N.Y. doctor has Ebola after returning from West Africa World»B3-1
A New York City physician who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa has become the nation’s latest Ebola patient. Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital Center, which is one of eight hospitals in New York state that were recently designated to treat Ebola patients.
Patient took several subway trains, had gone bowling with friends
2006, 2010, 2012
U.N. Media Award 2008
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Saturday, October 25, 2014 B3-3
Driving up N. Korea’s mountain
North Korean man pushes his bicycle to a village in North Korea’s North hamgyong province. the Associated Press was granted permission to embark on a weeklong road trip across North Korea to the country’s spiritual summit Mount Paektu. AP/DAviD GuttenfelDer By Eric Talmadge | The Associated Press
AKE CHON, North Korea—When North Korea opens its doors, it does so for a reason. So it was when the authoritarian government granted permission for a road trip so extensive that few North Koreans—let alone a pair of American journalists—could imagine taking it. tor and supervise our activities. We were not to take photographs of any checkpoints or military installations, or talk to people we happened to see along the way. For the most part, we were not to detour from our pre-approved route, which, to no one’s surprise, didn’t include nuclear facilities or prison camps. Though we would not get to know the people along the way, the country itself had a great deal to say. And no place is more symbolic of the North Korean psyche than Paektu. North Koreans venerate it for its natural beauty, but more important because it is considered the home of the North Korean revolution. It is dotted by reconstructions of “secret camps,” where guides dressed in period costume recount the legends of Kim Il Sung’s battles against Japanese imperialists. Before we left Pyongyang, the capital, we were warned, half-jokingly, not to get lost.
Mount Paektu straddles North Korea’s border with China. “If you wander off into China,” we were told, “you will be shot.” Something similar had, in fact, happened many years ago. No borders were involved, but a South Korean housewife who strayed off the accepted path at a tourist site was fatally shot in the back by a North Korean guard. Nothing so dramatic had happened as we made our way across the country to the mountain. Wrested out of our beds for our ascent up to the summit after four days on the road, we fumbled without lights to pack our equipment, made our way down our hotel’s candlelit staircase and climbed into our car in the pouring rain. With no signs to guide him, our driver steered silently into the night. Many people have been amazed by nighttime satellite images that show North Korea as dark as the
Brazil’s poor gives Rousseff solid support
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IO DE JANEIRO—Children play amid tumbledown shacks in some of Rio de Janeiro’s poorest hillside “favela” slums, places where armed drug traffickers lay down the law, stray bullets fly and raw sewage oozes into the streets. For the poorest of Brazil’s poor, daily life is a struggle. On Sunday they will get a chance to make their voice heard when they join in the second round of voting for president, and they’re expected to resoundingly support incumbent Dilma Rousseff and her Workers’ Party. Marcio Macedo, who lives in the Dona Marta shantytown, said he’ll vote for Rousseff because she needs another term to fulfill her plans. “Even though she wasn’t able to do all of her projects the past four years, she’ll get to them now,” he said. While their circumstances remain dire, the lowest echelons of Brazil’s social pyramid have seen the greatest
MAriA EduArdA, 7, holds her 2-year-old sister Kauania as another sister Joyce, 4, plays outside their home, while their mother steps away briefly and a neighbor looks after them in a shantytown on the outskirts of rio de Janeiro, Brazil. AP/feliPe DAnA
improvement in their lives over the past decade during three successive Workers’ Party governments. A host of new social programs are providing tiny but steady sources of income, helping lift tens of millions of Brazilians
out of hand-to-mouth survival. Those programs have turned the poor into Rousseff’s bedrock support. Polls say the poor overwhelmingly support her against opposition candidate Aecio Neves. AP
YouNg North Korean schoolchildren help to fix pot holes in a rural road in North Korea’s North hamgyong province. AP/DAviD GuttenfelDer
ocean, set against a northeast Asia brimming with light. There is nothing in the world like experiencing that darkness on the ground over long stretches of the North Korean back country. Possibly more than any other populated place on the globe, North Korea is terra incognita. As we drove toward the dawn, two armed soldiers emerged from
the darkness, signaled for us to stop and for our minder to get out. The rain was coming down harder as they stood in the blurry pool of our headlights. One peered in at us through the rain-dotted window. There was a good deal of gesticulating. Then some head nodding. Our minder got back in the car. We had gotten lost, but we weren’t
in China. We were going the wrong way down a one-lane, one-way road. The soldiers waved us on. With North Korean tourism still in its infancy, we were safe. We wouldn’t see another car until we reached the snowy, wind-whipped parking lot below the crater, where two small vans full of shivering Chinese waited for a guard to wake up and lead them to Lake Chon.
China factory gauge rises as workers weather slowdown
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ChINESE manufacturing gauge rose in October, adding to signs a resilient labor market and export demand are helping the world’s second-largest economy weather a housing market downturn. The preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from hSBC holdings Plc. and Markit Economics was at 50.4, exceeding the median estimate of 50.2 in a Bloomberg News survey, which was also the level of September’s final reading. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion. Chinese policy-makers are trying to avoid a deeper slowdown after gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.3 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the weakest pace in more than five years. While the government has relaxed home-purchase controls and pumped liquidity to lenders, the economy also got support from a pick-up in exports in September. “The momentum of the rebound in September is continuing into the fourth
quarter,” said Larry hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in hong Kong. “The growth target is still about 7.5 percent, so targeted easing will carry on.” Output, new orders and new export orders all increased at a slower rate, while output and input prices decreased at a quicker rate, suggesting disinflationary pressure intensified. The producer-price index fell 1.8 percent in September from a year earlier, a record-tying 31st monthly decline, data last week showed. Chinese stocks declined and the yuan was little changed. “We continue to see downside risks,” said Ding Shuang, senior China economist at Citigroup Inc. in hong Kong, as manufacturing activity isn’t as good as the headline number indicates. The PMI will possibly be adjusted down in the final release, he said.
A separate manufacturing index from the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing will be published on November 1. Thursday’s report, known as the Flash PMI, is typically based on 85 percent to 90 percent of responses to surveys sent to purchasing managers at more than 420 companies. It showed employment and inventory indexes improved. “While the manufacturing sector likely stabilized in October, the economy continues to show signs of insufficient effective demand,” said Qu hongbin, chief China economist at hSBC in hong Kong. “This warrants further policy easing and we expect more easing measures on both the monetary, as well as fiscal fronts in the months ahead.” The government has eschewed across-the-board interest rate cuts and signaled it will tolerate a weaker expansion, leaving the economy headed for the slowest full-year growth since 1990. Bloomberg News
world
Insufficient demand
ThE final hSBC-Markit PMI reading for October is due on November 3.
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young millennials seek more social media privacy Our baptismal call
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EAR Lord, making us realize our baptismal call, we accept the challenge to proclaim Your Good News to many as we can. To cultivate a welcoming faith in this prayer corner. To communicate with anyone interested to deepen our faith. To inspire and encourage others in the celebration of the Eucharist. And to respond to God’s call by sharing our Godgiven talents by any means to honor and glorify You. Amen. MISSION STATEMENT AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com
guide to social media VINE Create six-second looping videos and share them with the world. There are currently no privacy settings available. Compared to Instagram video, “It’s just more fun,” said Natalee Gallagher, 14. SNAPCHAT Take a picture or a 10-second
video, send it to one or several friends who must be individually selected, and, after one to 10 seconds of viewing, it disappears. Users can add a caption or draw on the picture with a Microsoft Paint-like tool. Popular for sending “ugly selfies.”
INSTAGRAM Take a picture or a 15-second
video, apply one of several vintage-looking filters— which usually remedies poor photographic ability or picture quality—and share privately with friends or with the world.
TWITTER Users post messages of up to 160
characters that are saved on a feed. Public feeds are searchable by anyone using Twitter, but feeds can be made private.
FACEBOOK The most visited social networking web
site in the world, where users can share pictures, links and play games with their friends. Not popular with young teens, according to Kennedy Arreguin, 13, who said, “Everyone’s parents got Facebook....” “So then it’s like, we don’t want to use that anymore,” continued her friend Natalee Gallagher.
Life
Saturday, October 25, 2014
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B E L The Sacramento Bee
experiment resulted in a direct correlation with a lower GPA. “It doesn’t mean Facebook is making them stupid,” Rosen said. “It’s because they are on it all the time. They check every 15 minutes or less. It holds a very powerful draw.” Rosen explained that the strong desire to check Facebook, other social media and text messages is associated with the brain’s release of GABA, epinephrine, serotonin and dopamine—the same chemicals associated with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. The brain triggers a drive to check technological inputs constantly to reduce buildup of these chemicals. If there is no release, then anxiety increases, Rosen said. In another study, Rosen looked at the anxiety levels of college students who had to go without their cellphones. The phones of one group were confiscated, and another group was told to put their phones face down underneath their desk. At first, anxiety levels increased all around. After 20 minutes, however, anxiety levels tapered off among the group that kept their phones. But, among the confiscated group? Their anxiety levels skyrocketed. “Adults think of technology as a tool. Kids don’t think of technology as a tool. Just like we don’t think about air—it’s something we use every day and we take for granted—they think of it as air, as an appendage, literally part of them,” Rosen said. Rosen said this behavior can be explained by the human desire for connection—but that “we, adults, grew up thinking connection was face to face, or, at worst, on the phone.” He cited a study that asked young people about their preferred way to connect with friends. In order, they said: 1) texting, 2) social media, 3) instant messaging, 4) telephone, and 5) face to face. Rosen noted that the only one that requires monotasking is face to face. “These younger generations do not like to unitask,” Rosen said. Jaeyln Singleton, 14, a sophomore at McClatchy, agreed. “Things just go a lot easier for me when I’m doing more than one thing at once,” she said. Another McClatchy student, Jesse Baugh, 16, said he gets annoyed when people call as opposed to text. “Right now if I got a phone call, I don’t know if it’s an emergency—at least send a text message before calling,”
said Baugh, who prefers texts because he can check them while doing other things. MTV Insights, the subdivision of MTV that headed the study, was unable to comment. Jason Rzepka, a media representative for MTV, said the actual study was proprietary information and would not be released to the public. Rosen urged educators and parents to help young people wean themselves off the need to check technology as often—to maintain productivity and creativity and to keep anxiety levels low. He suggested that teachers give a one-minute tech break at the beginning of class and after every subsequent 15-minute block, eventually increasing to 20 minutes, then 30, and finally moving to two minutes at the middle and end of class. Otherwise, students will think about nothing else except their phones. Rosen explained, “You can’t be nervous and learn.” “It’s not our fault. I think technology has finally figured out how to really trigger interest in our brain,” said Rosen. “It attacks all of our senses. God help us when they start having smells come out of our computer.” Rosen, an avid technology user, said he was pleased to discover MTV’s finding that young millennials are slimming down social networks and valuing privacy. Rosen’s 23-year-old daughter recently showed him how she used the increasingly popular— and controversial—Snapchat app. Rosen said Snapchat is not at all for sexting, as many parents fear. “I think it’s just a smart way to connect,” he said. “This younger generation is very concerned about privacy. We have to give them credit for being smarter.” Johnson, the McClatchy High student, said the honesty of Snapchat messages is what makes the app popular. “It’s almost real time,” Johnson said. “You can send really ugly pictures of yourself and then they disappear,” she said. Snapchat also forces Johnson to be creative. “You only have so much space to write,” she said, “so you have to think of something to make them laugh.” Regarding the popularity of Snapchat and more private social media, Rosen said, “Nobody has studied this yet, because it’s so new. But there is somewhat of a revelation that there are other ways to connect—and also maintain control.” ■
life
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no nash this season Sports NO NASH BusinessMirror
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| Saturday, OCtOber 25, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
THIS SEASON ‘Being on the court this season has been my top priority and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now...I work very hard to stay healthy and, unfortunately, my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult. I will continue to support my team during this period of rest, and will focus on my long-term health.’ By Mike Bresnahan
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NASH will »sit STEVE out the entire season because of recurring nerve damage in his back. AP
Los Angeles Times
ITH considerably less fanfare than the day he was acquired, Steve Nash’s tenure with the Lakers ended. Nash will sit out the entire season because of recurring nerve damage in his back, the team announced on Thursday. The $9.71 million he will make in the third and final year of his contract still counts toward the Lakers’ salary cap this season. “Being on the court this season has been my top priority and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now,” Nash said in a statement released on Thursday by the team. “I work very hard to stay healthy and, unfortunately, my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult. I will continue to support my team during this period of rest, and will focus on my long-term health.” Hopes were high when Nash, a two-time most valuable player, signed a three-year, $28-million contract with the Lakers in a July 2012 trade with Phoenix that cost them two first-round picks and two second-round picks. A month later, Dwight Howard was acquired, making the Lakers alleged championship contenders with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol already in the mix. Nash was coming off a season in which he averaged 12.5 points and 10.7 assists with the Suns and was expected to be the dynamic point guard the Lakers had lacked for years. But he has been injury-prone since his second game with them, sustaining a broken bone in his lower left leg and subsequent nerve damage in the area after an in-game collision in Portland on October 31, 2012. Nash, who turns 41 in February, played only 15 games last season primarily because of the nerve condition in his back, which also leads to weakness in his hamstrings. When training camp began a few weeks ago, he was optimistically penciled in as the Lakers’ starting point guard under first-year Coach Byron Scott. He was able to make it through only one full game in exhibition play, totaling 11 points and five assists in 20 minutes of the Lakers’ opener against Denver. “I felt fine. I felt like I could do anything I wanted,” Nash said after that game. A day later, though, he was more cautious, mentally crossing his fingers that his back would hold up. “It’s been a crazy drive for me,” he said. “Maybe I’m starting to get to the other side of it...but it’s very tenuous. It’s such a monster to me over the last 18 months or two years that I’m not conceding anything to that beast.” He sat out the Lakers’ next game and removed himself at halftime of the Lakers’ third exhibition on October 12 because he “just didn’t feel right,” Scott said that night. Nash had missed all five of his shots against Golden State and finished with three points and one assist in 12 minutes. The Lakers still have three point guards on their roster—Jeremy Lin, rookie Jordan Clarkson and veteran Ronnie Price, who has a nonguaranteed contract. Price has been starting at point guard recently while Lin recovers from two sprained ankles, but Lin is expected to eventually take over the position. The team likes Clarkson, 22, a second-round draft pick, though he missed almost two weeks of exhibition play because of a strained calf and returned to action on Wednesday against Portland. Lin, 26, is in the last year of a contract that pays him $14.9 million this season. “As disappointed as we are for ourselves and our fans, we’re even more disappointed for Steve,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “We know how hard he’s worked the last two years to try to get his body right for the rigors of the NBA, and how badly he wants to play, but unfortunately he simply hasn’t been able to get there up to this point in time. Steve has been a consummate professional, and we greatly appreciate his efforts.” Nash is not officially announcing his retirement, though he probably will determine that at some point this season. Until he did retire, the Lakers could trade him to another team, essentially as an expiring contract, though it would be a longshot for Nash to play again after basically sitting out two consecutive seasons. If Nash were to be traded, the Lakers would have to pay him an additional 15 percent trade kicker, as per terms of his contract. The Lakers could apply for a disabled player exception for up to half of Nash’s salary, or $4.85 million. The exception could be used to sign a player for the remainder of the season or trade for a player making up to $4.95 million in the final year of his contract. The Lakers begin the regular season on Tuesday against Houston at Staples Center.
SERIES GETS QUIRKY
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AN FRANCISCO—Eric Hosmer loaded up, launched a long fly and watched it sail toward McCovey Cove. Way out there in right field, near the 421foot mark, the ball bonked off the brick wall. No splash shot. “We were definitely trying to hit ‘em,” the Kansas City first baseman said. “We took turns trying, but no one did.” Even so, Hosmer liked what he saw during a workout on Thursday as many Royals got their first look at San Francisco’s waterfront ballpark. Starting in Game Three of the World Series on Friday against the Giants, they might also discover what makes AT&T Park so unique. “It’s a little quirky out there,” San Francisco Manager Bruce Bochy said. Just wait until someone trips over a bullpen mound chasing a foul ball. Or somebody loses a fly in the mist that wafts above shallow center. Or those swirling winds turn a routine popup into an all-out scramble. Who knows? Might even get a crazy carom off that odd-shaped brick façade on the right-field wall, resulting in the first Series inside-the-park home run since 1929.
“With that brick wall and that chain-link fence, the ball go could go anywhere,” Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. Tim Hudson starts for San Francisco against Jeremy Guthrie as the Royals play their first game in San Francisco since 2005, when they took two of three. Buddy Bell was their manager back then, Tony Graffanino batted third and Jeremy Affeldt was in the bullpen. The 35-year-old Affeldt now pitches for the Giants and came on in relief on Wednesday night in a 7-2 loss. He said he figured the Royals could handle the new park. “That’s an athletic team over there. So I think they can make adjustments. I don’t think we’ll go in thinking that they’re at a disadvantage because
of not being at our ballpark,” he said. Seven players on the Royals’ 25-man roster have played at AT&T Park with other teams. Of the most frequent visitors, Josh Willingham has hit .352 with five homers in 16 games and Omar Infante has batted .307 in 19 games, STATS said. Among the pitchers, Guthrie did fine in two starts and Jason Frasor made two relief appearances. Cain played one game at the stadium in 2010 when he was with Milwaukee. The American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player practiced with coach Rusty Kuntz to gauge the bounces. “You have no idea of where it’s going,” Cain said. Good luck, Giants designated hitter Michael Morse said. “It’s a big park; right field is tricky. The wind does a lot of different things in the outfield, so our guys are used to it,” he said. “It’s tough. It’s tough out there. But everybody’s a professional. I don’t think it will be a factor.” One thing will change, for sure. With no designated hitter in the NL park, Morse and Kansas City’s Billy Butler will lose their spots—Morse drove in a run during a 7-1 win in the opener, while Butler already has three hits and a pair of RBIs.
A broader look at today’s business n
Saturday, October 25, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 17
21.4%
Not very confident
6.1%
6.7%
Not at all confident
Don’t know
Source: Reuters Graphic: Erik Rodriguez
© 2014 MCT
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With tight foul ground, gusts that whip off the bay, twilight starts and pesky seagulls that hover around in the late innings, a lot of balls become adventures in San Francisco. In 2007 Ichiro Suzuki hit the first insidethe-park home run in an All-Star game when his shot off the right-field wall took a weird ricochet. There have been nine inside-the-parkers in World Series play. Lou Gehrig and Casey Stengel are on the list, and Mule Haas of the Philadelphia Athletics hit the last one. Plus, postseason is frequently a weather adventure in the Bay Area. Players need to pack for all sorts of conditions—short sleeves, hoodies, hats and gloves. During the NLCS, Bochy said the teams played
in the toughest winds of the season. Right fielder Hunter Pence had no chance trying to track a fly ball by Saint Louis’s Kolten Wong that landed for a triple. “You play this game, you play in a lot of different ballparks and you find a way to adjust,” Pence said this week. “I think everyone’s going to enjoy it.” AP
sports PABLO SANDOVAL practices »in the batting cage during the Giants’ workout on Thursday. AP
By Cai U. Ordinario
espite the recent lifting of the truck ban in Manila, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said port congestion remains a major threat to the expansion of the country’s external trade, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said.
PESO ON RECOVERY MODE AS SELL-OFF SEEN ENDING
Young millennials seek more social-media privacy ACEBOOK is totally dying,” said Katie Johnson, 14, a McClatchy High School freshman. “It’s mostly just adults now,” she said. Johnson hardly ever checks Facebook, and doesn’t get a lot of text messages. “I usually only text my mom,” said Johnson, who used to text a lot. Her favorite way to contact friends now? Instagram and Snapchat. Longing to appeal to 14-to-17-year-olds, MTV recently conducted a nationwide marketing study to uncover their fast-evolving technology habits. The results were surprising: Teens 14 to 17 years old are slimming down their social networks and seeking out more private environments than Facebook to share, whether via Snapchat or locked Twitter and Instagram feeds. MTV found that teens in this age group—socalled young millennials—are also “taking time to disconnect, de-stress, de-stimulate and control inputs.” Individuals in that age group “increasingly ‘monotask,’” according to an MTV news release. Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and expert on the psychology of technology use, said he was intrigued, but not completely convinced, by all of the study’s findings. MTV claimed that 82 percent of young millennials monotask when stressed. Rosen, however, observed the opposite phenomenon in his research. Rosen’s team went into homes of middle school, high school and college-age students and observed them working on “something important”—their choice—for 15 minutes. They found that, on average, subjects could accomplish only three minutes of studying before being distracted and switching tasks, even though they knew they were being observed. The major culprits? Social media and texting. Rosen’s team also recorded General Point Average (GPA) and found some disturbing trends. Those who used social media more, as well as those who preferred to task-switch—Rosen dislikes the phrase “multitasking”—were worse students. Checking Facebook just once during the 15-minute
Very confident
“Although the truck ban has been lifted to ease congestion in Manila ports, cramped port yards remain an issue that may still have an impact on external trade. These should further be monitored and given ample solution to ease the flow of goods traversing Manila ports,” Balisacan said. Balisacan said solutions to prevent port congestion are crucial, especially with import growth posting a contraction of 1.3 See “Port,” A2 percent in August 2014.
HALLOWEEN, THE UNICEF WAY »D3
BusinessMirror
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Somewhat confident
24.1%
Port logjam still a scourge
driving up north korea’s mountain
We drove 2,150 kilometers in a country that has barely 25,000 km of road, and only 724 km of those paved. By the time we returned to the capital a week later, our Chinesemade Great Wall SUV had a few new scratches and one less hubcap. Our official destination was majestic Mount Paektu, with its jagged peaks surrounding a crystal-blue crater lake. North Korea is pursuing a plan to create dozens of special foreign investment and tourism zones, and this is one of the places it most wants to promote. The easiest way to get there is to fly, but we had been granted permission to drive. This, we were told, would mean traveling through places that no foreign journalists had been allowed to see before. Still, the trip was on North Korea’s terms. Even on the loneliest of lonely highways, we would never be without a “minder,” whose job was to moni-
41.7%
N.E.D.A. CALLS FOR AMPLE SOLUTION TO CRAMPED PORTS AFTER IMPORTS FELL 1.3% IN AUGust
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A Reuters poll asks Americans how confident they are that an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. could be contained
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Ebola containment confidence
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he peso capped a good week on Friday with a slight gain in the average trading value to 44.815 from 44.822 versus the dollar. This gave the local currency its first weekly advance since August on speculation a sell-off of the nation’s stocks is coming to an end. Overseas investors have been net buyers of local shares in the last two days, following 15 straight days of outflows, exchange data show. The nation’s good economic fundamentals will continue to support the peso, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said on Bloomberg Television on Friday. The Philippines reported a $17-million trade deficit for August, less than the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey for a $100-million shortfall. “The risk aversion is tapering off,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Manila-based BDO Unibank Inc. “The market is slowly moving back to reality.” The peso appreciated 0.2 percent this week to 44.823 per dollar as of 12:16 p.m. in Manila, prices from Tullett Prebon Plc. show. The currency was little changed on Friday and lost 2.9 percent in a run of seven weekly declines ended October 17. One-month implied volatility, a measure of expected moves in the exchange rate used to price options, dropped 44 basis points, or 0.44 percentage point, See “Peso,” A8 this week to 6.04 percent.
PESO exchange rates n US 44.8220
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES President Aquino graces the 40th Philippine Business Conference (PBC) Expo closing ceremony at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila
Hotel in One Rizal Park, Manila City, on Friday. With the theme “Proudly Pinoy: Partnering Towards Sustained Growth,” the PBC Expo is an annual business summit that provides a collaborative venue for business leaders, government officials and other development stakeholders to exchange ideas on issues on business and the economy, as well as share business opportunities. Rey Baniquet/Malacañang Photo Bureau /PCOO
Palace still mulling over options on emergency-power resolution By Butch Fernandez
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alacañang is still mulling over options to speed up legislative action on its urgent request for special powers, as Congress is poised to adjourn next week without approving a joint resolution giving President Aquino the authority to contract additional generating capacity to avert the anticipated brownouts in 2015. Under the congressional calendar, the Senate and the House of Representatives are set to adjourn sessions by November 1 for a 15-day recess and will not be back until November 17.
Palace officials did not respond when asked if the Executive will appeal the House Energy Committee’s decision to defer action on its urgent request for emergency authority to address a potentially serious shortage of power supply in the summer months of 2015. Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr., however, did not reply when asked if the Palace was considering calling Congress to a special session and cut short its upcoming vacation to act quickly on the President’s requested joint resolution needed to address the problem. Acting on the recommendation of
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, the Palace earlier invoked Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), which provides that “upon determination of an imminent shortage of supply of electricity” President Aquino may ask Congress to pass a joint resolution to establish additional generating capacity. This “crisis provision” was inserted in the Epira to allow the Executive emergency options as the same law bars the government from putting up power-generating plants to prevent the state from competing with See “Palace,” A2
n japan 0.4140 n UK 71.8497 n HK 5.7783 n CHINA 7.3245 n singapore 35.1132 n australia 39.3037 n EU 56.6864 n SAUDI arabia 11.9471 Source: BSP (24 October 2014)
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Looming 2015 power crisis: Whose fault is it?
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By Lenie Lectura
through the privatization efforts of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. in 2009 for $361.7 million. The first phase of the expansion project consists of putting up an additional capacity of 300 MW (2 x 150 MW). The second phase will expand the Calaca power plant’s capacity by 350 MW more. The third phase also involves another 350 MW. If completed, the venture will raise the power plant’s capacity to a total of 1,600 MW.
HE power-shortage scare in Luzon next year has long been identified way back in 2010. But was anything done since then to prevent it from happening in less than six months from now?
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, who assumed office in September 2012, strongly believes that the Department of Energy (DOE), which was then headed by Jose Almendras, now the Cabinet secretary, and the private sector have done the best they could to avert the inevitable. “In 2011 investors started putting up power plants even without asking them to do so. So, it was clear that the private sector had confidence in the country and in our economy,” Petilla said in an interview. So what could have gone wrong after power producers had already given their firm commitment four or five years ago that they will invest billions of pesos to put up power facilities across the country?
Setbacks
It takes about four to five years for a power plant to be constructed. So there was just enough time to put up a power facility from the time the government had anticipated a shortfall up until when supply and reserve are expected to run out. But for most of the power plants, it did not take four or five years. “There were delays. As you get closer to the dates of the plant commissioning, the expected dates were moved. Why? For so many reasons, such as delays in permitting, equipment delivery, financial constraint and even court battles,” Petilla said. One of the power plants that hit a snag is the 600-megawatt (MW) Subic power project of Redondo Peninsula Energy (RP Energy), a consortium composed of Meralco Power Gen Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp. The Subic project has been in the backburner since 2010, owing to a number of legal challenges hurled by those who are against coal-fired power plants. “Our Subic plant was originally supposed to come online in 2015, but right now we haven’t even started because we’re waiting for the final decision from the Supreme Court [SC],” Erramon Aboitiz, Aboitiz Power president, said. Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
Port. . . continued from a1 On Friday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country’s merchandise import bill decreased to $5.5 billion in August 2014, from $5.6 billion in August 2013. The commodity group that posted the largest decline is electronic products, the country’s primary merchandise import and export. Electronic products, which was only second to fuels in terms of total import share in August, still accounted for 20.7 percent of the total import bill. Imports of electronic products amounted to $1.135 billion in August 2014, a 15.4-percent contraction, from $1.341 billion in August 2013. By major groups of electronic products, components/devices (Semiconductors) had the biggest share of 15.1 percent among electronic products. Semiconductors, however, contracted 20.6 percent, to $830.99 million in August 2014, from $1.047 billion in August 2013. However, the total import payments
Chairman Manuel Pangilinan, likewise, expressed disappointment. “We bought a 600-MW gas-fired power plant in Singapore, and it took us about five months. We’re planning on building a 600-MW power plant in Subic and that has been on the backburner since 2010,” Pangilinan said. The issuance of permits is also a headache. It takes 165 signatures of various local and national government officials to secure permits. Petilla said it will take over a year to secure those signatures, then another four to five years to construct a power plant, barring any last-minute hitches. He proposed that lawmakers come up with a bill that will hasten the construction of power plants. “This is to shorten some of the stumbling blocks in coming up with power plants. This is intended for energy projects. We want a bill that will fast-track the processing of permits and, if possible, no TRO [temporary restraining order] against these projects,” the energy chief said. “Will we do away with permitting? No,” Petilla remarked. “We have a law right now that any government project of national interest cannot be subject to a TRO except for the SC. The problem is we cannot invoke that for power plants. It’s only for government projects.” “Maybe there could be someone who determines national interest. The President can sign. Malacañang can come in and sign,” said Petilla, adding that these power projects affect national interest. “This particular aspect of coming up with a power plant is very important,” he added. The DOE has been vocal in soliciting the help of the private sector to build more power plants to augment the lack of power supply. But the private sector is asking the government to diligently do its part.
No penalty
Petilla said for every day of delay in the commercial operation of a power plant, it is the owner of the power facility that suffers most. “There are no penalties imposed on power producers if they fail to operate the power plant as scheduled. Why? Because they will not
in the first eight months of 2014 increased by 4 percent, to $42.4 billion from $40.8 billion in the comparable period in 2013. “Domestically, the recent slowdown in imports may reflect market sentiment of sluggish demand due to seasonal factors. But we remain vigilant should this sluggish growth in imports turn out to be a signal of a more pessimistic condition of the global economy, which may spill over locally,” Balisacan said. Meanwhile, payments for imported consumer goods posted a double-digit expansion of 13.8 percent, to reach $766.2 million in August 2014, from $673.2 million a year ago. Similarly, imports of capital goods grew at a faster pace of 3.1 percent in August 2014, from a marginal increase of 0.3 percent in July 2014, following consecutive contractions since February to June 2014. “Overall, merchandise imports could possibly pick up in the succeeding
“We have been seeing this sort of phenomenon of increasing forced outages and unscheduled shutdown. In paper, we still have adequate capacity but it is really difficult to anticipate the condition of the existing power plants,” Meralco President Oscar Reyes stressed. benefit from the delay. In fact, it will cost them a lot. The longer the delays, the more they lose money,” Petilla explained, adding that power producers intend to commission their new facilities as soon as possible in order to reap the benefits from their investments. The energy chief cited the delay of the 150-MW coal-fired power plantexpansion project of DMCI Holdings. Petilla said DMCI, in a letter to the DOE, said the power facility’s commercial operation was originally targeted in December 2013 but later moved to March 2014. Petilla said this will not be met because DMCI was now eyeing to have it moved to June 2015. This 150-MW power facility is, by far, the biggest power plant, in terms of capacity, which was supposed to come online by summer of 2015. DMCI intends to expand the existing 600-MW Calaca plant it bought from the government
months as suggested by the inventory drawdown in the national accounts,” Balisacan noted. China remained as the top source of Philippine merchandise imports in August 2014 with a 14.7-percent share to total import payments amounting to $806.5 million. The US followed with a share of 7.8 percent, tailed by Singapore (7.4 percent); Taiwan (7.3 percent); Republic of Korea (7 percent); Japan (6.7 percent); Saudi Arabia (6 percent); Thailand (5.9 percent); France (5.3 percent) and Germany (4.2 percent). The value of imported commodities from other Asean member-countries accounted for 23.1 percent of Philippine merchandise imports amounting to $1.3 billion. The European Union, meanwhile, provided $709.8 million worth of imports, or about 12.9 percent of the country’s total import requirements in August 2014.
Aging power plants
For Meralco President Oscar Reyes it was not about poor planning on the part of the government, as most may think, as to why Luzon faces a power-supply deficiency of 900 MW next year. “Part of the reason we find reserves to be thinner than expected is because most of the power plants nowadays are showing signs of, shall we say, aging. Before, the power plants were not showing their age. They were still performing with less required scheduled maintenance and less forced outages. No, I won’t attribute it to poor planning,” Reyes said. True enough, a number of power plants have been conking out these pastmonthsduetovariedreasons,such as scheduled maintenance, extended maintenance or equipment damage. “We have been seeing this sort of phenomenon of increasing forced outages and unscheduled shutdown. In paper, we still have adequate capacity but it is really difficult to anticipate the condition of the existing power plants,” Reyes stressed. Petilla agrees. “If there were no plant outages then there will be no power crisis.” Again, Meralco stressed that had not the power project of RP Energy suffered a setback this would have significantly addressed the power shortage next year. “While on paper there was still enough capacity, you have to anticipate certain things in advance like the impact of mechanical breakdown of some power plants. That was why we wanted to bring our power project online by 2015. That’s a 600-MW power plant. Sadly, it’s not going to happen,” Reyes said in an interview. For Petilla, RP Energy’s project, if accomplished on time, could have made a difference. “It could have really mattered. Its capacity is huge enough to significantly address the problem because 600 MW is 600 MW,” he said.
Blame it on Epira
Energy Committee Chairman and Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro in an interview said there is no quick solution to solve the power
crisis the country faces. The DOE said the Luzon grid needs 900 MW of additional capacity next year, higher than the previous estimate of 600 MW to 800 MW on the back of a delay in the 150-MW coal-plant expansion of DMCI and due to the effect of the mild El Niño weather disturbance. The projected capacity requirement could even hit as much as 1,200 MW in an “extreme El Niño” case, the agency said. “From my readings, the problems in the power sector could not be fixed by any quick solution. I don’t want to find fault in anyone but the process itself and the delays in Epira [Electric Power Industry Reform Act] all contribute to this problem that we have now,” Umali said. The lawmaker is the author of House Bill 4479, which seeks to amend the Epira. He believes that Epira was not much of a help to boost interest from the private sector because, for one, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) isn’t doing its job properly. “Sadly, Epira remains to have fallen short of its promise of reliable and affordable supply of electric power when it was passed by the 11th Congress,” Umali said. “The situation necessitates a diligent and thorough review and scrutiny of Epira.” The World Bank stressed the importance of “institutional strengthening of ERC” and, in particular, the economic regulatory skills of the agency needs to be built up. “ERC, in general, is probably a bit too legalistic and process-oriented, and not driven enough [nor capable enough] by core economic aspects,” World Bank senior energy specialist Alan Townsend said.
Long-term solution
For now, the DOE is hoping that the Senate and the House of Representatives would issue a joint resolution authorizing President Aquino to invoke Section 71 of Epira in order to address the supply deficiency. A draft of the resolution submitted by the DOE seeks to grant the President an authority to negotiatecontractsfortheacquisitionof additional generation capacity— either vialeaseorpurchase—ofabout500MW. Epira prohibits the government from putting up power plants. However, Section 71 of the said law states that the President, upon determination of an imminent shortage of supply of electricity, may ask Congress for authority, through a joint resolution, to establish additional generating capacity under such terms and conditions. But Petilla said there is a way to prevent another power crisis from happening in the future, and this is
Labor-rights. . . continued from a8 fulfilling its mandate to look after the interest and welfare of Filipinos abroad by partnering with the US in reaching out and educating members of the Filipino-American Community about their rights and responsibilities as employees and employers.” “We welcome the opportunity of entering into worker-related bilateral agreements such as this MOU, as a step forward in the fulfillment of our mandate to protect worker rights,” Cuisia said. The MOU with the NLRB
is the third agreement the Philippines has entered into with US labor agencies. The embassy had previously signed agreements with the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Department of Labor. The NLRB is an independent agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between employers and employees in the private sector in the US.
Palace. . . continued from a1 the private sector. Speaking at the 40th Philippine Business Conference and Expo on Friday, President Aquino, however, assured that the government was working on addressing concerns by businessmen, particularly on sustaining energy supply. “First, on the formulation of an integrated and sustainable energy and power development
road map, the efforts to reform the power industry, as embodied in Epira, are still a work in progress, and this is understandable, given the fact that our power industry is really a unique industry,” President Aquino said. For instance, Mr. Aquino added, “even before groundbreaking, plants have typically sold all of their output. I know of no other business or industry
called demand aggregation. Just recently, the agency issued a draft circular that seeks to bid out the aggregate power requirements of distribution utilities (DUs) and electric cooperatives (ECs). In a nutshell, the agency’s draft memorandum circular on the Adoption of Demand Aggregation and Supply Auctioning Policy in the Electric Power Industry is envisioned to be the platform for a yearly venue to auction off the electricity demands— future and current—of all DUs and ECs. In this way, it can easily be predicted if supply is enough or lacking. More important, consumers will be assured of a secured and reliable supply of electric power. Petilla said the draft circular, if implemented, is going to be a landmark policy under his term. “We should not wait for their contacts to end before [DUs and ECs] contract another power supplier. We need to secure their requirements today and not when their contracts expire,” Petilla said. “With aggregate demand, this will not only assure consumers of lower prices but also assure them that the power plants are always there when they are needed.” DUs and ECs deliver electricity to the consumers. They source power from power producers via bilateral contracts. At times, they also purchase power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). For Meralco, it sources 90 percent of its power requirements from bilateral contracts and the remaining 10 percent from the spot market, which is a centralized system for buying and selling electricity in Luzon and the Visayas. “The adequate and proper power supply contracting by the DUs ensures electricity demand is met, while electricity end users is protected from unnecessary exposure in the volatility of spot prices in the WESM,” stated the draft circular. Petilla expects that many DUs, ECs and power producers will oppose this move because, for one, they do not want to publicly reveal their future electricity demand. “We can be challenged. This is a policy direction. Now, if they will question this then they have to site a law that prevents consumer protection,” Petilla said. “This is a sure way to prevent any repeat of a power crisis.” The proposed policy is yet to be firmed up though. So, for now, hopes are high that the President will be granted special powers, along with the Interruptible Load Program and energy-conservation measures, which, according to Petilla, are the government’s best chances in averting a power crisis next year. That remains to be seen.
The US law guarantees workers the right to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions, or to refrain from such activities. Employers and employees alike are protected from unfair labor practices. “This initiative is an affirmation of the US government’s advocacy for human rights and a demonstration of their appreciation for the Filipinos’ contribution to the US economy,” Cuisia said. PNA
that has already sold its goods, that have yet to be produced in a facility that has yet to be constructed. That, of course, is not an ideal situation.” The President pointed out that “just-intime supplies of energy do not engender more investments. Therefore, there is a need to change the business model, and that is also a work in progress.”
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JIL calls for peace, unity amid tensions
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HE Jesus Is Lord Church (JIL) on Friday called on Filipinos to pray for peace and unity amid the political tensions that are dividing the country. This developed as televangelist Eddie Villanueva thanked President Aquino for taking part in the JIL’s celebration, and said that the group will pray for him to always take the righteous path in leading the country. Villanueva, the religious organization’s founder, said all Filipinos regardless of religion must rise up as one, take a stand, and pray for peace to reign in all parts of the country. “My vision for the Philippines is for each and everyone of us to be peacefully united with one another. But peace is a long process that starts with the acknowledgment, especially from our leaders, that we have done wrong to our countrymen. It is only after the mistakes have been acknowledged can the country move forward,” Villanueva said. For his part, Director General Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority said poverty alleviation is another key toward achieving peace and unity in the country. “Inclusive growth will only be just words unless our countrymen get employment opportunities that will allow them to provide for the basic needs of their families. There will always be restlessness in our country until such time when the economic gap between the rich and the poor is narrowed,” Joel Villanueva said. The 36th anniversary of JIL, which was held on Friday at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, was attended by an estimated 1 million of its followers. Over the past few months, scandals on the use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Fund divided the country. On its heels followed alleged corruption issues on Vice President Jejomar Binay and his family. “All of these issues need to be resolved at the soonest possible time for the country to move forward. The Lord will be the one to direct us through the right path. We just have to be still and know that He is God,” Villanueva said. He added that JIL will pray that the next set of leaders the country will elect in 2016 would continue the reforms that were started by the Aquino administration.
By Joel R. San Juan
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PASTOR
Businessman Domingo “Sandy” de Guzman asked the DOJ to dismiss the murder complaint against him for lack of basis. Likewise, Pastor’s wife, Dalia, who is facing parricide for her alleged involvement in the killing of her husband, also sought the dismissal of the case on the ground that it was not validly filed by police investigators and for lack of evidence that would link her to the crime. Dalia did not appear before the DOJ to submit a counteraffidavit but her lawyer Ruy Alberto Rondain submitted a memorandum seeking the dismissal of the complaint for lack of merit. Dalia’s camp noted that Police Officer 2 Edgar Angel, who earlier implicated de Guzman and Dalia to the crime, had rectracted his statements, saying that he was tortured
and coerced by police investigators into signing them. “In this case, Dalia was not even at the crime scene. All complainants have by way of ‘evidence,’ is that she allegedly called her husband twice on the night he was murdered. This was woefully inadequate,” Rondain said. “Absent any act or circumstances from which may logically be inferred the existence of a common design among the respondents to commit a crime, the theory of conspiracy remains a speculation, not a fact,” Rondain added. Likewise, Dalia’s lawyer said any evidence seized from the cellular telephone of de Guzman cannot be used to prove their alleged intimate relationship, because evidence would show that de Guzman was illegally arrested. De Guzman, who appeared before
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Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Villanueva to file his counteraffidavit, claimed that with the recantation of Angel, the complaint against him should be dismissed. De Guzman, assisted by his counsel Enrique de la Cruz, claimed that the police had framed him. “He [Angel] didn’t have the chance to meet me because what happened was when I was in the car, when I closed the car, one of the officers approached me and asked, ‘Are you Sandy de Guzman?’ I said, ‘yes’. Then he [the policeman] pulled me out of the car and handcuffed me. So, how can I give the money to PO2 Angel if I was handcuffed,” the businessman told reporters in an ambush interview. In his counteraffidavit, de Guzman insisted that the police authorities have failed to present evidence to warrant the finding of probable cause against him. He noted the police relied solely to the
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extrajudicial confession of Angel, which the policeman later on retracted, in filing the murder complaint. Angel earlier claimed in his August 2014 extrajudicial confession that he was hired by de Guzman to kill Pastor in exchange for P100,000. But in his counteraffidavit submitted to the DOJ on September 8, Angel disowned his confession, saying it was just a “script” written by the police. De Guzman pointed out that Angel’s retraction should be considered and upheld given the “special circumstances” in the case, adding that the legality and validity of his original and initial extrajudicial confession were doubtful. On the allegation that he was arrested by the Quezon City Police District after handing a reward money to Angel for killing Pastor, de Guzman said that closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the entrapment operation would debunk the story of the police. De Guzman submitted copies of CCTV footage from Unique Autowerkes Shop, Seaoil Philippines Inc. Gasoline Station and of the Santo Niño Village Homeowners’ Association as proof to his claim that he was unarmed, and did not hand over the supposed P20,000 bonus for Angel. Pastor was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men in Quezon City on June 12. At the time, Pastor was driving a truck and had stopped at the traffic light at the corner of Visayas Avenue and Congressional Extension Avenue in Quezon City. Pastor was transporting a racecar to Pampanga when he was shot.
HE principal suspects in the killing of motor-racing champion Ferdinand “Enzo” Pastor asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday to drop the murder and parricide charges filed against them.
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Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Saturday, October 25, 2014
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Economy
A4 Saturday, October 25, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon
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PHL’s Jan-to-Aug imports hit $42.45B
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By Kris M. Crismundo Philippines News Agency
mport transactions of the Philippines in the first eight months of the year have reached $42.45 billion, or 4 percent higher than last year’s import bill of $40.81 billion, according to the latest External Trade Report released on Friday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
This, despite imports declined in four consecutive months starting May. Meanwhile, August 2014 imports slightly dropped by 1.3 percent to $5.49 billion compared to August 2013 transaction of $5.56 billion. “Despite the gains from increased imports of consumer and capital goods, reduced purchases of imported raw materials and intermediate goods and mineral fuels and lubricants dragged down imports growth in August 2014,” said Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan.
Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, as well as electronic products, which are the country’s largest imported commodities, pulled down the growth by 15.4 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials import bill for August posted at $1.26 billion, accounting for 23 percent of the total imports in August. This is lower than last year’s same period of $1.3 billion. Imports amount of electronics was at $1.14 billion in August this year, declining from August 2013’s bill of $1.34 billion. On the other hand, eight of the
top 10 major commodities for August posted an increase ranging from 3.2 percent up to 86.1 percent. These import value gainers for August this year are cereals and cereal preparations, up by 86.1 percent to $154 million; other food and live animals, up by 26.6 percent to 188 million; miscellaneous manufactured articles, up by 24.6 to $145 million; iron and steel, up by 23.7 to $156 million; transport equipment, up by 22.4 to $559 million; plastics in primary and nonprimary forms, up by 19.3 to $162 million; telecommunications equipment and electrical machinery, up by 9.5 percent to $113 million; and industrial machinery and equipment, up by 3.2 percent to $277 million. “Domestically, the recent slowdown in imports may reflect market sentiment of sluggish demand due to seasonal factors. But we remain vigilant should this sluggish growth in imports turn out to be a signal of a more pessimistic condition of the global economy, which may spill over locally,” Balisacan noted. “Although the truck ban has been lifted to ease congestion in Manila ports, cramped port yards remain an issue that may still have an impact on external trade. These should further be monitored and given ample solution to ease the flow of goods traversing Manila ports,” he added.
Meanwhile, the country’s largest imports source in August was China, with import payment of $806 million, which increased by 8.9 percent from August last year at $741 million. This was followed by the US, with import bill of $429 million; Singapore, $406 million; Taiwan, $403 million; and South Korea, $383 million. Balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the Philippines in August 2014 continued to post a deficit of $17 million as the country’s import payment was higher than the export revenue in the said month. The External Trade Performance for August as released by the PSA on Friday showed that the import bill reached $5.491 billion, while export earnings were at $5.474 billion. The PSA’s external trade data also showed that although BOT-G in August posted a negative value, the country managed to slow down the trade deficit. The $17-million trade deficit in August 2014 was significantly lower than the deficit in August 2013, at $608 million. Likewise, month-on-month trade deficit further declined from the $41-million level in July 2014. Meanwhile, total trade in August 2014 reached $10.96 billion, from $10.52 billion in the same month last year, or an increase of 4.23 percent. East Asian countries, particularly China and Japan, were the
NGCP bares completion of P1.9-B Bohol power project
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DOTC to bid out seven airport, seaport projects worth P150.4 million By Lorenz S. Marasigan
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By Lenie Lectura
HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on Friday said it has completed the P1.9-billion Bohol Backbone Transmission Project (BBTP). The project aims to accommodate load growth and address low-voltage limitations, improve the system reliability and operational flexibility, and extend service to previously unelectrified areas in Bohol. The project involves the installation and construction of 92.27 circuit kilometers of 138-kiloVolt (kV) overhead transmission lines from Ubay to Corella, and 9 circuit kilometers of 69-kV transmission lines from Corella to Cortes, utilizing steel tower and steel pole structures, respectively. Also part of the project include the expansion of the Ubay Substation and the construction of a new 100-megavolt ampere (MVA) substation in Corella. NGCP President and CEO Henry Sy Jr. said the project is one of the company’s flagship projects in the Visayas. “This project is for our customers in Bohol and the whole [of] Visayas. A stronger and more reliable power grid is necessary to efficiently and safely transmit electricity from the power plants to the local distribution utilities, down to the household consumers,” Sy said. “We will not stop here. We will reinforce the high-voltage transmission backbone in more areas throughout the country to ensure that the power grid remains secure and reliable,” he added. By completing this project, NGCP continues to fully transmit the electricity produced by power generators in Bohol, and is prepared for future growth. NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid. It transmits high-voltage electricity through “power superhighways” that include the interconnected system of transmission lines, towers, substations and related assets. The consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country’s power-transmission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., led by Henry Sy Jr., Calaca High Power Corp., led by Robert Coyiuto Jr., and the State Grid Corp. of China as technical partner. NGCP’s concession contract is for the operation and maintenance of the power-transmission facilities. The Philippine government still wholly owns these assets.
Philippines’s top trading partners for August this year. Two-way trade with China hit $1.627 billion—imports at $807 million and exports at $821 million. This left the Philippines with a trade surplus with China at $14 million in August this year. Bilateral trade with Japan in August 2014 reached $1.411 billion, with import payment at $367 million and exports revenue of $1.044 billion. The country had a total of $678-million trade surplus with Japan in August. The Philippines also had trade surplus with the US at $371 million in August this year after exports that country hit $800 million, while imports reached $429 million. Total trade with the US reached $1.23 billion, making it the country’s thirdlargest trade partner in August 2014. The rest of the top 10 trade partners of the Philippines for August this year were Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the country’s eightmonth merchandise trade value went up by 15 percent to $83.2 billion, from $72.2 billion during the January-to-August 2013 period. Cumulative BOT-G this year also posted a deficit of $1.7 billion, which further slowed down from the $3.48-billion level last year.
Jack of all trades A budding entrepreneur tends to his variety store-cum-specialty repair shop housed in a van in Mandaluyong City. Nonie Reyes
he Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is spending P150.4 million to develop seven ports in Luzon and the Visayas. In a bid bulletin, the transportation agency said it is auctioning off five sea terminal and two airport development projects seen to help ease the trade of goods and services. The government is bidding out the P16.84-million development of Lubang Aiport, a project that entails the construction of a new passenger terminal building at the air hub. It is also auctioning off the P8.45-million development of the Marinduque Airport; and the P7.46-million Laoag International Airport Development Project, which entails the continuation of construction of drainage canal and
shoulder grade correction. Included in the list are: n the P47.53-million Tagbilaran Airport Development Project, which entails the asphalt overlay of runway pavement; n the P18.14-million Legaspi Airport Development Project, which entails concreting of apron; n the P47.22-million Galas Port Development Project, which involves the construction of wharf; and n the P4.81-million Rehabilitation of Marabut Port in Samar, which entails the repair of existing damaged port and extension of causeway. Prospective bidders must have completed at least one contract that is similar to the contract that they will bid for, and value of which must be at least 50 percent of the approved budget for the contract. Bid submission deadline is set on November 18.
House hikes allocation for PCMC, Apec hosting in 2015 budget bill
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he chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations disclosed on Friday that the allocation in next year’s national budget of P1.227 billion for the purchase of a Philippine Children’s Medical Center’s (PCMC) lot and P3.3 billion for the country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in 2015. Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, chairman of the panel, bared the figures, as he led a small committee
that ironed out amendments for the 2015 proposed P2.606-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA), at the House of Representatives, which is scheduled to approve the national budget on third and final reading before Congress goes on a two-week recess on October 29. “The only amendments we can consider major are the increase in subsidy to the Philippine Children’s Medical Center for the acquisition of a lot occupied by the hospital at
P1.227 billion and additional allocation of P3.3 billion for the Apec,” Ungab said. “The target date for third reading approval of the budget is on October 29. There are no major amendments, as each department/office worked within their budgets as submitted, and worthy to note is the fact that the 2015 GAA followed the Constitution, law, rules…,” Ungab replied, when asked to give details which agency
got the major budget adjustment. The allocation in the national budget for PCMC is under the Department of Health, while the allocation for the Apec can be found under the International Commitment Fund. The PCMC has been serving 40,000 to 50,000 childpatients yearly and was reportedly to be evicted on Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. Next year, the Philippines will host the Apec Summit after hosting the same in 1996. PNA
briefs
LTFRB set to hear petition for jeepney fare rollback ON NOVEMBER 17
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he Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is set to conduct a public hearing on a lawmaker’s petition to reduce the minimum jeepney fare due to a series of rollbacks on diesel prices. The public hearing is set on November 17, with the notice sent to petitioner Rep. Manuel M. Iway of the First District of Negros Oriental. The lawmaker sought to cut the current minimum jeepney fare from P8.50 to P8 for the first 4 kilometers, and reduce the succeeding kilometer rate from P1.50 to P1.40 in Metro Manila, and Regions 3 and 4. Iway used to sit as a board member of the LTFRB. “Naintindihan po namin ang kalagayan ng ating mga mananakay at gayundin ang plight ng mga jeepney drivers and operators kaya naman kaagad kaming magpapatawag ng public hearing upang matugunan ang request ng ating mangbabatas at consumer group,” LTFRB Chairman Winston M. Ginez said. The notice stated that the petitioner has 15 days prior to the date of the hearing to publish the notice of hearing in a newspaper of general circulation. The petitioners shall also submit proof of compliance with the jurisdictional requirements. On the other hand, the LTFRB will allow parties contesting or opposing the proposed fare reduction to file in written form their position prior to the hearing date. Both parties must also appear to submit their position papers on the said date. “We need to hear both sides, the petitioners, as well as the parties opposing the fare hike, before we can arrive at a sound decision,” Ginez said.
Lorenz S. Marasigan
C.A. orders ParaÑaque RTC to proceed with civil suit vs P.A.L. employees The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Parañaque City to proceed with the civil suit filed by a Chinese who was allegedly maltreated by a pilot and employees of an airline company in 2010. In an 11-page ruling written by Associate Justice Myra Garcia-Fernandez, the CA’s Eighth Division granted the appeal of Chun Suy Tay, also known by his Christian name as “Joseph Tay,” in a civil case for breach of contract of carriage and damages against the management and personnel/employees of Philippine Airlines (PAL). The CA reversed and set aside the orders of the Parañaque City RTC on the case as it remanded the same to the lower court. Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Francisco Acosta. In his complaint, Tay claimed that on April 21, 2010, he decided to sit in the middle front row instead of the seat assigned to him, as there were vacant seats, but he was not allowed to do so. According to Tay, PAL breached its obligation under the contract of carriage when the crew members, pilot and employees maltreated and threatened him, forcibly removed him from the aircraft, caused him to be detained at the police office, and miss his flight to Hong Kong. The complainant said that due to the incident, Tay failed to attend to his business transactions/meetings in Hong Kong and China, causing him loss of income. PNA
KL aims to raise market presence in Manila amid construction boom, Asean integration
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AVAO CITY—Malaysia said it intends to increase its penetration in the Philippine market in the next few years as it set its sights on the booming construction sector, and capitalize in the 2015 Asean economic integration. Nyaee Ayup, trade commissioner of the Embassy of Malaysia in Manila, said the Philippines had been a profitable trade partner with electronics as the major trading product of both countries.
“The Philippines is an important partner for us for so many years. But we are looking at increasing our penetration into the market,” said told a news briefing at the Park Inn by Radisson here on Friday. Nyaee said Malaysia is interested in raising its presence in the local construction sector, which she said“is having positive strength in the country.” “We would like to support the industry by supplying the materials,” she added.
In a statement distributed at a news briefing with Davao reporters and members of the Embassy of Malaysia Trade Office, Nyaee disclosed that its timber exporters are planning to expand operation in the Philippines to support the construction boom. Loh Pau Seen of the Malaysian Timber Council Trade Promotion and Marketing said the Philippine market is holding “great potentials for exporter of Malaysia’s timber and timber products, particularly saw timber,
such as red meranti and mixed light hardwood (MLH). “The Filipino timber market is familiar with Malaysian timber species. Filipino importers and end users recognize Malaysia’s strong capacity to supply timber products sufficiently,” Loh said. He added that for several years, Filipino importers have been buying large volumes of red meranti and MLH saw timber, mainly from Sarawak. Loh said his group, along with the Timber Exporters’ Association of
Malaysia and the Malaysian Wood Industries Association had “made a market development visit to Manila” last month. He did not say, however, what transpired during visit. Nyaee said that Malaysian exports to the Philippines reached $3 billion in 2013, with electronics as its banner export, followed by chemicals ($422 million), processed food ($211 million), building materials ($200 million) and machinery ($195 million).
Manuel T. Cayon
Opinion BusinessMirror
A6 Saturday, October 25, 2014
Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay
editorial
Progress in Philippine preparations vs Ebola
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ESPITE the United States government’s measures to halt the spread of the Ebola virus on its own soil, these seem to be not aggressive or thorough enough, as media outlets reported on Friday (Manila time) that a doctor in New York City—which has a population of more than 8 million—had tested positive for the disease.
The facts on this new Ebola case are disturbing: the doctor, 33-year-old Craig Spencer, had treated Ebola-stricken patients in West Africa with humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders. Sixteen staff members of the group have already tested positive for the illness and nine have died. Spencer returned to the US from West Africa on October 17. Seven days later, he was taken to a hospital after showing the symptoms: a 39.4-centigrade fever, abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue. Spencer showed no symptoms before or during his journey home, and had been monitoring his health closely, taking his temperature twice a day. However, he did not follow quarantine procedures. The night before he was admitted, he had taken a taxi and went bowling with friends. The day before, he rode on the New York subway system. Questions are being raised and comparisons are being made between today’s Ebola outbreak and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and 2003; that syndrome reached the Philippines, which reported 14 cases and two deaths. Actually, there’s no real comparison, as 88 percent of all SARS cases were confined to China and Hong Kong. Furthermore, the SARS mortality rate was 9.6 percent, versus Ebola’s 50 percent to 70 percent. For the last two months, we have raised concerns that the government may have been moving too slowly and without any sense of urgency about the threat that Ebola poses. However, significant progress has been made since the Department of Health and its National Epidemiology Center held the first National Summit on Ebola Virus Disease two weeks ago. The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), which was designated as the Philippines’s national reference center for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, has become better equipped. It has developed a triage system for suspected cases. Some P500 million is being allocated to upgrade the laboratory that RITM will use to contain Ebola, if ever the virus reaches the country. While not 100-percent effective, a formal and specific airport screening and quarantine process is being implemented. Hospitals in Manila and other cities are being prepared with staff training and facilities to deal with the problem. Personal protective equipment for healthcare workers is being secured. It would appear that the country is preparing properly, as it should for any looming disaster. Will Ebola hit the Philippines? That is impossible to say. But as of now, we are much more confident that the government and private medical sector are doing nearly all they can to gear up to avoid an Ebola outbreak in our country.
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Nursing-care tourism: A new niche market for the PHL? Marc Daubenbuechel
View from the 19th floor
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N recent years a new trend has been seen in developing countries. This trend is so new that it doesn’t even have an official name. I call it “nursing-care tourism”. But what is this new trend all about?
The costs of care in developed countries are increasing, while the quality of it is decreasing. Some senior citizens (or their children) are now looking at other countries where the cost of care is lower and the staff-to-patient ratio is higher. The Philippines is one of these countries, and this column will give you a background on the possibility of the country to become a nursingcare destination. Let us first look at the situation in developed countries. I will use Germany as an example. About 2.3 million people in Germany are in need of care. Of that number, 1.6 million receive nursing care at home, while the remaining 700,000 are living in stationarycare units. These are not called “homes for the aged” or “aged care facilities”, because some younger people are also residing there for various reasons (accident, stroke or disability). Residing in a stationary-care facility is expensive; it costs about €3,500 a month. Such an expense can eat up one’s savings very fast. On average, every resident pays about €37,000 out of his or her own pocket until he or she dies. More than 400,000 residents in nursing homes in Germany are living off social insurance. They have worked for so long and live long, and toward the end of their lives they become petitioners,
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care, including psychological care for dementia patients and their families. You might wonder if it is necessary to develop the sector extensively only for foreign clients, as you might say that nursing homes do not fit into Philippine culture. True, most nursing homes in the country were initially built for foreign clients, but over time, to my surprise, they developed into facilities for local residents. The total number of beds in private institutions quintupled in the last three years, and about 80 percent of these beds are occupied by Filipino residents. This increase strongly indicates that there is also a need for geriatric services for the local market, despite its negative associations. If addressed correctly, we can develop a strong niche-market product for the Philippines as the demand for nursing-care tourism will develop exponentially over time. Additionally, we can develop services ranging from residential care to daycare for Filipino seniors, benefiting both markets and creating new jobs in the health-care industry. If you would like to learn more about care for the aged, ask me or one of our international experts at the Retirement & Healthcare: Master Class 2014, to be held on November 5 and 6 at the Marriott Hotel Manila. Our key speakers for international aged-care facilities in Asia are Choe Lam Tan and Jack Tan, founders and directors of the Jeta Garden Group, which runs facilities in Australia and Malaysia. The event is organized by the Retirement & Healthcare Coalition, in partnership with the Department of Tourism and the PRA.
To register for the Retirement & Healthcare: Master Class 2014, call (632) 845-1324 or e-mail events@rhc.com.ph. For more information, visit www.rhs-asia.com.
Sony shareholders have too much patience William Pesek
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needing to ask the state for money. Such care also eats up the savings of their children, as social insurance will only pay once the children cannot contribute anymore. This is the main reason some families are starting to look for alternatives to nursing-care services. In Europe they look mainly at Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Hungary, as the monthly cost for a stationary-care facility there is only about €1800, half of the cost they pay in Germany. In some rare cases, facilities in Thailand and even the Philippines are being preferred by Europeans, but this is still the exception. On the other hand, citizens of the United States are looking at Latin American countries, such as Panama and Mexico. The pressure on American seniors is a lot higher, as the cost of care in the US is higher than in Europe, and social security contributes less. Also, I have observed individual cases wherein US citizens have been placed in facilities in Southeast Asia. What is their reason for looking at the other side of the Pacific Ocean? Climate plays a big role. Many people have dreamed of retiring in a country with a tropical climate, and very often warm weather is good for their general health. (However, summertime can be really a challenge for
the cardiovascular system). Furthermore, previous tourism experience and fluency in English are significant considerations for a person in preferring one nursing-care destination over another, and in this regard the Philippines has an advantage. Many people have been “touched” by Filipino nurses before in Europe or the US, and are convinced by their ability to really care and the “human touch” that they—and the country—have. For those with dementia, a touch is the last form of communication. Is the Philippines ready for this market? The bigger share of the pie still goes to Thailand. It has been leading in the medical-tourism market for years, and it does not come as a surprise to me that it is also at the forefront when it comes to nursing-care tourism. This is due to the achievement of private-sector facilities, such as Baan Kamlangchay in Chaing Mai, a German facility focusing on German-speaking Alzheimer patients. With the Philippines on the rise, we have the first nursing home for German-speaking residents in Iloilo province, Mabuhaii Nursing Home, which was established in 2012. In Metro Manila and Cebu province, more and more facilities are being established for those in need of care. Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) General Manager Veredigno Atienza realized this potential for the Philippines and, in response, created the “Human Touch Visa” to stimulate the nursing-care market. The visa is specifically created for those who intend to migrate to the Philippines to receive nursing care. The Philippines is on the right track to become a recognized player in this new market. What needs to be done is capacity-building in the medical field. As of now, the country has only 140 geriatric doctors, and there is no extensive geriatric course that addresses proper long-term
BLOOMBERG VIEW
D
ANIEL LOEB dumping his stake in Sony Corp. no doubt thrilled the Japanese company’s executives. Now they can return to driving the one-time world leader into the ground without interference from that pesky foreign investor.
Japanese stockholders, for their part, have watched Sony tumble painfully from technology leader to laughingstock to distressed asset right before their eyes, and, yet, they are standing by Kazuo Hirai, the latest Sony boss to promise change and deliver only losses. Before Hirai took over in 2012, Howard Stringer, Nobuyuki Idei and Kunitake Ando all tried, and failed, to stop Apple from stealing Sony’s franchise. But it’s Hirai who may earn the particular scorn of corporate historians, and not just because, under him, Sony failed to pay an annual dividend for the first time since its 1958 listing. Hirai failed to see how quickly the world outside his office was turning against Sony. His decision to stick with flat-screen televisions, smartphones and other gadgets,
even as they were dominated by South Korea and, soon, China deserves its own MBA course: Delusion 101. Back in May 2013 Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund figured Sony was still salvageable—if it would make some bold moves, including dumping as much as 20 percent of its entertainment unit. Loeb taking his chips off the table now is ominous; he’s known to be among the more patient of the international shareholder activists. Local shareholders now need to follow Loeb’s example by speaking out. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sounds as if he’s leading the way with talk of tighter corporate-governance standards. In September Abe even took his “Japan is back” message to the New York Stock Exchange, complete with a
shout-out to Gordon Gekko. Thirteen months later, Tokyo has yet to lift restrictions on corporate takeovers to unleash the Gekko effect. Lobbyists are watering down Abe’s plans to nudge companies to hire outside directors and women. Any push to end the complicated cross-shareholdings system that’s thwarted the likes of T. Boone Pickens or Warren Lichtenstein of Steel Partners seems a reach. Ditto for encouraging courts to be less biased against private-equity firms. And why isn’t Abe condemning the cabal-like practice of allowing virtually every major company to hold annual general shareholder meetings on the same day? This isn’t rocket science; it’s political will. Rather than let shaky Japanese companies be acquired or restructured, the government persists in extending them loans. Abe’s government is pushing the $1.2-trillion Government Pension Investment Fund to buy more Japanese stocks—one of history’s biggest corporate welfare programs. What Abe calls “reform,” I call bailing out underperforming chief executive officers with public money. Sony surrogates argue it’s all good— Loeb earned 20 percent on his $1.1-billion investment. But when Sony’s shares are up, it’s not because the company is making products consumers want or revisiting the glory days when its
Walkman, Trinitron TV and disk-storage systems changed the world. It’s because history’s biggest quantitative-easing experiment made money free, weakened the yen and boosted asset prices. Thanks to the Bank of Japan, Loeb made money in spite of Hirai’s bad leadership. Moral hazard, anyone? Culture is a tough thing to change, and it’s rarely in the Japanese nature to pound tables and demand action. Recall that when Olympus whistle-blower Michael Woodford was vindicated of fraud in 2012 and volunteered to return to the embattled company, shareholders said no. They were too angry that the gaijin had gone public. Yes, two years is a long time. And there are, indeed, signs that some Japanese punters are growing impatient, as my Bloomberg colleagues Tom Redmond and Takako Taniguchi explain. Rather than messy proxy fights aired in public, this latest wave is based more on dialogue and consensus. But is shareholder activism with Japanese characteristics enough? I’m doubtful. Abe must level the playing field for investors, whether they live in New York, like Loeb, or Tokyo. But it’s equally important for Japanese shareholders to exercise their rights. By asking hard questions of the Hirai’s of the world, they could do far more than Abe’s talk to enliven economic growth.
Opinion BusinessMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph
China is again slowly turning in on itself
Evangelii Gaudium
By Carl Minzner
Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual
Los Angeles Times (TNS)
SERVANT LEADER
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ENG XIAOPING is back…but only on television. This year—the 110th anniversary of his birth—Beijing is sparing no expense to commemorate the former leader who launched China’s modern reform era in the late 1970s, bringing decades of blazing economic growth and steady resurgence as a world power. Unsurprisingly, Deng’s mantle is being deployed for political ends. A new 48-episode documentary on his life airing on state networks draws a thinly veiled analogy between Deng and Xi Jinping, China’s current top leader. The suggestion is clear: Xi is a new Deng. And when top Communist Party leaders assembled at their annual conference this week, China witnessed a revival of the spirit of reform. But China’s reform era is over. A different—and more unstable—one is dawning. Ideologically, Deng decisively broke with Maoist isolationism in the late 1970s. China opened up. Students flowed out; outside influences flowed in. When other party leaders criticized such policies for allowing dangerous foreign influences to circulate, Deng famously responded, “If you open the window for fresh air, you have to expect some flies to blow in.” Now, China is again slowly turning in on itself. New party slogans stress “traditional” culture and values. The language of Confucianism is increasingly being invoked to legitimize a new dynasty of red emperors. Windows are being shut. State researchers are being warned against foreign collaboration. Archives previously open to Western scholars are being closed off. And Beijing is reaching for a fly swatter—or a hammer—to deal with influences it perceives as threats. Liberal publicinterest lawyers are being subjected to a chilling crackdown; Christian churches in Zhejiang province, to a selective demolition campaign; Hong Kong pro-democracy media, to increasing intimidation. Economically, the decades of double-digit growth rates that marked the reform period have ended. The infrastructure and real-estate booms driving China’s economy since the 1990s have peaked. Even the state media now speak of adjusting to the “new normal.” Attitudes to foreign investors are shifting, as well. Since the early 2000s, the rise of state industrial policies has favored the growth of domestic “national champions.” The announcement in August that China plans to launch a homegrown operating system to replace Windows and Android is simply the latest reflection of these trends. And a spate of state actions— the jailing of corporate investigators, aggressive antitrust raids on firms that included Mercedes and Microsoft—have left expatriate managers nervously seeking transfers. Most important, Chinese elite politics are shifting dramatically.
Collective governance
WITH Deng’s rise, key elements that marked Maoist rule during the 1950s and 1960s vanished. Gone were the all-powerful supreme leader, the frenzied cult of personality and the regular purges of the top ranks. Deng and his successors settled into a low-key style of collective governance marked by a search for consensus. Elite politics became institutionalized. Sure, periodic campaigns occasionally ensnared midlevel cadres. But unwritten rules guaranteed that the very top echelon was immune, untouchable. Now, these norms are steadily being broken. Since 2012, Xi has concentrated an astounding array of power in his hands. Special leadership groups on economic reform, on domestic security and on media propaganda now report to him. A whiff of a personality cult has emerged. And Chinese elite politics has suddenly become very interesting again. A sweeping anticorruption campaign is shaking the bureaucracy. Retired leaders once regarded as untouchable are falling left and right. These waves are even beginning to lap around the
Shanghai power base of China’s former top leader, Jiang Zemin, who not only remained a power broker long after he left office, but even facilitated Xi’s rise. What does this all mean? At a deep level, China is experiencing a backlash against many of the products of the reform era, against those whose stars—economic, ideological and political—rose as the world’s most rapid accumulation of economic wealth fused with an unreformed authoritarian political system. The result: a generation of well-heeled “red capitalists,” furiously texting on their iPhones as chauffeur-driven Audis sped their children past migrant shantytowns to English cram schools in preparation for studies overseas. Such things might have seemed the very epitome of success to an earlier generation of Chinese leaders ruling over a country just emerging from crushing poverty and Maoist isolation. But they look very different now. To a new leader worried about maintaining one-party rule in a nation with a history of revolution, and where just 1 percent of the population controls onethird of the wealth, this is not just an image problem. It is a latent threat to the stability of his regime. In Xi’s eyes, the legacy of the reform era poses other challenges, too. Entrenched political and economic interests built up since the 1990s hamper his efforts to solidify personal control over the apparatus of governance. Decades of dependence on foreign software expose China to cyberthreats from abroad. Cultural imports—Hollywood films or the Big Bang Theory—challenge his dream of nationalist revival.
Under attack
THIS is precisely why these are all under attack. And it resonates with many ordinary citizens, particularly those who feel they missed out on China’s gogo years. For them, the sight of cadres who once sped past them in limos being humbled by Xi’s disciplinary teams is no small source of pleasure. Unsurprisingly, Xi’s popularity has soared. Nor are these policies necessarily wrong. Corruption must be contained. And if party authorities actually follow through with plans to increase the number of college spots for poor students (presumably at the expense of the urban elite), that would represent a real step toward redressing the education inequality gap that has grown since the reform period. However, tackling the problems facing China today requires addressing the core political factors behind them. Excessive, unchecked power in the hands of a few has fueled the viral growth of a long list of social and economic problems. Indeed, Xi himself has flagged the need to restrict power in a “cage of regulations.” But in the years since 1989, party leaders have systematically stymied the gradual evolution of positive local experiments with the kinds of institutions—an independent judiciary, meaningful legislatures, bottom-up electoral participation—that might help seriously curtail these problems. Instead, Chinese leaders are falling back on what they know. And what they know are tactics drawn from the 1950s and 1960s—ones being used now: party rectification movements, politicized anticorruption purges, televised self-confessions by socialmedia celebrities, foreign corporate investigators and alleged terrorists. And this is dangerous, because it risks taking China backward. And not to the Deng era, but to far more unstable ones that preceded him. Carl Minzner is a professor at Fordham Law School, specializing in Chinese law and politics.
35th part
Homiletic resources
S
OME people think they can be good preachers because they know what ought to be said, but they pay no attention to how it should be said, that is, the concrete way of constructing a sermon. They complain when people do not listen to or appreciate them, but, perhaps, they have never taken the trouble to find the proper way of presenting their message. Let us remember that the obvious importance of the content of evangelization must not overshadow the importance of its ways and means. Concern for the way we preach is, likewise, a profoundly spiritual concern. It entails responding to the love of God by putting all our talents and creativity at the service of the mission that he has given us; at the same time, it shows a fine, active love of neighbor by refusing to offer others a product of poor quality. In the Bible, for example, we can find advice on how to prepare a homily so as to best reach people: “Speak concisely, say much
in few words” (Sirach 32:8). Simply using a few examples, let us recall some practical resources that can enrich our preaching and make it more attractive. One of the most important things is to learn how to use images in preaching, how to appeal to imagery. Sometimes, examples are used to clarify a certain point, but these usually appeal only to the mind; images, on the other hand, help people to better
Saturday, October 25, 2014
appreciate and accept the message we wish to communicate. An attractive image makes the message seem familiar, close to home, practical and related to everyday life. A successful image can make people savor the message, awaken a desire and move the will toward the Gospel. A good homily, an old teacher once told me, should have “an idea, a sentiment, an image.” Paul VI once said that “the faithful… expect much from preaching, and will greatly benefit from it, provided that it is simple, clear, direct, well-adapted.” Simplicity has to do with the language we use. It must be one that people understand, lest we risk speaking to a void. Preachers often use words learned during their studies and in specialized settings, which are not part of the ordinary language of their listeners. These are words that are suitable in theology or catechesis, but whose meaning is incomprehensible to the majority of Christians. The greatest risk for a preacher is that he becomes so accustomed to his own language that he thinks that everyone else naturally understands and uses it. If we wish to adapt to people’s language and to reach them with God’s word, we need to share in their lives and pay loving attention to them. Simplicity and clarity are two different things. Our language may be simple, but our
A7
preaching is not very clear. It can end up being incomprehensible because it is disorganized, lacks logical progression or tries to deal with too many things at the same time. We need to ensure, then, that the homily has thematic unity, clear order and correlation between sentences, so that people can follow the preacher easily and grasp his line of argument. Another feature of a good homily is that it is positive. It is not so much concerned with pointing out what shouldn’t be done, but with suggesting what we can do better. In any case, if it does draw attention to something negative, it will also attempt to point to a positive and attractive value, lest it remains mired in complaints, laments, criticisms and reproaches. Positive preaching always offers hope, points to the future and does not leave us trapped in negativity. How good it is when priests, deacons and the laity gather periodically to discover resources that can make preaching more attractive! To be continued For comments, e-mail caritas_manila@ yahoo.com. For donations to Caritas Manila, call (632) 563-9311. For inquiries, call (632) 563-9308 or 563-9298, or fax 563-9306.
A closer look at the Asean Security Community plan of action Conflict resolution Cecilio T. Arillo
database Conclusion
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HESE norms-setting activities shall adhere to the following fundamental principles: 1) nonalignment; 2) fostering of peaceoriented attitudes of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean); 3) conflict resolution through nonviolent means; 4) renunciation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and avoidance of an arms race in Southeast Asia; and 5) renunciation of the threat or the use of force.
Asean members shall, therefore, engage in such activities as strengthening the Asean Declaration of 1967; the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality; the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation; and the Southeast Asia Nuclear WeaponFree Zone (SEANWFZ). SEANWFZ regimes develop their own regional legal frameworks, and establish a Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Conflict prevention
BASED on the principles contained in the code of conduct governing relations between states and diplomatic instrument for the promotion of peace,
security and stability in the region, the objectives of conflict prevention shall be: 1) to strengthen confidence and trust within the community; 2) to mitigate tensions and prevent disputes from arising between or among member countries as well as between member-countries and nonAsean members; and 3) to prevent the escalation of existing disputes. Asean members shall enhance security cooperation by strengthening confidence-building measures; carrying out preventive diplomacy; resolving outstanding regional issues; and enhancing cooperation on nontraditional security issues.
IT is essential that any dispute involving Asean members be resolved in a peaceful way and in the spirit of promoting peace, security and stability in the region. While continuing to use national, bilateral and international mechanisms, Asean members shall endeavor to use the existing regional dispute-settlement mechanisms and processes in political and security areas and work toward innovative modalities, including arrangements to maintain regional peace and security.
Postconflict peace-building
POSTCONFLICT peace-building seeks to create the conditions necessary for sustainable peace in conflict-torn areas and to prevent the resurgence of conflict. It is a process involving broadbased interagency cooperation and coordination across a wide range of issues. Asean activities related to postconflict peace-building shall include the establishment of appropriate mechanisms and the mobilization of resources. As an Asean family, members should assist one another in postconflict peacebuilding efforts, such as humanitarian relief assistance, reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Implementing mechanisms
TO ensure the effective implementation of the action plan, the following
measures are to be undertaken: 1) The Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) shall take the necessary follow-up measures to implement this action plan, including consultation and coordination with other relevant Asean ministerial bodies; to set up ad-hoc groups as appropriate; and to report annually the progress of implementation to the Asean Summit, as well as to introduce new measures and activities to strengthen the Asean Security Community (ASC), as appropriate. 2) The AMM shall review the progress of this action plan. The AMM shall inscribe permanently an item, titled the “Implementation of the ASC Plan of Action,” in the agenda of its meetings. 3) The secretary-general of the Asean shall assist the Asean chairman in monitoring and reviewing the progress of implementation of this action plan.
Other areas of activities TO realize the ASC by 2020, its members shall endeavor to work toward the implementation of the areas of activities under the action plan. It is acknowledged that some of these activities are already ongoing and at various stages of implementation. Additional activities could also be implemented in the future. E-mail: cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.
Innovation needed to help family farms thrive By Jomo Kwame Sundaram Inter Press Service
R
OME—Family farms have been contributing to food security and nutrition for centuries, if not millennia. But with the changing demand for food, as well as increasingly scarce natural resources and growing demographic pressures, family farms will need to innovate rapidly to thrive. Meanwhile, sustainable rural development depends crucially on the viability and success of family farming. With family farms declining in size by ownership and often in operation, as well, improving living standards in the countryside has become increasingly difficult over the decades. Agricultural-land use is increasingly constrained by the availability of arable land for cultivation as other land-use demands increase. Addressing sustainable rural development involves economic and social considerations, as well as ecological and resource constraints. More than half a billion family farms worldwide form the backbone of agriculture in most countries. Although family farms account for more than nine out of 10 farms in the world, they have considerably less farm land. They are the stewards of the world’s agricultural resources and the source of more than four-fifths of the world’s food supply, but many are poor and food-insecure themselves.
Innovation challenge
FAMILY farms are very diverse, and innovation systems must take this diversity into account. While some large farms are run as family operations, the main challenge for innovation is to reach smallholder family farms. Innovation strategies must, of course, consider family farms’ agroecological and socioeconomic conditions. Public efforts to promote agricultural innovation for small- and medium-sized family farms should ensure that agricultural research, advisory services, market institutions and infrastructure are inclusive. Applied agricultural research for crops, livestock species and management practices should consider the challenges faced by family farms. A supportive environment for producer and other rural community-based organizations can, thus, help promote innovation. The challenges facing agriculture and the institutional environment for agricultural innovation are more complex than ever. Effective innovation systems and initiatives must recognize and address this complexity. Agricultural innovation strategies should focus not only on increasing yields and net real incomes, but also on conserving natural resources and other objectives. An innovation system must consider all stakeholders. Therefore, it must take account of the complex contemporary policy and institutional environment for agriculture and the range of stakeholders engaged in decisionmaking, often with conflicting interests and
priorities, thus, requiring appropriate government involvement. Public investments in agricultural research and development (R&D), as well as extension and advisory services, should be increased to emphasize sustainable intensification, raising yields and closing labor-productivity gaps. Agricultural research and advisory services should, therefore, seek to raise productivity, improve sustainability, lower food prices and reduce poverty, among others. R&D should focus on sustainable intensification, continuing to expand the production frontier in sustainable ways, working systemically and incorporating both traditional and other informal knowledge. Extension and advisory services should focus on closing yield gaps and raising the labor productivity of farmers. Partnering with producer-organizations can help ensure that R&D and extension services are both inclusive and responsive to farmers’ needs.
Institutional innovation
ALL family farmers need an enabling environment for innovation, including developmental governance, growth-oriented macroeconomic conditions, legal and regulatory regimes that are favorable to family farms, affordable risk-management tools, and improved market infrastructure. Improved access to local or wider markets for inputs and outputs, including through government procurement from family farmers, can provide strong incentives for innovation,
but farmers in remote areas and other marginalized groups often face formidable barriers. In addition, sustainable agricultural practices often have high start-up costs and long payoff periods. Hence, farmers need appropriate incentives to provide needed environmental services. Effective local institutions, including farmers’ organizations, combined with social-protection programs, can help overcome these barriers. The capacity to innovate in family farming must be supported at various levels and in different spheres. Individual innovation capacity and capabilities must be developed through education, training and extension. Incentives can create the needed networks and linkages to enable farmers, researchers and others to share information and to work toward common objectives. Effective and inclusive producer-organizations, such as cooperatives, can be crucial in supporting innovation by their members. Producer-organizations can help their members to better access markets and innovate, and also ensure a voice for family farms in policymaking. Innovation is not merely technical or economic, but often requires institutional, systemic and social dimensions, as well. Such a holistic view of and approach to innovation can be crucial to achieving inclusion, efficacy and success. Jomo Kwame Sundaram is the coordinator for economic and social development at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
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A8 Saturday, October 25, 2014
Washington, Manila sign labor-rights agreement
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he Philippines and the US have signed an agreement that will provide Filipino workers and employers access to information on labor rights and responsibilities in the US. Signed by Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia and US National Labor Relations Board [NLRB] General Counsel Richard Griffin on October 22, the accord seeks to “strengthen bilateral efforts to provide Filipino workers, their employers and Filipino business owners in the US with information, guidance and access to education regarding their rights and responsibilities under the National Labor Relations Act,” a Philippine Embassy statement said on Friday. Under the framework, the NLRB and the Philippine embassy in Washington, as well as NLRB Regional Offices and Philippine consulates in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu will cooperate to provide outreach programs, education and training to Filipino workers and employers in the US to develop best practices. The embassy said the agreement is considered another step “in See “Labor-rights,” A2
BSP now seen delaying new round of rate hikes next year
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By Bianca Cuaresma
growing number of economists believe the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) likely pushed back the timing of its next round of interestrate adjustments to as late as the second quarter next year.
In sepa rate commenta r ies after the central bank’s rate-setting meeting on Thursday, Barclays Bank in London and DBS in Singapore said the next round of policy adjustments likely receded further, following central bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr.’s “more balanced” comment on inflation over the policy horizon. On Thursday the Monetary Board kept the overnight rates and similar policy tools unchanged after a series of tightening measures this year.
This, after the central bank scaled down the forecast inflation for 2014, 2015 and 2016. “We view the BSP’s latest commentary as more balanced than its meeting in September, when it displayed a clear hawkish bias. As such, we think the next policy move is only likely to come next year, and we forecast a 25-basispoint rate hike in the second quarter of 2015, as strong growth and increases in inflation should provide the basis for the BSP to tighten
policy, albeit in a gradual manner,” Barclays regional economist Rahul Bajoria said. Colleagues at DBS also said that while inflation managed to moderate toward the end of the year, there remain pockets of the economy, such as the liquidity level in the system, that worry the central bank. According to DBS, the current monetary settings will likely be kept unchanged in the first six months next year. It was also its view that an upward adjustment in the special deposits account rate was warranted “going into 2015.” Economists expressed confidence that inflation this year already peaked in July and August at 4.9 percent and likely on the way down in the final few months of the year. Also in a reaction to the temporary freezing of interest rates, HSBC economist Trinh Nguyen said inflation will likely fall below 4 percent in the remaining months of the year. She also said the 3-percent to 5-percent target inflation
this year was “well within reach.” “But, in the medium term, achieving its inflation-targeting mandate remains a concern. Starting next year, the inflation target range will narrow to 2 percent to 4 percent. As the best-case scenario, headline inflation will ease to just below 4 percent by end 2014. January and February tend to be months with low price pressures, assuming no major supply shock. “However, we believe headline inflation will spike above the BSP’s target in March 2015, forcing the central bank to raise rates further,” Nguyen said. “We also now believe that inflation is no longer at risk of breaching the top end of the central bank’s 3-percent to 5-percent target range for 2014, as recent declines in oil prices should help control prices,” Barclays’s Bajoria said. The country’s inflation fell to 4.4 percent in September after two consecutive months, when it pushed higher to 4.9 percent in July and August. This brought the country’s inflation in the first five months to 4.4 percent.
ISLAMIC STATE MAKING MILLIONS DESPITE U.S. BID TO CUT MONEY FLOW
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PHL-Japan Symposium Ysmael Baysa (from left), Jollibee Foods Corp. vice president for corporate finance and chief financial officer; Junuchi Yamashita, Familymart Co. Ltd. senior executive officer; and Katsumi Kubota, Fast Retailing Philippines Inc. (Uniqlo) COO, share their insights on “Globalization X Innovation: Opportunities and Challenges for Company & Country” during the Philippine-Japan International Symposium held in a Makati City hotel. Nonie Reyes
he Islamic State (IS) still generates tens of millions of dollars a month in illicit income despite a US-led effort to cut the financing streams that have helped turn the once-obscure militant group into a terrorist organization unlike any previously seen, a senior US counterterrorism official said on Thursday. US and allied air strikes have pounded small oil refineries that the Sunni militants captured in eastern Syria, slowing, but not halting, their ability to process and sell smuggled oil and petroleum products at discounted rates on the black market in neighboring Turkey and elsewhere. But in Iraq, US financial officials say, dozens of local bank branches remain free to transfer money in and out of cities and towns controlled by the militants, giving them some access to financial systems. In his first public comments on the still-evolving US effort, David S. Cohen, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said IS has “amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace,” including taking in at least $20 million in ransom payoffs this year. With the exception of some state-sponsored groups, IS is “probably the best-funded terrorist organization we have confronted,” he said, and stopping it will take time. “We have no silver bullet, no secret weapon to empty ISIL’s coffers overnight,” Cohen said, using a common acronym for IS. “This will be a sustained fight, and we are in the early stages.” The slow progress on the financial front comes as the Obama administration has defended its 10-week-old military operation. More than 600 air strikes by the US and allies have yet to dislodge the militants from any major cities or areas in Syria and Iraq. Speaking at the nonpartisan Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Cohen said IS raises tens of millions of dollars a month through the sale of stolen oil, ransoms for kidnapping victims, theft and extortion in areas it controls and, to a lesser extent, donations from donors and financiers in Persian Gulf nations. Although precise figures are impossible to obtain, US investigators estimated that IS earned about $1 million a day from oil sales beginning in mid-June, when the group’s military blitz through western Iraq vastly expanded its territory and its access to oil fields and refineries. Coalition air strikes and other efforts since August have “begun to impair” those sales, Cohen said. The International Energy Agency reported last week that the militant group’s ability to produce, refine and smuggle oil had been “significantly hampered.” Treasury and State Department officials met on October 17 with representatives of 20 nations and organizations in an attempt to financially isolate and undermine IS, as well as its allies in al-Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front and its ostensible enemies in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Damascus. In addition to selling oil and refined petroleum products directly to middlemen and smugglers in Turkey, IS has sold oil to Kurds in Iraq for resale in Turkey, Cohen said. “And in a further indication of the alAssad regime’s depravity, it seems the Syrian government has made an arrangement to purchase oil from ISIL,” he said. US military planners have held back from disabling or destroying Iraqi pipelines, refineries and other oil-production facilities because the government in Baghdad still hopes to push the militants out and doesn’t want to make expensive and lengthy repairs to the electrical grid and oil-production facilities. MCT
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Govt to start tagging funds for climate change plan
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By Cai U. Ordinario
o promote transparency in state spending, the national government will be tagging climatechange-related funds in the 2015 national budget. The new tagging initiative was supported by a technical assistance from the World Bank, and cofunded by the Australian government. A number of government agencies have begun the tagging process to identify items in the proposed 2015 budget which respond to climate change. “Tagging lets us access timely information that will be useful when agencies plan, implement and monitor their climate-change management programs. Altogether, we’re taking a very strategic approach to government spending so that our climate-change initiatives are properly supported,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said. The efforts of the government agencies were included in the report titled “Mobilizing the Budget for Climate Change Response in the Philippines.” The report was prepared by the Climate Change Commission (CCC), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the World Bank. The report stated that following common guidelines issued by the DBM and the CCC, around 53 national government agencies have tagged over 5 percent, or P136.3 billion, of the total 2015 national-budget submissions as climate-change expenditures. Further, it stated that about 98 percent of these proposed spending are directed toward climate-change adaptation, including flood control, reforestation, sector-specific research, and development on climate change and disaster risk reduction. If approved by Congress, this figure would continue the trend of rising climate-change spending, which had reached 2 percent of the national budget in 2012 for climatefocused departments. “Climate-change expenditure tagging is one major step in putting in place these policies, programs and priorities into the country’s budget process,” Climate Change Commissioner Mary Ann Lucille Sering said. “Measures like these will boost our efforts to make our communities less vulnerable to sea-level rise, degradation of marine ecosystems, and extreme weather events,” Sering added. In addition to climate-change expenditure tagging, some of the country’s efforts covered in the report included scaling up climatechange funding fivefold between 2013 and 2015. The report also said 42 local government units are piloting climate-change tagging in their 2015 annual investment plans, as well as developing disaster risk financing and insurance strategy.
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Foreign funds pulled $545 million from local stocks this month, as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to end its stimulus program and start raising US interest rates next year. The Fed, which indicated in September that it plans to end bond purchases this month, next meets on October 28 and 29. Ten-year benchmark government notes headed for a sixth weekly gain as the central bank on Thursday held its benchmark rate at 4 percent, refraining from adding to two previous increases as price pressures eased. The central bank may extend a pause in interestrate increases for the rest of this year if inflation remains manageable, Tetangco said on Friday. The yield on the 4.125-percent sovereign securities due August 2024 fell two basis points this week to 4.18 percent, according to noon fixing prices from Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. The rate increased one basis point on Friday. Bloomberg News