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Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Vol. 9 No. 361

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PHL’S FOREIGN-CURRENCY HOLDINGS DOWN TO $80.43B AS OF END-SEPTEMBER

GIR drops to 4-month low

INSIDE

NEW CONCERN WORLDWIDE: NURSE IN SPAIN GETS EBOLA The World BusinessMirror

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US top court hands big win to gay-marriage backers

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ASHINGTON—The Supreme Court unexpectedly cleared the way on Monday for a dramatic expansion of gay marriage in the United States and may have signaled that it’s only a matter of time before same-sex couples can marry in all 50 states.

Rejecting appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans, the Supreme Court effectively made such marriages legal in 30 states, up from 19 and Washington, D.C., taking in every region of the country.

While the ruling stops short of resolving for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide, it is a major victory for advocates of gay marriage.

It continues a dramatic turnaround on the issue across the US in recent years, with gay marriage generally winning approval in court cases, state legislatures and public opinion polls. Almost immediately, exuberant couples began receiving marriage licenses previously denied to them.

“This is the dream day,” said Sharon Baldwin, a plaintiff in a challenge to Oklahoma’s ban, as she and her partner got their license in the Tulsa County Clerk’s Office. Lindsey Oliver, 30, and Nicole Pries, 42, received the first same-sex marriage license issued from the Richmond Circuit Court Clerk’s office in Virginia.

Directly affected by Monday’s orders were Wisconsin, Indiana,

An ambulance transporting a Spanish nurse believed to have contracted the Ebola virus from a 69-year-old Spanish priest leaves Alcorcon Hospital in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday. The nurse who treated a missionary for the disease at a Madrid hospital tested positive for the virus. AP/Andres KudAcKi

New concern worldwide: Nurse in Spain gets Ebola

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continued to rule out any blanket ban on travel from West Africa.

People leaving the outbreak zone are checked for fevers before they’re allowed to board airplanes, but the disease’s incubation period is 21 days and symptoms could arise later.

Airline crews and border agents already watch for obviously sick passengers, and in a high-level meeting at the White House, officials discussed potential options for screening passengers when they arrive in the US, as well.

Nancy Castles, a spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has had employees on site at more than a dozen major international airports in the US like LAX for many years.

Screening of passengers starts with Customs and Border Protection agents, who work with CDC when they have a case they are concerned about.

Obama said the US will be “working on protocols to do additional passenger screening both at the source and here in the United States.” He did not outline any details or offer a timeline for when new measures might begin.

Additional screening would not

ASHINGTON—Raising fresh concern around the world, a nurse in Spain on Monday became the first person known to catch Ebola outside the outbreak zone in West Africa.

In the US, President Barack Obama said the government was considering ordering more careful screening of airline passengers arriving from the region.

In dealing with potential Ebola cases, Obama said, “we don’t have a lot of margin for error.”

Already hospitalized in the US, a critically ill Liberian man, Thomas Duncan, began receiving an experimental drug in Dallas. But there were encouraging signs for an American video journalist who returned from Liberia for treatment. Ashoka Mukpo, 33, was able to walk off the plane before being loaded on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance, and his father said his symptoms of fever and nausea appeared mild.

“It was really wonderful to see his face,” said Dr. Mitchell Levy, who talked to his son over a video chat system at Nebraska Medical Center.

In Spain, the stricken nurse had been part of a team that treated two missionaries flown home to Spain after becoming infected with Ebola in West Africa.

The nurse’s only symptom was a fever, but the infection was confirmed by two tests, Spanish health officials said. She was being treated in isolation, while authorities drew up a list of people she had had contact with. Medical workers in Texas were among Americans waiting to find out whether they had been infected by Duncan, the African traveler.

In Washington, the White House

have caught Duncan because he wasn’t exhibiting any Ebola symptoms when he arrived in the US. The Obama administration maintains that the best way to protect Americans is to end the outbreak in Africa.

To that end, the US military was working on Monday on the first of 17 promised medical centers in Liberia and training up to 4,000 soldiers this week to help with the Ebola crisis.

The US is equipped to stop any further cases that reach this country, White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“The tragedy of this situation is that Ebola is rapidly spreading among populations in West Africa who don’t have that kind of medical infrastructure,” Earnest said.

About 350 US troops are already in Liberia, the Pentagon said, to begin building a 25-bed field hospital for medical workers infected with Ebola. A torrential rain delayed the start of the job on Monday.

The virus has taken an especially devastating toll on health-care workers, sickening or killing more than 370 in the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone— places that already were short on doctors and nurses before Ebola. AP

Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia.

Officials in those states had appealed lower court rulings in an effort to preserve their bans.

Couples in six other states— Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming—should be able to get married in short order since those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that have been on hold.

Gay marriage has been a volatile social issue in America over the past decade, one that has veered from helping Republicans turn out their conservative base during George W. Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004 to one that now vexes the party.

Public support has swung rapidly in favor of same-sex marriage in recent years.

That’s a big shift since the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared the state’s marriage ban unconstitutional in 2003, prompting states around the US to pass marriage bans. Lower courts have overturned one same-sex marriage ban after another following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in June 2013 that partially struck down a Clinton-era federal law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

Gay-marriage proponents have since enjoyed a stunning string of legal victories, winning more than 20 court decisions around the US. AP

DErEk kiTcHEn carries kody Partridge as they celebrate following a news conference on Monday in Salt Lake city, where the US Supreme court rejected an appeal from Utah and four other states that had sought to bar weddings between gay couples. AP/ricK Bowmer

Warships of rival Koreas exchange warning shots Pope seeks frank, fearless debate on family issues

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EOUL, South Korea—Warships from the rival Koreas exchanged warning shots on Tuesday after a North Korean ship briefly violated the disputed western sea boundary, a South Korean defense official said.

The shots were fired into the sea and there have been no reports of injuries and damage to the ships of either side, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing office policy. Such exchanges are not uncommon at the sea boundary, the scene of several deadly maritime skirmishes between the Koreas in recent years. But the latest incident happened three days after a group of high-profile North Korean officials made a surprise visit to South Korea and agreed to resume seniorlevel talks.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday stressed the need to hold high-level talks on a regular basis, saying she hopes North Korea would show how sincere it is about improving ties.

The South Korean official said

HwAng Pyong So (left), vice chairman of north korea’s national Defense commission, shakes hands with South korean Unification Minister ryoo kihl-jae upon his arrival at a hotel in incheon, South korea, on october 4. Hwang, north korea’s presumptive no. 2 and other members of Pyongyang’s inner circle made a surprise trip to South korea for the close of the Asian games, Seoul officials said, a visit that will include the rivals’ highest level face-to-face talks in five years. AP/YonhAP, shin Jun-hee

the North Korean ship was in South Korea-controlled waters for about 10 minutes before it retreated to its waters.

He said a South Korea navy ship first broadcast a warning and then fired warning shots before the North Korean ship fired back at waters near the South Korean ship.

The South Korean ship returned

fire into the sea near the North Korean ship, the official said.

North Korean navy ships and fishing boats frequently violate the boundary drawn by the Americanled UN command at the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s without the North’s consent.

The line cuts North Korea off from rich fishing waters. AP

ATICAN CITY—Pope Francis urged bishops on Monday to speak their minds without fear about contentious issues like contraception, gays, marriage and divorce at the start of a two-week meeting aimed at making the church’s teaching on family matters relevant to today’s Catholics.

Francis told bishops they shouldn’t even be afraid of showing him disrespect, saying he wants a frank debate that shouldn’t be tempered by fears that some issues are too taboo to even be discussed. “You have to say what you feel the Lord tells you to say, without concerns of human respect and without fear,” Francis instructed the bishops at the start of their meeting.

At the same time, he urged the nearly 200 cardinals, bishops and priests gathered for the synod to listen to one another with humility “and welcome with an open heart what our brothers say.”

The run-up to the meeting has been marked by mudslinging between conservative and progressive churchmen over issues such as whether Catholics who divorce and remarry without an annulment can receive Communion.

Church teaching says such Catholics are living in sin and cannot receive the sacraments. While insisting he is a “son of the church,” Francis has said the church must show more mercy and be a “field hospital” for wounded souls, suggesting he is seeking some sort of accommodation that conservatives say simply does not exist.

In a bid to encourage free-wheeling debate, the Vatican is restricting public information about what is said behind closed doors during the synod, not releasing texts of individual bishops as it has done in the past.

In a measure to inform the debate, Francis decided last year to send a 39-point questionnaire to bishops’ conferences around the world, seeking input from ordinary Catholics about their acceptance of church teaching on a host of issues related to Catholic family life.

The surveys confirmed that while most Catholics believe in the indissolubility of marriage, the vast majority of Catholics ignore and reject church teaching on sex and contraception.

The responses also said the church must develop a pastoral plan to minister

to gays in civil unions and to children being raised in such families, making the synod the first time the Vatican is addressing homosexuality on a pastoral level. Church reform groups have said such honest responses, and the pope’s insistence that no issue is too taboo to be discussed, are reason for hope. Conservative churchmen, however, are hoping that the synod will simply reaffirm church doctrine and make it more known and understood by Catholics.

A top synod official, Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary, suggested that one answer to the problem of divorced and remarried Catholics was to simplify the annulment process. That way, he said, divorcing couples could better know how marriages can be annulled since “it does not seem hazardous...to believe that many marriages celebrated in the church may be invalid.”

In fact, Francis has quoted a former archbishop of Buenos Aires as saying half the marriages celebrated in the church are invalid, primarily because the bride and groom didn’t fully know what they were getting into or appreciate that marriage is a lifelong commitment. AP

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9? MICROSOFT GOES STRAIGHT TO WINDOWS 10

Life

destined to be

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eAr lord, we wish to be the person we decide to be. We would appreciate if we are destined to be at your side in heaven.

We are destined to be of big help to our fellowmen. We are destined to be your followers and great evangelizers.

We are destined to be the promoters of the good news. And destined to be the true children of god the father. Amen! ralph w. emerson and louie m. lacson Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

‘Alien’ At 35: Sigourney WeAver reflectS on ridley Scott’S mASterpiece

BusinessMirror

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

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014 D1

By Paresh Dave | Los Angeles Times

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kipping over Windows “9”, Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 to steer far away from displeasure with the company’s current computer operating system.

Expected to go on sale in the middle of next year, 30 years after version 1.0 launched the iconic brand, Windows 10 is the first built to power any size gadget from smartphones to TV screens, company executives announced in an event at the close of September.

The unveiling was geared toward large companies that drive Microsoft’s highmargin software licensing business.

The early details might not be enough to get those businesses excited about a major software overhaul, but they represented progress for the troubled technology giant, analysts said.

“This is a pretty audacious move

for Microsoft,” said Rob Enderle, a technology analyst who used Windows 10 demos on Tuesday. “They are trying for something much bigger than they have ever done before.”

The user experience on Windows 10 more closely resembles classic Windows rather than the grid-style layout Microsoft switched to when it released Windows 8 two years ago. The latter design was panned for confusing users and slowing down tasks, leaving Windows 7 far more popular than Windows 8. Only 20 percent of businesses run Windows 8, Continued on D2

Your computing experience redefined

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ommitted to redefining the computing experience through progressive design, Acer Philippines (www.acer.com.ph) announces the new Acer Aspire V5 laptop series: a sterling demonstration of how better and bolder can sometimes mean thinner and lighter. the new V5 series, which comes in three practical screen sizes (11.6", 14" and 15.6") and multiple color options, is now much slimmer than previous-generation models. it is also available in different performance and graphics capabilities, with a choice of touch or nontouch screen.

As part of Acer Philippines’ newly forged partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA), you can now purchase the Acer Aspire V5 series laptop and get a free limited-edition NBA laptop backpack.

From the outside, the updated Acer Aspire V5 looks slender and stylish. inside, it is smooth, fast and ultra-responsive, with more powerful graphics, high-definition panels and solid-state drives. You can choose from the latest intel or Amd processors to power your Acer Aspire V5 and select either the NVidiA GeForce Gt7XXm series or Amd Radeon Hd8750 discrete graphics for fast casual gaming and rich responsive multimedia.

You can also enjoy stunning audio quality thanks to the four built-in speakers and integrated dolby digital Plus Home theater. these innovations come to life on the

Aspire V5’s vibrant high-definition display. All configurations come with a full-size backlit keyboard, the key cap area of which is 8 percent larger than previous-generation models, making typing easier, faster and more comfortable. the Acer Aspire V5 is a strong and reliable business performer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it, too. the Acer Games portal delivers a dynamic gaming experience out of the box, while the Amazon 1Button serves

he country’s foreign-exchange reserves slipped anew in September due to declines in the central bank’s gold and other foreign-currencydenominated holdings, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday.

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) as of end-September totaled only $80.43 billion, which was lower by $440 million from the previous month’s $80.87 billion. This also represented a $3.07-billion drop from $83.507 billion in the same month last year.

This was the country’s lowest hoard of foreign-currency holdings in four months.

Across GIR components, the largest decline was seen in the central bank’s gold holding, as revaluation adjustments

9? microsoft goes straight to windows 10 A SCREENSHOT of the revamped desktop and start menu of the upcoming Windows 10.

By Bianca Cuaresma

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as a utility for your online shopping and lifestyle needs. meanwhile, for hassle-free data management, the Acer Aspire V5 series laptop also includes an Sd Card reader, two USB ports and an Acer Converter Port.

With a wide range of performance and entertainment features as well as multiple screen and color options, the Acer Aspire V5 is a top pick for anyone looking for a versatile new laptop.

Continued on A2

THINNER, more stylish and more powerful is the Acer Aspire V5 laptop series.

holy family mosaic A worker at the Holy Family Parish Church in Makati City cleans a tile mosaic of the Holy Family. The artwork is a source of pride for the area’s parishioners. NONIE REYES

surprise iphone 6 plus feature: it bends

By Julia Love

San Jose Mercury News

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FteR two weeks of breathless coverage, we thought we’d scrutinized the iPhone 6 Plus from every angle.

But we didn’t think to ask whether it would be compatible with skinny jeans. over the past few days, some users have come forward on social media claiming that their coveted 6 Plus has started to bend. most of the incidents arose after users sat for an extended period of time with the phones in their pockets. People who wear tight pants appear to be most at risk.

At first, the phenomenon was documented largely through twitter posts topped off with the hashtag “#bendgate.” But yesterday, Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox therapy, an online technology show, put the rumors to the test. in the video, Hilsenteger demonstrates how his new 6 Plus warps under pressure from his fingers. “this was painful to do,” he said. “maybe this is enough information to push you in the

direction of buying the [iPhone 6] over the 6 Plus.” the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple’s first “phablet,” vanished almost immediately after it debuted in stores on Friday, forcing some who had spent hours in line waiting to leave emptyhanded. the phone, which measures 5.5 inches diagonally, has been hailed for its light and thin feel, due in part to its aluminum shell. the material is also famous for its malleability—we wrap leftovers in aluminum foil, after all—so perhaps Apple should have braced itself for a more flexible phone.

Still, some were puzzled that such a defect could slip past the valley’s consummate perfectionist. “i’m really surprised that this didn’t show up at Apple before when they did testing,” said eric Virey of Yole developpement, a French research firm.

But as tech Crunch pointed out, finding flaw in Apple’s latest gadget has become a favorite fall pastime in the valley. the tech news site added that reports of bending surfaced with the iPhone 5s and 5c. (For our part, we’re a bit bewildered that consumers in a yoga hot spot like the Bay would be so offended by a phone that bends.)

A spokesman for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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A YOuTubE video from the gadget review show unbox Therapy showed how the iPhone 6 Plus could be easily bent.

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SUSPENDED! Sports

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| Wednesday, OCtOber 8, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

BusinessMirror

!

D E ND E P SUS YounGest Free aGent

Five-year-old free agent guard Jp Gibson scores while being held up by 7-foot-1 rudy Gobert of the utah Jazz after signing a oneday contract with the team. Gibson, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2012, joins the Jazz on the bench for an open scrimmage at energysolutions arena on Monday in salt lake City. AP

By Beth Harris

Michael Phelps also loses six months of funding from the sport’s national governing body as a result of his second DUI arrest.

The 29-year-old swimmer is banned from participating in USA Swimmingsanctioned meets through April 6, 2015.

The Associated Press

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ICHAEL PHELPS’S comeback took a major hit on Monday, with USA Swimming suspending the 18-time Olympic champion for six months and forcing him to withdraw from next year’s world championships.

Phelps also lost six months of funding from the sport’s national governing body as a result of his second DUI arrest. The 29-year-old swimmer is banned from participating in USA Swimming-sanctioned meets through April 6, 2015.

Phelps can still train with his North Baltimore club, but he had already qualified for the world championships in Russia next August, which is the biggest international meet leading up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Phelps came out of retirement earlier this year with his sights set on competing at a fifth Olympics in Rio. Being barred from the world meet could put a serious dent in those ambitions.

His latest arrest came about a month after Phelps won three golds and two silvers at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia. He had retired after the 2012 London Olympics, having won a record 18 gold medals and 22 medals in four games.

Phelps’s monthly funding stipend of $1,750 will be halted for six months, costing him a total of $10,500. That is small change compared to the millions he earns through several major endorsements, including Aqua Sphere, Subway, Under Armour, Omega and Master Spas.

“Michael accepts USA Swimming’s sanctions,” according to a statement from his representatives at Octagon. “He has apologized for his actions and, as he shared yesterday, is taking steps to address them.”

Over the weekend, Phelps announced he was entering a six-week, in-patient program, a week after he was arrested and charged with drunken driving in his hometown of Baltimore.

“Swimming is a major part of my life, but right now I need to focus my attention on me as an individual, and do the necessary work to learn from this experience and make better decisions in the future,” he said in a series of posts on his Twitter account.

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MiCHael pHelps could not swim in all major competitions for six months. AP

US Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said, “We think the sanctions are appropriate and we are glad that Michael is seeking help. We are grateful that nobody was hurt and appreciate the speed at which USA Swimming and Michael took action.”

USA Swimming said Phelps violated its Code of Conduct, and cited a section of its 2014 Rule Book in punishing Phelps. Its executive committee approved the sanctions, which take effect immediately.

“Michael’s conduct was serious and required significant consequences,” said Chuck Wielgus, USA Swimming executive director. “We endorse and are here to fully support his personal development actions.”

While Phelps was still working out his schedule for the upcoming year, he will miss the first three US Grand Prix meets in Minneapolis in November, Austin, Texas, in January and Orlando, Florida, in February.

The earliest he could return to Grand Prix competition would be at a meet in Mesa, Arizona, that begins April 15.

USA Swimming’s punishment was its harshest ever imposed on its superstar. The governing body suspended Phelps for three months in 2009 after a photo emerged of him using a marijuana pipe, even though he was not charged.

USA Swimming took no action after Phelps’s 2004 drunken driving arrest when he was 19.

Phelps was charged on September 30 with driving under the influence, excessive speed and crossing double lane lines on Interstate 95. He registered 0.14 percent on a blood-alcohol test after he was stopped on a speeding violation; the legal limit is 0.08 percent in Maryland.

His trial is scheduled for November 19.

If convicted, Phelps faces up to one year in jail, a $1,000 fine and the loss of his driver’s license for six months.

In 2004 Phelps was arrested and charged with drunken driving on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, fresh from the Athens Olympics, where he won six gold medals.

Phelps pleaded guilty to the charges, but as a young first-time offender he avoided conviction. A judge imposed 18 months’ probation and a fine but waived the conviction, which means Phelps now faces the same penalties a first-time offender would.

By Catherine N. Pillas

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FiFa’s $27-M World Cup FilM Fails to inspire Z

URICH—Funded with $27 million of Fifa money, the movie United Passions is acquiring almost mythical status in football circles.

Mythical in the sense that the film, which was shown at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday, has not

been seen by many, and its relationship to documentary truth about Fifa’s troubled recent history is loose.

In industry circles, United Passions would easily be defined as a box office flop—even with star power from Gerard Depardieu, Sam Neill and Tim Roth.

in this May 18 file photo, Fifa president sepp Blatter (right) and actor Gerard depardieu pose for photographers as they arrive for the screening of the Homesman at the 67th international film festival, Cannes France. AP

But even in a World Cup year, a film telling the governing body’s historical story is a tough sell when it carries the toxic tag The Fifa Movie.

Suspicion it is a vanity project with script approval for President Sepp Blatter, portrayed by Academy Award-nominated Roth, is fueled by onscreen lines like one spoken in 1998, soon after his first election in what was widely reported as a ballot bought by some of his supporters.

“The slightest breach of ethics will be severely punished,” Roth-as-Blatter tells Fifa marketing executives.

The one-off screening in Fifa’s home city on Sunday was introduced by a festival staffer with thanks to Fifa for making this Swiss premiere happen.

It was watched by about 120 people in a 500-capacity theater at the Arena multiplex. At a top price of 22 Swiss francs ($22.70) per ticket, including the one bought by the Associated Press, the take would be about 2,400 Swiss francs ($2,480).

That should boost the international box office takings to between $150,000 and $200,000, according to figures supplied by film industry data analyst Rentrak.

Switzerland became only the seventh country to screen United Passions since its world premiere at Cannes in May, according to Rentrak, which monitors screenings and earnings in 70 countries.

Depardieu and Blatter attended the Cannes launch.

But it was only in Ukraine, which had a June 5 release, that the film could be seen before the 2014 World Cup kicked off in Brazil on June 12.

Host nation distributors passed on it, even with a starring role for Neill as Joao Havelange, the most powerful Brazilian in Fifa’s 110-year history. He resigned last year as honorary president to avoid sanctions for taking million-dollar kickbacks from World Cup deals.

France also passed on the French production, albeit in English, which stars one of its most celebrated actors in Depardieu playing Jules Rimet, who founded the World Cup. In France it went straight to DVD in July.

Russia was the main market with box office earnings topping 5.7 million rubles ($144,000), according to Rentrak. The 2018 World Cup host had 162 screens showing United Passions on its July 3 release. As word of mouth spread, 73 screens showed it the second week. It then closed.

A two-week run in Portugal reaped €5,300 ($6,650); three weeks in Serbia brought in 254,000 dinar ($2,700); box office returns for releases in Slovenia and Hungary were not available to Rentrak.

The clear pattern of failure for United Passions does not mean it is the travesty Fifa critics hoped for. It is dull rather than offensive.

Fifa did, however, encourage skeptics by handling the project like a guilty secret.

Some members of Blatter’s executive committee—with clean reputations and no reason to fear the story—said they had no idea Fifa’s money was spent this way.

Only in June did Fifa finance director Markus Kattner confirm that Fifa paid 90 percent of the film’s budget using cash approved in a vaguely worded 2009 financial report entry.

Fifa had wanted to fund a movie for its centenary in 2004, and revived the plan when French producers approached.

“Fifa then agreed to contribute,” the governing body said in June, “considering this to be a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the breadth of Fifa’s work to develop football globally.”

Yet when Depardieu visited Fifa in October 2012 and at the Ballon d’Or gala the following January, the film project was not mentioned in news releases.

Blatter was also evasive. In an August 2013 interview with the AP, he dismissed a question about who might play him in a movie as if the thought never occurred to him. Roth was due in Zurich days later for filming.

The film is no classic, for sure. There are too many men in meetings, and not enough action—football on the field or scandal in the board room—to sustain interest.

On film industry web site IMDB, 700 users have graded the movie at 3.2 out of 10. AP

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THE ART OF SCIENCE BusinessMirror

E1 Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Editor: Tet Andolong

Megaworld builds tallest tower in Iloilo

IDEAS BEYOND THE DRAWINGS

William Ti, principal architect, WTA Architecture and Design Studio

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The art of science

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B R R R

OR William Ti, principal architect at WTA Architecture and Design Studio, architecture is an art or science that should not only develop a concept that will please the people but also involve a rational process behind every design.

“A design has to project something or throw something out there.

In short, I believe architects must focus and be thinkers because we’re more into ideas and not only drawings,” Ti said during a recent interview with the BusinessMirror.

“There is a need to reorient students, who want to pursue architecture, that the discipline is not producing a design. In expounding, the University of Santo Tomas alumnus pointed out that sustainability and functionality are important elements in the study of architecture. Future architects must also think that they should design and build structures that will benefit society,” Ti said.

Further, Ti believes architecture plays a strong role in the development of cities. This means good architecture can transform a city that is liveable and promotes sustainability. “This is also an important element for architects,” Ti said. At the moment, WTA is currently busy preparing for the

Venice Architecture Biennale 2014.

It has been invited to be one of the exhibitors in the prestigious event in a collateral event called “Time, Space, Existence.” It will present an installation called Fragments: Uncertainties and Characters, which showcases the various cultural, social, and political influences that mold the urban character of the cities in the Philippines, particularly that of Manila.

“We intend to show the world the current state of Philippine architecture. In effect, we aim to stir constructive discourses that will lead to further analyses of our local architecture in a global context, as well as dialogues between our architecture and that of other cultures,” Ti said. “We are putting on display this existing situation so the audience can compare what’s on hand and what we intend to do in the future. We want to bring to Venice the spirit of our place—the genius loci—distinct to Manila,” Ti said.

“We’ve been asking ourselves: ‘Should the cities of tomorrow continue to be set on a formal planned guiderail or can more flexible rules allow for the development of more varied communities? Should the ground upon which architecture is developed continue to be predefined as sites are today? Should we look for a less deterministic framework to guide and define the cities of tomorrow?’ What we present then displaces the multiplicity of building types engaged by the practice,” Ti added.

In pictures, the Fragments exhibit presents a grand view of Metro Manila as seen through their eyes, illustrating the richness and diversity of typologies and character, which make the city an enticing setting.

The map shows how each neighborhood is perceived and notes peculiar characteristics that influence WTA’s design sensibilities.

According to Ti, in essence, Manila, which once held barren districts, is now thriving with structures that host multinational companies and iconic commercial and residential developments. Long-standing buildings from old avenues are being preserved through the furtherance of its purpose and role in the growth of its provenance.

He added that the number of city centers, or at least those that are aspiring to serve as one, are on the rise, bringing together the “live-work-play” aspects in a single dense area to fulfill the promise of convenience and modern living.

Founded in 2007 WTA is a rela-

ICTSI setting aside $300M for Laguna depot, MICT

tively young player in the industry and is composed of fairly young professionals.

Ti said that when it comes to design, they put more premiums on social relevance—those that relate to the community, promote urbanity, and develop the society. He says this comes into realization by making sure the firm’s projects are built with foresight, taking careful consideration of how a development would spur growth in its locality and how it would work for people in defining their sense of self and community.

“We tried exploring how we can tackle them both vertically and horizontally. These table maps are a sampling from the greater metropolis and are the fragments that make up and define the city,” Ti added. “The city is our playground, but at the same time, it is our home which nourishes and shelters us.

And as architects, we tend to have fantastical visions and unrelenting hopes for our city. It is, however, and will always be non-negotiable for us to prime our projects and even our exhibits with socially aware yet uncompromising design sensibilities.”

After establishing its mark in the Philippines by having marquee clients such as Security Bank, Banco de Oro and Robinsons, WTA plans to expand overseas.

“Two years from now, we plan to open an office in Singapore plus a satellite office in China. In five years, we plan open an office either in Seattle or London,” Ti said.

EGAWORLD, the country’s leading real-estate developer and pioneer of townships, introduces another modern luxury residential condominium that is poised to be the tallest building in the region. Standing 80 meters high at 22 storys, The Palladium will also be Western Visayas’s first residential tower with its own skygardens in various floors overlooking the spectacular views of the booming city.

“Since last year, we have been experiencing consistent growth in the demand for residential towers in Iloilo Business Park. Every day, we get inquiries about new projects and everyone wants the best views and amenities from the condominiums that they look for. That is why selling the four towers of our first two residential projects, One Madison Place and Lafayette Park Square, was very easy. And now, we are on our fifth tower which will be offering another set of unique, first-of-its-kind amenities and features that Ilonggos can boast of,” said Jennifer Palmares-Fong, head of marketing, Iloilo Business Park.

Named after one of the earth’s rarest precious elements, The Palladium, will be built as a stylish urban oasis with four skygardens where residents can relax and enjoy serene moments with nature.

A total of 482 units ranging from studio (from 29.50 square meters), executive studio (from 39.50 sq m), one bedroom (from 49.50 sq m) to two bedrooms (from 83.50 sq m) will be available at The Palladium, which will be divided into North Wing and South Wing. At the topmost floor of the tower, there will be exclusive loft units ranging from 76 sq m to 115 sq m.

Residents of The Palladium will also get to enjoy the state-of-theart amenities that the tower offers.

These include an infinity pool, a children’s pool, outdoor and indoor fitness center, day-care center, lawn area for events, and a function hall.

From the outside, the fi rst two levels of The Palladium will be allocated for commercial and retail shops.

“We are offering a unique living experience at The Palladium.

Our loft units will be first-of-itskind in Iloilo City and the entire Western Visayas, and our amenities will raise the bar of this city’s lifestyle for our future residents,”

Palmares-Fong added.

Iloilo Business Park is a 72-hectare township development, which is poised to be the Western Visayas’s biggest business and tourism hub at the site of the old airport in Mandurriao district.

Megaworld has allotted P35 billion for the development of the township in the next 10 years, making it the company’s biggest single investment outside Metro Manila.

Iloilo Business Park will be home to luxury residential condominiums, state-of-the-art business-process outsourcing office towers, a Megaworld Center Mall, a 1.1-kilometer Festive Walk commercial and retail strip, open parks, transport hub, first-class hotels such as Richmonde Hotel Iloilo and Courtyard

by Marriott Iloilo, and the muchanticipated 3,700-seater Iloilo Convention Center.

The Iloilo Business Park is expected to bring Megaworld’s pioneering “live-work-play-learn” township to Western Visayas, following the success of other townships such as the 18.5-hectare Eastwood City, known to be the Philippines’s first information-technology park; the 50-hectare McKinley Hill, 34.5-hectare McKinley West in Fort Bonifacio; the 15.4-hectare Uptown Bonifacio and the 5-hectare Forbes Town Center in Bonifacio Global City; the 25-hectare Newport City in Pasay City, home of the famous Resorts World Manila; the 12.3-hectare Woodside City in Pasig City; the 11-hectare Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City; and the 28.8-hectare The Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

New Sandari Batulao property owner

MA. LUALHATI ROJALES, licensed broker of A&M Luckyland Realty; Maria Guia C. Buenaventura, vice president for sales of Citystate Properties and Management Corp. (CPMC), Richard Atienza (lot owner); Robert Moore (lot owner’s partner); Reina Kathleen L. Hernandez, sales operations officer of CPMC.

PROPERTY C

ITYSTATE Properties and Management Corp. (CPMC) recently turned over the Transfer Certificate of Title to Richard Atienza for a lot he purchased at Nalé, Sandari Batulao.

The event took place at Crust Brick Oven Pizza, Sandari Batulao’s latest restaurant, which serves hand-tossed Neapolitan-style pizzas using the finest ingredients.

CPMC is the developer of Sandari Batulao, a luxurious eco-centric mountainside residential and leisure development with majestic Mount Batulao as its backdrop. Sandari Batulao is 10 minutes away from Metro Tagaytay and 15 minutes away from the beaches of Nasugbu, Batangas. www.sandaribatulao.com

E1

nternational Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is allotting an estimated $300 million for the upgrade of the yard facilities of the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and a planned inland depot in Laguna.

“The $300 million is over [a period of] 10 years...$100 million is for Berth 7 and the remaining $200 million is for equipment, system upgrades and buildings,” ICTSI head for Asia, Pacific and the Subcontinent Christian R. Gonzalez said in an interview.

Gonzalez stressed that the figure is still an estimate. For the $100-million additional funding for Berth 7, only $35 million—allocated for yard construction—has been approved. The remaining $65 million, to be spent for construction of the berth, has not yet been given the go signal.

With the construction of the 9-hectare yard in MICT and the inland container depot in Laguna, yard capacity is expected to increase by 20 percent, Gonzalez added.

Continued on A2

PESO exchange rates n US 44.7730

US holiday AQUINO’S INVESTMENT HAUL sales seen FROM E.U.TRIP RAISED TO $3B rising most T in three yrs he investment reward of President Aquino’s recent official trip to Europe can go up to as high as $3 billion, according to Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo.

This, he said, is because other substantial investments were not counted in the initially reported $2.3-billion committed investments that the President brought home from his four-nation European tour.

“They’re premature, but they’re being looked at very seriously [by the potential investors],”Domingo said. When asked on the value of the tentative investments on top of the initial $2.3 billion, Domingo said the additional figure may exceed $700 million.

Domingo was among the Cabinet officials who accompanied President Aquino in the eight-day trip to Europe to secure more investments and harp the country’s solid economic performance.

According to earlier reports, the President secured $2.3 billion in investments from his visit to Belgium, Spain, France and Germany, after talking with at least 19 companies.

The investments will go to various sectors, such as information technology-business-process management, infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and transportation.

DOMINGO: “They’re premature but they’re being looked at very seriously [by the potential investors].”

But, Domingo said, the $2.3 billion did not yet include the investments that may come in if they succeed in convincing German automaker Volkswagen to set up a global manufacturing hub in the country.

According to data from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union remains the largest investment partner of the Philippines, accounting for about 30 percent of total foreign direct investments in 2013.Eurostat database figures also show that the Philippines has found investment opportunities in the EU, having cumulatively invested some €1.4 billion in Europe as of 2012. Catherine N. Pillas

U

nited States retail sales this holiday season may rise the most in three years, as the improving employment picture gives more shoppers the means to splurge on gifts, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said.

Purchases may advance 4.1 percent to $617 billion in November and December, the Washington-based NRF said on Tuesday. The increase would top last year’s 3.1-percent gain and the 10-year average of 2.9 percent, the trade group said.

Steady employment gains are giving more consumers the wherewithal to buy presents this year, and helping others feel secure enough in their jobs to spend more. Even so, stagnant wage growth has kept many shoppers reliant on markdowns and may prompt retailers to offer steep discounts, just like they did last year, when a government shutdown and extreme weather kept some consumers at home.

“The ability for consumers to spend is there,” Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at See “US,” A2

n japan 0.4116 n UK 72.0039 n HK 5.7735 n CHINA 7.2800 n singapore 35.1078 n australia 39.1099 n EU 56.6378 n SAUDI arabia 11.9347 Source: BSP (7 October 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

news@businessmirror.com.ph

ICTSI setting aside $300M GIR drops to 4-month low for Laguna depot, MICT Continued from A1

Continued from A1

Approval for Berth 7, Gonzalez said, has been pending since the reclamation of the area in 2012, together with Berth 6.

Gonzalez said the expansion of MICT is necessary, given that the throughput in the terminal is almost at 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), giving them the right to expand as stipulated in their contract with the government.

He said in just a year of container growth, Subic and Batangas would already be filled, thus, necessitating the expansion of MICT. The ICTSI head hinted that while the Philippine Ports Authority is supporting their development, other

parties are opposed to MICT’s expansion, as this will discourage firms from using Subic and Batangas ports.

On another planned project of the ICTSI, the inland container depot (ICD) in Laguna is likely to cost the port-management firm around $30 million for the entire venture.

Six hectares of the ICD will be utilized by ICTSI in March, while construction for the remaining 15 hectares is under way.

The firm earlier said the Laguna ICD is only one of two 20-hectare properties it purchased in anticipation of trade and economic growth; and the Laguna facility will add 250,000 TEUs to MICT’s annual capacity.

Gonzalez said for the Laguna ICD, he is targeting to cater to firms

in the same locale, such as Nestlé and Universal Robina Corp.

According to a previous statement, ICTSI will be incorporating rail provisions into the new MICT yard to augment the 21-hectare Laguna ICD. The ICD, then, will be linked to the MICT by road, and later rail, to ensure the seamless transfer of cargo from the Port of Manila to economic zones south of Metro Manila.

Without any further changes to the road network or additional truck restrictions, the firm said the completion of the new yards will raise the overall capacity of Manila’s two international ports to 4.2 million TEUs. Asian Terminal Inc.’s South Harbor has a declared capacity of 1.2 million TEUs.

Debt growth. . . continued from a8 While previously it usually took two years for Asean companies to pay debts, S&P Managing Director and Analytical Manager for Corporate Ratings in Asia Pacific Michael Seewald said Filipino firms can now settle debts in three-and-a -half-years—the longest in the region as a whole.

Looking forward, S&P projects the country’s credit quality will further decline over the next 12 months.

Javier said they see “no sign of a slowdown” in terms of spending, as local companies continue to invest mostly for organic growth of their respective businesses.

Merger and acquisitions are also

DOTC. . .

continued from a8

expected to rise in a year or two, as big and profitable investment opportunities in the domestic market become harder to find.

The Top 17 Filipino companies surveyed included Aboitiz Power Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Ayala Corp., Ayala Land Inc., DMCI Holdings Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., JG Summit Holdings Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Lopez Holdings Corp., Manila Electric Co., PAL Holdings Inc. Petron Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., San Miguel Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Universal Robina Corp. Roderick L. Abad

counters have also been added.

The modernized portion of the terminal has eight entry points and three customs stations. This allows the air hub to expand its airport operations by accommodating more international flights from Qatar Airways and Emirates.

“The airport’s passenger terminal building was expanded last May, providing new and modernized facilities to better serve the public and boosting annual passenger capacity to around 4 million from the previous 2.5 million,” the transport chief said.

due to the lower value of gold during the period pulled the BSP’s gold reserves to $7.57 billion, from $8.05 billion the previous month. This represented a loss of some $471.3 million in just a month.

The country’s foreign-currency denominated investments also incurred outflows totaling $70.08 billion in August to only $69.76 billion in September, or $322 million lower.

US. . . continued from a1 the NRF, said in an interview. “Retailers have conditioned consumers into looking for bargains. There are a lot of concerns out there, but putting those aside, if we don’t have any unusual factors like last year, it’s going to be a solid year.”

Online sales may rise as much as 11 percent to $105 billion in November and December, the NRF’s shop.org arm projected. That would be greater than the 8.6-percent sales growth last year.

Some consumers are starting early to get the best prices. Gena Shelton, a 34-year-old mother of one who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said she’s almost a third of the way through her holiday shopping list already.

Shelton bought a new house with her husband in May, and said she plans to keep her gift budget the same or smaller than last year.

Shopping ahead

“The reason I’m shopping more ahead than I normally do is that I would like to spend less,” said Shelton, who looks for coupons and savings codes online

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

TODAY’S WEATHER

OCTOBER 8, 2014 | WEDNESDAY

Typhoon is a cyclone category with wind strength of up to 181 kph while, Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is the result of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere tradewind convergence; widespread cloudiness, occasional thunderstorms, precipitation and moderate to strong surface winds are associated weather conditions.

TYPHOON “OMPONG” (VONGFONG) WAS LOCATED AT 1,400 KM EAST OF TUGUEGARAO CITY. MEANWHILE, ITCZ AFFECTING MINDANAO. (AS OF OCTOBER 7, 5:00 PM)

SBMA/CLARK 23 – 31°C METRO MANILA 24 – 32°C

TAGAYTAY CITY 21 – 31°C

FRIDAY

23 – 32°C

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TUGUEGARAO

23 – 29°C

24 – 29°C

23 – 29°C

23 – 30°C

Given the diminution of the reserves, the central bank said the GIR remains “ample” for its purpose as external sector buffer.

In particular, the GIR can cover 10.9 months’ worth of imports of goods, and payments of services and income.

This is also equivalent to 8.4 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity, or 6.1 times based on residual maturity.

to stretch her dollars. “They don’t know if you bought that Disney princess 70 percent off or for full price.”

Consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the US economy, has been seesawing in recent months as Americans grapple with sluggish wage growth.

After adjusting for inflation, purchases climbed 0.5 percent in August, the biggest gain in five months, according to figures from the commerce department. That followed a 0.1- percent drop the prior month.

Big-ticket items such as automobiles have led the gains as low interest rates and discounts prompt households to replace older models. Cars and light trucks sold at an average 16.7 million annualized rate from July through September, the best performance for any quarter since the first three months of 2006, according to industry data.

is holding back a more pronounced rebound. The jobless rate fell to a sixyear low of 5.9 percent in August as employers hired more workers than most economists forecast, the labor department reported last month.

The increase in jobs has so far failed to generate bigger pay increases as earnings per hour were little changed on average last month from August, the figures showed. Over the past 12 months, wages were up 2 percent, compared with a 3.1-percent increase in the year ended December 2007, when the last recession began.

This year’s back-to-school season, often seen as a harbinger for the holidays, was the slowest since the recession ended in 2009. Spending in the period rose 3.1 percent, missing a forecast for a 3.2-percent gain, according to research firm Customer Growth Partners Llc. Another sobering sign: Store traffic declined 4.2 percent in July and slipped an additional 4.7 percent in August, according to ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based research firm.

Uneven progress

While spending is climbing, uneven progress in the labor market

OCT 11

SATURDAY

24 – 30°C

TACLOBAN

23 – 31°C

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24 – 32°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

24 – 29°C

24 – 30°C

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24 – 29°C

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SBMA/ CLARK

23 – 30°C

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ZAMBOANGA

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 28°C

TACLOBAN CITY 23 – 32°C

METRO CEBU 23 – 31°C CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 23 – 28°C ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 29°C

PUERTO PRINCESA

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

23 – 28°C

23 – 29°C

SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

5:46 AM

5:41 PM

5:17 AM

5:34 PM

LOW TIDE

HIGH TIDE

22 – 30°C

24 – 29°C

HALF MOON FULL MOON

MANILA BAY

OCT 08

6:51 PM

24 – 29°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 29°C

23 – 30°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 30°C

OCT 16

3:12 PM

Cloudy skies with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms

Weekday hourly updates: 6:00 AM on Balitaan, 7:00 AM & 8:00 AM on Good Morning Boss!, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM on News@1, 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:00 PM on News@6

www.panahon.tv

SABAH CELEBES SEA

3:15 AM

0.23 METER

9:54 AM

0.91 METER

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and/or thunderstorms

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

METRO DAVAO 25 – 33°C

OCT 11

SATURDAY

24 – 31°C

16 – 22°C

LEGAZPI

FRIDAY

24 – 30°C

16 – 21°C

21 – 30°C

OCT 10

23 – 30°C

15 – 21°C

21 – 30°C

OCT 9

THURSDAY

24 – 31°C

BAGUIO

TAGAYTAY

Bloomberg News

METRO CEBU

LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 28°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 31°C

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

METRO DAVAO

TUGUEGARAO CITY 23 – 28°C BAGUIO CITY 15 – 22°C

OCT 10

METRO MANILA

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 23 – 28°C

OCT 9

THURSDAY

Payments for maturing obligations of the national government were also a factor contributing to lower foreign-currency reserves for the period, the BSP said.

The central bank also said the decline could have been larger if not for inflows from the foreign-exchange operations of the BSP during the month, the net foreign-currency deposits by the Treasurer of the Philippines and income from the BSP’s investments abroad.

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Gunmen shoot anti-pork activist, fail to kill him

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

P

ARTY-LIST Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna on Tuesday sought a congressional inquiry into the attempted killing of anti-pork-barrel activist Dexter Ian Selebrado in Tagum City on September 29.

In filing House Resolution 1545, Zarate said Selebrado, a community organizer, was shot twice by men onboard a motorcycle as he was coming home from an interprovincial launch of the People’s Initiative to Abolish the Pork Barrel (Piap).

The resolution directs the House Committee on Human Rights to investigate not only Selebrado’s case but previous attacks and harassments on other activists involved with the anti-porkbarrel campaign.

Zarate said, “The attack on Selebrado is alarming not only as an event in itself, but as the latest in a series of attacks on activists. This is an attack on the movement to exercise the democratic right of all to the people’s initiative against pork barrel.”

Zarate was a human-rights lawyer in Davao before joining the 16th Congress as Bayan Muna representative. Selebrado sustained injuries in the nape and upper pelvis, and is in critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.

Various groups that participated in the Piap, which has been holding mass actions all over the country in the past months to gather at least 10 million signatures, have called upon the administration to investigate the attack.

Selebrado said he believed military agents were the assailants.

“We condemn this violent act and will push for the investigation and punishment of the perpetrators behind Selebrado’s attack,” Zarate added.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, October 8, 2014 A3

Enrile tells SC: Sandiganbayan cannot suspend legislators

S

By Joel R. San Juan

EN. Juan Ponce Enrile has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Sandiganbayan from enforcing its suspension order against him pending the antigraft court’s ruling on the plunder and graft charges filed against him for his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso porkbarrel fund scam.

In a 47-page petition, Enrile insisted that neither the Sandiganbayan nor the Ombudsman has authority to impose disciplinary actions, such as preventive suspension, against members of Congress and the Judiciary.

Under the Ombudsman Act, Enrile noted that members of the Judiciary and Congress are not covered by its power to impose disciplinary actions owing to the doctrine of separation of powers.

He said only the Senate has the legal authority to order his preventive suspension from his office.

Furthermore, Enrile noted that Article VI, Section 16 (3) of the 1987 Constitution provides that “each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all its members, suspend or expel a member. A penalty of suspension, when imposed, shall not exceed 60 days.”

“Because members of Congress [including Enrile], the Judiciary and those to be im-

peached are excepted from the disciplinary authority of the Office of the Ombudsman, then the Office of the Ombudsman cannot initiate, or file a motion with the Sandiganbayan for the issuance of a preventive suspension as such measure or liability may be enforced only by the body having the legal disciplinary authority over the public officer concerned,” Enrile said.

“In the case of Enrile, the proper body with the legal disciplinary authority is the Senate,” he added.

Enrile noted that the offense of plunder, for which Enrile is indicted, is an offense alleged to have been committed “in relation to the office” of the public officer charge.

Hence, the charge of plunder against Enrile is in relation to his public office as senator.

Enrile is specifically seeking the High Court’s isuance of a temporary restraining order or a status quo order, enjoining the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division from implementing the suspension order issued against him on July 24, 2014.

ATTACK MODE Two US Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters assigned to Marine Medium

Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, fly in a tight formation over Clark Air Base in Pampanga during Philippines-US Amphibious Landing Exercise (Phiblex) 15. Phiblex is a bilateral training exercise designed to improve the interoperability, readiness and professional relationships between the US Marine Corps and partner nations. US Department of Defense photo

He pointed out that his suspension has no basis, since he has yet to be convicted of any crime.

“Enrile should enjoy full civil and political rights, and as the most senior member of the Senate, and, perhaps the entire Congress, who is also its minority leader and, therefore, is an ex officio member of all permanent committees of the Senate,” the petition stated.

Enrile has been charged along with Sens.

Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., alleged pork-barrel scam mastermind businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and several other government officials for their alleged involvement in the P10-billion porkbarrel fund scam.

The plunder and graft charges were filed based on the recommendation of the Nationa Bureau of Investigation’s fact-finding team that conducted a probe on the scam.

The accused allegedly received multimillion-peso kickbacks from their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations by endorsing PDAF-funded projects through fake non-governmental organizations put up

by Napoles.

Enrile has been placed under hospital arrest so that his health condition can be constantly monitored, since he is already 90 years old.

Estrada and Revilla are also currently detained at the National Police Custodial Center.

Economy

Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 A5

As impoverished Filipinos swell, DSWD unveils ‘near poor’ policy

T

By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

he Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has finally unveiled what it said was its policy on the “near poor”, a class of people that teeters on the brink of crashing down the economic ladder and would need help like the millions enrolled in its Conditional CashTransfer (CCT) Program.

At a learning forum on “People at the Edge: Defining the Near Poor of the Philippines” at a hotel in Quezon City, DSWD officials, along with Dr. Mahar Mangahas of Social Weather Stations, Dr. Ana Maria Tabunda of Pulse Asia and Romeo Recide, the interim deputy national statistician of the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA), discussed the latest policy direction and noted that, at more than 1 million households (HHs), indicates that the number of the near poor is significant.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman attended the forum and set the tenor for yet another expensive jab at poverty reduction, with the attention now focused on the yet-to-be-poor rather than the poorest-of-the-poor in the rural and urban areas, the very same beneficiaries of the CCT, which was copied from the Brazilian “Bolsa Familia” program.

Soliman said the DSWD initiated the

study on the near poor in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, which has been supporting the CCT in cooperation with the World Bank.

“This policy will allow us to define and identify members of this sector that cuts across the vulnerable and the disadvantaged in the Listahanan second round of assessment, and find ways how we can effectively address their concerns,” she added.

With Soliman saying the near poor should be helped, she is, in effect, saying that the DSWD now considers nearly 70 percent of the entire Philippine population as her clientele, which is a virtual admission that the CCT never reduced the number of the poor and, in fact, increased it since 2010.

The learning forum was part of the monthlong 25th National Statistics Month celebration under the theme “25 and Beyond: Solid and Responsive Philippine Statistical System in Sup-

briefs p7.7b allotted for classroom construction The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the release of P7.7 billion to the Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to address the shortage of classrooms nationwide.

This is the third batch of funds released this year from the Basic Education Facilities Fund (BEFF), which had an allocation of P39 billion from the 2014 General Appropriations Act. Prior to the latest release, the DBM had channeled to DepEd and the DPWH a total of P8.6 billion: P1.25 billion in the wake of Supertyphoon Yolanda and P7.35 billion as the first batch of funds released in the middle of the year.

The BEFF was spent for the construction, rehabilitation, replacement, completion and repair of school buildings in areas experiencing acute classroom shortage. It is also used for the construction of water and sanitation facilities, as well as the acquisition of school desks, furniture, and fixtures for the targeted public schools. PNA

kmu slams i.l.o. exec, hits 4-day workweek scheme The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) on Tuesday criticized the proposal for a fourday workweek, saying the scheme endorsed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) will only reduce the number of working days, but not the number of working hours. Instead of working only eight hours a day, workers will be forced to work 10 hours a day under the scheme, the group said.

KMU added that the four-day workweek won’t lead to a “happier, healthier and more sustainable society” as International Labor Organization(ILO) expert Jon Messenger claims.

On the contrary, it will pose dangers to the health and safety of workers, KMU said.

“Messenger’s critique of long hours of work should be directed at the four-day workweek scheme approved by the CSC, not at our defense of a five-day workweek,” KMU Chairman Elmer Labog said in a news statement.

“Given the current situation where workers are made to work for 40 hours a week, we prefer a five-day workweek with eight hours of work each day over a four-day workweek with 10 hours of work each day,” Labog said. Jonathan L. Mayuga

PHL a potential global dump after jpepa The ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) six years ago made the country a potential global dumping ground of toxic waste, environmental justice group BAN Toxics said on Tuesday.

The group fears that the Philippines is being primed to be the world’s toxic-waste dump made possible by Jpepa, a comprehensive trade agreement that is infamously known for its preferential treatment of toxic waste, hazardous chemicals and nuclear waste.

To prevent toxic waste from entering the Philippines and address the toxic provisons of Jpepa, the group underscored the need for the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment, an amendment to the Basel Convention which prohibits the transboundary movement of hazardous waste from developed countries to poorer countries for disposal or recycling. Jonathan L. Mayuga

port of Globalization and Regional Economic Integration.”

Tabunda stressed that the consistently poor, based on the meterstick of the DSWD, the PSA and other authorities, is 8.9 percent of HHs, while the transient poor comprise 38.6 percent of the HHs. If these segments are added, the total would be 59.5 percent, meaning more than half of the Philippine population is on the throes of poverty, which raises the issue of just how effective the CCT was.

For the incoming year, the CCT will have a budget in excess of P60 billion but this amount will not benefit the near poor, a social stratum that Dr. Vicente Pacqueo and his team at the Philippine Institute of Development Studies are trying to divine.

The independent Ibon Foundation has already determined that up to 67 percent of the entire Philippine population is poor and under its categorization, the near poor would actually cover that segment of society dependent on local livelihood, with practically no access to create inward remittances from relatives overseas, and constantly threatened by loss of jobs due to contractualization and redundancy.

For Pacqueo and his study team members Elvira M. Orbeta and Sol Francesca S. Cortes, the “near poor are nonpoor households who have high probability of becoming poor when faced with shocks and crises.”

The near poor, added Pacqueo, are those who have per-capita income higher than the poverty threshold, with small family size, the family head is educated, mostly

non-agricultural workers, more of them are unemployed, have access to electricity and live in houses made of strong materials.

Based on their reading, the near poor households may have assets that earn them some income for their basic needs, but risks like illness and natural disasters “may degrade their assets, reduce their income and, consequently, their ability to obtain their basic needs.”

Moreover, based on the data culled from the Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (APIS), household with incomes below the 1.28 threshold has more than 50-percent risk of becoming poor.

The proposed Near Poor Threshold is 1.28, or 28 percent, higher than the Total Poverty Threshold (TPT).

Given the official TPT at P9,686, the NPT of 1.28 is P12,400.

“This proposed ratio for NPT considers the risk of becoming poor and other risks arising from lack of absorptive capacity, financial constraints and effectiveness of interventions,” a DSWD paper said.

The DSWD is still in the process of finding out the households that belong to the near poor, and says that households with incomes falling between TPT and NPT will be considered as near poor.

The department justified its campaign to find out who the near poor are, since 38.6 percent of the total households based on the APIS Panel Data from 2010 to 2014 are nonpoor but have higher risks of becoming poor.

“Preventing near-poor households from falling into poverty is a costeffective poverty-reduction strategy,” the DSWD said.

PhilHealth aims to cover over 6 million elderly

By Roderick L. Abad

P

HILIPPINE Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) said on Tuesday that it expects the more than 6 million elderly in the country to become its lifetime members in line with the government’s thrust to provide adequate social services and protection to the Filipino elderly population.

At the sidelines of a forum on social-protection programs for the elderly in Mandaluyong City, PhilHealth President and CEO Alexander A. Padilla told the BusinessMirror that they hope to achieve such goal once the bill seeking to grant mandatory PhilHealth for all elderly will be ratified into law with implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) in the first quarter of next year.

While they welcome the development on such bill that has just passed the Senate’s third reading, he said that they are keen on joining in the series of consultive sessions for the upcoming law’s IRRs. About 1.45 million seniors, representing almost 2 percent of the total membership count of PhilHealth, are lifetime members and dependents on record as of June 2014.

These beneficiaries of the Lifetime Member Program (LMP) are provided with PhilHealth coverage for life, sans having to pay any premium anymore.

Those who are 60 years old and have already made a 10-year or 120 monthly contributions to the National Health Insurance Program can apply for the LMP, according to Padilla.

He clarified, though, that those who are still employed even at retirement age are not yet qualified.

The PhilHealth chief estimated that the coverage of the entire elderly population could cost the government over P14.4 billion for their premium contributions.

Such amount, he said, will be funded by the “sin” tax collection from tobacco and alcohol products.

While the law is not yet enacted, he said that PhilHealth still gets “incremental budget” from the national government.

The state-run health-care financing institution, together with the Department of Social and Welfare and Development, Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, also signed a manifesto that promotes the effective provision of adequate social services and protection to the country’s citizenry, particularly the poor and the elderly.

This ceremonial signing highlighted the observance of the “Linggo ng Katandaang Pilipino,” an annual commemoration during the first week of October devoted for the elderly in the Philippines in accordance with Presidential Proclamation 470, Series of 1994.

House awaits Senate action on bill raising tax-exempt ceiling for workers’ bonuses

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he vice chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means said on Tuesday they are keenly awaiting the Senate version of the bill seeking to increase the exemption ceiling for the 13th-month pay, Christmas bonus and other benefits of employees.

Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA said that millions of Filipino workers in offices and factories could get to take home the full amount of their 13th-month pay and other benefits of up to P70,000 in November or December this year if the

Senate approves their version in time.

House Bill 4970—a consolidated bill which seeks to increase the ceiling for the total exclusion from gross taxable income of employees’ 13thmonth pay and other benefits from the current P30,000 to P70,000— was passed on third and final reading by the House of Representatives on September 26.

The Senate, on the other hand, has yet to come up with a consolidated bill.

One bill pending at the Senate is Senate Bill 256 of Sen. Ralph Recto, which proposes a ceiling of P75,000

on the income-tax exemption of the 13th-month pay.

“We hope the Senate approves their version in time so the law could take effect by Christmas at the latest,” Garin said.

“Call-center agents, nurses, office workers and other wage earners should be given time-off from tax burdens at the end of the year,” she added.

As to the concerns voiced by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that raising the tax-exemption ceiling on bonuses and other workers’ benefits would cause an adverse ef-

DTI, DA to enforce SRP compliance on chicken, pork

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he Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) will team up with the Department of Agriculture (DA) in a joint price-monitoring operation to ensure the compliance of chicken and pork vendors at wet markets on the government’s suggested retail price (SRP) before the onset of the holiday season.

“Dapat bumaba na ang presyo bago magPasko...we have enough supply,” Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday.

Dimagiba added that the joint price-monitoring operation to be conducted on Thursday is in compliance with President Aquino’s order for coordination between the trade department and the DA to ensure stable price of agriculture commodities.

“Utos ’yan ng Presidente, kailangan mag-coordinate ang Department of Agriculture and DTI. Sa supply side, DA ’yan, but now on price monitoring, tutulungan na kami. Gusto namin maiwasan ’yung karanasan noon sa bawang,” Dimagiba added.

He said that some retailers were found to be noncompliant with the SRP set by the government on pork and chicken.

The proposed SRP for pork would be at P175 for pigue (loin) and P185 per kilo for liempo (belly), while for chicken it was placed at P135 per kilo.

Some retailers, said Dimagiba, are still selling pork at P220 per kilo, while chicken at P140.

The CPG will also be announcing the SRPs of Noche Buena and Christmas items, and vowed to pursue inspection of substandard holiday items, like Christmas lights, in November. Catherine N. Pillas

23K ARMM employees may lose jobs under new Bangsamoro govt—CSC

A

N official of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) on Tuesday said that it may not be able to ensure the job security of all 23,000 employees in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) under the Bangsamoro government.

CSC Commissioner Robert Martinez, during the hearing of the House ad hoc committee on the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), said, however, that the affected employees may have the option to apply for other positions in the government if their posts and offices would be abolished.

Martinez said that the new government should be given their own standards in the selection and hiring of new employees. Of the 23,000 ARMM employees, 18,000 are teachers, he added.

But Chairman of the Government Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Peace Panel Miriam CoronelFerrer said the abolition of offices will be carried out gradually and that the affected employees will be given compensation.

Senen Bacani, a member of the GRP panel, said the possible displacement of jobs is not the intention of the proposed law. Bacani said he believes that the new officials of the region replacing ARMM would not allow workers to lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said the government will continue to pour financial assistance to the Bangsamoro region despite its low contribution to the country’s coffers. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

fect on income-tax revenues, Garin said that it would be offset by higher revenues from other taxes.

“After all, less deductions from the take-home pay of employees would boost their purchasing power and would translate to economic growth.

The reduction of income-tax revenues, as expected by the BIR, will then be compensated by the increase in corporate-income tax, value-added tax and other indirect taxes because people will buy and spend more,” said Garin, who is also a certified public accountant and tax lawyer. PNA

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

On artists and scientists

T

RUST human instinct to tell us how to respond to the challenges of our environment.

We speed up our decision-making process in responding to urgent problems and take more time to react to less pressing issues. We might even postpone, if not abandon altogether, our response to a problem of doubtful reality.

We see these reactions in our society. Legions of students have gone into nursing in anticipation of an aging population. Some have taken up hotel and restaurant management in preparation for an expansion in tourism, while others study information technology (IT) because of the continued broadening and deepening of cyberspace.

Only a few, however, are going into technical disciplines, like engineering and its various specialties—civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, geological and mining—notwithstanding the government infrastructure programs and the vast amounts of money set aside for them.

There are reasons for this unevenness. Prospects in the nursing, tourism and IT fields seem real; those in infrastructure might appear to be merely propaganda. The Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Public Works and Highways are bidding out or preparing to bid out dozens of large infrastructure projects for implementation beginning 2016, but why the hurry? To beat a 2016 deadline? What were these agencies doing in the last four years?

We might say that the unevenness has deeper foundations. Remember the recent presidential proclamation of National Artists and National Scientists? The former stirred wide interest and provoked a debate when actress Nora Aunor was dropped from the list.

This did not happen with the national scientists. The proclamation came and went and hardly anybody noticed, judging by the media’s lack of coverage. We have four awardees this year; can you name even one?

Remember how badly our students have been doing in international examinations in science and mathematics, almost always coming out close to the bottom of the rankings?

Taking nothing away from the National Artists, who deserve not only official awards, but also the appreciation and gratitude of the public for their contributions to their respective fields, we have become victims of our own “name recall” syndrome, nearly incapable of thinking more seriously.

It’s time we change our system of priorities. The world of development offers not just soft challenges, but hard ones, as well. We can develop the economy with large amounts of capital, but we also need thousands of trained people who are well-versed in the most productive technology.

Let’s put our money where the global future really is. Like the business owner who commits the resources of a lifetime in business for personal profit and growth for the country, we cannot run away from other opportunities for economic and social growth. We must not only encourage, but also press for more qualified students to enter higher technological and scientific learning programs.

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Getting to know the actuary INSURANCE FORUM

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By the Technical Services Group of the Insurance Commission

OT too many people know about actuaries. In fact, there are still a lot of people who mistakenly call them “actuarians”.

This is not surprising, considering that, as of June 18, only 59 fellows of the Actuarial Society of the Philippines (ASP) are in good standing. And, yet, for such a small group, their responsibilities are so big.

What do actuaries really do?

Actuaries determine the chances of future risks—birth, disability, accidental injury, need for medical care or premature death—and calculate the cost of financing these uncertain events through insurance or other related means. They use scientific actuarial principles, so that the financial aspects of these uncertain events can be exchanged for the certainty of a premium payment.

However, actuaries are more than just mathematicians. They apply not only mathematical, but also statistical, economic and financial analyses—all of which involve risk assessment for longer-term financial contracts—to make calculations and projections for a wide range of practical business problems. So while actuarial work involves a lot of math, actuaries are also up-to-date on business trends, social science, law, finance and economics. Incidentally, they also have to be good communicators, since they often find themselves explaining to nonactuaries.

An actuary is actually a combina-

tion of a business executive, mathematician, financier, sociologist and investment manager who is a key player in a company’s management team.

Little wonder, then, that actuaries move on to become senior executives of the companies they work for. Some even become president and/or chief executive officer.

Moreover, the role of actuaries has, over the years, widened as more industries recognize the relevance and potential value of actuarial skills in operating a company. Because of that, they can be now found in a wide range of companies, from private sector to government, from financial institutions to healthmaintenance organizations.

Yet, for a career as lucrative as an actuary’s, why are there so few actuaries in the Philippines? Well, besides the fact that not all minds are created equal, with actuaries’ brains shining brighter than normal, the road to becoming a full-fledged actuary and getting accreditation from the Insurance Commission (IC) is long, laborious and costly.

The Insurance Code, as well as the Preneed Code of the Philippines, requires life-insurance companies, mutual-benefit associations (MBAs) and preneed companies to engage the services of an actuary, and both codes state that only ASP fellows or those who meet all the requirements for ASP fellowship may be accredited by the IC. The ASP, which is the recognized professional membership organization for actuaries in the Philippines, has three membership classes: affiliates, associates and fellows.

To be an affiliate, a candidate has to pass at least one of the five Society of Actuaries (SOA) examinations on the following: probability, models for life contingencies, financial mathematics, construction and evaluation of actuarial models, and models for financial economics.

To be an associate, a candidate has to pass all the aforementioned SOA preliminary exams; complete the Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) requirements on economics, applied statistics and corporate finance; and attend the Associateship Admission Course (AAC).

The examinations and the VEE may be completed in any order, while the AAC may be taken upon passing any of the SOA preliminary exams.

To be a fellow, an ASP associate must pass two ASP Fellowship Examinations—the ASP Integrated Exam A and ASP Integrated Exam B—and attend the Fellowship Admission Session (FAS) conducted by the ASP. Moreover, the associate must complete the SOA Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice (FAP Interim Assessment and FAP Final Assessment), and at least two of the SOA/Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Fellowship Modules.

A candidate is required to take

the Financial and Health Economics module. For the other module, he or she may choose from the following modules: Investment Strategy; Pricing, Reserving and Forecasting; Regulation and Taxation; Financial Reporting; Social Insurance; CAS Risk Management and Insurance Operations; Enterprise Risk Management; Health Foundations; and CAS Insurance Accounting, Coverage Analysis and Insurance Law. Moreover, the associate must pass at least one of the SOA/CAS Fellowship Exams (Advanced Finance Exam; Individual Life and Annuities CSP Exam; Group and Health DP/CSP Exam; Financial Economic Theory and Engineering Exam; Individual Life and Annuities DP Exam; FCAS Exam 5, 7, 8 or 9; Advanced Portfolio Management Exam; and Retirement Benefits DP/CSP Exam). The fellowship requirements may be completed in any order, except for the FAS, which may only be taken upon completion of other requirements.

With all the hurdles mentioned and technical expertise required, one can understand why only an elite few are given accreditation to sign and undertake pertinent determination and computations for benefits, pricing, reserves valuation, termination values, etc., for the products sold by insurance companies, preneed companies and MBAs. On the other hand, it should be a relief for the insuring public to know the kind of academic and technical preparation, screening and sharpening that actuaries undergo to ensure that premiums are reasonable, adequate and commensurate to the promised benefits, and that actuarial projections are as precise as possible, thus, leaving minimal room for failure to meet policy and other contractual obligations.

No threat more threatening than climate change

I

N a recent speech at the United Nations (UN), United States President Barack Obama said climate change is a more serious threat than terrorism.

So, why aren’t more Americans terrified?

Panicked politicians talk about the Islamic State (IS) as though it were a combination of Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union, faulting the president for not taking drastic action sooner. But climate change? What’s the hurry?

A majority of Americans (67 percent, in an August Pew/USA Today poll) believe the IS is, like al-Qaeda, a “major threat” to our national security. Yet, fewer than half (48 percent), almost none of them Republicans, see climate change the same way.

An evaluation of the actual danger posed by the IS is a subject for a later time, but at least right now, the group—while it is vicious and

barbaric and wants to hurt us—has limited capability to make that happen on American soil.

Yet, climate change already has invaded the homeland, reducing to ruins the homes of thousands of Americans, turning them into refugees of a sort. In his UN speech, Obama listed just a few of the terrors we already have experienced: “Along our eastern coast, the city of Miami now floods at high tide.

In our west, wildfire season now stretches most of the year. In our heartland, farms have been parched by the worst drought in generations, and drenched by the wettest spring in our history. A hurricane left parts of this great city [New York] dark and underwater.”

Earth’s rising temperature represents a greater menace than any terrorist “sleeper cell.”

Extreme weather events are not the only danger: As food and

water shortages increase and already vulnerable people suffer dislocation and loss, the stability of governments and even civil societies are jeopardized.

In an ironic twist, climate change could itself have been a factor in the rise of the IS. To be sure, the repressive regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the major reason for the civil war that has fed the group’s rise. However, some experts point also to the social upheaval tied to a widespread drought caused by climate change, the worst since the beginning of agricultural civilization, according to an expert quoted by the Center for Climate and Security, a think tank advised by retired senior military and security officials.

The drought destroyed the livelihood of millions of farmers and herders who migrated to the cities, and whose desperation is a contributing factor to rising militancy.

Still, while most Americans worry more about terrorism than the environment, activists sense a change. You wouldn’t know it from watching mainstream media, but the message about the need for action is getting through to more ordinary Americans than in the past: The estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people who participated in the largest “climate justice” march in history on September 21 aren’t putting away their signs and going home for good.

The numbers of people engaging in civil disobedience is expanding. A movement to persuade institutions to divest from fossil fuels is still tiny, but growing.

We should do what we can to support them: In the not-so-long term, it won’t matter what harm the IS can or can’t do if a rising global temperature has the effect most scientists predict: worldwide chaos.

Philadelphia Daily News/TNS

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

US works on Asia ties amid Middle East focus

Lito U. Gagni

The Associated Press

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The “pivot” was intended to be Obama’s signature push in foreign affairs. As the US disentangled itself from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would devote more military and diplomatic attention to the AsiaPacific and American economic interests there.

The world has not turned out as planned. Washington is grappling with the chaotic fallout of the Arab spring, a growing rivalry with Russia and the alarming rise of the Islamic State that is prompting the US to launch air strikes in Iraq and Syria.

Against this chaotic backdrop, the growing tensions in the South and East China Seas and US efforts to counter the rise of an increasingly assertive China appear peripheral concerns. The pivot gets few people excited in Washington these days.

Obama didn’t even mention it in a sweeping foreign-policy speech in May, and negotiations on a transPacific trade pact—the main economic prong in the pivot—have been mired by differences between the US and Japan over agriculture and auto market access and by opposition to the pact among many of Obama’s fellow Democrats.

But the administration is still chipping away at its grand plan for a rebalance to Asia that began within months of Obama taking office in 2009, when the US signed a cooperation treaty with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The US has since ended its decades-long isolation of Myanmar, also known as Burma, in response to democratic reforms there. It has taken a more strident diplomatic stance against Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and some concrete steps to shore up its allies’ ability to respond. In April the US signed a 10year agreement to allow thousands of American troops to be temporarily based in Philippines, 20 years after US bases there were closed.

Like the Philippines, Vietnam has been engaged in standoffs with China over disputed reefs and islands.

Tensions spiked between May and July after China deployed a deep-sea

oil rig near the Paracel Islands. The vessels of the two sides rammed each other near the rig, and there were deadly anti-China riots in several industrial parks in Vietnam.

Last Thursday the US State Department announced it would allow sales, on a case-by-case basis, of lethal equipment to help the maritime security of Vietnam, easing a ban that has been in place since communists took power at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The US won’t be rushing to Vietnam’s defense, nor does it want to be directly involved in negotiating the territorial disputes themselves, which also involve Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Taiwan. But Washington says it has an interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, and in equipping nations to defend themselves and deter aggression.

Hanoi welcomed the step, saying it would promote the US-Vietnam partnership.

It was opposed by rights activists, unpersuaded by Washington’s argument that Hanoi has shown some improvements on human rights and would be encouraged to make more.

John Sifton, the Washingtonbased Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Vietnam’s changes have been superficial and contended that the US is reversing decades of policy for marginal strategic benefit.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is an arch critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, but supports the rebalance and pushed for the easing of the Vietnam ban, said it would strengthen defense cooperation to the benefit of both countries.

But McCain foreign-policy adviser Chris Brose said the US still has to convince Asia that the rhetoric of the pivot can become reality.

“The question is not whether America is doing something. Clearly, America is,” Brose told a Washington think tank last Friday. “The question is whether what America is doing adds up to a set of actions that’s fundamentally impacting China’s calculus.”

Overconsumption threatens the world’s wildlife

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ETWEEN 1970 and 2010, the planet lost 52 percent of its wildlife, according to data collected by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London. That’s an alarming statistic, even while certain creatures, like otters, wolves and buffaloes, are making a comeback.

The Living Planet Report, released last week, is based on an index that measures 10,380 representative populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The report said the number of land and marine animals both plunged by 39 percent in less than half a century, while the worst loss occurred to freshwater animals at 76 percent.

Deforestation across every continent accounts for much of the decline in numbers of land animals, such as elephants, gorillas and big cats that depend on lush forests for food and habitats in which to mate.

The poaching of animals is another cause of this disaster.

Overfishing has devastated the number of marine animals faster than they can replenish themselves.

Whales, sharks and dolphins are threatened as much as small fish, as fishing nets that are miles long

drag indiscriminately across the ocean floor. Freshwater fish are also in steep decline, as dams and pollution that disrupt habitat take a toll.

Coral reefs are succumbing to diseases caused by industrial-farm runoff that empties into oceans from damaged rivers. Oxygen-depleted zones that are hundreds of miles wide are popping up in the world’s oceans.

Consequently, bird populations decline as their feed stocks die off.

The report says 1.5 Earths are needed to maintain humanity at the rate that it consumes resources for “food, fuel and fiber, the land we build on and the forests we need to absorb our carbon emissions.” World leaders need to take seriously the WWF’s call for international talks on sustainable development goals and actions, including on climate change, that will reduce the depletion of resources and the harm to Earth’s wildlife.

Changing mankind’s patterns of consumption, waste and pollution will not only transform economies arguably for the better, but it is also the only rational thing to do on a planet with a growing human population and finite natural resources.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS

A7

Biotechnology increases farmers’ income

By Matthew Pennington

ASHINGTON, D.C.—A military agreement with the Philippines and easing an arms embargo against Vietnam show that the administration of United States President Barack Obama wants deeper security ties with Asia, even as turmoil in the Middle East has undermined its hope of making Asia the heart of its foreign policy.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

MARKET FILES

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T would do well for the government to adopt biotechnology crops and be wary of the propaganda being spread by supporters of the environmental group Greenpeace, which has revived the debate on such crops by using the organic-food groups in the country as its proxies. In the United States, where Greenpeace’s loud opposition to biotech crops was silenced by the big income that farmers there are earning and by the decreased use of environmentally harmful pesiticides, that debate has been clearly resolved.

This time, the issue that opponents of biotech crops are now raising is the safety of consuming Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crop varieties, which is something already settled in studies made by the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. In fact, this agency, which tracks the development of such crops, has been able to even monitor the increased income of US farmers, something that has similarly benefited our country’s farmers who have planted Bt corn.

The way these people are running their propaganda campaign, it would seem that biotechnology is still experimental, is still subject to debate and at risk of being discredited. The way we see it, though, biotechnology is already beyond all that. And, if its enemies in the Philippines are still bent on eliminating

it, it may be because of some hidden agenda other than safety.

The selling point of biotech crop varieties is that they are naturally resistant to the pests that attack their nonbiotech counterparts. Because of this resistance, these varieties do not require the usual application of pesticides, which nonbiotech crops tend to depend on. Some 200 million hectares of farm land have already been planted with such varieties. If these crops were unsafe or had posed even very small risks to people’s health, farmers would not have devoted that much land to them.

Interestingly, American farmers boast of using the most number of hectares for the cultivation of biotech crop varieties. The US has one of the world’s highest standards of safety, and its farmers are sensitive to environmental issues. That mil-

lions of hectares of American farm land are planted with these crop varieties over the past decade supports scientific findings that biotech crops are safe for both humans and the environment.

Why Greenpeace has focused all its resources and attention on our country is baffling. Biotech-crop production in the Philippines is nothing compared to that in the US and Latin America. Why doesn’t Greenpeace wage its antibiotech war there, instead of here? Greenpeace started its antibiotech campaign in the country about a decade ago. At that time, the country was preparing to plant its first biotech-crop variety, Bt corn.

Since planting Bt corn, local farmers have enjoyed increasing yields, as well as increased incomes.

But despite this, Greenpeace still insists on using scare tactics to discourage the cultivation of Bt crops.

Why the environmental group apparently skipped the US, where its agriculture agency monitored $20 billion in earnings generated through biotech crops from 1996 to 2007, is puzzling.

With those numbers, the government should be alerted on what Greenpeace is trying to do and see through its efforts to revive the issue of safety against biotech crops by fielding another ally, this time from the organic-foods sector— efforts, by the way, that appear to have been wasted. This is just as well, for the next Bt crop that farmers should adopt is be Bt eggplant.

It’s deal time in Hong Kong William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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E are all Hong Kongers today. And, in the weeks and months ahead, many of us will continue to support the protesters’ brave stand against a repressive Chinese regime. Nevertheless, it’s time for them to face reality and plot an endgame.

Eleven days into the Umbrella Revolution, it’s clear that Beijing won’t back down. Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t accede to the movement’s universal suffrage proposal or sacrifice Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to ease tensions. Nor is Xi risking another Tiananmen Square. Ugly headlines generated by police tear-gassing peaceful protesters on September 28 prompted an about-face in Beijing.

Xi’s party now aims to wait out the protesters and let public opinion do its dirty work.

The longer this drags on, the more student activists risk looking like irritants to average Hong Kongers. The latest news is full of gripes about damaged commercial

interests in a city that, let’s face it, exists to do business. Scuffles have been going on since last Friday between demonstrators and proChina provocateurs, underlining the growing fault lines in a place that wants both greater democracy and economic growth.

That makes it deal time for Hong Kong’s students. Why not parlay what’s been achieved, so far, into meaningful concessions from the government? These could include access to affordable housing and education, efforts to redress inequality, improved public services and a genuine framework for political reform and engagement with Beijing. The first direct talks between the protest leaders and government

officials began on Sunday night.

Now leaders should demand to plead their case directly to Leung.

Critics will say such concessions have nothing to do with democracy and, thus, would render the protests futile. But any movement toward egalitarianism in oligarched Hong Kong would be a vital step toward genuine representation. By winning an accommodation or two from China, student leaders, like 17-year-old Joshua Wong, can demonstrate that they gave Goliath a good fight and achieved something substantial.

But then, this battle isn’t just about democracy. Hong Kongers are a pragmatic people; they know their future prosperity is in China’s hands. If most of the city’s 7 million residents believed that Leung’s government was serving their interests, rather than those of Beijing or half a dozen Hong Kong tycoons, the prodemocracy movement would lose urgency. Xi’s closed-door meeting last month—ahead of threatened protests—with Li Ka-shing and other faces of Hong Kong’s billionaire elite said everything about how the city is run.

It’s not some radical fringe that views Hong Kong’s as a crony government that ignores the masses. All too many Hong Kongers have no chance

World Sight Day THE government, through the Department of Health is joining a global effort to ensure that treatable blindness caused by diabetes, as well as cataract and even refraction problems, is taken care of. Dubbed World Sight Day, the forthcoming event, set for October 9, has already led Saint Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) to come up with a discounted promo package for the treatment of eye ailments, which includes using its newly acqu ired Femto -L aser equ ip ment, which utilizes bladeless cataract surgery.

Dr. Noel Chua, head of the SLMC’s Eye Institute, said the hospital is joining the effort with its own awareness campaign from its Quezon City and Fort Bonifacio facilities to ensure the quality of life and productivity for people who may have treatable blindness.

This campaign also includes training more eye doctors and launching its special eye treatments, like the Small Incision Lenticule Extraction, or SMILE, program.

What Dr. Chua has found out, though, is that, in many cases, an easy cure was found for many of those with eye problems. He told me that, in the SLMC’s corporate social responsibility programs in the provinces, doctors have discovered that all that these people needed was “a pair of eyeglasses.”

E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.

of affording a home, and few hopes of paying for a globally competitive education. As consumers, they are squeezed by giant monopolies; as citizens, they face threats to the media freedoms and rule of law that set them apart from mainlanders. The Occupy Central movement has succeeded by hitting a chord with them.

Xi would be wise to allow Leung to achieve a face-saving peace. At the moment, the global narrative is about a tin-eared and heartless China. By opening the door to greater engagement with Hong Kongers—say, by creating new policy committees or democracy-discussion panels— Xi would score soft-power points around the globe.

As student leaders grasp for an elegant way to deoccupy, they may get inspiration from Bao Tong, who was an advisor to Zhao Ziyang, the former Chinese premier and Communist Party chief, purged for sympathizing with Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989. As Bao tells the New York Times, there’s “no harm in taking a break from the debate now” and giving their cause time to gestate.

This isn’t surrender. It’s a recognition that there’s no shame in the students’ licking their wounds, learning from the experience and trying again another day.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Savings, time deposits sustain robust growth

S

By Bianca Cuaresma

avings and time deposits continued to be the banks’ main source of funds in the first half of the year, in part because the promise of bigger returns from the special deposit facility of the central bank lost some of its luster and have been returned as simple deposits in the various banks, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

The central bank said the banks’ total deposits for the period amounted to P6.3 trillion.

This means the bank deposits of risk-averse locals grew by 25.6 percent from only P5 trillion in the same period last year.

“The rapid growth may be attributed to the shift of depositors’ investments from the BSP’s SDA [special

deposits account] facility to bank deposits as a result of the fine-tuning of access of trust departments/ entities to the BSP SDA facility,” the central bank said.

The central bank curtailed the banks’ access to its SDA window in 2013, effectively pushing out socalled investment management accounts (IMAs) out of the low-risk

and high-yield facility into the real economy, where their productive potential was best appreciated.

Since the SDAs peaked in early 2013 with deposits aggregating P2 trillion, SDA deposit levels have since come down gradually. Latest data show SDA deposits totaling only P1.1 trillion as of mid-September this year.

The BSP also said improving corporate profits and robust economic expansion in 2014, likewise, pushed the country’s savings and time deposit rates higher in the first half of 2014, making them more attractive than before.

In particular, savings deposit registered a 21.8-percent growth for the period and accounted for nearly half of the funding base of the banks this year.

Meanwhile, demand deposits expanded by 21.6 percent from its year-ago level, while time deposits swelled the most by 37.2 percent from the level posted a year ago, as most SDA deposits pushed out of the BSP’s facility worked their way back to the banks’ time deposit and similar facilities.

PHL NEEDS TO INCREASE SPENDING FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION–ADB, I.L.O.

BY Cai U. Ordinario

T

he Philippine government must increase its investment in social protection and expand its coverage to include families and unemployed workers in preparation for the Asean Economic Community (AEC), according to the latest report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In the report, titled “Asean Community 2015: Managing integration for better jobs and shared prosperity,” the ILO and ADB said the country only invests less than 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on social protection.

It added that social protection in the Philippines covers medical care, sickness, old age, work injury, maternity, invalidity and survivors. The only two categories not covered by social protection are unemployment and families.

“It will be important, therefore, to extend the coverage and level of benefits, especially to informal and rural workers. In the context of the AEC, social protection will play a particularly important role by compensating for the short-term loss of income in industries that lose competitive advantages,” the report stated.

The ILO and ADB said socialprotection programs globally average 8.6 percent of GDP, but Asean countries like the Philippines have lower investments.

Thailand has the highest investment in social protection at 7.2 percent of GDP, while the lowest are in Lao PDR, Myanmar and the Philippines, at less than 2 percent of GDP. “It [social protection] can facilitate access to education and skills upgrading, with impacts on the overall productivity of the work force and economic growth in the longer term, while also contributing to wider poverty-reduction goals. In addition, social protec-

tion can contribute to resilience and facilitate quick recovery in the face of natural shocks,” the report stated.

The report said that social protection is important since the working-age population of the Philippines is expected to account for 35 percent of its populace.

Further, by 2025, young Filipinos will account for more than 17 percent of the population. This is significantly higher than in Singapore and Thailand, where the youth population will account for less than 11.5 percent.

The report also said that between 2010 and 2025, the total Asean labor force will grow by some 68.2 million workers, or 22.7 percent.

Around 29.5 million of these workers will come from Indonesia, which has a youth unemployment rate of 21.6 percent, and some 15.1 million will be from the Philippines and 16.6 percent of the unemployed will be young Filipinos.

By 2025, the Philippines’s population will steadily grow to around 119.22 million from 110.4 million in 2020; 101.8 million in 2015; and 93.4 million in 2010.

The report also noted that between 1991 and 2009, the share of the working poor fell from 50 percentto37.2percent,butthenumber living on less than $2 per day rose from 11.2 million to 13 million.

“In addition, there has been an increase in both the share and the numbers of those living just above the poverty line, indicating that poverty-alleviation gains may easily be reversed by sudden shocks and instability,” the report stated.

Compared to other Asean countries, the Philippines also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates at over 15 percent, second to Indonesia, where unemployment is over 20 percent.

The report noted, however, that in terms of total unemployment rate, the Philippines has the highest level among Asean countries at over 5 percent.

Filipino firms have highest debt growth in Asean–S&P

S K9 SEND-OFF Members of the Philippine Army K9 unit stand with their dogs during send-off ceremonies at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. A total of 10 dogs trained in military tactics, such as bomb sniffing, were sent off to the province of Sulu to assist in military operations. NONIE REYES

DOTC targets to bid out Clark airport-terminal deal in 2015

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

he Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will auction off next year the contract for the construction of a multibillion-peso low-cost terminal at the Clark International Airport, a venture that is expected to be completed by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said his office is just evaluating and tweaking some portions of the terminal’s feasibil-

ity study, which was conducted by a French company.

“We are fine-tuning the feasibility study that Aeroports de Paris submitted to us. [But] we are confident that we could bid it out next year,” he said.

Aeroports de Paris owns and operates the French capital’s airports.

The proposed new budget terminal will boost the airport’s capacity further to between 8 million and 16 million passengers per year.

“We are hoping for a smooth process in order for the project to be completed within 2016,” the trans-

port chief said. The airport’s budget terminal carries a price tag of about P7.2 billion. It will be funded by the national government.

Earlier this year, the government completed the P417-million passenger terminal building project at the air hub, expanding the size of the terminal to 19,799 square meters (sq m) from 11,439 sq m. It also increased its check-in counters from 13 to 34.

In order to accommodate more passengers and ease queuing, 12 departure counters and five arrival See “DOTC,” A2

TANDARD & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) reported on Tuesday that debts of Filipino companies expanded the fastest among their peers in Southeast Asia.

In its recent “Asean Top Companies” series study, the company estimated that total net debt at 17 conglomerates in the Philippines almost tripled from 2008 to the first quarter of this year.

According to S&P Director for Corporate Ratings in Asia Pacific Xavier Jean, additional debts were used by these big firms for their organic growth and acquisitions over the period while maintaining dividend payments.

The medium ratio of net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose to around 3.5 times at the end of 2013, from 1.9 times at the end of 2008, since revenues and cash flows have not kept up with increasing debt.

This was the highest among the 10 member-states of the Asean, followed by Singapore at 3.3 times.

Indonesia had the lowest median ratio at 1.0.

The report also showed that the expansion of revenues of the Filipino-owned companies reviewed remained sound compared to their Asean counterparts.

Nevertheless, median revenue growth nearly halved to about 8

percent last year as against the peak in 2010 at over 17 percent, due to tougher competition and greater capacity across industries.

Jean noted the pace of growth of debt in the Philippines has been “faster than the pace of earnings,” hence, the general credit profile of the conglomerates studied has been affected. As per the S&P’s study, the various sovereigns exhibited a wide variation in their financing strategies and financial-risk profiles.

Of the companies reviewed, 30 percent had big debt loads often because of debt-financed spending or mergers.

On the other hand, about a quarter had conservative balance sheets with moderate low debt levels.

Meanwhile, firms exhibited a huge variation in business risk profiles, wherein those of the conglomerates are mostly commensurate with an investment-grade level.

A number of companies also had narrower operations, more volatile margins, smaller sizes, or operations in more competitive industries that weighed down their profile in terms of business risk. By and large, Jean said conglomerates in the country have a broad access to debt markets to bankroll their expansion, as they do have more growth strategy choices on hand due to their wide array of operations.

See “Debt growth,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THINK TANK: PETILLA HAS DOUBTS ON I.L.P.

By Lenie Lectura Conclusion

Other legislative imperatives

The two other concerns the think tank raised relates to the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) and General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The BBL, which the Global Source tagged as a medium-term game changer on security and economic grounds, should be passed into law by end-2014 so that there would be enough time to address “expected challenges so that elections in the new autonomous region can be held within this administration’s term.”

“It is also essential that the approved legislation is seen as preserving the terms that the Executive agreed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MILF], which were the product of a long struggle and negotiation for peace. The short-term goal is to allow the current, more pragmatic MILF leadership to secure early wins and broaden support for the peace agreement in order to fend off the younger fundamentalist faction demanding greater autonomy,” it added.

Last, Global Source hopes that the government’s budget for 2015 will be passed on time, before the year ends.

The proposed budget amounts to P2.6 trillion, a 15-percent increase over this year’s total appropriations.

It is based on assumptions of 7-percent to 8-percent gross domestic produc growth and another 80-basis-point increase in the tax and revenue efforts to 15.5 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively, yielding a deficit of equivalent to 2 percent of GDP, or about the same as this year’s target.

“Budget officials have been stressing the importance of on-time passage of the GAA to enable frontloading of priority expenditures, particularly infrastructure that should be completed before the start of the rainy season midyear.

“Whether or not the government can, in fact, spend as planned to meet its growth and inclusivity targets is still a question mark as [August] statistics show still-anemic spending performance. On the other hand, we think there will be greater urgency for the administration to ramp up spending next year to secure political support for its candidates in the 2016 elections, especially for the presidency,” it said.

For 2015, the Aquino administration intends to ramp up infrastructure spending to 4 percent of GDP, from 3.5 percent this year and 2.5 percent last year, and continue to raise allocations for education, health and the ConditionalCash Transper Program.

Global Source said aside from these three legislative imperatives, there are proposed economic reform measures that have been in the legislative mill for years requiring immediate action.

These include a competition law for fair-trade practices, amendments to the built-operate-transfer law to support the government’s Public-Private Partnership Program, a bill clarifying the fiscal regime for the mining sector and in preparation for the Asean Economic Community, liberalization of more areas for foreign investment, including a oneliner, “unless provided by law” amendment to free up economic restrictions in the Constitution.

“The key piece, insofar as the shortterm macro outlook is concerned, is the harmonization of fiscal incentives embedded in some 186 laws. Estimates put the cost of these incentives at 1 percent to 2 percent of GDP. Unfortunately, we expect that even if Congress approved this measure, it would likely be in diluted form.

In fact going into an election season, we expect to see more revenueeroding proposals from Congress, with several bills lowering income taxes already under deliberation.

Nonetheless, designed to win votes, we do not expect these to appreciably dent public finances.”