BusinessMirror April 24, 2015

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

KNOWN GRAFT BUSTER SEVILLA RESIGNS DUE TO ‘POLITICAL PATRONAGE’ PRESSURE

Lina back at BOC as Sevilla quits B

INSIDE

CAR OF THE MONTH

CHEVROLET MALIBU LTZ

MOTORING

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TATIANA MASLANY

THE HARDEST WORKING WOMAN IN SHOW BUSINESS Ever, ever, ever

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EAR God, no one will ever, ever, ever love us more than Your Son, Jesus. We know that we have the ability to be caring and compassionate. We know, too, that we have the capacity to love others more than ourselves.

With what we can, please give us the capability to understand and the wisdom to make a difference in other people’s lives. In Jesus’s name, amen.

JENNIE REYES AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life

EASY DINNER RECIPES: THREE GREAT IDEAS FOR CHEESE LOVERS »D3

BusinessMirror

Friday, April 24, 2015

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B N J Star Tribune

ERYL STREEP needs to step up her game.

Those three Oscars and two Emmys are little more than impressive paperweights. She can slip into numerous accents, but so could Rich Little.

If the so-called Hollywood queen really wants to earn her tiara, she’ll have to take an acting class from Tatiana Maslany, the hardest working woman in show business.

In Orphan Black Black, whose third season debuted on BBC America recently, Maslany plays more than a dozen roles, each with a fully developed, distinct personality.

Think Orange Is the New Black with a cast of one.

The plot line: A protective mother, Sarah, discovers that she’s part of a secret clone experiment and that there are “sisters” scattered across North America and Europe. The group, which is being hunted down by mysterious sources, includes trained assassin Helena, tightly wound soccer mom Alison, transgender Tony and conniving Rachel.

In the season finale of Season 2, the series performed its most elaborate trick: a clone dance party in which four Maslanys joyfully bumped and grinded against one another.

“There was this idea on a card posted up in the writers’ room that said, ‘clone dance party,’ and I was like, ‘Dude, that’s ridiculous,’” Executive Producer John Fawcett said. “‘How does that fit? That has nothing to do with anything’?”

But in the producers’ never-ending quest to torture, er, challenge, its star, they squeezed in the sequence, which ended up being one of the series’ most memorable—and rare joyous—moments.

No one enjoyed the living-room rave more than Taslany, who gave each of her characters distinctive moves.

“Even though I’m sort of within a rigid structure of technical marks and eye lines, it’s still just play,” Maslany said. “I still try to do my work as if there is an actor opposite me.” What makes the performances even more remarkable is that Maslany never takes the easy way out, which would be to paint in broad strokes.

Sure, she’s aided by a costume department that houses more wigs than Cher’s closet, but it’s Maslany’s subtle touches in gesture, stride, speech patterns and posture that really sell the stunt.

“I don’t think I had a single blooper during the first season because I felt very stressed and very intense and I couldn’t let my guard down at a moment to sort of have a laugh or whatever,” she said. “Now it’s a little looser.”

Still, there are times in this juggling act in which Taslany misses a ball.

“I had been playing Tony for a couple of days and we were really excited to be exploring some new dynamics,” she said.

“It felt very rich and all-encompassing. Then I had to switch to Sarah halfway through a day and I didn’t know who she was anymore. I felt like a deer in the headlights with all my impulses still resonating with Tony.”

It most likely helped that this year the actress has lots of company—from a single actor.

Near the end of last season, we learned that menacing Mark Rollins is part of a militant male clone project, which means actor Ari Millen would be following in Taslany’s footsteps. The original plan was to kill off Rollins before the end of Season 2, but producers had always wanted to introduce male clones, and Millen fit the bill.

“It was a little bit of an organic process deciding who was going to be the face of this other project and partway through Season 2, we realized we had our answer,” Fawcett said, who serves as the drama’s go-to director.

Fortunately, Millen had a great mentor.

“I think the greatest tip that Tat gave me was just basically to watch,” Millen said, who first met his costar when they competed against each other in an improv competition for Canadian high-school students.

“When I found out about the new direction, it was around the time of the shooting of the clone dance party, which was no small feat. I just saw her ease and her taking time to breathe and just going at it one at a time.” Exactly how this potential attack of the clones will affect the series is top secret.

The only hint producers will offer is that viewers, 1.6 million of whom watched the second-season premiere, should expect the unexpected.

“The cool thing about the show is that it’s kind of a mash-up,” Fawcett said.

“It seems we can go in a horror direction, we can go in a comedic direction, we can go in a very dramatic direction.

Because we’re putting all these different genres together, we can make something really unique and, more often than not, make decisions that people aren’t expecting.”

The only aspect of the series that we do know is that Maslany deserves more love, even one of those coveted awards. She has inexplicably been snubbed twice by Emmy voters. Perhaps, an A-lister with a crowded mantel can spare one.

Hey, Meryl. Did I ever tell you how great you are? ■

TATIANA MASLANY

THE

HARDESTWORKING WOMAN IN SHOW BUSINESS

LIFE

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MAYWEATHER: ‘I’M BETTER THAN ALI!’

B M. S F. A

Special to the BM FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. believes he has done as much in boxing as the legendary former heavyweight champion ever did. AP

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‘I’M BETTER THAN ALI!’ Floyd buys 100 cars from only one dealer

Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Muhammad Ali calls himself The Greatest and I call myself TBE (The Best Ever). I’m pretty sure I’ll get criticized for what I said, but I could care less. I could care less about the backlash.

B C W USA Today

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OXING champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. lives up to one of his nicknames, “Money,” when it comes to his car collection. Just ask the auto dealership that sold him over 100 cars over 18 years, including 16 Rolls-Royces.

“He’ll buy a car before a fight. He’ll buy cars after the fight. He’ll buy cars on holidays,” says Josh “Chop” Towbin of Towbin Motorcars in Las Vegas.

Mayweather has the money to throw around. He is one of the world’s most highly paid athletes. His payday for his May fight with Manny Pacquiao is expected to earn him $100 million alone.

Towbin Motorcars isn’t about pass up a sale when it comes to Mayweather, its executives tell USA Today Sports. Sometimes he calls and wants to go car shopping at 2 a.m.

The dealership is happy to oblige.

“We never know when Floyd will get the bug to go car shopping,” Jesika TowbinMansour says. But it’s worth the effort. A RollsRoyce can run north of $400,000. A Bugatti passes $2 million like a speed bump—and Mayweather owns three of them.

The champ pays in cash—sometimes duffel bags full of it. There’s so much cash that the auto dealership had to buy a new cash-counting machine just to accommodate Mayweather.

Plus, he’s picky about what he buys.

“These cars are an extension of his persona. They are the best of the best, as he is,” Towbin-Mansour says.

PEOPLE ride an escalator with a sign advertising the Manny PacquiaoFloyd Mayweather Jr. fight towering over them at the MGM Grand on Wednesday in Las Vegas. AP

5OO TICKETS WILL GO TO PUBLIC B L P

Los Angeles Times

ROMOTERS Leonard Ellerbe and Bob Arum said on Wednesday that a verbal agreement has been reached to resolve a disagreement over ticket allocation for the May 2 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, told The Times on Wednesday afternoon that he’s waiting to sign a contract finalizing the deal, and once that’s complete, 500 tickets will be put on public sale.

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The capacity of MGM Grand is 16,800 seats, with the face value of tickets ranging from $1,500 to $10,000.

The remainder of the tickets will be split up as agreed upon in the original negotiations that led to a signed fight contract by Mayweather and Pacquiao in February.

Under that deal, according to officials not authorized to discuss the arrangement publicly, MGM Grand was to receive 40 percent of the tickets, with Mayweather Promotions and Arum’s Top Rank Inc. equally splitting the remainder.

Many of those tickets will be placed on the secondary market, sold at prices that could reach $100,000, although the time

crunch caused by the ticket delay could lessen the value.

A new site agreement contract was crafted to stage the bout at MGM Grand, and in the original language that was forwarded to Top Rank, the promoter and Pacquiao would receive 2,000 fewer tickets than they originally agreed upon, according to an official not authorized to talk about details of the dispute.

On Tuesday, without providing details of the disagreement, Arum said he was unwilling to sign a site agreement deal unless it exactly reflected the ticket allocation agreement that was previously made.

“We will have a fight, even if it’s only

attended by reporters sitting in their seats,” Arum said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday Arum said, “Everything is resolved...we orally agreed and are waiting on the actual contract.”

Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions said on Wednesday afternoon he was at MGM Grand finalizing the deal.

“The fans are the ones who suffer, and it reflects badly upon boxing in general,” said Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s business manager. “How’s the public going to look upon boxing if we can’t even put tickets on sale?

“We say we want to give the fans what they want and can’t even give them their tickets until now?”

B L S. M

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of the traditional and indigenous local ingredients that make our cuisine distinctly Filipino and mainly produced from smallholder farming,” she added.

The DA will be sponsoring regional lunches that will feature the finest dishes from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. She said the government agency will be providing all the local ingredients for the local chefs, many of whom are considered the leading lights in the local culinary scene.

ELECOMMU NIC AT IONS giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has infused $15 million in an entertainment company that aims to launch an Internet-television service in Southeast Asia throughout 2015, surprising the local market with the announcement that dwarfs its competition’s recently launched partnership with a Singaporean videostreaming firm.

The amount represents half of the total investment needed by iflix, a partnership between Malaysian entrepreneurs and Hollywood heavyweights seeking to be Southeast Asia’s leading InternetTV service.

Aiming to stimulate Internet usage in the Philippines and across the Asean, the Malaysian entertainment company will offer subscribers with unlimited access to thousands of hours of entertainment at a very affordable price.

The financing package, which amounts to $30 million from Catcha Group and PLDT, will be used to continue the rollout of the iflix service across the Southeast Asian region, to acquire rights to new content, to produce original programming and to market to potential customers.

“We are excited to join forces with such an outstanding regional partner, who shares our vision. The new funds will allow us to execute our plan to deliver thousands of hours of entertainment for a low monthly price to the 600 million consumers in the region,” iflix Chairman Patrick Grove said on Thursday.

S “M F,” A

C  A

PHILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office Acting Chairman and General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II delivers his speech during the Eternal Gardens Grand Annual Awards at the Citystate Tower Hotel in Mabini, Manila. Rojas is the event’s guest of honor and keynote speaker. ROY DOMINGO

ETERNAL GARDENS BARES EXPANSION PLANS B D C

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EMORIAL industry leader Eternal Gardens bared plans for further expansion this year during the ceremony honoring the members of its sales force for their record-breaking performance in 2014 on Wednesday.

In the Grand Annual Awards Night held at the Citystate Tower Hotel, corporate officers thanked the sales force of Eternal Gardens for making the company the leader of the industry, which has the responsibility to ease the burdens of Filipinos losing their loved ones.

Eternal Gardens Vice Presi-

dent for Sales and Marketing Jose Antonio V. Rivera said 2014 was a record-breaking year for the company, such that, long before the end of the calendar year, the sales of the company already grew by 20 percent over the figures posted in 2013.

S “E G,” A

MADRID FUSIÓN TO INTRODUCE PHL FOOD TO GLOBAL MARKET

BusinessMirror

| FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

He replaced John Philip P. Sevilla, who said he has tendered his resignation on Thursday due to pressure to promote people without considering their merit for the jobs.

Lina heads the family-owned Lina Group of Companies, which includes the giant logistics firm Air21.

Malacañang confirmed on Thursday President Aquino’s acceptance of the abrupt resignation of Sevilla, even as the Palace vows to fully “reform” the graft-tainted bureau before the Aquino administration ends in June 2016.

In an advisory, the BOC said a turnover ceremony is scheduled at 2:30 p.m. today (Friday).

“I’m feeling the political patronage” pressure, Sevilla said at a briefing

PLDT joins forces with Malaysian firm iflix

C  A

Sports

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USINESSMAN Alberto D. Lina, one of the socalled Hyatt 10 that left their government posts in 2005 to protest the alleged wrongdoings in the Arroyo administration, is back at the helm of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), after a decade of shunning offers to return to public office.

B T D

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The Associated Press

AS VEGAS—Floyd Mayweather Jr. refused on Wednesday to back off earlier comments declaring himself a better fighter than Muhammad Ali. Mayweather said he respects Ali’s great career and the things he did outside the ring. But he said he believes he has done as much in boxing as the legendary former heavyweight champion ever did, without the losses that Ali suffered in his career.

“He called himself The Greatest and I call myself TBE [The Best Ever],” Mayweather said.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll get criticized for what I said, but I could care less. I could care less about the backlash.”

Mayweather had earlier said that he was better than both Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, pointing to his 47-0 record as proof. He also said he would never have lost to a fighter like Leon Spinks, who beat an aging Ali in 1978 after having just seven pro fights.

“I just look at Ali’s career when he fought Leon Spinks and lost to a fighter with seven fights,” Mayweather said. “There were some other fights he lost and he’s still known as The Greatest because that’s what he put out there. It is what it is.”

A little more than a week before his megafight with Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather seemed relaxed on a conference call where he talked about his career and the man he will face in the ring on May 2. He refused to say anything bad about Pacquiao, and said he was treating the richest fight ever as just another fight.

“I know it’s the biggest fight in boxing history but I can’t approach it like that,” Mayweather said. “I’m never going to put any unnecessary pressure on myself. I like to approach the fight like he’s a fighter who’s extremely talented. But my thing is to just be Floyd Mayweather.”

That has worked for Mayweather his entire career, though most boxing historians would disagree with his own view of his place in boxing’s historical hierarchy. That includes the current heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, who told a group of reporters in New York on Tuesday that maybe Mayweather shouldn’t be so boastful.

“I think probably, I heard this comment from Mayweather that he’s better than Ali or greater than Ali,” Klitschko said. “I think people call the king the king, not the king [who says] ‘I’m the king.’ So people make others somebody that he is or that he’s not. So that’s people’s opinions.”

While Mayweather’s place in history may be in debate, there’s no debate that he will make the biggest purse ever against Pacquiao.

Depending on pay-per-view sales—which

reportedly have been strong for a fight still 10 days away—he could earn as much as $180 million for the welterweight title bout.

That prompted a question on Wednesday about whether the freespending Mayweather—who owns a fleet of expensive cars, a private jet and several mansions—worries about losing all his money after he retires.

“I’m blessed, I made some good investments,” Mayweather said. “If I wanted to retire today I could.”

Mayweather credited what he called a brilliant game plan for reaching his goal of becoming the first fighters to ever make a nine figure paycheck in one night. But he said he has changed in recent years, toning down his act and putting aside the Pretty Boy and Money May personas he used to help him sell previous pay-per-view fights.

This fight needs no selling, and Mayweather has been subdued at every public appearance.

“It took a game plan for me going out there to win and me speaking out with a very loud voice and having a lot of personality,” he said. “But as you get older you mature.

You’ve done trash talking for 17 or 18 years, look at me, what I’ve done. I don’t have to do all of that. I did all that loud talking and everything to get to this point.”

That includes speaking badly about Freddie Roach, who has tried to cast Mayweather as the bad guy in this fight promotion.

“He’s making it basically a god against devil kind of thing, but he doesn’t have to get in there and fight,” Mayweather said. “He’s entitled to say what he wants to say, but the fighters aren’t speaking like that and it comes down to the two fighters.”

As the days count down to the Pacquiao fight, Mayweather won’t lack for controversy either generated by himself or

by Pacquiao trainer Roach, who has been outspoken in the extreme about his plans for beating Mayweather.

Trying to take the high road, Mayweather said he would try not to respond to Roach because it would be viewed as “picking on a guy who isn’t 100-percent healthy.”

Roach suffers from a form of Parkinson’s disease. “He’s trying to make it a god/devil type of thing,” Mayweather said of Roach, “and the best way to handle a situation like that is not to say anything at all if you don’t have anything positive to say. It comes down to nothing but the two fighters.”

The perception is that Mayweather put off fighting Pacquiao as long as possible, but while many regard this bout as the biggest challenge to his undefeated status, Mayweather suggested he’s trying to treat it like another fight despite the trappings.

SPORTS

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HE best in Philippine agriculture, as well as premium food and beverage products, will be showcased in the first international gastronomy convention in the country, the Madrid Fusión Manila (MFM), which opens today (Friday).

In an interview with the B USINESS M IRROR, Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Special Con-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 44.2130

ROMULO PUYAT said they will introduce the country’s best heritage food and agricultural products to the mainstream market.

cerns Berna Romulo Puyat said they will introduce the country’s best heritage food and agricultural products

to the mainstream market. Many of these products include those grown by small farmers and, in showcasing these to an international audience, could result in possible exports, she said.

“We also want to reintroduce ‘slow food’ as an alternative to fast-food dining. The increasing popularity of convenience food has made our traditional cuisine that is deeply rooted in our culture and traditions slowly disappear.

As a consequence, we use less and less

■ JAPAN 0.3688 ■ UK 66.5052 ■ HK 5.7052 ■ CHINA 7.1369 ■ SINGAPORE 32.8184 ■ AUSTRALIA 34.3669 ■ EU 47.4229 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 11.7905 Source: BSP (23 April 2015)

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News

BusinessMirror

Friday, April 24, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

$2.1-billion ‘hot’ money exited PHL in March

Lina back at BOC as Sevilla quits Continued from A1

in Manila on Thursday, without elaborating. “I hope the next commissioner will do a better job than me. The path of good governance is in deep danger in customs.”

Sevilla’s departure would be a setback to President Aquino’s efforts to make a lasting dent in corruption before he steps down in June next year. Tasked by Mr. Aquino to clean up an agency known for graft, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader has reduced smuggling while raising revenue.

Customs collection, which accounts for about 20 percent of government revenue, rose 21 percent last year. The agency’s 2015 collection target is not achievable due to lower oil prices and revenue will probably be little changed from last year, Sevilla said this week.

During his term, Sevilla investigated his staff, suspended permits of some companies and brokers, clamped down on the release of illegal rice shipments and set up a public price database of frequently imported goods to make it easier to spot irregularities.

Sevilla said his resignation will take effect once a replacement is made, and he hasn’t yet decided what to do next. Mr. Aquino’s Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said he will comment on the custom chief’s decision to quit at the regular midday media briefing on Thursday.

“In behalf of the President, [Finance] Secretary Cesar Purisima thanked Commissioner Sevilla for his exemplary leadership in imple-

menting reforms in the Bureau of Customs and for his dedicated service to the nation,” Coloma said. “consistent with the President’s mandate, the government is determined to pursue the reforms at the BOC and bring these to full fruition.”

Purisima said: “The numbers do not lie: As head of the Customs Reform Team, he has helped grow the bureau’s collections by 21 percent year on year in 2014 versus 5 percent in the prereform period, transformed Customs to be one of the most radically open and transparent agencies in government, has made government regulation more efficient for doing business in the country, and has taken great strides to thwart graft, technical and outright smuggling by filing cases, alert orders and seizures against erring importers, brokers and officials.”

Lina and Purisima are both part of the Hyatt 10. Purisima returned to the Department of Finance (DOF) after President Aquino’s victory in the 2010 polls. The BOC is under the DOF. Other members of the Hyatt 10 that returned to public service are Teresita Deles (peace panel); Corazon Soliman (Department of Social Welfare and Development); Florencio Abad (Department of Budget and Management); Rene Villa (Local Water Utilities Administration); Imelda Nicolas (Commission on Filipinos Overseas); Guillermo Parayno Jr. (Philippine Veterans Bank); and Juan Santos (Social Security Commission).

Former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin

died in March 2010.

Lina is known for launching the Run After the Smugglers program during his first BOC stint.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sina) said in a statement its members are “saddened by this development and are apprehensive that his resignation may derail the common objective of the BOC under Commissioner Sevilla and the agriculture industry to combat smuggling.”

As the country’s ports have become regular recipients of smuggled agricultural products from different countries, the group said the common fight it had (with Sevilla) against smuggling was to prevent the further erosion of Filipino farmers’ livelihoods, adding “the smuggling of agricultural products endangers the survival of the agriculture industry which is the very fiber of our society.”

According to its chairman, Rosendo So, it was only during Sevilla’s term that agricultural producers, particularly farmer’s groups, were “invited to access freely within the premises of the BOC all pertinent information, such as inward foreign manifest, import permits, actual value and volume of imports arriving, to help multisector efforts in isolating legitimate imports from those that are being technically smuggled.”

We are “actually in the midst of finalizing the action points with the Commissioner on accessing information and conducting inspection of suspected smuggled goods,” Sinag disclosed in its statement. Butch Fernandez, Joel San Juan, Alladin

ing Asian market. PLDT looks forward to working with iflix to grow its business and introduce new media services that will fuel further the demand for broadband and mobile access in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan noted.

Launching in key Southeast Asian markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam throughout 2015, iflix will offer consum-

ers more than 10,000 hours of top US, Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies. Each subscription will allow a user to access the service on five devices, as well as download content to their mobile, tablet, computer or television set, for viewing anywhere, anytime.

PLDT’s investment is in line with its strategy to develop new revenue streams and to complement its present business by participating in the digital

The BSP blamed profit taking by market participants for the outbound direction of foreign funds during the period.

About 81.8 percent of the registered investment during the month were in Philippine Stock Exchange-listed securities—mainly in holding firms, property companies, banks, food, beverage and tobacco companies and telecommunication forms.

The other 17.7 percent, meanwhile went to peso government securities and the remaining 0.5 percent to unit investment trust funds.

Also, during the period, the US continued to be the main destination of outflows during the period, receiving 78.5 percent of the total this year.

The United Kingdom, Singapore, Luxembourg and Hong Kong, along with the US, were the top 5 investor countries for the month with a combined share to total inflows of 82.1 percent. Bianca Cuaresma

Eternal Gardens. . .

S. Diega and Bloomberg News

PLDT joins forces with Malaysian firm iflix

Continued from A1

With the current “seismic shift taking place in the global entertainment landscape,” the company believes that it “is perfectly positioned to capitalize on this incredible opportunity,” he added.

“We are very bullish about the prospects of the iflix service, which has been designed to address the preferences and demands of the rapidly expand-

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hort-term foreign investments that flowed inward over four months reverted in March and flowed out on net basis during the period, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday.

Foreign portfolio investments (FPIs), also known as hot or speculative money, recorded a net outflow of $21 million in March as gross inflows of $2.08 billion during the month was swept away by gross outflows totaling $2.1 billion.

This marked the first time since October last year that the central bank reported a net outflow when $179.9 million exited the country.

Outflows of $21 million in March represented a reversal from net inflows in February this year totaling $1.19 billion.

Compared to the same month last year, however, the outflows in March proved smaller than outflows totaling $92.86 million last year.

world beyond providing access and connectivity.

The Filipino mobile carrier’s investment will directly compete with Globe Telecom Inc.’s partner HOOQ, which is an online entertainment-service provider that boasts of an extensive content library with thousands of movies, television episodes and shows available for users to watch, including titles from partners Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Founder and Chairman Emeritus Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua said Eternal Gardens will continue its expansion this year, pursuant to this year’s corporate theme “United, Unmatched and Unstoppable.”

“We are now the leader of the industry.

And this year, we will have an additional two memorial parks, one in Cabuyao and another in Bauan,”Cabangon Chua said in his speech.

Guest of honor and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Jose Fernando Rojas II cited the role of the memorial industry in providing assurance to Filipinos in the most challenging time of losing a loved one.

“The service that you provide with compassion gives peace of mind, solace and assurance to Filipinos during an inevitable event of life. This is a very important service that you provide for our countrymen,”he said.

He said as of the 2010 survey of Philippine businesses, the revenues of the memorial industry has reached P3 billion.

Special Awards for exemplary performance were given to: Maria Cecilia Romasanta (Lawn Specialist and Account Special-

Madrid Fusión. . .

Continued from A1

ist); Sonny Pelovello (Garden Specialist); and Donna Lizza Batalla (Family Estate Specialist). Record breaking awards were also given to Saturnina Alcantara (new sales record for 2014); and Helen Abesa (surpassing the 2012 sales record). Rookie of the Year awards were given to Zenaida Calingasan and Cenonia Macatangay.

In the regular awards for best General Agency managers, among the winners are: Saturnina Alcantara (first place), Helen Abesa (second place) and Florita Arellano (third place). The winners for best Regular Unit managers include Rosalina Martin (first place), Maria Cristina Marasigan (second place) and Zenaida Calingasan (third place).

The winners for best Regular Sales Counselor include Cynthia Leycano (first place), Anita Acosta (second place) and Nayda Cuenca (third place). The winners for best Personal Sales Counselor include Donna Lizza Batalla (first place), Apolonio Abesa (second place) and Candice Alcantara (third place). The top 5 personal-unit managers are Cornelio Abesa, Don Arnulfo Enojado, Julian Godfrey Alcantara, Reymundo Manlapig and Eddie Villote.

Continued from A1

Among the chefs cooking up dishes for the regional lunches are Tony Boy Escalante, whose restaurant Antonio’s was recently included in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants; Margarita Fores (Cibo/Grace Park); Robby Goco (Cyma/ Green Pastures); Myke Sarthou (Alab); Fernando Aracama (Aracama); Ariel Manuel (Lolo Dad’s); Bruce Ricketts (Mecha Uma); and Juan Carlos de Terry (Terry’s). Executive chef for all the lunches will be New York-based Chef Noel de la Rama.

In a media briefing on Thursday, the Tourism Promotions Board introduced the foreign and local chefs participating in the event.

Chef Elena Arzak of the three Michelinstarred Arzak in San Sebastian Spain, is one of the most hotly anticipated speakers during the gastronomy congress. She said she was “eager to share and learn from fellow chefs at the Madrid Fusión Manila.” She was awarded the Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef Award 2012 by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards.

The three-day MFM, from April 24 to 26 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, seeks to highlight the Philippines as a culinary center of excellence in Asia. Through its International Gastronomy Congress, trade exhibit and regional flavors festival, MFM presents a unique opportunity for chefs, restaurateurs, food-andbeverage professionals and food aficionados to come together, learn new things, and share their talent, expertise, as well as products, to the market. For just P500 per ticket, the general public can also experience this first-inAsia gastronomy event, enabling them to check out the trade exhibit, experience some food-and-wine tastings, as well as purchase products on display.

In a separate interview, Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. explained the concept behind the staging of MFM: “A country cannot have just a two-dimensional image. You cannot be just a beach, a waterfall or a volcano destination. You have to be a destination that appeals to all aspects of living and lifestyle.

That lifestyle would include cuisine and dining, because part of having a good time is eating good food, especially if you are in Asia. Food, therefore, is designed to complete the Filipino image in the eyes of the world.

“But a tourist’s first pleasant encounter of any foreign food always had something to do with that which was familiar—a refreshing alternative to food that he or she already enjoyed back home. Therefore, when we try to introduce Filipino food to the rest of the world, we must first begin with something that is familiar, so that people may gradually acquire the taste for it—and, eventually, fall in love with it,” he said.

Meanwhile, among the slow-food ingredients the DA will showcase at the trade exhibit are the so-called rising stars, such as heirloom rice, calamansi (Philippine lime), sampaloc (tamarind), suha (pomelo), pili nuts (Canarium ovatum, endemic in the Bicol region), siling labuyo (wild chili) and dalandan (Citrus aurantium), according to Romulo Puyat.

Other Philippine indigenous and slow-food products on display are muscovado sugar (unrefined molasses sugar), dalandan liquor, calamansi liquor and various types of suka (vinegar), such as sukang Paombong (nipa-palm vinegar), sukang tuba (coconut-sap vinegar), sukang Iloco (Ilocos cane vinegar), pinakurat (spiced vinegar from Iligan City, Lanao) and sinamak (spiced vinegar from Iloilo).

The DA booths will, likewise, feature “champion produce” from different regions of the country, such as mango, coconut, pineapple and tuna—produced largely by corporate farmers and fishing companies, as well as “products that reflect Philippine traditions and culture such as heirloom rice, adlai, siling labuyo, batuan, tabob-tabon, kamias, kapeng barako and criollo cacao, and innovative consumer products,” the DA official said. With a number of international calendar events lined up for VPY 2015, the Philippines hopes to attract 8.2 million foreign visitors this year.

The Nation

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror Friday, April 24, 2015 A3

Comelec begins searching for alternatives after SC voids Smartmatic contract

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HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is scouring for alternatives to make the 2016 elections credible after the Supreme Court (SC) nullifying the Comelec’s deal with a United Kingdom-headquartered firm.

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said contingency measures should already be firmed up in case the SC eventually decides to affirm its decision issued on April 21.

On Tuesday the High Tribunal issued a decision nullifying the Comelec’s P268.8-million contract with Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. The contract is for the repair of 80,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines used in the 2010 elections.

Smartmatic-TIM has announced it would ask the Court to reconsider its decision.

“The possibility of the MR [motion for reconsideration] [by Smartmatic] being granted in the future should not hinder us from coming up with contingency measures. We need to start [looking for options] right now,” Jimenez said, who also writes a regular column for the BusinessMirror.

“Kung maghihintay tayo [If we wait], we will be caught flat-footed if the MR is suddenly not granted,” Jimenez noted.

During its regular en banc session, the Court declared null and void the deal signed by Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. for violating the provisions of Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Act on the rules of public bidding.

Jimenez JIMENEZ: “The s a id he a s sured Smartpossibility of the matic-TIM the MR [motion for poll body is prereconsideration] [by pared to honor Smartmatic] being the contract if granted in the future the company should not hinder us gets a favorable from coming up with decision from contingency measures. the SC. We need to start “It’s a con[looking for options] tract that will right now.” have to be honored by us. Kung mag-succeed ’yung MR nila at ma-overturn ’yung decision at sabihin na valid pala, e di we will continue the contract. Everything else that we have set in motion, that will be suspended,” the Comelec spokesman added.

As for the Comelec, Jimenez said the poll body has to read the entire decision first before it decides whether to appeal it or not.

The decision needs to be made when we see the text of the SC decision and the rationale of the High Tribunal, according to Jimenez.

But even when we get it, it’s also possible we won’t file an MR, he added. Joel R. San Juan

Port operator files criminal case vs CA Justice Bueser

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MISS EARTH

This photo taken on April 22 shows candidates of Miss Earth Philippines 2015 and Senator Cynthia A. Villar (seated, in red shirt) cleaning a portion of the shoreline of Manila Bay in the Las PiñasParañaque Critical Habitat Eco-tourism Area. The senator, a known environmental advocate, led series of activities in celebration of Earth Day “to instill awareness among Filipinos on its global importance to the Philippines.” Roy Domingo

Palawan liberation fest mirrors Phl tourism growth—Jimenez

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HE Department of Tourism (DOT) said the 70th anniversary celebration of the liberation of Palawan from Japanese occupation is a testament to the success of the tourism industry our country is enjoying today.

DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said the celebration shows how independence can lead to a strong and developing economy.

Dubbed “A Salute to Valor: Palawan-70 Years of Freedom,” the celebration is being led by a coalition of private groups and local government units.

“In commemoration of Palawan’s independence, this gathering celebrates the successes of our

time: The growth of our economy, the development of our tourism industry and the employment of more Filipinos,” Jimenez said.

He added: “It, likewise, serves as an opportunity to allow tourists and travelers to experience the country, not only through its natural wonders, but also through its rich cultural heritage.”

According to Jimenez, Palawan is a dynamic tourism destination in the country and continues to be a DOT-recognized site for tourism development, environment protection, sustainability and conservation.

Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Rajah Travel Corp. Chairman Aileen Clemente said the event has

given them a profound sense of nationalism and pride as they have discovered piece by piece how Filipinos and Americans fought together during World War II. “Resurrecting much of the untold story of Palawan also paves the way to honoring the veterans, who were stationed in the province during World War II. We hope the event serves as a reminder that Filipinos should never forget all they have done for our country,” Clemente said.

After the event, Clemente said they will develop some of the places related to World War II and package them into historical and heritage tours.

Among the places that have been pinpointed for tourism development

include the World War II Memorial Museum, Plaza Cuartel, Mendoza Park and the Iwahig Prison.

Clemente said the move to develop a specific tour is in line with the aggressive positioning of Palawan as a leading tourism destination.

Palawan has built more than 5,500 kilometers of roads, 10 new hospitals, 10 key port facilities and three new airports to support tourism in the province.

Aside from the DOT, Rajah Travel Corp. and the Province of Palawan, others involved in the coalition are the Palawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Palawan Tourism Council and the United States Agency for International Development.

NE Source Port Support Services Inc. has filed a criminal case against Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Danton Bueser before the Office of the Ombudsman for issuing an unjust judgment in the case involving the Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI) in Manila.

In a 22-page complaint, the port services operator through its president, Cyrus Paul Valenzuela, accused Bueser of issuing a decision that favored the camp of businessman Reghis Romero II. Pending at the CA is a case filed

by Romero contesting the decision of a Regional Trial Court in Pasig City issued on December 1 that ousted Romero from operating and controlling HCPTI and barring him from representing himself as HCPTI owner.

In its case filed with the Ombudsman, One Source alleged that on December 12, 2014, after Romero filed his petition with the CA’s Special Former Special Second Division, Bueser issued a resolution directing Romero to amend his petition to include HCPTI as copetitioner despite Romero having not filed any motion for such action.

This was followed by the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) dated January 5, 2015, issued

by Bueser and two other justices, against the TRO issued by the Regional Trial Court in Pasig City last December, One Source’s complaint said.

On March 11, 2015, the CA division headed by Bueser issued an unjust resolution that restrained, not only the TRO issued by the Pasig court but all its subsequent orders, One Source said in its complaint.

Then on March 19, 2015, a writ of preliminary injunction was issued by Bueser and two other justices, the complaint added.

In its Ombudsman case, One Source alleged that in all the CA resolutions, Bueser remained a constant signatory despite many changes in the composition of the justices hearing the case.

“It is fairly easy to conclude that the violations of laws that resulted in the issuance of the above resolutions

were perpetrated by Justice Danton Q. Bueser alone,” the complaint said.

One Source earlier filed before the CA a motion for inhibition and voluntary disqualification of the ponente against Bueser.

In the Ombudsman case, One Source alleged that Bueser made an “unjust order” with the issuance of the preliminary injunction dated March 11, 2015, “as this was in gross violation of existing laws and jurisprudence when it expanded the scope of the Romero’s amended petition to include other matters thus unfairly blocking One Source’s the opportunity to be heard.”

“Casting more suspicion on the Bueser’s decisions is the fact that the ownership of HCPTI, which is the crux of the dispute, has yet to be resolved,” One Source said.

The company alleged that Bueser allowed the HCPTI to be a copetitioner in the pending case in the CA, “thus giving an undue advantage to one faction of HCPTI, particularly that of the faction of petitioner Reghis Romero II.” Its complaint added that the faction of Romero II was recognized and given a copy of the injunction order “thereby giving undue preference to it over the other faction.”

The complaint noted that Romero II divested himself in HCPTI when he signed a deed of assignment, transferring a total of 69,258,653 shares, or 68.11 percent of total issued and outstanding capital stock of HCPTI to HCP Holdings Inc. on March 2, 2011.

With this, One Source said Romero II “is no longer a shareholder and/ or beneficial owner of the subject HCPTI shares because they now belong to HCP Holdings Inc.” “Therefore, it is crystal-clear Romero is absolutely bereft of any rights and authority to act for and in behalf of HCPTI,” the complaint said.

On October 22, 2014, Romero II physically took over the operation of the HCPTI and physically ousted One Source, which has a valid contract to operate the terminal, and its personnel through force and intimidation, the complaint said.

Economy

A4 Friday, April 24, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

Perks OK’d for firms acquiring new ships

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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he government has improved the grant of incentives for the importation of new ships, such as exempting the same from value-added taxes, to promote the purchase of new fleet. The Maritime Industry Authority is also looking to strengthen the local shipbuilding industry to make new vessels available for acquisition within the country.

Meanwhile, the chief of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is in Manila to lead the Conference on the Enhancement of Safety of Ships Carrying Passengers on Non-International Voyages today.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu will grace today’s event, which will focus on the discussion of maritimepassenger safety in the Philippines and around the world.

“Maritime-passenger safety is a worldwide concern, especially for us, since we are an archipelagic country with a very active industry for sea travel. This conference puts a spotlight on the needed improvements in global practices, and hosting it shows the IMO’s confidence in the Philippines,” he said.

The IMO is a specialized United Nations agency which develops a comprehensive, regulatory framework for safe shipping operations, and at the same time, protecting marine environment. “We are privileged to have Mr. Sekimizu and many renowned individuals taking part in this crucial event,” Abaya added.

The transport chief will deliver the keynote address at the conference, which aims to address safety issues regarding domesticpassenger ships by reassessing the current safety parameters and finalizing a set of enhanced guidelines.

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Miners opting to expand Greater Asean cooperation needed MPSAs amid moratorium to meet post-2015 development goals C

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By Cai U. Ordinario

F the Philippines and other Asean membereconomies want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or the world’s post2015 agenda, greater cooperation among them is necessary, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said individual members of the Asean cannot achieve the SDGs on their own, as these goals also require cooperation in the region.

“Given our respective resources and experiences, we are encouraged to make our discussions for strategic collaboration go beyond commerce and financial assistance,” Balisacan said. “The areas we may consider revisiting include regional disaster risk-reduction and management; social protection, technology access and transfer; data generation and management; and capacity, building of local institutions.”

Balisacan said to improve the region’s efforts, there’s a need to review the Asean Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, and to strengthen the points of collaboration among member-states.

He added that there is a need to integrate lessons learned from recent phenomena, like Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), into country and regional strategies for disaster resilience.

“Aside from being an instrument that helps our citizens in managing shocks from disasters, this initiative is also crucial given the increasing interaction of our communities through in-migration and the changes our citizens have to go through during the early stages of the Asean integration,” he said.

Balisacan also underscored the need for support and regional collaborations to address data limitations, which hamper strategic development planning and programming.

National Statistician Lisa Grace S. Bersales said earlier national statistical systems worldwide have stressed that providing data needed to track the performance of countries on the SDGs would be difficult.

Bersales said providing data for around 300 indicators will require innovative ways to source and collect data. Innovations, such as Big Data culled from administrative records or even the Internet, would be needed to track the goals.

“It is important to invest in good-quality and upto-date data and improve our knowledge-management technologies and capacities so we can prepare sound, evidence-based plans and policies post-2015,” Balisacan said.

The SDGs were proposed to have 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by the year 2030. The SDGs and their relevance to post-2015 development priorities in the Asean region are currently being reviewed.

Last year the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that opened an opportunity for the integration of the SDGs into the post-2015 agenda, both of which will be finalized at the UNGA in September.

ompanies engaged in the extraction of metallic and nonmetallic minerals are now opting to expand areas covered under their existing Minerals Processing Sharing Agreement (MPSA) with the moratorium on new mining agreement in effect.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Leo L. Jasareno said Holcim Ltd. and Lafarge, two of the leading cement companies, are seeking to expand the area coverage of their MPSAs to increase their limestone resources. Limestone is a main ingredient of cement.

The moratorium, as mandated by President Aquino’s Executive Order 79, halts the issuance of mining agreements to mining companies currently engaged in the large-scale extraction of both metallic and non-metallic minerals.

“We are now processing their application to expand MPSAs,” Jasareno told reporters in an interview.

Holcim Ltd. has seven MPSAs, while Lafarge has one in Iligan, Jasareno added.

Companies that operate cement plants, Jasareno said, appealed for alternative solution to the adverse effect of the moratorium, which is expected to derail production targets.

TVI Resources Development (TVIRD) Philippines, which is engaged in the extraction of metallic minerals, particularly gold and copper, is also seeking to expand its MPSA in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, to revive its Canatuan mine, the life of which expired last year.

With a new area to be mined just outside its existing MPSA, Jasareno said the company hopes to continue its operation in the same area.

In expanding MPSAs, Jasareno said there’s no need to issue a new mining contract. “We will just expand the area covered by the MPSA,” Jasareno explained.

TVIRD used to produce gold bullion and, later on, copper concentrate. TVIRD is looking forward to advancing its exploration activities within another MPSA area in Bayog town, Zamboanga del Sur, for gold and copper.

Another mining company that extracts nickel in Claver, Surigao del Norte, is seeking to expand its MPSA because its mine is reaching the end of its life this year.

These applications for MPSA area coverage expansion will require the company to come up with new feasibility studies that will form part of the Declaration of Project Mining Feasibility (DMPF), one of the requirements under Republic Act 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

Jasareno said the moratorium on the issuance of new minerals contracts will remain in effect, until a new mining revenue-sharing scheme for the extractive industries has been put in place.

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, April 24, 2015 A5

‘Layoffs continue to outpace resignations in Metro Manila’

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ORE workers were laid off compared to those who quit their jobs in Metro Manila in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Employer-initiated separations were the highest in mining and quarrying and construction at 34.11 percent and 17.43 percent, respectively.

Quits in mining was only at 2.17 percent, while employee-initiated separations in construction were only at 1.9 percent.

Data also showed that the Agriculture sector, the sector that employed a lot of poor Filipinos, also saw more layoffs than quits.

The PSA said employer-initiated separations in the agriculture sector reached 4.46 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared

Apec launches survey to identify problems of SMEs

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ountries belonging to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) have launched a survey to determine why small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are having difficulties in entering the value chain of automakers.

The survey, which is considered one of the key accomplishments of Apec economies, was discussed during the first day of the 22nd Automotive Dialogue on Wednesday. “[The survey is] stock-taking to see bakit hindi nakakapasok mga SMEs sa value chains ng mga brand principals, who farm out their production, like Toyota, General Motors, Honda.

We want to know the profile of Philippine SMEs in the auto sector, and how they can grow their share in production,” said Vicente T. Mills Jr., President of the Philippine Automotive Federation Inc. Mills was one of the private stakeholder delegates in the 22nd Automotive Dialogue, wherein SMEs took centerstage in the agenda; While the Philippines is already part of large auto companies’ global value chains, specifically in parts and components manufacturing, only large parts suppliers are able to participate in auto production.

SMEs are said to be confronted with various problems ranging from access to finance to lack of market knowledge of their principals’ needs.

The survey will form part of the program Global Value Chain-Small and Medium Enterprise Integration for the Automotive Sector (GSAS) Project, launched at the start of the dialogue. The Apec initiative was spearheaded by the Philippines and Malaysia.

“By August we want to compile all the surveys from the auto sector and submit them to the Apec’s Committee on Trade and Investment. They’ll aggregate all the surveys from the different sectors, and present this to the Apec Dialogue with Leaders in November, where head of states can form a more actionable plan,” Mills said.

Apec, through an initiative led

by South Korea, is tackling SME participation not just in the auto sector, but in five key sectors, including health services and furniture. Philippines and Malaysia signed on as proponents of the auto-industry initiative.

The GSAS project will also tackle the problem of implementing differing standards in the manufacture of auto components of countries and car brands.

Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development Ceferino S. Rodolfo said this is one of the issues that need to be highlighted as it impedes the adaptation of e-vehicles, an emerging subsector in the auto industry. Catherine N. Pillas

to 0.58-percent quits.

“Sluggish employment was attributed mainly to the employment cutbacks in the agriculture sector and the industry sector, particularly mining and quarrying. This offset the modest gains in the services sector,” the PSA said.

This has led to the marked slowdown in the growth of employment in large enterprises in Metro Manila to 1.02 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to 3.22 percent in the same period in 2013.

Data showed that this was due to the 2.65-percent contraction in employment in Agriculture, as well as contractions in employment in industry, particularly mining and construction.

Employment in the industry sector contracted 0.54 percent. This

was largely due to the 21.2 percent contraction in mining and quarrying employment and 1.21-percent reduction in construction employment.

The data was obtained from the Labor Turnover Survey (LTS) conducted by the PSA quarterly since the third quarter of 2002.

The survey aims to capture “job creations” and “job displacements” in large business enterprises based in Metro Manila by collecting quarterly data on accessions and separations of workers.

A total of 921 enterprises served as respondents to the fourth quarter 2014 Labor Turnover Survey.

The sample enterprises were drawn from the 2013 NCR List of Enterprises of the PSA, which was updated by the 2013 LTS sampling frame. Cai U. Ordinario

BUMPER CROP

A farmer in Alangalang, Leyte, walks past his rice field. Despite the dry spell, which has affected tracts of rice lands all over the country, this farmer said he expects a bumper harvest. NONIE REYES

PHL needs to step up efforts to give Pinoys decent jobs–ILO

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By Cai U. Ordinario

ESPITE the recent success of the Philippine economy in reducing unemployment and underemployment, the country needs to step up its efforts to attain inclusive economic growth, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In the Philippine Employment Trends 2015 report, the ILO said the country’s high economic growth in the past few years was able to increase employment to 38.1 million in 2013 and reduce poverty among Filipino workers modestly to 21.9 percent in 2012, and more needs to be done.

“It is not the level of economic growth, but how we achieve growth with impact on people’s lives and the society,” ILO Philippines Country Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson said.

The ILO added that, even if the economy can post a growth of 6.3 percent this year and the Asean Economic Community can expand the economy by 7.5 percent by 2025, these will not directly translate into decent jobs.

The ILO cited data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that

showed that working-age Filipinos, or those 15 years and older, could reach 70.286 million by year-end.

This is expected to reach 77.929 million by 2020; 85.843 million by 2025; 93.724 million in 2030; 101.29 million in 2035; and 108.311 million by 2040.

The ILO said young people 15 to 24 years old account for a fifth of the total population, but is expected to decrease over time. Nonetheless, their numbers will still account for a significant share of the labor force.

“In the coming years, labor-force expansion is projected to remain robust despite some moderating growth in the youth labor force,” the ILO said.

“Between 2015 and 2030, the labor force is forecast to increase by 14.9 million [or 33.7 percent], implying the need for nearly 1 million

new jobs each year merely to keep pace and maintain current unemployment levels,” it added.

Apart from the projected increase in the number of the country’s labor force, vulnerable employment in the Philippines remains a concern in the Philippines.

The ILO explained that vulnerable employment rate is defined as the share of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment.

Monitoring this is crucial, since these types of workers are less likely to have formal work arrangements and access to social protection, and are more at risk during an economic or environmental crisis.

The ILO said vulnerable employment decreased to 38.3 percent in 2013, from 43.5 percent in 2008.

However, 14.6 million workers were still employed as own-account or contributing family workers with limited security and protection.

Most of those who are vulnerably employed are women and young Filipinos. The ILO estimates that the country’s vulnerable employment rate is 46 percent of the labor force.

“While this ratio is high and points to decent work deficits in the labor market, it is lower than many other Asean member-states,” the ILO said.

Decent employment, the ILO said, should be a top priority in the Philip-

No eviction unless BCDA returns P1.42B–CJHDevCo

By Joel R. San Juan

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he Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) cannot forcibly evict the developer of Camp John Hay, as well as third-party lessees and locators, in the area, unless it complies with a court order to return P1.42 billion in rentals paid by the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevCo).

The Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Baguio ordered its sheriff to implement its March 27, 2015, order that confirmed the “Final Award” dated February 11, 2015, by Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. directing the BCDA to immediately return to CJHDevCo P1,421,096,052 and for the company to vacate the leased property.

The amount represents the rentals CJHDevCo has paid to the BCDA. CJHDevCo Executive Vice President Alfredo Yñiguez III said the BCDA cannot include third-party locators who have acted in good faith in the notice to vacate issued by Judge Cecilia Archog of Baguio City Regional Trial

Court, Branch 6, on April 14.

The RTC in Baguio also made it clear that its five-page writ of execution must be implemented simultaneously, and that in the event that the developer fulfills its part but the BCDA fails on its end, CJHDevCo may levy on properties of the BCDA to satisfy the arbitral award.

“If respondent [BCDA] cannot return all or part of the obligation, in cash, certified bank check or other mode of payment acceptable to the petitioner, [the sheriff] shall levy upon the properties of respondent [BCDA] of every kind and nature whatsoever which may be disposed of for value and not otherwise exempt from execution,” read the court order.

Yñiguez, in his letter to the partners of Camp John Hay dated April 21, a day after the developer received a copy of the writ of execution and the notice to vacate, said CJHDevCo is “ready, willing and able to vacate the ‘leased premises’ immediately or simultaneous with its actual receipt of payment from BCDA.”

“This is consistent with the reciprocal nature of the Final Award rendered in the arbitration between CJHDevCo and the BCDA, as well as the characterization by Archog in open court that the judgment obligations are essentially, as termed in the vernacular, kaliwaan.

CJHDevCo vacates as and when it is paid by the BCDA in full,” he said.

“We also wish to emphasize that the notice to vacate is not directed at persons who acquired rights in ‘good faith,’ such as the CJH golf club members, Manor & Forest Lodge condotel unit owners, Forest Cabin unit owners, Country Home owners, Log Home owners, lot owners, residents, locators and investors.

These persons acted in ‘good faith,’ and invested in Camp John Hay by purchasing your property with the consent and knowledge, if not the inducement, of the BCDA,” Yñiguez added.

The payments made by these third parties, according to Yñiguez, were, in fact, credited in the Final Award as the BCDA’s payment for the interest it owed CJHDevCo on the rentals the government agency was ordered to return.

IN this file photo, workers put in place the structural foundation of a condominium building along Tomas Morato in Quezon City. The International Labour Organization on Thursday called on the Philippine government to increase jobs to attain “inclusive growth.” NONOY LACZA

pines and international development agenda. In line with this, full and productive employment, and decent work for all currently is proposed as a Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) by the United Nations.

The ILO report stresses that it is vital to ensure that growth translates into better labor market outcomes, including lower shares of vulnerable employment and working poverty.

The Open Working Group for SDGs has proposed a set of 17 sus-

tainable development goals for the post-2015 era.

Goal 8 of the proposed SDGs is to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.”

The ILO said a final round of negotiations on the SDGs started in January 2015, after which, in September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly will adopt its development agenda beyond 2015.

Price of Pinoy Tasty to go down in May

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read manufacturers said on Thursday that the price of Pinoy Tasty may go down by P0.50 to P1 per loaf

by May, as they set their sights on using a cheaper type of flour from Eastern Europe.

Philippine Baking Industry Group (Philbaking) President Nestor Constancia said bread manufacturers will test the European flour prior to using it in making their products. Philbaking consists of the largest bread manufacturers in the Philippines.

“There is European flour that can replace the locally milled flour. We are going to test the samples and if it works [on the formulation] of Pinoy Tasty, we might use that as the standard of Pinoy Tasty,” Constancia said.

“If this European flour is effective, we can adjust the price by May. It can go down, hopefully, by P0.50 to P1 per loaf. It’s P 36.50 right now. We’re

trying to look for ways to bring the price of the product down,” said Simplicio Umali, president of Gardenia Baking Philippines Inc. Bread manufacturers said the European flour is expected to be priced below P700 per sack.

Flour currently used for Pinoy Tasty, dubbed as “Harinang Pinoy,” is sold by local flour millers at P730 per sack, exclusive of freight charges.

Umali said Pinoy Tasty, a generic bread brand made by local manufacturers, caters to some 40 million Filipinos belonging to the low-income segment.

The generic bread was rolled out in 2010. It is cheaper compared to regular brands.

The Department of Trade and Industry said Pinoy Tasty is cheaper because it contains only the basic ingredients and is subsized by bread manufacturers and flour millers.

A6 Friday, April 24, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Manual-counting fallback?

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HE Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling to junk the Commission on Elections (Comelec)-SmartmaticTIM’s P268.8- million “midnight deal” came at an opportune time. Or did it?

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. didn’t think so, as he tried to dispel this week the idea of going back to “manual labor” for the 2016 elections. There’s no chance of that happening, he said, completely “out of the question.”

Some, though, are more pessimistic, like election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who said the SC ruling could lead to a “no-el” scenario. However, there are those who are saying that the High Tribunal has the power to either agree or disagree on manual elections, and that it’s worth a try.

Maintenance and rehabilitation of these machines have been raised as primary concerns for the coming elections. While many believe that automation holds the key to an electoral system free from fraud, others feel it’s just the opposite.

The more serious problem of time constraints, however, now haunts the Comelec. With barely a year to go before the 2016 elections, and a bidding process that, at the very least, could extend to seven months, the remaining five months to reassess and fix defective machines—which, by experience, could reach 30 percent—might pose a grave problem for the Comelec.

And it is precisely the lack of bidding that has prompted the SC to junk the midnight deal. A temporary restraining order, which was issued on March 24 in opposition to the contract, has been sealed by the SC. The SC wasn’t too keen on having a company dealing with the diagnostics will itself work on the repairs.

This puts the Comelec in a bind. To get into another bidding process this close to the 2016 elections may prove futile and impractical at this point.

Besides, a scenario where manual counting is revived could open problems, like amendments and changes in the automation law. This will cost the government a hefty sum, not to mention a fat load of flak from an already disgruntled public.

Automation has yet to prove its credibility to numerous experts. In fact, global opinion on automation has taken a rather steep plunge. The Precinct Count Optical Scan method has been receiving flak, mainly because during the last elections many machines had failed. The question is whether all the votes are faithfully reflected by the machines.

The chances of man-made irregularities happening during elections are big—automated or otherwise makes no difference. However much one tries to improve the election process, as long as corruption and fraud remain as the two biggest problems we face during elections, our chances at fair and honest elections will be nil.

Leakier than a colander James Jimenez

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spox

N the wake of the recent decision of the Supreme Court (SC) voiding the contract for the diagnostics and preventive maintenance of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, it isn’t entirely surprising that murmurs of “manual elections” have grown more vigorous. Unfortunately, this resurgence has also been mirrored by the proliferation of arguments that—perhaps, deliberately— misrepresent the true import of the SC’s decision.

For some, the voiding of the preventive-maintenance contract is being touted as proof that the automated election system (AES) in use since 2010 is flawed, and should be abandoned. So again, to set the record straight, there was nothing in the announcement by the SC that could even be remotely considered as an indictment of the accuracy or reliability of the AES. It is, therefore, unlikely that the decision itself—which, as of this writing, has not been released by the Court— will delve into those issues. As announced, and as will probably be seen from the full text of decision when it is finally released, the recent ruling of the Court clearly spoke only of the nullity of the contract for the diagnostics and repair of the PCOS machines.

The fact that the decision so clearly

focuses on this specific issue directly implies that, if the proper procedure was followed, i.e., public bidding, then there ought to be no issue with regard to the use of the PCOS machines for the 2016 elections. Right out of the gate, therefore, there remains the possibility that the 81,000 PCOS machines can still be used. In fact, were it not for the unilateral declaration of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that undiagnosed and unmaintained PCOS would not be used for elections, there wouldn’t even be any question of a return to manual polls.

Nevertheless, that’s the situation the Comelec finds itself in now. The question, therefore, is whether the Comelec will simply bid out the diagnostics and maintenance contract, time permitting, or allow those PCOS

machines to sit out the coming elections, relying instead on the innovative use of the limited number of optical- mark reader machines now undergoing the final stages of procurement via public bidding. Manual elections barely even register on the radar of possibilities.

So where is all this nostalgia for manual elections coming from?

I suspect it is because the Comelec has refused to say that manual elections have been ruled out completely.

And rightly so.

In the very unlikely event that the Comelec finds itself with absolutely no capability to mount automated elections—a situation that can only be arrived at if literally everything being done now goes sour—then it would much sooner revert to manual elections than hold no elections at all.

There are those who maintain that, since the law mandates automation, the inability to automate is tantamount to a declaration that elections simply cannot be held as scheduled.

This rather literal interpretation of how things work totally ignores the fact that overarching the law’s automation dictat is the Comelec’s mandate to conduct elections. It equally glosses over the reality that Republic Act 9369 does not prohibit the use of manual counting if an automation solution is unavailable. At this juncture, however, we can hardly say that an automation solution is unavailable, and so

retrogression to manual elections remains a remote possibility.

Another point that can be gleaned from all of this is that the Comelec’s staunch refusal to revert to a manual system is not rooted exclusively in the automation law’s declaration of policy. Equally important is the Comelec’s commitment to the gains derived by the country as a whole— from automation.

At the risk of being repetitive, automation has eliminated vote padding and vote shaving; it has removed election workers from the crosshairs of those who seek to subvert elections; and it has dramatically sped up the reporting of election results, directly contributing to the robustness of the mandate enjoyed by elected officials.

It has increased transparency, too, by making it possible to document— and later review—the original appearance of the ballot at the very moment it is slipped into the ballot box by the voter himself, free from subsequent, fraudulent alterations.

These are not trivial achievements, despite what the murmurers say. We, as a people, should, therefore, take it with a grain a salt whenever we are lectured about how we should turn our backs on these gains and dismiss them in favor of a system we have already proven to be leakier than a colander.

James Jimenez is the spokesman of the Commission on Elections.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

The next administration’s key agenda: How to lick poverty

‘Imbisibol’: Cinema on shadow labor Tito Genova Valiente

Fernando T. Aldaba

EAGLE WATCH Sustain economic growth and job creation for the poor

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N various studies, it has been shown that economic growth is an important prerequisite for a decrease in poverty incidence.

Countries in East Asia, like the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, are concrete examples where large reduction in the number of poor people accompanied economic expansion.

However, the quality of growth, the initial distribution of income and inequality itself, also matter.

As many researches have concluded, growth alone is not enough, especially when inequalities are large.

Thus, there are types of growth that have less effect on poverty incidence.

At the household levels, an important pathway out of poverty is through quality employment. Only through increased production will there be increasing demand for labor.

Sustained production and increasing workers’ productivity eventually increase wages. A requirement for sustained economic growth is good macroeconomic management through fiscal balance, price stability and a conducive investment regime.

The next government needs to push the economy toward an even higher and sustained growth trajectory for poverty to be consistently reduced.

Build asset and capacity of the poor

HOUSEHOLDS will be able to benefit from economic growth and job opportunities if they possess adequate human and physical capital. The appropriate type of education provides the necessary skills for the citizens to be able to obtain jobs available in an expanding economy.

However, the lack of such skills will trap an individual in unemployment or a low-quality job. With a mismatch between demand and supply for labor, unemployment and poverty might also not be reduced.

Health and nutrition also play critical roles in ensuring the productivity of workers and studies have also shown the importance of illness to increased poverty prevalence. Thus, these findings imply that helping poor people access health care, social services and life insurance will be critical.

Therefore, any poverty-reduction strategy should require the buildup of essential assets that include but go beyond expanding incomes. Access to these assets helps reduce vulnerability and prevent people from deprivation.

The Asian Development Bank identifies these five essential assets: human capital (health and education); physical capital (water, housing and infrastructure); natural capital (land, environment); financial capital (access to credit); and social capital (networks).

The next government must focus on asset reforms that will benefit the poor.

Strengthen social protection for the poor

EACH person lives in a milieu where there are risks and shocks that can negatively impact on their livelihoods and endanger their participation in the labor market and the economy in general. Specific examples include the impact of disease or sickness on one’s work and income, the effect of a disaster on one’s physical capital, or the instability produced by an ongoing conflict escalation.

While a person’s stock of assets may be able to cushion such shocks or the occurrence of risks, these may not be sufficient. In addition, many people do not possess such assets, and thus their situation become worse in the event of a negative shock. The next government must

focus on building a responsive and adequate system of social protection, safety nets, and insurance to keep people falling below the poverty line and for the poor, to be mired in a poverty trap.

Empower the poor

PEOPLE are not only excluded in society because of their income status but also because they belong to a certain group, sex or tribe. Economic and social discrimination heighten inequality and exclusion for these groups.

Economic opportunities are also shaped by the rules, norms and values that make up the institutional climate; by social structures; and by the possibilities for exercising individual and collective agency. The government will respond positively to the demands of disadvantaged groups if the latter is organized or if the government itself provides venues where citizens can articulate their needs. Without being able to ascertain such needs, the government cannot adequately respond in terms of programs and projects for these marginalized groups.

The next government must continue strengthening communities and people’s organizations of poor and marginalized sectors, and establishing and/or enhancing mechanisms for their participation in the design and implementation of poverty programs and policies.

Making institutions more effective and responsive

HOW state institutions, both national and local, operate in the political and economic environment will greatly affect the prospect of reducing poverty. Oftentimes, the difficulty in attaining a high growth trajectory is due to poor governance and weak institutions, as what the Aquino administration have emphasized.

An administration not supported by the majority is prone to instability.

The dominance of political dynasties, especially at the local level, is highly associated with corruption, and thus leakage from poverty programs and projects may increase.

Most of the factors that affect poverty reduction also need effective governance and coordination of national agencies in charge of human capital formation (e.g., the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development).

Aside from direct poverty-reduction programs and projects, the government must be able to efficiently manage the macroeconomy so that it will be suitable for sustained economic growth. This will require effective fiscal management to raise revenues for social services and poverty-reduction programs. Good monetary management to maintain price stability is also key to keep poverty incidence from rising.

Finally, the state must be able to establish the rule of law and secure property rights to attract both domestic and foreign investments.

Based on a poverty-reduction framework written by the author for the Asian Development Bank 2009 study “Poverty in the Philippines, Causes, Constraints and Opportunities.” Fernando T. Aldaba is the dean of the School of Social Sciences and a professor of Economics of the Ateneo de Manila University.

Friday, April 24, 2015

annotations

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HEORY rarely translates into a fine cinema, for anything theoretical is so well-thought of to the point of rigidity and, oftentimes, lacks the fervid visuality of cinema. Thus, it is heartening to find a film whose articulation is based on a theory of labor. The said perspective does not count the economic contribution of migrant labor.

Migrant laborers are no more illegal than they are undocumented.

They are almost invisible. Imbisibol.

Severely lensed and with no compromise to prettify the shots, the film Imbisibol tracks the lives of Filipino migrant laborers whose papers have all lapsed.

The film opens with a Japanese husband agitated because his Filipina wife has allowed other Filipinas to remain in their apartments. The woman reasons out and we, Filipinos in the audience, could not but agree.

Kinship—alleged and ceremonial or even merely emotional—is superior over one’s respect of the law and what is legal.

There are varied settings that dramatize the plight of the Filipinos in Japan in the early 1990s. Each location presents vignettes of characters trying to survive in a foreign land.

There are no legal documents to protect them. There are no friends even among their countrymen.

Based on the play written by Herlyn Gail Alegre and presented in the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s drama festival called Virgin LabFest, the film vividly captures the notion of “shadow laborers.”

When Filipinos are working, one does not feel they are in a foreign land. They shut out the Japan from where they earn their living because the space they work in bear their bodies alone. It seems the Japanese managers are there to create order to these bodies that, left unmanaged, are sources of chaos and violence. In a lumberyard, two Filipinos trying to earn the favors of the Japanese boss fight. One dies.

In a hosto bar, a faded gigolo, played with such brittle poignancy

by Allen Dizon, tries to regain his customers and his youth. Each night is a challenge for him to secure at least a woman who would fall for his charm. There is none.

In one Christmas party, he dances to a choreography that is meant for younger and fresh-looking male dancers. He shakes with them but his body is not meant for the rhythm.

The disconnect pains when, at the end of the dance, each boy is taken by a female customer.

Dizon has been reaping awards for many of his films. In Imbisibol,

he inhabits this character of, well, a male prostitute, creating in the process a pathetic person who tries to rise from the morass of his moral choices. At the end, when he goes to the place of refuge, where other “Bilog” (round, a slang for overstaying) are safe, he seeks the owner of the apartment and once more offers what he can only offer—his body. Alas, that body is part of the memory of this woman now safe in the marriage.

Bernardo Bernardo is unrecognizable as one of the more visible Filipinos even as he has overstayed.

He goes to a church where the priest

mixes in his sermon the warning about immigration police alert about “illegal” migrants.

He orders from the Philippines honeymelon seeds for the birthday of his good friend. On the day itself, he could not contain his excitement about the comfort food from home that he whips it out like a magician.

He visits the woman who seems to hold the threat of fate of these Japayuki and he recalls their days as young workers in Japan. The woman herself reveals the past and she is once more the fun, reckless character.

As the Filipina whose apartment and assignations tie together the lives of the Filipinos unseen because they are not listed, Ces Quesada’s character tries to sound and look like the regular Japanese wife.

She is accosted, however, by an immigration personnel and is asked to show her Alien Registration Card right there on the street. She shows her card; the Japanese apologizes but things do not end there. She, in turns, asks with bravura the ID of the Japanese personnel. These little things and more combine into a composite profile of migration in a particular period.

The film ends with the Japanese

A7

police trying to catch the Filipino who has accidentally killed another Filipino. The chase happens on a wide swath of a snowbound ground. Snow falls on the track of the young man, now a fugitive, as the whiteness of the surrounding banishes his escape.

Poetry and hard theory fuse to narrate the film called Imbisibol.

Lawrence Fajardo directs Imbisibol, which garnered all the major awards in the recently completed SinagMaynila Film Festival, the newest addition to a brilliant and fulfilling line of independent film concourses. The festival is the brainchild of multi-awarded Brillante Mendoza and Wilson Tieng of Solar Films.

Paolo Bertolin, film programmer in the Venice Film Fest, asked me why we chose Imbisibol for producing design when all the filmmakers did was shoot at completed neighborhoods and locations in Japan.

I remembered speaking about how the scenes were all locked in Japanese houses but the characters inside do not engage the societies of that country. The design made the Filipinos vulnerable and invisible.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Radical environmentalists a worse threat than climate change?

By Jay Ambrose Tribune News Service

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ALIFORNIA has a major drought, and that’s resulted in bad stuff brought to us not by the usual suspect, global warming, but by radical environmentalists worsening the consequences.

Some of them have gone beyond that misdeed. In efforts to intervene with warming, they have also been cracking down on free scientific speech and have it in mind to play games with our entire nation’s economic sustenance.

Let’s start with California, an arid state that has forever known droughts. It used to deal with its water needs through crucial projects, but decided not to a while back and is now faced with serious sacrifice, as knowledgeable analyses point out.

Urban areas are being legally compelled to reduce overall water usage by a fourth, and, in line with the kind of thinking that got the state into this mess, some climate alarmists insist that greenhouse-gas effects are responsible. They need to talk matters over with the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency that found in a scientifically reputable study that the drought’s cause has instead been natural weather patterns.

What is just as important to keep in mind as that conclusion is that hardship does not have to result if appropriate water-providing steps are taken, such as the building of reservoirs. That’s been long prevented in California by federal and state rules inspired by environmentalists.

Then there’s the rescue potential of a nearby ocean if more desalinization plants were being developed, something made more expensive than normal by various greenie obstructions.

Yes, it is true that the lack of adequate steps to supply water trace as well to nonenvironmental political vacuities, but do not discount enviro-imperiousness. That’s something that also strutted to the limelight in Washington not long ago when a Democratic member of the House decided to investigate scientists whose views on warming he did not like.

Managing to infuriate the American Meteorological Association,

which accused him of sending a “chilling” message, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Democrat-Arizona, queried universities about funding received by professors who were more or less warming skeptics, although one was not. Grijalva was questioning their integrity, as the association said.

He, in effect, suggested they were on the take.

Some senators did much the same, sending their inquiries to energy companies, think tanks and the like, and here is what needs to be said: They and this representative are anti-democratic, bullying free speech enemies who have no idea of what science is about—lots of back and forth about theories, analysis and evidence—and not much understanding of the climate dispute, either.

There happen to be all kinds of legitimate questions about the extent of the warming danger emanating from more than just a handful of the informed, and even more questions about presumptuously proposed governmental solutions that could do far more harm than good.

Consider, for instance, the harm some worried onlookers are said

to expect from President Barack Obama’s so-far incomplete Clean Power Plan under which the Environmental Protection Agency would force states to write laws reducing national carbon emissions to the tune of 30 percent by 2030.

Good-bye coal, good-bye as many as 800,000 jobs, hello far steeper utility bills, hello to a much flimsier economy and hello to a less stout grid system.

Laurence Tribe, a liberal Harvard law processor who usually pats Obama on the back but is now arguing in court for those challenging him, says the whole notion is unbelievably unconstitutional. Instead of executing the law, the executive through such a move would be making laws by exercising authority it has not been legally granted, he says.

The California fix, the congressional intimidation and the Obama plan are just a hint of the financial devastation and shrinkage of freedom that could come the world’s way if the extremists get their way. There are far more sensible answers even if their fears are correct, and the debate about that is far from over.