interest,” Ubial mentioned.

“Hopefully the other economies of Asia and the Pacific can adapt it in their specific areas,” she added.

The Philippines will conclude its hosting of Apec-WE Fora on Friday. PNA