Businessmirror april 09, 2015

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three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. Media Award 2008

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Life

Thy word is true

EAR Lord, as we reflect on “thy word is true from the beginning and everyone of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever,” (Psalms 119:160) we become so confident that our daily readings from the Bible, strengthen us in many ways: our belief becomes solid, our trust in You is encompassing and our inspiration grow and binding. Rebuild into each one the Faith that speaks of Your presence in our dealings with people around us. Amen.

VIRGIE SALAZAR AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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By Bianca Cuaresma

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NYC cabin crew with Philippine Airlines (PAL) Chairman and CEO Dr. Lucio Tan (fifth from left), Carmen Tan (fourth from left), and PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista (third from left)

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TURNOVER of aircraft model to US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg (third from left)

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MARTIN NIEVERA (center) and Tan

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Thursday, April 9, 2015

GOLDBERG in his welcome speech at the MNL departure to NYC

Journeying to the city that never sleeps

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B G R Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor

T was a bit startling to see a woman done up like the Roman goddess Libertas walking around nodding her head ever so slightly at passersby. For a moment there, I felt like I had been mysteriously transported to some mall where cosplayers seemingly have become a fixture.

But of course, I wasn’t at a mall. It was a mid-March evening and I was at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, dragging my lone check-in luggage through the routine security stops en route to New York, USA, to which flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) had invited a group of media people for its inaugural flight to the Big Apple via the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Thus, the walking Libertas (best known to all as the Statue of Liberty) at the airport premises—and, at the departure gate, a send-off setup that had a cardboard yellow taxi cab parked against a backdrop of (presumably) Broadway, along with a hotdog and lemonade stand, and what else but the rousing Kanderand Ebb classic “New York, New York” playing in a loop in the background.

Needless to say, the song choice couldn’t be helped obviously because, despite the best and rather impressive efforts of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, “I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps” isn’t going to be displaced anytime soon by “Concrete jungle where dreams are made of” as the tune that defines this city as much as, yes, yellow taxi cabs, hotdog-and-

lemonade stands and the Statue of Liberty do. At the PAL send-off ceremony that March evening, it was— not surprisingly—the Sinatra version that was played endlessly, although I must say that I’ve always preferred the original and thoroughly exuberant Liza Minnelli version from the 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name.

By the way, the flight of PAL’s Boeing 777-300ER (PR 126) into New York may have been bandied about as an “inaugural” before and after the occasion, but that wouldn’t be quite right. It marked a “return” to New York by the flag carrier, which serviced the route for a year back in 1996 via what is now the Newark Liberty International Airport. It was, however, PAL’s “inaugural” journey into the Big Apple by way of JFK International Airport.

Regardless, there was plenty of high spirits at the send-off ceremony, which drew not only the top officials of PAL, including Chairman and CEO Dr. Lucio Tan and President and COO Jaime J. Bautista, but also top officials from the government’s tourism and transport agencies, and of course, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg who spoke of how “PAL’s return to New York is a testament to our friendship, our common history and shared heritage.”

For his part, the affable Jaime Bautista said: “Deep in our hearts, we knew that one day, PAL would be back in New York. After 18 years, that day has come.

And that day is today, March 15, 2015, which is also Philippine Airlines’s founding anniversary. This milestone would not have been realized without the

support of many sectors...most especially, the FilipinoAmerican communities of New York, New Jersey and many other areas along the eastern seaboard who are our most passionate supporters and who have passionately pushed for the resumption of PAL New York operations.

“Above all, PAL is today back in New York because of the vision and drive of one man—our chairman, Dr. Lucio Tan. It was also under Dr. Tan’s leadership 18 years ago that PAL first flew to this city. And he has made sure that we would return, no matter how long it took, under his watch.”

On that note, Dr. Tan—the Filipino-Chinese tycoon whose business interests, including aviation, food and beverages, liquor and tobacco, banking and real estate, have helped shape and fuel the country’s economy— took over the rostrum and said: “I am very happy to be here today to welcome you to the inaugural flight to New York City (via JFK International Airport).

This marks PAL’s return to New York after 18 years.

Today is also special because the inaugural flight is happening on PAL’s 74th founding anniversary.

“Our sincerest thanks to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States and friends in travel and trade. I also wish to thank my PAL family for their efforts in making this US East Coast service a reality. Please enjoy the flight. PAL is happy to serve you on board PR 126.”

And indeed PAL was. Moments later, we were up in the air with the cabin crew of PR 126, led by flight

purser Bernard Buenaventura, making sure that everyone was comfortably ensconced in their seats and all the in-flight creature comforts were provided—and for many in our group, the highlight of these could only be PAL’s legendary arroz caldo with a side of dilis that is always a taste of heaven. I was this close to requesting for a second serving but that would’ve been the third really, the first of which I greedily finished off in mere moments while waiting at PAL’s Mabuhay Lounge for the send-off ceremonies to start.

PAL’s flights to New York take all of 17 hours, with a stop in Vancouver, and through it I alternated between getting some shut eye and getting as much work done (and e-mailed back to the office via the plane’s in-flight Wi-Fi service). On that “inaugural” flight, I woke up several times to the sight of Dr. Tan and Mr. Bautista going up and down the aisles ensuring that everyone was comfortable and having a marvelous time.

Now, that’s Filipino hospitality for you.

Coming up next, my vagabond shoes that have longed to stray right through the very heart of it—New York, New York. Well…exploring at least as much as 48 hours would allow.

■ Philippine Airlines flies from Manila to New York every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:50 pm, with a two-hour stop in Vancouver. Return flights depart JFK International Airport at 11 am every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, also with a stop in Vancouver. For information, visit www. philippineairlines.com.

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brazilians protest against the outsourcing of jobs The World BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Australia creates new task force to fight ice scourge

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ANBERRA, Australia—The Australian government on Wednesday announced a task force to create a new national response to the rapidly growing problem of addiction to ice, also known as crystal meth, across the country.

Law-enforcement agencies report that the rate of use of the potent and highly addictive form of methamphetamine had almost doubled in Australia in the past year, with international drug rings attracted by the relatively high prices that Australians are willing to pay.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that former Victoria state chief police commissioner Ken Lay would head the task force which will report to the government by midyear on a new coordinated approach to the drug scourge that will involve law enforcement, health and education agencies.

The proportion of methamphetamine users in Australia who took ice, also known as crystal meth, had increased from 20 percent in 2010 to

50 percent now, Abbott said “The trouble with ice is it’s far more potent, far more dangerous, far more addictive than any previous illicit drug,” Abbott told reporters.

“It’s worse than heroin, it’s worse than cocaine, it’s worse than LSD, it’s worse than ecstasy. It’s much more addictive, much more dangerous, much more damaging.

The chances of being able to function while being a serious ice user are almost zero and that’s why it’s so important that we ramp up our response,” he added.

Of Australia’s population of 24 million, 400,000 had used methamphetamine in the past year. Of these, 100,000 used the drug at least once a week. Ice-related arrests in Australia had increased by 25 percent in recent years.

Unlike most previous drug scourges in Australia, ice abuse is not a problem largely confined to big cities. Ice is making rapid inroads into country towns where rehabilitation services are scarce. AP

t could be that inflation, or the rate of change in prices, has not yet bottomed out as a number of economists and analysts have claimed very early this year, the lead economist at ING Bank said on Wednesday.

Tim Condon, lead analyst at ING Bank in Asia, said inflation should slow down significantly in the second and third quarter of the year as prices ease up some more.

In its most recent economic assessment on the region, Condon said inflation was “expected to grind to under 2 percent” in that period from April to September this year, a development that should see inflation below the central bank’s annual target of 2 percent to 4 percent this year.

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Brazilians protest against the outsourcing of jobs

Utility cut power to US home before 8 died of gas poisoning

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A militAry police officer sprays pepper spray in a demonstrator’s face during a clash in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 7. thousands of workers have staged rallies in 12 cities across Brazil to protest against a proposed law that would allow companies to outsource their labor force. AP

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OnlOOkers gather outside of a house, where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead on April 6 in Princess Anne, maryland. Police were sent to the home on monday after being contacted by a concerned coworker of the adult. AP

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R INCESS A NNE, Mar yland—A divorced kitchen worker and his seven children were accidentally poisoned to death by carbon monoxide from a generator they used to keep warm after their electricity was cut off, police said on Tuesday.

The Delmarva Power company said it cut off power to the house on March 25 for safety reasons and not because the family was behind on their utility bills.

Delmar va Spokesman Matt Likovich said the utility discovered a stolen electric meter had been illegally connected to the rental home in the small town of Princess Anne on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where the family was living since November.

Maryland law bars utilities from terminating electric service for nonpayment of bills from November 1 through March 31 without an affidavit filed to the Public Service Commission. Rodney Todd, 36, and his two sons and five daughters were last seen alive on March 28.

Police responding to a missing persons report found their bodies on Monday after friends, school workers and Todd’s supervisor at work had knocked on the door with no answer.

“The children were all in beds and it appears as though they were sleeping,” Princess Anne Police Chief Scott Keller said.

“They didn’t have electricity.

Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat, because toward the end of March even though it was spring we were having some pretty chilly nights.”

Why Todd ran the gas-powered generator inside his kitchen wasn’t clear. The chief speculated that the noise would have bothered neighbors, had it been outside.

“I’m just numb. I’m just numb.

Like it’s a nightmare but it’s not,” the children’s mother, Tyisha Luneice Chambers, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

“If I had known he was without electricity, I would have helped.”

Lloyd Edwards said his stepson had bought the generator after the power was shut off because of unpaid bills at their one-story wood frame home.

“It’s so hard. How can you understand something like this?” Edwards said. “He was an outstanding dad.

To keep his seven children warm, he bought a generator, and the carbon monoxide consumed them.”

Matt Likovich, a spokesman for Delmarva Power, said on Tuesday that the utility was not contacted to have power restored in the home after the illegal meter was removed.

“We had no record of who was living there,” Likovich said. “There was no way to determine what their situation was.”

Likovich said customers are encouraged to contact the utility if they are having difficulty paying their bill. He says there are options for such customers, including partnerships with social service agencies.

But, he said, the customers “have to contact us.”

Todd got help paying utility bills in the past, but did not apply this year, said Tom VanLandingham, who directs the Office of Home Energy Programs in Somerset County.

Families can apply once a year, and assistance is based on household income and energy use, among other factors.

“We’re all kind of baffled as to why he did not apply this year,” VanLandingham said. “That’s the million-dollar question.”

Todd was a utility worker at the nearby University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He retained full custody of his children when his divorce from Chambers was finalized last September. Court records identified the boys as Cameron and ZhiHeem, and the girls as Tyjuziana, Tykeria, Tynijuzia, TyNiah and Tybreyia.

Bonnie Edwards said her grandsons were 13 and 7, and granddaughters were 15, 12, 10, 9 and 6, respectively. AP

ãO PAULO—Thousands of workers staged rallies in 12 cities across Brazil on Tuesday to protest a proposed law that would allow companies to outsource their labor force.

The biggest rally occurred in the federal capital of Brasilia, where some 3,000 demonstrators gathered in front of Congress hours

before lawmakers were expected to vote on the measure.

Except for a brief clash between police and demonstrators

in Brasilia, the rallies across Brazil were peaceful. Most drew less than 500 people. In São Paulo, Brazil’s financial and industrial nerve center, less than 1,000 people took part.

The rallies were organized by the Central Workers Union, Brazil’s largest labor union umbrella organization. It fears the legislation could lead to dismissals and the hiring of outsourced workers at lower wages.

Besides voicing opposition to the proposed law, the rallies were also

called to show support for state-run oil company Petrobras, which is at the center of what federal prosecutors call the biggest corruption scheme ever uncovered in Brazil.

Investigators say the nation’s biggest construction and engineering firms paid at least $800 million in bribes and other funds to Petrobras executives and politicians in exchange for inflated contracts with the oil firm.

Some of the money was allegedly funneled into the campaign coffers of the Workers’ Party and its allies. AP

US woman, 115, listed as world’s oldest person

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NKSTER, Michigan—A 115-year-old Detroit-area woman now listed as the world’s oldest living person still makes plans for a fishing trip each year and credits God for her longevity.

Jeralean Talley tops a list maintained by the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, which tracks the world’s longest-living people. Gertrude Weaver, a 116-yearold woman in Arkansas who was the oldest documented person for a few days, died on Monday.

Talley was born May 23, 1899.

Asked for her key to longevity, the Detroit Free Press reports that she echoed previous answers on the topic. “It’s coming from above,” she told the newspaper. “That’s the best advice I can give you. It’s not in my

hands or your hands.”

Michael Kinloch, 56, a longtime family friend of Talley’s through their church, said Talley’s mental state is “is very sharp.”

“It’s unfortunate that other people passed away, but this has certainly elevated her. She’s feeling no pain. She just can’t get around like she used to,” Kinloch said.

Talley’s husband died in 1988 and five generations of her family have lived in the Detroit area. In 2013 her 114th birthday drew the attention of President Barack Obama, who said in a personal note that she’s “part of an extraordinary generation.”

Kinloch said he’s looking forward to taking Talley, despite her advanced age, on their annual fishing trip to a trout pond. AP

in this may 22, 2014, file photo, Jeralean talley poses for a photo in inkster, michigan. AP

Kansas governor inks USs 1st ban on abortion procedure

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OPEK A, Kansas—Kansas became the first state on Tuesday to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent, signed a bill imposing the ban, and the new law takes effect on July 1. He and the National Right to Life Committee, which drafted the measure, said they hope Kansas’s example spurs other states to enact such laws.

Already, the measure also has been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“This law has the power to trans-

form the landscape of abortion policy in the United States,” committee president Carol Tobias said in a statement.

Two abortion-rights groups that operate Kansas clinics with abortion services, Trust Women and Planned Parenthood of Kansas and MidMissouri, said they’re considering challenging the new law in court.

“We will become a bellwether for future introductions of this bill in the states,” said Laura McQuade, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood chapter.

Abortion-rights supporters say the law, which bans the dilation and evacuation procedure and redefines

it as “dismemberment,” could be vulnerable to a lawsuit because it bans some abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb and contains no mental health exception for the mother.

A Delaware-based law professor said US Supreme Court precedents over the past 15 years suggest the Kansas law wouldn’t survive a challenge but added that the justices may revise past stances.

Under the law, the procedure is banned except when necessary to save a woman’s life or prevent irreversible damage to her physical health. Doctors cannot use forceps, clamps, scissors or similar

instruments on a fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces.

Anti-abortion groups are confident the new law will withstand a legal challenge, based on a US Supreme Court ruling in 2007 in which it upheld a federal ban on a late-term procedure described by abortion opponents as “partialbirth abortion.”

But in that ruling, the court’s 5-4 majority rejected an argument that the federal law would have banned the more common dilation and evacuation procedure described by the Kansas law, according to Widener University law professor John Culhane. AP

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| Thursday, april 9, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

‘IF I CAN DO IT, ANYBODY CAN’

Here is Bubba Watson, a champion two of the last three years, trying to become only the fourth golfer in Masters history to defend his title. It’s a very exclusive club, currently limited to three giants of the game: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

By Paul Newberry

The Associated Press

UGUSTA, Georgia—Bubba Watson was strolling up to the ninth green, toward the Augusta National clubhouse and that towering oak tree, when he was struck by a fact that still seems a bit unreal.

He’s won the Masters not just once, but twice.

“I can’t even believe it,” Watson told his caddie, Ted Scott, during a practice round. “I’m still trying to get over 2012, and I haven’t even got to 2014 yet.”

Yet here he is, a champion two of the last three years, now trying to become only the fourth golfer in Masters history to defend his title. It’s a very exclusive club, currently limited to three giants of the game: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right—not even to Watson—that a good ol’ boy from the Florida Panhandle, who taught himself to swing a golf club and approaches the game with a decidedly unconventional attitude, could even have a shot at joining such a list.

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Bubba and the Golden Bear?

Bubba and Sir Nick?

Bubba and Tiger?

C’mon, get real.

“How does a guy from my background make it?”

Watson marveled. “How does a guy from my background actually win it, and then win it again?”

When he captured his first green jacket three years ago, it was with a daring hook off the pine straw on the second playoff hole. “Bubba Golf,” he called it, the sort of audacious shot most pros wouldn’t even consider, much less attempt.

Watson’s victory a year ago was much less dramatic, though no less impressive. He overcame a three-shot deficit to Jordan Spieth with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth holes, was steady as can be on the back side, and pulled away for a three-stroke victory.

“To have the green jacket twice wrapped around me, I still can’t believe it,” he said.

Not that it’s a fluke.

Watson’s unorthodox game sets up well for Augusta National. There are only three holes—Nos. 1, 7 and 18—that give him some trouble off the tee. Most of the others are quite manageable for a lefthander who likes to cut it off the tee with that trademark pink driver and doesn’t mind taking some chances.

RORY PUTS BLINDERS ON A UGUSTA, Georgia—He’s the No. 1 player in the world, winner of the last two majors and star of a poignant new Nike commercial he admits to having watched—but only once.

If this was any other Masters, Rory McIlroy would be the talk of golf and the biggest story of the week.

That he’s not—at least right now—is only because a guy named Tiger Woods decided to embark on his latest comeback on the undulating greens of Augusta National.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing as McIlroy prepares for the seventh Masters of his young career.

For all his success, the biggest hole in his résumé is that he has yet to win a green jacket.

“Does it give people something else to talk about?

Yes,” McIlroy said. “But I’m not necessarily listening to anything that anyone is saying, so doesn’t really make a difference to me.”

That McIlroy is coming into the Masters with blinders on is little surprise. He’s got a chance to become only the sixth player to win a career Grand Slam with a win here, and he’s prepared meticulously for his attempt to conquer a course

that seems made for his game but has consistently given him fits.

He did it mostly out of the tournament spotlight, working on his game the last few weeks near his Florida home.

“I just really felt like spending a couple of weeks away from this, I guess,” McIlroy said. “Just preparing at home and in private and not really having everything critiqued and analyzed and overanalyzed. So I just wanted to get away from it all, and I feel like it’s been a good thing.”

McIlroy offered a few different theories on Tuesday on why the Masters is the one major he has yet to win, including trying too hard to make eagles on the reachable par-5s on Augusta National. Last year he had 9-iron in hand for his second shot on both Nos. 13 and 15 in the final round, only to come away with bogeys on his way to a tie for eighth.

There were also times, though, that McIlroy thought not being aggressive enough cost him strokes because he didn’t

FOR all of Rory McIlroy’s success, the biggest hole in his résumé is that he has yet to win a green jacket. AP

“All of the other holes look good to my eye,” he said.

“The trees outline the fairway pretty good, so it’s easy for me to envision the shot I want to hit.”

While his game has never been better— Watson earned his seventh career victory at the World Golf Championship in November, was a runner-up this year at Phoenix, and comes into Augusta ranked third in the world—he remains a polarizing figure, a guy with an insular view of the world and not always a man of the people.

That reputation tailed him all the way to the Masters, when ESPN released a survey that showed he’s easily the least popular player among his fellow Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour competitors.

Watson didn’t dispute that he’s had some “mess-ups” along the way. He said he hopes to use the criticism to become a better person.

“I take it as I need to improve as a man,” he said. “I need to get better. And I think over my career, since my rookie season to now, I’ve gotten better. But obviously there’s more room for me to improve as a man.”

There’s no lack of respect for his game.

He’s clearly one of the favorites this week, a popular choice along with Rory McIlroy—who’s trying to complete a career Grand Slam—and rising star Spieth, someone clearly on

the verge of winning his first major title.

“You can imagine what Bubba must feel like,” said Adam Scott, whose 2013 victory is sandwiched between Watson’s two titles. Augusta National “is seemingly made for his kind of game, and he’s playing nicely, as well.”

Watson shrugged off those who would anoint him a favorite. But he conceded that he’s feeling a lot more comfortable defending his title this around, compared to the way it went down two years ago, when he broke par only once and finished in a tie for 50th.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I mean, I’m scared to death of the Champions Dinner in 2013 because you’re talking about great champions across the board, old and young, and now I’m getting to sit and have dinner with them and I’m making sure they like the food I picked out. The media attention, the atmosphere—even a year later—you’re excited about your win. Sometimes you get away from your routine or you just use your energy in a different way. That’s what I did.

“This time, I know what to expect. Doesn’t mean I’m going to play better, just I know what to expect.”

Watson would love to win a few more green jackets.

If he doesn’t, there won’t be any complaints.

“If I never win again,” Watson said, “it’s a good place to win twice.”

commit totally on shots to safe parts of the green.

What’s especially frustrating to McIlroy—aside from shooting 80 in the final round in 2011 to blow a four-shot lead—is that his game seems ideally suited for both the course and conditions here.

“It’s the one that should set up the best for me just with my ball flight and being comfortable off the tee here, especially being able to turn the ball over from right to left and all that,” he said. “If I can play the way I know I can around here and just have a good week on the greens, then there’s no reason I shouldn’t have a good chance.”

No reason, indeed, even if a win in Dubai is the only time he has hoisted a trophy this year. McIlroy has played only five times so far this year, clearly pointing his game toward the Masters instead of trying to collect more hardware along the way.

“Just trying to keep my game where it is and do

some quality work, not overdo it,” he said. “Just do the right amount so that when I got here yesterday for the first time, again, I was ready to play and just needed to go see the golf course. Wasn’t working on anything in my game, my swing. Wasn’t thinking about technique at all. Just all about hitting the shots I need to and thinking about how to manage my game and get it around here for the next four days.”

The preparation this year isn’t the only thing different for McIlroy. Last year he had tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, his former girlfriend, carrying his bag in the par-3 contest, while Niall Horan from the boy band One Direction will do the honors this year.

And then there’s the commercial, which uses a young actor to trace McIlroy’s beginnings in golf.

He is shown with a poster of Woods in his room and chipping balls into a clothes dryer after watching Woods win a major on TV. “I did have posters of him on my wall and I did idolize him, really,” McIlroy said. “I think if you ask a lot of golfers that are my generation, he was the benchmark. He was the inspiration for us to go out and try to be the best that we could be. AP

sports

WWII documentary cites Manila role in Jew exit from Nazi Germany

By Recto Mercene

‘IF I CAN DO IT, ANYBODY CAN’ BUBBA WATSON hits on the 14th hole during a practice round on Tuesday. AP

P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 30 pages | 7 days a week

Inflation seen lower than 2% I

’60s AND ’70s RADICALS GET A FRESH LOOK IN ‘DAYS OF RAGE’ »D4

BusinessMirror

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

TfridayNovember 2014Vol. Vol.1010No. No.182 40 Thursday, April18, 9, 2015

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views differ on whether inflation has bottommed out

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A broader look at today’s business

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or many Filipinos not aware of the heroic and controversy-filled role the Philippines played by sheltering European Jews escaping Hitler’s brutality in World War II, a documentary film would soon tell the whole story to local viewers.

The Israeli Embassy on Wednesday announced that 3 Roads Communications and Frieder Films has acquired the film, Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust, for broadcast by CNN in the country.

The agreement provides for four broadcasts of the Academy Award-qualifying documentary within the year on CNN in the Philippines, the embassy said.

The first broadcast will take place on Saturday evening, April 11.

“Rescue in the Philippines details the heroic and prescient actions of an unlikely band of friends in saving more than 1,300 Jews from pre-World War II Nazi Germany.”

The distinguished group of rescuers included Manuel Quezon, the first elected President of the Philippines; Continued on A8

PESO exchange rates n US 44.4840

optimizing shareholder benefits Cezar “Bong” Consing, president/CEO of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI); Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman of BPI; and Fernando Zobel de Ayala, BPI director, are having a conversation during the financial institution’s annual stockholders’ meeting held in a Makati City hotel. NONIE REYES

B.I.R. insists on e-filing of tax returns beginning April 15

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he Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has rejected appeals to defer the implementation of the mandatory electronic filing of returns by certain kinds of taxpayers starting April 15.

In its latest Tax Watch advertisement, the BIR encouraged taxpayers to use the e-filing facility and reminded those taxpayers earlier mandated to electronically file their returns that failure will mean penalties and surcharges for the violators.

Earlier, the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) appealed to Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares to defer the implementation of

Revenue Regulation 5-2015 mandating certain kinds of taxpayers to electronically file their returns starting April 15.

These taxpayers are accredited importers and customs brokers and prospective importers and customs brokers; accredited printers of principal and supplementary receipts/ invoices; one-time transaction taxpayers; those who shall file a “No Payment”return; governmentowned and -controlled corporations; and cooperatives registered with the National Electrification Administration and the Local Water Utilities Administration.

See “BIR,” A8

Ayala Land buys Cebu-based BPO property lessor

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roperty developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) on Wednesday said it has purchased a Cebu-based firm that owns a building for business-process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

The country’s second-largest property developer, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, said it purchased all of the 8.2 million common shares of Aegis People Support Realty Corp. for P435 million.

“This acquisition is aligned with ALI’s thrust of expanding its office-leasing business,” the company said. Aegis is a Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered entity and the owner of Aegis building on Villa Street at the Cebu Information Technology Park in Lahug, Cebu City. The building is a certified Leadership in Energy Environmental Design-Gold Office with a gross leasable area of 18,092 square meters and is largely occupied by Teleperformance under a long-term lease, the company said.

n japan 0.3697 n UK 65.8986 n HK 5.7390 n CHINA 7.1768 n singapore 32.6992 n australia 33.9988 n EU 48.0828 n SAUDI arabia 11.8596 Source: BSP (8 April 2015)

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Tsipras’s visit to Putin follows road paved in Soviet times Continued from A8

said the same. The EU’s economic sanctions against Russia are due to expire in July, and a unanimous 28-nation vote is required to renew them. Tsipras reiterated Greece’s opposition to the trade and investment curbs on March 31, calling the approach “senseless” and advocating a negotiated solution.

“We want every EU state to choose its own priorities, economic and political, and its own partners at a regional and international level on the basis of its national interests and not some artificial principles aimed at keeping everyone on some anti-Russian path,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday.

Greece this week came up with a bill for German reparations from World War II of about €280 billion ($304 billion). It was dismissed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s deputy as a “dumb distraction.” Merkel also believes Greek overtures to Russia are a sideshow, according to government officials.

“The Greek government is trying to provoke its creditors,” Krumbmuller told Bloomberg Television.

“The timing of it is extremely bad,” she said of the reparations claim.

The country is paying about €450 million to the International Monetary Fund on April 9 and needs about €1.5 billion a month to pay salaries and pension.

The government aims to complete talks on a package of economic reforms needed to unlock more

The Greek government said the talks in Moscow are meant to build bridges in Europe rather than burn them. The two Christian Orthodox countries are meeting before their Easter holiday.

“It’s clear that if you can help tension, if you can help to sort out misunderstandings or promote peaceful relationships then you should be able to do that,” Euclid Tsakalotos, the minister for international economic affairs, told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. “Greece is an independent sovereign country, it has an independent foreign policy.”

While it’s just rhetoric and promises of cooperation, it risks adding to the tension within the euro region over extending more aid to Greece, according to analysts, including Famke Krumbmuller at Eurasia Group.

Filipino family appeals to Indonesia to save the life of convicted maid

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amily members of a Filipino maid facing the death penalty after being convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia made a last-minute appeal on Wednesday for clemency to the Indonesian president.

The parents, siblings and two young sons of Mary Jane Veloso delivered an open letter to President Joko Widodo to the Indonesian embassy and appealed for “mercy and compassion” for the 30-year-old single mother.

The letter said Veloso was tricked by a compatriot into carrying 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin in a luggage and says she was a victim of drug syndicates.

Indonesia’s highest court last month rejected a judicial review petition by Veloso, who is among 10 foreigner drug smugglers facing death by a firing squad. “We are begging for mercy beloved President [Widodo], don’t impose the death penalty on my

daughter,” said Veloso’s mother, Celia Veloso.

Veloso’s sons, aged 6 and 12, held a placard that read “Mercy and compassion for Mary Jane and family.” About a dozen activists from Migrante International held up a large picture of Veloso behind bars and a banner saying“Save the life of Mary Jane Veloso.”

Veloso traveled to Indonesia in 2010 where her godsister reportedly told her a job as domestic worker awaited her. Her godsister allegedly provided the suitcase where the drugs were discovered when Veloso arrived at an airport in Java, Indonesia.

Migrante International, which works to protect the rights of overseas workers from the Philippines, called on the Philippine government to arrest Veloso’s godsister, who remains at large.

Migrante chapters in Hong Kong, Europe, Canada and Australia are scheduled to march to Indonesian embassies on Thursday to appeal for clemency for Veloso. AP

funding in time for a meeting of euro region finance ministers on April 24.

“There is obviously a very bad atmosphere and it seems like the Greeks have decided to play a game,” said Joerg Forbrig, a senior program director at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin.

“They are playing this card of European unity that is needed in the face of Russia and the Ukraine crisis in exchange for relaxed conditions for European support for the Greek economic situation. It is a gamble.”

Russia was Greece’s biggest trade partner in 2013, mostly due to imports of Russian natural gas, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said that Greek

Inflation seen lower than 2% Continued from A1

As a result, Condon said the lender’s full-year inflation forecast of 2.8 percent may have to be recast lower: “We consider our 2.8-percent full-year forecast subject to downside risk.”

Should the forecast prove accurate, inflation in the Philippines will have expanded at its lowest in six years.

According to data available at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the last time inflation hit below 2 percent was in August 2009 at only 1.7 percent.

Inflation has been trending down in earlier months due to the dissipation of supply side pressures on certain food items, as well as the significant reduction in oil prices compared

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST APRIL 9, 2015 | THURSDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER

EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF LUZON AND VISAYAS (AS OF APRIL 8, 5:00 PM)

Easterlies are winds coming from the East passing over the Pacific Ocean. These are warm and moist in nature; causing hot weather and generating thunderstorms.

SBMA/CLARK 25 – 34°C METRO MANILA 24 – 34°C

TAGAYTAY CITY 22 – 30°C

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15 – 25°C

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ZAMBOANGA

22 – 31°C

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5:46 AM

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PUERTO PRINCESA

25 – 32°C

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24 – 32 °C

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CELEBES SEA

8:27 PM

-0.07 METER

12:29 PM

0.93 METER

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms Partly cloudy skies

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METRO DAVAO 24 – 35°C

APR 12 SUNDAY

25 – 34°C

LEGAZPI

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 33°C

APR 11 SATURDAY

24 – 34°C

TAGAYTAY

TACLOBAN CITY 24 – 32°C

APR 10 FRIDAY

24 – 34°C

LEGAZPI CITY 25 – 31°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 32°C

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

third quarter when inflation trends near the upper limit of the government target inflation of 3 percent to 5 percent this year.

Average inflation rate in the second quarter last year stood at 4.3 percent.

Third-quarter inflation average was even higher at 4.7 percent.

Only recently, the Monetary Board scaled back its inflation forecast for the year from 2.3 percent originally to 2.2 percent due, in part, to the lower-than-expected wage increase implemented this year.

For next year, the central bank sees inflation averaging 2.5 percent, slightly higher than forecast but still within the 2 percent to 4 percent average for this year.

METRO CEBU

TUGUEGARAO CITY 24 – 35°C

BAGUIO CITY 16 – 24°C

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to the previous year. In particular, inflation in the first quarter averaged only 2.4 percent, or significantly lower than the 4.1 percent reported in the first quarter last year.

A senior executive at a large private bank expressed the view that inflation will likely persist at its current low trajectory and should only move just a wee bit lower, if at all, over the near term.

“Inflation should prove flattish and as a result the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas should take a wait-and-see stance over the next three months or so and see what happens,” the executive said.

So-called favorable base effects were seen working their way to the economy this year, particularly in the second and

METRO MANILA

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 24 – 32°C

European diplomat in Moscow, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.

“Politically, it would be a pretty difficult plan for one of the European countries to step out of the EU’s line on Russia,” Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling told state radio on Wednesday. “I don’t think that’s very likely.”

Konstantinos Karamanlis became the first Greek prime minister to visit the Soviet Union in 1979, two years before Greece joined the precursor of the EU. A hallmark of his successor, Andreas Papandreou, was a foreign policy of ending Greece’s status as what he called a “client state of the West” by forging closer ties with Moscow, though while soaking up European development funds. AP

companies need lower power prices in order to reduce production costs and safeguard jobs.

Tsipras’s predecessor, Antonis Samaras, met with Putin in Brussels in January 2014, laying the ground for a new gas supply deal a month later reducing prices by 15 percent.

Falling energy costs elsewhere meant that Greece still paid 16 percent more than the European average and 24 percent more than Germany for Russian natural gas in 2014, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Elchin Mammadov, who used data from Russia’s Interfax News Agency.

Whether it gets anything from Russia, Greece is ultimately likely to fall in line with other EU memberstates and support an extension of sanctions in July, according to a

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Palace washes hands off ‘justice for sale’ racket

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ALACAÑANG washed its hands off and steered clear of reports on an alleged “justice for sale” racket at the Court of Appeals, saying it obeys the “separation of powers” between the different branches of the government.

“We are all against corruption in all its forms,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, but quickly added that the Palace, however, is “recognizing the role of the separation of powers and the existence of the three branches of the government.” This means, he said, that Malacañang is leaving it up to the Supreme Court to act on the complaints alleging corruption racket at the appelate courts.

“We will defer to the Chief Justice [Maria Lourdes Sereno] as to how the Supreme Court handles corruption cases within their branch,” Lacierda told Palace reporters. “We both share the same advocacy of fighting corruption, especially in our justice system where, if I remember it right, during the 2010 campaign, we had a World Bank study just for a case in the Court of First Instance.

It takes several years,” Lacierda said.

But the Palace official gave no further details on the study even as he affirmed the Aquino administration’s determination to pursue reforms where needed.

We have this saying “Justice delayed is justice denied,” Lacierda said.

“That’s one of the reforms that we would like to see happen especially in the area of cases. As a lawyer, I’ve heard so many stories about situations like these and so we will leave it with Chief Justice Sereno and her peers to find ways to investigate and to find a solution, a long-term solution to this corruption in the judiciary.” Butch Fernandez

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Thursday, April 9, 2015 A3

OIC PNP chief gets additional powers

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By Rene Acosta

HE National Police Commission (Napolcom) has allowed Philippine National Police (PNP) Officer in Charge (OIC) Deputy Director Gen. Leonardo Espina to sign papers involving the importation of explosives and firearms.

The additional authority was granted by the Napolcom to Espina in order to ensure that most of the services being rendered by the PNP to the public will not be affected due to Espina’s nature of appointment as OIC, a statement said.

As OIC, Espina could not make permanent designation on positions in the PNP and this is the reason most of the heads of units in the police organiza-

tion are only serving in acting capacities, including provincial and regional police directors.

Napolcom Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Eduardo Escueta said Resolution 2015-106 authorized Espina to approve and issue permits to import/transport ammunitions, explosives, firearms of any type/caliber, weapons systems and accessories attached or pertaining to air,

naval and land assets.

“The commission granted this additional authority to OIC Espina to assure speedy action of the PNP on applications for importation of firearms, explosives, ammunitions and other weapons systems submitted to the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office by, or for and on behalf of, the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Escueta said.

Earlier, the Napolcom issued Resolution 2015-002 authorizing Espina to approve and confirm various transactions, including contracts involving procurement of services and resources by the PNP. The resolution issued in January this year also authorized Espina to approve disbursements and payments of the PNP’s legitimate and regular financial transactions; to release funds from the PNP’s Reserved Fund for fiscal year 2014; obligate funds from Trust Receipt; sign and countersign checks and approve payroll and disbursement vouchers.

Likewise, Espina was authorized to exercise disciplinary authority as chief, PNP; designate appropriate OICs for the various PNP offices/units; appoint PNP nonuniformed personnel with salary grade 24 and below; sign documents concerning payments of retirement benefits of personnel with pending administrative cases but who have complied with the requirements under pertinent laws and circulars; enter into or renew agreements concerning regular transactions of the PNP; and issue firearms licenses and permits pursuant to the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act. Escueta said that the Napolcom resolutions were issued to authorize Espina to act on or approve urgent, necessary or timebound disbursements, transactions and even activities, which, unless addressed immediately, “may unduly cause damage and prejudice to the public or hamper the effective performance of the functions of the PNP.”

Lobby group seeks RH law implementation L

OBBY group Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) called on Wednesday for the implementation of Republic Act 10354, also known as the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) law.

The call was made by PLCPD as it marks the first year since the Supreme Court nixed petitions to declare the law unconstitutional on April 8, 2014.

According to the group backed by lawmakers, RA 10354 is a landmark and historic law.

It took almost 14 years in the legislative mill before

it was approved by the 15th Congress and signed by the President in December 2012.

In late 2014, the Department of Health (DOH) created the National Implementation Team for the RPRH law. Headed by former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, the NIT has never stopped working since, a statement said.

The PLCPD said it believes the law will help reduce poverty incidence in the country, aside from directly addressing issues concerning maternal health care, among others.

Citing the 2011 Family Health Survey, the PLCPD said the country’s maternal mortality ratio is 221 deaths per 100,000 live births. This is “a far cry from the national target of reducing it to 62 per 100,000 live births by 2015,” the PLCPD said.

Moreover, the group said that among the most serious problems currently faced by the youth is teenage pregnancy, citing the 2013 National Health and Demographic Survey. That study revealed that 11 percent of Filipino women aged 15 to 19 were already mothers, while 2.6 percent were pregnant with their

first child in 2011.

Citing the 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, the PLCPD said 32 percent of Filipino youth are sexually active; 78 percent of young people who have had premarital sex did not use any protection during their first time.

On the other hand, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) cases in the country increase at a “fast and furious” rate, with 536 new cases diagnosed in January or 18 new cases per day, the PLCPD said citing DOH data. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Economy

A4 Thursday, April 9, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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PHL exports may continue slump in March–Neda

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the slowdown in the manufacturing activity in Japan and People’s Republic of China (PROC) may have also cut into the country’s export revenues in March.

The country’s export earnings contracted 3.10 percent in February, to $4.51 billion from $4.66 billion recorded value in February of 2014.

This is the third consecutive month exports posted a contraction.

The country’s export earnings posted a 3.20-percent contraction in December 2014 and another 0.50-percent contraction in January 2015.

“While this strain and moderation in Philippine exports is expected and was noted last month, now is the high time to be vigilant,” Neda Director General and Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said.

“Forward estimates of manufacturing activity for both Japan and China suggest another slowdown in March. Global commodity prices also continue to decline, potentially reducing revenues from agro-based and mineral exports in the succeeding period,” he added.

To cushion the expected slowdown in exports, Balisacan said the government should be more diligent in monitoring external shocks that may further negatively impact the country’s export revenues.

Balisacan added that the government will also benefit from intensifying its efforts in expanding its market base for agro-based products.

“Further improvements in infrastructure and logistics should also continue to support the export manufacturing sector. Likewise, concerns on the stability of power supply should be addressed,” Balisacan said.

The Neda said the main cause for the decline in export revenues in February was due to lower sales of agro-based products, manufactures and petroleum products.

Among major commodity items that contributed to the lower exports outturn are agro-based products and

LATEST IN ALLERGY CONTROL University of Cologne Deputy Chairman Institute of Medical Statistics, Information, and Epidemiology Prof. Ralph Mosges discusses the latest innovation in allergy control during the A. Menarini Philippines media briefing at the Manila Diamond Hotel. ROY DOMINGO

manufactures, which recorded significant declines in shipments to Japan and China.

The Neda said total export revenues from agro-based products contracted by 20.10 percent, driven by lower earnings from fruits and vegetables, sugar products and other agro-based products.

This amounted to $327 million in February 2015, lower by 20.10 percent from $409.40 million in the same month of last year.

“Majority of the major economies in East and Southeast Asia registered negative export performance in February 2015, with only PR [People’s Republic of] China in the positive territory. This partly mirrors the still fragile global economy, which is particularly reflected in the country’s weak turnout of merchandise exports on the back of lower demand from the country’s major trade partners, Japan and

China,” Balisacan said.

The top 3 export markets of the Philippines in February were led by Japan, including Okinawa, which accounted for 20.9-percent share of total export earnings for February 2015.

Exports to Japan, however, posted a 20.9-percent decline to $942.29 million from $1.18 billion recorded value in same month a year ago.

This was followed by shipments to the US, including Alaska and Hawaii, which reached 16.2 percent and PROC with 9.9 percent.

Exports to the US amounted to $730.97 million in February 2015. This recorded an increase of 16.7 percent from $626.36 million in same month last year.

Shipments to China were valued at $445.36 million. It dropped by 34.8 percent from $682.86 million a year ago.

Cong. Quimbo asks BIR to defer online income-tax filing

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

H

OUSE Committee Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Romero Quimbo asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to defer the full implementation of Revenue Regulation (RR) 5-2015, or the Online eBIR income-tax filing.

In a letter to BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, Quimbo stated that the agency should first address several implementation issues before carrying out the regulation to its full extent.

“I commended the noble intention of RR 5-2015, but reports have reached my office that many taxpayers encounter delays or technical issues enrolling into the Online eBIR Form System. Particularly, as of April 3, 2015, taxpayers reported getting an error message that the system is ‘under construction’ and is, thus, unable to receive electronic submission,” Quimbo said.

According to the lawmaker, the RR 5-2015 was only issued on March 17, or less than a month before the April 15 deadline.

“Considering the short time frame given, our taxpayers may not have sufficient time to adjust their systems and processes to fully comply with the mandatory requirement to use eBIR Forms and electronically submit said returns,” Quimbo said.

The legislator also requested the BIR to defer the imposition of penalties to taxable year 2015 so as to give taxpayers sufficient time to study and comply with the new system.

Under RR 5-2015, all taxpayers who fail to file their returns using the mandated eFPS, or eBIRForms, should pay a fine of P1,000 per return as prescribed by Section 250 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.

Besides the P1,000 fine, civil penalties equivalent to 25 percent of the tax due to be paid shall also be imposed for filing a return in a manner not in compliance with existing regulations.

“My office was swamped with complaints from taxpayers, especially from microentrepreneurs and employees with additional sources of income, regarding the new online income-tax filing,” Quimbo said.

In the Senate, Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV also asked the BIR to defer until next year the imposition of penalties on taxpayers who will fail to file tax returns using eBIRForms.

“We are concerned with the short time frame of less than a month given to taxpayers to transition to the new systems, given that the deadline for filing of income-tax returns is on April 15, 2015, already,” Aquino stated.

PHL, Oman agree to double flights

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

HE Philippines and Oman agreed to more than double the number of flights between the two countries as part of a modernized air-services agreement.

In a text message to the BusinessMirror, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said flight frequencies betweem Manila and Muscat will increase from three to seven flights weekly.

Currently, Oman Air operates

thrice weekly Manila-Muscat services. It targets to serve the over 50,000 overseas Filipino workers in Oman.

“We agreed on Fifth Freedom traffic rights as follows: Philippine carriers, one point in Europe, one point in India and one point in the Gulf States. For Omani carriers, one point each in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand,” Arcilla said.

Fifth Freedom pertains to the right of airlines to fly passengers and cargo to two other foreign countries on flights originating or

ending in their own jurisdictions.

Prior to the new agreement with Oman, the Philippines bagged additional seat entitlements from Singapore earlier in the year.

In 2014 the Philippine air panel was able to yield additional flight entitlements from Canada, Ethiopia, France, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.

The CAB aims to improve air travel by increasing seat entitlements through expanded airtraffic rights.

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Thursday, April 9, 2015 A5

DSWD allots P79M for livelihood projects in 3 resettlement areas

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

HE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday allotted P79 million for the Cash for Building Livelihood Assets (CBLA) project which would provide jobs to thousands of residents in government-resettlement areas.

During a news conference at the House of Representatives, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said the CBLA project was also aimed at giving opportunities for qualified housing beneficiaries to avail themselves of short-term employment and earn wages to update their housing amortization arrearages.

The CBLA, which is included in the memorandum of agreement between the DSWD and the National Housing Authority (NHA), is expected to benefit 2,763 families in three pilot resettlement sites in Bulacan and Rizal provinces and in Valenzuela City.

Under the project, the beneficiaries will enjoy in full the regional minimum wage for each area with

50 percent of their earnings alloted for their housing amortization and the balance for their basic needs.

Project proponent and House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Rep. Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental said the CBLA will provide families with a source of income, while improving the collection efficiency of the government.

“With this project, we would hopefully fulfill both the need to increase collection of the NHA and address the problem of the delinquency in payments, while providing livelihood to the beneficiaries who mostly belong to the lower income group,” Benitez said.

According to Benitez, beneficiaries can earn from various laborintensive community projects, including urban gardening; estero and drainage cleaning and declogging; vetiver planting along riverways; creek for soil erosion protection; community facilities renovation and retrofitting; waste recycling and management; and community landscaping.

44 evacuees Filipinos evacuated from Yemen

By Recto Mercene

T

HE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said that over the last four days, 386 Filipinos were evacuated from strife torn Yemen.

Foreign Affairs Spokesman Charles Jose said the latest batch of evacuees included 42 adults and two children and reiterated the government will continue to provide assitance to Filipinos who want to return to the country.

“There is no time frame as long as they want to be repatriated," Jose said.

Jose said the recent evacuees originated from the cities of Hodeida, Taiz, Aden and Haja.

They convened in the western coastal city of Hodeida.

He added that from what was reported to them, the evacuees endured a six-hour travel by land that had multiple checkpoints.

Jose said the government continues to provide

accommodations to evacuees while in Jisan and has arranged for 90 of them to leave for the Philippines on Wednesday. Arrangement are also being made for the remaining migrant workers to return to the country.

The six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, issued a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency calling for the United Nations Security Council to end the coup.

“The Cooperation Council sees Houthi coup as an escalation that cannot be accepted under any circumstances,” the council said.

The council serves as a regional counterbalance to Iran, which the council previously has accused of meddling in their own countries’ internal affairs.

Saudi Arabia, which long has provided an economic lifeline to Yemen, slashed aid following the Houthi insurrection.

ATTENTION GRABBER Motorists pass by the eye-catching architecture of Toyota Alabang along the Alabang-Zapote Road in Muntinlupa City. The facility houses a showroom, parts warehouse, office and service facilities that caters to Calabarzon consumers.

ALYSA SALEN

DTI sees Arab investments in food and infrastructure

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By Catherine N. Pillas

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said they have captured the interest of Middle Eastern investors in food and infrastructure.

Trade Undersecretary for Trade and Investments Promotions Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. said the recently concluded investment mission in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided a lot of gains.

“We do not want to give names but infrastructure development and food were two things that they were

very interested in, especially food.

UAE imports 85 percent of their food, so that is where the potential is,” Manalo said.

Manalo also declined to specify the Arab developers and the possible sites being eyed for infrastructure development.

But for food processing and agri-

business, the DTI official underlined the importance of certification agencies for Halal products, adhering to the strictest standards and getting proper accreditation.

A Philippine delegation, composed of 44 representatives from 20 investment-promotion agencies, local government units, private businesses, and business organizations, accompanied Manalo during the UAE mission.

A total of 96 ready-to-go investment projects and business proposals were offered to potential investors. Other sectors were promoted, such as manufacturing, agribusiness, industrial estate development, tourism, infrastructure, logistics and energy.

In line with this, the DTI recently participated in the Eighth World Halal Conference and the 11th Malaysia

International Halal Showcase.

DTI officia ls attended the three-day event to further study and explore the Halal Project, Philippines’s initiative under the Agribusiness Cluster of the Food and Basket pillar of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area.

Manalo supported the initiative of the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone to become the country's foremost Halal ecozone, alloting some 100 hectares of its property for industries in Halal food and product manufacturing.

Manalo said Philippine gross domestic product can be improved by 3 percent if the country can capture even 1 percent of the international Halal market which is currently being estimated at $600 billion.

ERC names fourth commissioner

By Lenie Lectura

T

CARITAS COFFEE-TABLE BOOK Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle (left) and renowned author Isagani Cruz autograph Love for the Poor: The Story of Caritas Manila during the book launch at the Ayala Museum. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to sustain Caritas’s Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program. ALYSA SALEN

HE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced that Geronimo Sta. Ana was appointed by President Aquino as its fourth commissioner.

Under Republic Act (RA) 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), the ERC shall be composed of a chairman and four members with recognized competence in energy, law, economics, finance, commerce, or engineering.

Sta. Ana took his oath of office before ERC Chairman and CEO lawyer Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut. His term of office will run until 2020.

Prior to his appointment at the ERC, Sta. Ana served as a governor of the Philippine Board of Investments representing the private sector until June 2014. He held the same post previously in the year 2001 until early 2004.

Sta. Ana has an extensive experience in audit due to his affiliation with Carlos J. Valdes & Co. as a partner and branch manager for its Cebu office for more than 11 years.

He was also a Cebu Partner of C.L. Manabat & Co. (now Navarro Amper & Co.) and was the chairman of Sta. Ana, Rivera & Co., an auditing firm in Cebu, of which he

is one of the founding partners.

“The ERC takes pride and warmly welcomes Commissioner Gerry Sta. Ana as our new commissioner. His expertise and wisdom in finance and auditing will greatly benefit and aid the ERC in its rate-setting functions. We expect that the electric power industry stakeholders will accord the same support to Commissioner Sta. Ana as they have with the previous ERC commissioners,” Ducut said.

Sta. Ana is currently a member of the board of trustees of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation and also its vice president for controllership. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and was chairman of the Cebu Investment Promotion Center until December 2013. He was the president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1992-1993 and also a trustee in 1994-1997and 2008-2010.

A graduate of the De La Salle College as cum laude, Sta. Ana placed 10th in the CPA Board Examination. He completed his MBA degree from the University of the Philippines and was a professional lecturer of the MBA Program of the UP in Cebu for 23 years.

He was also the dean of the College of Commerce of theUniversity of Southern Philippines Foundation for 42 years.

A6 Thursday, April 9, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The perils of forecasting

S

CIENTIFIC forecasts rest on past information. Forecasters fit mathematical-statistical models to observed data, estimate the parameters of given variables, then generate forecast values.

Depending on whether the forecaster assumes past experience to persist, improve or deteriorate, he will come up with persistent, upward or downward forecasts of the future.

Forecasting is a perilous business. The fact that forecasters independent of each other follow scientific principles does not necessarily mean their forecasts will be identical. Where their assumptions differ, the forecasters will come up with different forecasts.

There are events in the world that cannot be predicted. We know that changes in the interest rate by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will change the parameter of the monetary variable. But do we know that a super typhoon like Yolanda is coming or what its impacts will be? As our old professor in econometrics will say, that will change the variable itself.

Possibly because it is too abstruse to be easily understood anyway, the forecasting business becomes open sesame to all who think they are unacknowledged heirs of Nostradamus: not just the rating agencies who have corporate clients to satisfy but pro- or antigovernment functionaries who believe they have thoughts that must be shared with the public, and survey entities specializing in subjective perception issues.

How is the intelligent public, eager for correct information, to react to all this? Simple. Take the scientific forecasters seriously but examine their assumptions. You may or may not agree with them. Their contribution to public information is not only that they raise our awareness of issues but that they oblige us to think critically of them.

Rating agencies deserve our respect, especially now that they have recovered from the discovery that some of them were in profitable relations with their clients.

As to spin masters, let us reduce by some percentage the forecasts of government spokesmen to compensate for their understandable bias in favor of the government and increase by some percentage the estimates of critics to make up for their equally understandable disdain for government achievement.

Why it is still party time John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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HEELCHAIR-bound and probably the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking wrote a book in 1988 called A Brief History of Time. I have read that book at least four times.

Actually, that is not true. I have never made it to the end. While with each reading I am able to move a few more pages along, the ending section on “string theory” is beyond my grasp. The definition of the theory is “a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings.” Now do you see what I mean?

Sometimes, reality is so far outside our experience that even with our great knowledge, we can only explain something based on what we know and tend to ignore everything else. String theory is impossible for me to comprehend because I cannot conceive of a “one-dimensional object” in my three-dimensional world.

Several weeks ago, I participated in a conference about global sovereign debt that brought together individuals from over 40 countries.

Much of the presentation focused on the cycles going back through the millennia showing the flow of capital between the public (government) and the private sectors.

There is nothing inherently wrong with capital flowing alternatively to government or to the private sector. For example, the United States was built in the 1800s—railroads, steam power, and agricultural—as money went to government.

Likewise, in the early 20th century, money flowing to the private sector created electricity, automobiles and aviation. After World War 2, the public sector dominated flows building cities and then private-sector capital flows created the Internet and the massive globalization of manufacturing and trade.

The problem though is that during this last private-sector cycle since the 1980s, governments have tried to break the cycle of these capital flows by issuing debt on a scale never seen before in history.

At any given time, even with the money created by bank lending, there is always a finite amount of money available. You for example, could loan or invest your money with the government to build bridges, space stations, and bombs or to the

A secret society of virgins

By Ben Koltun Chicago Tribune/TNS

I

belong to a secret society. In fact, it is such a secret society that I don’t know any of the other members on my college campus.

No, I’m not a hooded Klansman (irreconcilable differences). What I’m a part of is much more nefarious.

No one, not even my parents, knows about my affiliation.

Yes, Ma, I’m a virgin.

To be clear, I am not a virgin by conscious choice—neither God nor my inner moral compass has told me thou shalt not consummate in vain. Quite the opposite. If I learned anything from the Blockbuster Entertainment Award-winning film American Pie, it’s that I’m only going to be young once, so I can’t let this opportunity go to waste.

It seems like many others have heeded this message. “Hooking up” no longer means connecting to an electrical power source. The conventional wisdom is that there’s a highly prevalent hookup culture on college

campuses. Apparently everyone is doing the deed while I’m left feeling like a dysfunctional outsider.

As such, part of me sees virginity as the monkey on my back; a successful trip to (insert fraternity party or dimly lit bar) will relinquish all frustrations of my manhood and lovability. No longer a virgin, I will feel a sense of belonging to the hookup culture with everyone else. I’ll walk without the low self-esteem slouch and avoidant eye-contact that afflicts a lesser specimen. I’ll finally be a man. Hear me roar!

However, while individual members are not known, the virgins walk among us at Northwestern University, where I’m a senior. In 2009 this secret society encumbered approximately 30 percent of the student body, the student newspaper reported. What’s more, a 2013 survey of seniors at Harvard University indicated that the median number of sexual partners during their college tenure was one. Just one.

Furthermore, our sexual histories are more like sexual fictions. In an

private sector to build Facebook, computers, and steel mills.

We have been in the “private sector” cycle for decades but yet government spending has dramatically increased because of debt. Note that 70 percent of all the cumulative US government debt is a refinancing of the interest payable on previous debt. It is like you taking out another credit card to have money to pay the monthly amortization on your old credit cards.

Since 2007, total global debt has increased by $57 trillion against the lowest interest rates in the last 5,000 years. Sixty percent of that debt has been issued by governments.

What has that $57 trillion of debt been used for and purchased?

Are there less slum dwellers in Calcutta, India? Has government funded research in medical science cured cancer?

That amount equals $8,000 for every person on the planet. Consider that 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 per day or $750 per year.

Private-sector money f lows could have solved the global financial crisis by paying down excessive debt and funding economic growth. But governments thought they could do it through more borrowing and it failed.

Before the end of 2015, global economic growth is going to retreat again. But the stock markets are going to continue to reach new highs regardless of all the gloom-anddoom “bubble bursting” forecasts.

The reason the “bubblers” are wrong is because they are trying to explain

things from a three-dimensional perspective in a world that according the string theory is ultimately made up of one-dimensional objects.

Every bubble forecast looks back and says “Look what happened when...” not taking into account factors such as the lowest interest rates in the history of the human race and exponential money creation through debt.

Governments are not reducing their borrowings and yet we don’t have a cure for cancer. But what we do have is booming stock markets.

This will continue until “money” loses confidence in governments and returns totally to the private sector. That will not be soon. When things do return to “normal” there is the potential—knowing how foolish government policy-makers are—of a massive collapse of markets and economies.

And as for that dreaded Federal Reserve interest-rate hike, don’t count on it. But if it comes, here is something to think about. The US stock market, since 1970, has peaked out at a top when interest rates hit a high not when rates came off a low.

For now, it is still “Party like you just borrowed $57 trillion with more to come.”

Ohio State study surrounding the behaviors of college students, men who thought they were connected to a lie detector reported having fewer sexual partners than other men.

According to my OkCupid profile, I apparently prefer to sleep with someone after three to five dates.

My life is riddled with these mistruths, which only exacerbate an already warped image of virginity.

So it may be time to challenge the stigma and deficiency that many of us conflate with not having sex. This requires me and others to revoke our secret society membership. Virginity, as a label, is neither good nor bad. It just is. Although uncomfortable, being able to talk about my virginity openly is a huge validation. It’s not like I’m going to introduce myself as the Virgin Ben. I’d be stealing Mary’s trademark, for one thing.

Virginity is just a place holder for many of the insecurities and frustrations of emerging adulthood.

This is not a marginalized voice on campus, it is an unheard one. The

more we can come to accept this new openness on virginity and all that it encompasses, the less of a stigma it will carry. The need to rid ourselves of such a pesky title will subside.

A new voice surrounding hookup culture will be heard. A sense of belonging will be formed.

Again, this is no easy task. However, there is a reason Copernicus is such an important figure. The world, in fact, does not revolve around either you or me! This is especially easy to forget at Northwestern. Amid a seemingly uniform flock of Canada Goose-wearing, success-toting students, there is a little child inside each of us who yearns to be loved and accepted. Unzipping our jackets to expose our true, complicated selves can only enrich and deepen what is currently an important but very narrow dialogue surrounding hookup culture.

I know I will lose my virginity one day. When that day comes, I will still be the same old me, warts and all. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for a new secret society to join.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

The left gets it wrong about social security

Peace be with you!

By Megan McArdle | Bloomberg View

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T is a truth universally acknowledged that Americans are underprepared for retirement. And given this sad fact, there’s a growing movement on the left saying we need a government solution, stat: specifically, an expansion of Social Security benefits.

Perhaps you are confused. Weren’t we just talking about entitlement reform so that we could spend less on the program? Why, yes, we were. But since no one, left or right, really wants to take on our vast army of retirees, that chatter has died down. Now that it has, progressives who are ideologically opposed to shrinking the welfare state and are, of course, worried about retirees have decided that the best defense is a good offense, as Jamelle Bouie chronicles in Slate. Instead of reluctantly agreeing to a compromise, where Republicans let some taxes rise and Democrats agree to entitlement cuts, they’re demanding bigger tax hikes to fund bigger entitlements.

At the core of their argument is a good point: Americans really do need more money for retirement. Missing, however, is a realistic discussion of where that money might come from.

And it’s a lot of money. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (the portion of Social Security that covers old-age benefits) already pays out more in benefits than it collects in tax income.

In 2014, the Social Security Trustees expect the system to collect $643.9 billion in payroll taxes and spend $716.4 billion on benefits and administrative overhead. If you add in the taxes collected on Social Security benefits, you get $671.9 billion in total tax revenue, which leaves a $44.5 billion deficit between outflow and inflow. Under its middle-of-the-road “intermediate” assumptions, the trustees’ report predicts that by 2023, the gap between taxes collected and benefits paid will be almost $170 billion. The only reason that the system isn’t in the red already is the net interest the government is paying itself on the bonds in the trust fund.

Now, I don’t want to get mired in the tired old arguments about whether the trust fund is “real”—whether it’s a stupid accounting abstraction or a profound moral promise on the part of the US government—because this obscures the actual point we need to be concerned with: If we want to pay Social Security beneficiaries more money than we are collecting in payroll taxes, the money has to come from somewhere, and ultimately, that “somewhere” is the US taxpayer. It is supremely irrelevant whether that money flows through the “trust fund,” or Uncle Sam, holds an annual ceremony in which the trustees are handed one of those giant checks they present to lottery winners; we still need to find the money to make good on that check.

Before we start adding new benefits, we should think about where we’re going to get the money to pay the ones we still haven’t funded. And then carefully count the cost of making them more generous still.

So where is the money going to come from, for our once and future Social Security program? The unhelpfully vague answer is generally “the rich.” Some specific numbers would be useful here, and thankfully, some folks from the Third Way have actually provided some.

“Let’s say the top income-tax rate was raised a whopping 10 points, to 49.6

percent—a level higher than anything under serious consideration. Tack on the ‘Buffett rule,’ with its 30-percent minimum tax on millionaires to squash loopholes. And let’s take a whack at wealthy inheritances, cutting the estate-tax exemption by about one-third and setting the rate on large estates at 45 percent.

If we leave entitlements be, our annual budget deficit in 2030 would still be $1.3 trillion in today’s dollars, not much different from the $1.6 trillion deficit we’d have if income-tax rates for the wealthy were kept the same. Sure, raising some additional taxes on the wealthy is necessary, but it is not nearly sufficient.”

Another favorite is eliminating the cap on Social Security taxes, which is a slightly less vague way of saying “the rich.” Every time I discuss Social Security, at least one angry person will demand to know how I can so disingenuously claim the system is in need of reform, when “all we need to do is get rid of the cap on the payroll tax.” All? “All we need to do” implies some sort of modest, unremarkable undertaking. In fact, as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget points out, this amounts to a 12.4-percent surtax on all income above $118,500. That’s an enormous tax hike, which would generate exactly the same pushback you’d get if you announced, well, a 12.4-percent surtax on all income above $118,500. And as the committee notes, with admirably dry understatement, “a tax increase that large would make it politically challenging to raise more revenue from the wealthy, if it all.”

By that point, the top marginal-tax rate would be well above 50 percent— closer to 60 percent in high-tax blue states. That would pretty much exhaust our fiscal capacity to tax the wealthy, meaning that any new program that liberals want to implement, from earlychildhood education to high speed rail, will have to come paired with an announcement that middle-class taxes will be rising significantly to pay for it. And I haven’t even mentioned the current programs we have to find money for, such as Medicare. Even assuming you could get such a large tax hike through Congress, is expanding retirement benefits really the one thing you want to spend all the money on?

Moreover, increasing the tax cap won’t even raise enough money to cover Social Security’s costs unless we also break the link between payments and benefits. Otherwise, we’ll run a surplus for a few more years, then pay out a lot of that surplus in the form of higher benefits. Progressives should think long and hard about whether they want to break that link. Social Security’s great political strength is the perception that beneficiaries have earned their benefits with previous payments. The more clearly untrue that statement becomes, the more political risk there is to the less well-off beneficiaries.

What to do about America’s anorexic retirement accounts? Friend, ask me an easy one. But here’s at least a partial answer to your question: not this.

Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

T

he mercy of God endures forever: the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone (Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24). As Jesus risen from the dead brings peace to his terrified disciples, they receive the Holy Spirit of everlasting joy (John 20:19-31).

The day the Lord has made PSALM 118 as a song of thanksgiving fits well the mood of the Easter season. It begins with the call to praise God for His mercy (hesed), His steadfast love for those in covenant with Him. The various groups making up the congregation at worship are invited to repeat the refrain: “His mercy endures forever.” The “house of Israel” refers to the people of the covenant; the “house of Aaron” designates the priesthood; and “Godfearers” are the proselytes of nonIsraelite origin. Truly, “the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:17).

The second stanza goes personal with the psalmist’s own experience of divine mercy. He was oppressed, suffering and being overpowered, but God helped and saved him. In an individual note of praise and gratitude, the psalmist borrowed from Israel’s ancient hymn of victory: “The Lord is my strength and my courage,

and he has been my savior” (Exodus 15:2), recalling the joyful shout of victory in the camp proclaiming God’s deliverance of the people.

God’s saving act happened to an individual, but the people have witnessed it and marvel at it. The one rejected by enemies is now exalted

by God: “a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation—so that ‘whoever believes in him will not be put to shame’” (Isaiah 28:16). Thus, every generation can identify their own time as the day of salvation, “the day the Lord has made,” and rejoice in it.

Peace be with you

THE first day of the week was the day of the resurrection of Jesus. Time is now differently assessed: what is significant is no longer the week’s conclusion, but its beginning focusing on what is to unfold still. Earlier on this first day, while it was dark, the disciples discovered Jesus’ tomb empty. The realization dawned on them that Jesus is not there anymore

Bloomberg View

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HOSE of you who over the many years have followed some of the thoughts and observations I jot down each morning may have noticed several themes.

Prominent among them is that forecasting is folly; cognitive errors create investing mistakes; consider context when analyzing data; recency bias overemphasizes the latest data; mixing politics with investing is a costly mistake.

Which brings us to an article in the National Review that managed to combine many if not all of these themes: “2014’s Jobs Boom Wasn’t Even Much of a Boom. Does This Jobs Report Mean It’s Already Over?” As I noted back in 2011, “When you are in the polling booth, vote however

you like; but when you are reviewing your investing options, it is best to do so with a cold, dispassionate eye.”

The same is true for analyzing economic data. Those of you who zestfully pursue politics will dislike this analysis, for it points out the many errors of your ways. You are not my intended audience; rather, the people who are actual investors will find this useful (and perhaps it will save them some money).

Let’s have a look review some of these analytical errors.

False statement: Let’s begin with the headline, which starts with the assertion that “2014’s Jobs Boom Wasn’t Even Much of a Boom.”

That statement is demonstrably false, as any fair reading of the employment data show. (The author even implies as much in the article.)

Bloomberg first noted the strength

in his body. The group had gathered for “fear of the Jews” and not because they fear God. And the locked doors nonetheless, he was all of a sudden in their midst; the presence of Jesus emerged from within.

The mysterious presence comes with peace. It is the fulfilment of his promise: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you…not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:27). The world cannot sustain abiding peace; the risen Jesus is an abiding presence that provides peace and calms the heart amid the chaos of the world.

The showing of his hands and of his side revealed that the crucified one is now risen and united with the Father, and with the signs of the sacrifice of the cross is the supreme manifestation of divine love in the Holy Spirit.

Receive the Holy Spirit

ACCORDING to John’s account, the victory of the risen Lord was complete: the Holy Spirit was bestowed on the disciples on the evening of the resurrection itself. Grounded in the peace that perfect love brings and sharing in the divine life mediated through the wounds of Jesus, the disciples now received the power of mission, the same way the Father commissioned Jesus. Life received must be life shared. The capacity to receive the Holy Spirit is the key to this mission. Man became a living soul when God breathed into the clay of the earth (Genesis 2:7).

The forgiveness of sin is the path

NFL makes right call on female ref

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By Kavitha Davidson | Bloomberg View

HE National Football League (NFL) continues to cause controversy, but this time it’s because it actually did something right: hiring its first full-time female official.

The league has yet to confirm the news, but an unnamed source told the Baltimore Sun that Sarah Thomas will be one of seven new officials for next season. The former Conference USA official worked preseason and New Orleans Saints minicamp games last spring as a line judge.

In 2007 Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Football Bowl Subdivision game, the highest level in college football. In 2009 she became the first female official to work a bowl game, officiating the Pizza Bowl between Ohio and Marshall. She also officiated the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl and the 2010 United Football League (NFL) Championship game. Since 2013 she’s been one of 21 finalists in the NFL’s officiating development program. She won’t actually be the first woman to work an NFL regularseason game, however. That honor went to Shannon Eastin, who made her NFL debut in 2012 as one of the replacement officials during the referee lockout. But that was a temporary gig. And as Fox Sports’s Mike Pereira noted (in a column that seemed unnecessarily combative toward Eastin), Thomas went through all the proper channels, the same lengthy training,

scouting and vetting process as all other full-time officials.

Try telling that to the critics. Almost immediately after news broke on Friday, Twitter was flooded with the usual, predictable jokes about women in positions of power in traditionally male spheres. Aside from the myriad menstruation jokes that we apparently still haven’t moved past, there were comments lamenting the “downfall of sports,” questioning how this woman could ever understand a sport she never played, and worrying about what might happen to the damsel in zebra stripes when things get too physical on the field and she has to step in.

The issue of whether women can understand a men’s game should have been settled by now, though, it continues to come up whenever people want to deny equality in all avenues of sports, from media to executive roles to officiating. But Thomas’s acumen is highly regarded by those who’ve observed her, while the men don’t seem to be doing that great of a job. Last season was rife with bad calls and overall incompetence, even in the playoffs, to the point at which teams proposed rule changes meant

Political bias corrupts economic analysis

By Barry Ritholtz

Thursday, April 9, 2015

of the hiring figures halfway through last year. The pace continued for the rest of the year, and “2014 became the single best year for job gains since 1999.” In other words, there is no way to read “Jobs Boom” as anything other than a boom.

There are, to be sure, lots of ways to criticize the state of the labor market: Wage growth has been anemic, labor underutilization remains a concern and the labor force participation rate is the lowest since the late 1970s.

Any of those areas would make for a far more accurate and compelling criticique. But to make the claim that 2014 wasn’t a good year for job gains, isn’t just a misinterpretation, it’s simply wrong.

Lack of causation: I have written many times that presidents get too much credit for the good and too much blame for the bad. This is true

for all presidents, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

We can track the markets by the “4 Year Presidential Cycle”; we can get more granular and look at the second year of four-year terms in a “Presidential Cycle”; we can even look at “Stock Market Returns by Party.” But crediting or blaming the president alone for the state of the economy is simply foolish.

The president is powerful. But the Federal Reserve and Congress have as much or more influence on the economy, as do state and local governments.

Selective perception: Political animals see the world through a prism of partisanship. Their belief in the righteousness of their ideology knows no bounds. That is how you can end up with a sentence as absurd as this one: “Some called it the

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to the unity with God. In is what separates humankind from God. Jesus has taken away the sin of the world; He has replaced separation and alienation with communion.

But we have to accept the Holy Spirit who empowers people to recreate and cocreate the human condition. This is the spirit and power of the risen Lord, shared with us and with whom we are commissioned, so that we can overcome sin and develop unity and peace around us.

Alálaong bagá, what the psalmist experienced as God’s mercy and saving help, and which leads him to give thanks to the Lord who is good and whose love is everlasting, is something the disciples of Jesus were privileged to have similarly witnessed in Him and have been called to pass on and proclaim to the world.

The revelation of divine mercy and love is an absolute gift, and one can only receive it in faith.

Doubts like Thomas’s must eventually give way to the realization of the spiritual truth and gift of the risen Jesus as God’s incarnate presence and communication of divine life. This is the faith we proclaim today, we who are in contact with Jesus’ abiding presence within the community of the believers. Indeed, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

to specifically prevent the terrible calls that hurt them.

And as far as a 42-year-old woman not being able to withstand the physical demands of a position partially occupied by men in their 60s, I’ll just say that most male referees don’t exactly boast the biceptual fortitude of Ed Hochuli.

One comment from a Thomas detractor, in particular, stood out: “She can thank Ray Rice.” The unknown commenter is not alone—Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks shares his (or her) sentiment. “It’s just like the Michael Sam situation—if he wasn’t gay, he would’ve gone undrafted,” Marks told TMZ. “Instead the league drafts him because I think they are trying to monopolize on every aspect of the world, the same thing with hiring a female ref. For the league it’s great publicity. The NFL is all about monopolizing every opportunity.”

The Sam analogy is incredibly flawed—the league certainly played up his story line, but if it was determined to fully capitalize on his publicity, he’d be on an NFL roster right now. Marks isn’t necessarily wrong to point out that every move the NFL makes is calculated to benefit its image. It’s probably not a coincidence that Thomas has been up for this promotion since 2013, and she got it right after the NFL had its dismal public-relations year. Its Ray

Rice damage control has included hiring at least three women to highprofile positions: Anna Isaacson as vice president of social responsibility; Dawn Hudson as chief marketing officer; and, most recently, Elizabeth G. Nabel as the league’s first chief medical officer.

Nabel is an eminently qualified physician, president of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, but her appointment did raise some eyebrows—not because she’s a woman, but because she’s a cardiologist and not an expert in concussions or brain trauma, the most pressing medical issues facing the NFL. She’s also closely tied to the Kraft Group, the holding company of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

But Thomas has no such question marks. She worked her way up just like everyone else, and might have even remained in the pool of 21 a little bit longer than she deserved.

In his comments, Marks did add that Thomas’s hiring is “great” for women. “Ain’t nothing wrong with it, especially as long as she knows what she’s doing,” he said.

For the first time, a woman with a whistle will have the chance to prove that she knows what she’s doing for a full season. It might help the NFL’s image, but more important, it helps women trying to gain ground in yet another realm from which they’ve been historically excluded.

Obama boom; I prefer to think of it as the Mitch-McConnell-is-almostmajority-leader boomlet.”

If you believe that a year’s worth of hiring is being driven by calculations as to who the next majority leader of the Senate will be, there’s really no way that I or anyone else can engage in rational debate with you.

Regardless of how you reach your conclusion, it isn’t grounded in reality. There is no causation, it lacks any sort of empirical economic basis, combining as it does a mix of wishful thinking and self-deception.

Arguing in the alternative: Defense lawyers create a variety of competing and, on occasion, mutually exclusive arguments in order to defend a client. Some of the reasons for this include preempting opposing counsel’s arguments, creating reasonable doubt, preserving spe-

cific rights on appeal or positioning the defendant for sentencing. That is why a defense attorney might say something like “My client did not do it, but if he did it was self-defense.”

In the real world, we don’t get to argue that way. It is intellectually inconsistent. To say there was no jobs boom and that it’s already over is simply a notion driven by political bias. There is a tendency to let politics drift into market discussions, as underlying economic ideologies often have a political component. After all, politics is very often about how the economic pie gets divided up. Rationalizing how that is accomplished is especially political.

Politics is squishy. The goal is winning elections, not a winning portfolio. That may be why some of most inaccurate financial commentaries have politics as their foundation.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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Tsipras’s visit to Putin follows road paved in Soviet times

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he journey to Moscow from Athens is a path well-trodden for Greek leaders. Since the late 1970s, the country’s prime ministers have pursued talks with Russia over trade, energy policy and investment. As current premier Alexis Tsipras follows in their footsteps and sits down with Vladimir Putin, he may find the Russian president as keen for his help as he is to woo Putin.

European Union (EU) sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine along with falling oil prices have hurt Russia, just as Greece is locked in talks with euro partners on getting more bailout funds. While Tsipras is seeking ways of saving or raising money, Putin is looking for an ally to undermine the EU’s stance.

“Relations between Russia and Greece have been very close over the years, but this is a new dimension,” Judy

Dempsey, senior associate at Carnegie Europe, said from Berlin. “Tsipras is trying to play off Russia against the EU in his negotiations to get what he wants from the euro zone.

Clearly this is Putin’s attempt to trade off one EU country against another.”

Russia is ready to discuss easing restrictions on Greek food products, which were imposed as part of the retaliation for EU sanctions, according to two Russian officials, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential.

Russia doesn’t rule out discussion of possible loans or a discount on gas prices at the talks, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Greece hasn’t asked for financial assistance, while a Greek government official Continued on A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Maintenance shutdown lifts power rates 27 centavos higher

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By Lenie Lectura

OWER rates averaged higher by P0.27 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this month as a result of an ongoing maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power facility.

For a typical household consuming 200 kWh, the overall electricity rate should average P10.68 per kWh. According to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the upward adjustment was brought about by a 20-centavoper-kWh adjustment in the generation charge, which moved from P5.21 per kWh to P5.41 per kWh. The generation charge is the portion of the bill that goes to the power plants that produce the electricity.

The utility firm said the shutdown of the Malampaya facility forced power plants to use more expensive liquid fuel to continue operations. In particular, the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Santa Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo plants shifted to condensate, while the 1,200-

MW Ilijan used biodiesel. These types of alternative fuel are more expensive than the natural gas from Malampaya that these plants normally use.

The change in fuel at the Ilijan plant also resulted to a lower output level at one of its two blocks (Ilijan A), from its maximum capacity of 600 MW to an average of 292 MW during the first 10 days of the Malampaya shutdown from March 15 to 25, with the latter date being the last day of the March supply month.

The other block of Ilijan is on a scheduled preventive maintenance shutdown.

As a result of the shift to liquid fuel by the three plants, the rates charged by the independent power producers (IPPs) and power supply agreements (PSAs) increased. IPP rates went up by

P0.17 per kWh, which was only partly tempered by the return of Quezon Power Plant from an earlier maintenance shutdown. Meanwhile, rates from PSAs went up by P0.31 per kWh. These were mitigated by a P1.55per-kWh reduction in charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), as the power supply situation remained normal since there were less forced outages of power plants during the March supply month.

April’s generation charge of P5.41 per kWh was lower than in similar months that were also affected by a Malampaya shutdown. In March 2010, November 2011 and August 2012, the generation charge averaged P5.84, P5.79 and P6.74 per kWh, respectively.

The share of IPPs, PSAs and WESM to Meralco’s total power requirements stood at 46, 50 and 4, respectively.

In addition to the generation charge, taxes and other charges also registered increases of P0.05 per kWh and P0.03 per kWh, respectively. Transmission charge, on the other hand, registered a decrease of P0.01 per kWh.

Meralco reiterated it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, such as the plants selling to Meralco through the WESM and under the PSAs, as well as the IPPs. Payment for the transmission charge, meanwhile, goes to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines. Of the total bill, only the distribution, supply and metering charges accrue to Meralco.

Meralco’s distribution charge has not registered any adjustment and has remained at the same level since July 2014.

Meanwhile, Meralco warned that generation charge in May could also go up. It said that with the longer impact of the Malampaya maintenance schedule (from March 26 to April 13) on the April supply month, and the expected higher temperature in the coming days, electricity consumers may also expect an increase. Given this, customers are highly encouraged to adopt energyefficiency measures.

ARAW NG KAGITINGAN World War II veterans have a light moment at the Battery Way on Corregidor Island where four obsolete 12-inch mortars still stand as grim reminders of the valiant stand of heroes long since gone. The tour forms part of precelebration events planned for the Araw ng Kagitingan. NONIE REYES

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then-Col. Dwight Eisenhower, an aide to Gen. Douglas MacArthur; Paul McNutt, the US high commissioner for the Philippines; and the five Frieder Brothers of Cincinnati, who owned cigar factories in the Philippines. Working together, often over cigars and poker, they devised a plan to exploit the Philippines’s quasi-independent status to secure the rescue of the Jews.

“We are delighted to bring this littleknown story to the people of the Philippines,” said Dr. Barbara Sasser of Frieder Films, granddaughter of one of the film’s protagonists, and a coproducer of the film.

“We are hopeful that this film will help Filipinos learn of the extraordinary courage and humanity of their first elected President, Manuel Quezon,” said Peggy Ellis, Sasser’s cousin and a coproducer of the film.

“The film resonates with the theme of moral

BIR. . .

courage,” said Cynthia Scott, coexecutive producer of Rescue in the Philippines. “These men risked everything to save people they didn’t even know. We hope it serves as an example of how humanity can be elevated by people willing to stand up and be counted, despite the risks.”

Rescue in the Philippines has been broadcast more than 2,000 times on public television stations throughout the US. It has been screened at the United Nations; by President Aquino at Malacañan Palace in Manila; and at the US Congress.

In 2013 it qualified for an Academy Award. CNN Philippines is a new Filipino news and current affairs channel on free TV owned and operated by Nine Media Corp. It was launched on March 16, replacing 9 TV. CNN Philippines will be the local franchise of CNN, one of the most trusted international cable and satellite news channels worldwide.

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TAMP taxpayers; top 5,000 individual taxpayers; corporations with complete computerized systems; procuring government agencies with respect to withholding of value-added tax and percentage taxes; large taxpayers; top 20,000 private corporations.

TMAP said the full implementation of the new requirement will sow confusion among the new taxpayers that are now required to file their returns electronically, and suggested that such new requirement should be implemented gradually to allow the taxpayers to

adjust. But the BIR, in the Tax Watch advertisement, cited the benefits of electronic filing of returns, such as avoiding long lines, the viewing of accounts online, convenient 24/7 filing and faster refunds.

The BIR warned that taxpayers that are required to file their returns electronically and will fail to do so shall bte imposed a penalty of P1,000 per return and a surcharge of 25 percent of the tax due to be paid. They will also be included in the priority audit program of the BIR. David Cagahastian