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THREETIME ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDEE 2006, 2010, 2012

U.N. MEDIA AWARD 2008

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SMARTPHONE DOMINATION Righteous and faithful

H Lord, hear our prayer, listen to our cry for mercy, answer us, You who are righteous and faithful. Do not bring Your servant to judgment, for no mortal is just in Your sight. We wish to stand with clean mind, heart and soul before You, oh God, to please You ever. We wish to be certain that You are pleased with what we do all the days of our lives. Amen.

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

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

Life

DOLE backs plea to limit holidays

PC SECURITY UPGRADES A WELCOME ANTIDOTE TO BREACHES »D2

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

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LG G3 HOLDS GRAND CELEBRATION SALE

ANDROID users have one great reason to celebrate this summer, as no less than “Best Smartphone” LG G3 is on a grand sale until April 5 in honor of its recent victory at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The 32GB variant of the LG G3 is currently retailing for P29,990 from its P35,990 SRP, allowing purchasers a substantial P6,000 worth of savings for the coveted handset.

“We are truly excited about all the acclaim that our current flagship smartphone is garnering both internationally and locally,” LG Mobile Philippines Vice President Jay Won said.

“This celebration sale is to thank our consumers for all their great support, and for being our inspiration to innovate products that make life simpler and smarter.”

The renowned LG G3 sports a vibrant 5.5-inch quad HD display with razor-sharp image quality and a powerful 2.5-GHz quad-core processor, while its 13-megapixel camera that boasts of Optical Image Stabilization Plus and Laser Auto Focus. Simple and intuitive features, such as the KnockCode, Smart Keyboard and Gesture for Selfie, are packed into the G3’s slim, sleek and modern body. The LG G3 celebration sale (bit.ly/LGG3CelebSale) is available in all LG concept stores nationwide.

Smartphone domination pretty close to complete

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B P S Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

N case you haven’t raised your head long enough to notice the throngs of people gazing hypnotically at their smartphones, the nation has passed a milestone.

Smartphones now make up 75 percent of the mobile-phone market, up from 65 percent a year ago and just 2 percent a decade ago, according to the Internet analytics firm comScore.

Put another way, three-quarters of Americans age 13 and older now have smartphones. Most other people have some other type of cell phone, such as a flip phone or TracFone, used mostly for old-fashioned talking. The percentage of people who don’t own any kind of mobile phone is so low it’s not worth mentioning, said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of marketing and insights at comScore, based in Reston, Virginia.

“If you take a look at the big picture, it’s how mobile has taken over and become the dominant platform through which people engage in digital media,” he said.

Desktop-computer usage has flattened out, but people are spending more time in front of a digital screen—whether it be on the way to work, throughout the day, sitting in front of the TV or in bed at night—because of the availability of smartphones and tablets, he said.

On the plus side, as a nation of smartphone users connected to the Internet 24/7, people are better informed and may be learning more quickly, Lipsman said. Still, there are negative implications to consider, as well. “Obviously, the drawback is what that [greater reliance on smartphones] means for how people engage

with each other,” he said.

Research released last month by the digital technology firm Apigee in San Jose, California, along with Stanford University’s Mobile Innovation Group, found a deepening dependence on smartphones for social interaction. Dependency was strongest among the one-quarter of smartphone users who reported using their devices the most.

Among these top users, the majority said they used their phones “nearly all the time,” including while at dinner with others.

Twenty-one percent of top users said they could not maintain a relationship with a significant other without the apps on their phones, while 19 percent said they couldn’t find new friends without their smartphones.

Among all smartphone owners surveyed, 11 percent said they would be unable to be happy without their electronic companions.

It’s probably no surprise that younger Americans tend to use smartphones the most.

Among every age group between 13 and 44, at least 85 percent have smartphones, according to the comScore survey.

Then the numbers drop off. Among people ages 45 to 54, it’s 76 percent; ages 55 to 64, 63 percent; and for those 65 and older, it’s 48 percent. Apple devices are the most popular, making up 41 percent of the market, followed

by Samsung at 29 percent, LG at 8 percent, Motorola with 5 percent and HTC with 4 percent, comScore said.

As for the most popular smartphone apps, Facebook reigned supreme, reaching 70 percent of the app audience; followed by YouTube at 55 percent; and Google Play at 52 percent.

Google Search, also at 52 percent, and Facebook Messenger, 47 percent, rounded out the top 5. ■

LIFE

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NATIONAL

ARTISTS Art

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B S J

HE Order of the National Artists Award (Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining) is the most noteworthy national distinction given to Filipino individuals who have made huge contributions to the advancement of Philippine expression and the arts—to be specific, in music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, film and broadcast arts, and architecture and allied arts.

Mutually controlled and administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CPP), and bestowed by the president of the Philippines upon the suggestion by both institutions, the order aims to recognize Filipino artists who have made significant contributions to the cultural heritage of the country, and to give due honor to Filipino artistic accomplishment at its highest level and creative expression as significant to the development of a national cultural identity, and also to individuals who have dedicated their lives to their works to forge new paths and directions for future generations of Filipino artists.

National Artists are given a Grand Collar symbolizing their status, usually during a conferment ceremony at Malacañan Palace. Likened to the US National Medal for the Arts, and the Order of Culture of Japan, the honor is given to recipients who exemplify the highest ideals of humanities and aesthetics and ideal expression of Filipinos as exemplified by their outstanding works and contributions. Thus, the award is one of the highest distinctions presented by the Republic of the Philippines that encapsulates the country’s goals in the humanities.

These accomplishments are measured according to their artistic vision, understanding, imagination, creative ability and technical mastery.

The award was established under Proclamation 1001, dated April 27, 1972, to give suitable distinction to Filipinos who have made extraordinary commitments to Philippine arts and letters. The first award was given to Fernando Amorsolo. Proclamation 1144, dated May 15, 1973, named the CCP Board of Trustees as the National Artist Awards Committee, and Presidential Decree 208 issued on June 7, 1973, repeated the mandate of the CCP to give the award, as well as outline the benefits and honors of National Artists.

However, Republic Act 356, dated April 2, 1992, gave the NCCA wide responsibility over the advancement of Filipino culture and the arts, including the giving of awards. Executive Order 236, dated September 19, 2003, generally known the Honors Code of the Philippines, raised the award to the level of a cultural order, fourth in precedence among the orders and distinctions that comprise the honors of the Philippines, and equivalent in rank to the Order of National Scientists, renaming the National Artist Award to the

FERNANDO C. AMORSOLO was the first National Artist.

GUILLERMO E. TOLENTINO was the second awardee and the first recipient for sculpture.

Order of National Artists.

Here are the privileges provided to those conferred with the Order of National Artists: First, the rank and title of National Artist, as proclaimed by the President of the Philippines; the National Artist goldplated medallion minted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and citation; lifetime material and physical benefits comparable in value to those received by the highest officers of the land, such as a minimum cash award of P200,000, net of taxes for living awardees, and a minimum cash award of P150,000, net of taxes for posthumous awardees, payable to legal heirs; a minimum lifetime personal monthly stipend of P30,000; life-insurance coverage for those who are still insurable; a state-funeral benefit not exceeding P500,000; and a place of honor, in line with protocol, in state functions, national commemoration ceremonies and all other cultural presentations.

Anyone who meets the criteria for the order may be nominated by the government and non-governmental cultural organizations and educational institutions, as

well as private foundations and councils, except agencies attached to the NCCA and CCP. Likewise, NCCA and CCP board members and consultants and NCCA and CCP officers and staff, and NCCA committee members are automatically disqualified from being nominated.

However, the criteria is broad and includes living artists who have been Filipino citizens for the last 10 years prior to nomination, as well as those who have died after the establishment of the award in 1972 but were Filipino citizens at the time of their death; artists who have helped build a Filipino sense of nationhood through the content and form of their works; artists who have distinguished themselves by pioneering in a mode of creative expression or style, making an impact on succeeding generations of artists; artists who have created a significant body of work or have consistently displayed excellence in the practice of their art form, enriching artistic expression or style; and artists who enjoy broad acceptance through prestigious national or international recognition, awards in prestigious

national or international events, critical acclaim or reviews of their works, and respect and esteem from peers within an artistic discipline.

Such nominations are made in writing and are submitted to the National Artist Secretariat that is created by the National Artist Award Committee. A First Deliberation composed experts from different art fields prepares a short list of nominees. A Second Deliberation of a joint meeting of the commissioners of the NCCA and the board of trustees of the CCP decides on the final list. This is then forwarded to the president of the Philippines, who confers the honors.

For our purposes, we shall only list the National Artists for visual arts, sculpture and painting. They are Napoleon V. Abueva, Federico Aguilar y Alcuaz, Francisco Coching, Ang Kiukok, Victorio C. Edades, Cesar Legaspi, Vicente S. Manansala, Hernando R. Ocampo, Benedicto R. Cabrera, Abdulmari A. Imao, Amorsolo, Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco, Arturo R. Luz, J. Elizalde Navarro, Guillermo E. Tolentino and Jose T. Joya. ■

Pio Abad at Silverlens Singapore SILVERLENS (www.silverlensgalleries.com) presents A Short History of Decay, the first solo exhibition of London-based Filipino artist Pio Abad in Silverlens Singapore. On view until April 12, the exhibition is comprised of new drawings and sculptures that further explores the artist’s ongoing interest in inventories and the social and political implications of objects.

Taking the title of the show from Emil Cioran’s book A Short History of Decay, Abad adapts both the nihilistic stance and aphoristic construction of its pages, creating a series of largescale drawings that echo the Romanian philosopher’s argument that “consciousness changes only its forms and modalities, but never progresses.” While examining how one’s individual identity may play out over a multitude of objects, Abad extends the inquiry further by asking how the same objects may intersect with the progression (or nonprogression) of a nation’s or a civilization’s

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B CA N. P

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is backing the proposal of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) to limit the declaration of nonworking holidays.

The JFC is hoping that the number of holidays per year be limited to 15 days. Beyond that, the JFC wants companies to be given the flexibility in paying their employees the extra pay.

“We’d like to have the flexibility; if it’s in their bargaining agreement, then they should pay [the additional rate], but we’d just like to have the flexibility if it goes over the 15,” said David “Ebb” Hincheliffe, executive director of the American

The National Artists

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

JFC WANTS FLEXIBILITY IF NUMBER OF HOLIDAYS EXCEEDS 15 PER YEAR

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collective memory?

Portrayed objectively in black and white and in an unaffected manner, these items turn into unassailable, concrete evidences.

These objects, which seem disparate in nature with their own unique historical contexts (museum acquisitions, ethnic utensils, historical relics, electronic devices, common household tools, natural artifacts, accidental rubbish), have been organized by way in which not to signify the singularity of their object-hood, but rather to represent the peculiarity of one’s personal encounters with them. Their placement next to each other leads to the construction of a universal reading; one which connects each item as if forming a pattern or a unique picture-message to communicate the idea that knowledge and history, while conceived in different forms, refer to the same world and ultimately subscribe to the same decadent end.

Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham).

He said the management and employees of companies should be allowed to discuss among themselves the compensation or the need to follow the nonworking holiday declaration without violating the Labor Code.

Members of the JFC informed the DOLE at a meeting last week that the group is now C  A

‘Ronald Ventura: Big and Small’ at Ayala A Museum AY LAA Museum welcomes the summer season with a new exhibition, entitled Ronald AYA Ventura: entura: Big and Small, Joel Mendez, MD, Collection, featuring early works by the region’s most sought-after contemporary artist today.

Considered by many to be the most exciting artist to emerge from the Philippines in the beginning of the 21st century— a view intensified after his stately painting Grayground fetched a record-breaking $1.1 million at the 2011 Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong— Ventura is first and foremost admired for his technical mastery of the classical human figure. The works featured in the ongoing exhibit include over a hundred male and female nude paintings and anatomical studies dating as early as 1998 until the mid-2000s from the collection of physician and gallery owner Joel Mendez, MD. Ventura’s dramatization of the human form is apparent regardless of the size of his canvas, hence the title of exhibition. Marking a very early period in Ventura’s career, the collection, in the truest sense, strips his art off its characteristic potpourri of imagery and reveals what lies at its very foundation: the human body and its language. Art critic Alice Guillermo makes note of this in the book Realities: Ronald Ventura entura when she said, “The basis of his art is his mastery of anatomy, so that having gone through the entire gamut of male and female nudes in all postures, stances and attitudes, he has assumed the capability of distorting the human body, clothed or unclothed, or of morphing it in the most unexpected ways.”

Ronald Ventura: entura: Big and Small, Joel Mendez, MD Collection is presented under Ayala Museum’s Collector Series exhibition program, which aims to expand the understanding and appreciation of local and international art by providing the opportunity to view artworks that are usually not seen in public, especially a body of work of a single artist whom a collector admires.

The show is ongoing until April 26 at the Ayala Museum Ground Floor Gallery (www. ayalamuseum.org).

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SISTERS ON WAR PATH Sports

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FALCONS FINED FOR

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| WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

VENUS WILLIAMS beats Caroline Wozniacki (below) and is potentially on track to facing sister Serena (inset) at Key Biscayne. AP

SISTERS

‘FAKING IT’

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EW YORK—The National Football League (NFL) said on Monday it has fined the Atlanta Falcons, stripped the organization of a draft pick and suspended Team President Rich McKay from the league’s Competition Committee for at least three months, following the team’s use of artificial crowd noise at home games.

The league said that, throughout the 2013 season and into the 2014 season, the Falcons violated league rules that state “at no point during the game can artificial crowd noise or amplified crowd noise be played in the stadium.”

The league also said Roddy White, the team’s former director of event marketing, was directly responsible for the violation and would have been suspended without pay for the first eight weeks of the 2015 regular season had he still been with the club.

White was fired by the Falcons after the issue came to light.

Atlanta must also forfeit its fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft. If the team has multiple picks in that round, the highest selection will be taken away.

“Our review also determined that Falcons ownership and senior executives, including Team President Rich McKay, were unaware of Mr. White’s use of an audio file with artificial crowd noise,” said Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice president of football operations. “However, Mr. McKay, as the senior club executive overseeing game operations, bears some responsibility for ensuring that team employees comply with league rules.”

For owner Arthur Blank, the incident has been a huge embarrassment on top of firing longtime Coach Mike Smith after last season and dealing with criticism over a pricey seat-licensing plan to help fund the team’s new stadium.

“What took place was wrong and nowhere near the standards by which we run our business,” Blank said in a statement. “Anytime there are actions that compromise the integrity of the NFL or threaten the culture of our franchise, as this issue did, they will be dealt with swiftly and strongly.”

Beginning April 1, McKay will be suspended from his position as chairman of the Competition Committee, an influential group that considers NFL rule changes. He can petition Commissioner Roger Goodell for reinstatement no sooner than June 30.

The Falcons accepted the penalties handed down by the NFL. “We understand the penalties imposed and their impact on our team, and we will not appeal the league’s decisions,” Blank said. “Further, we have addressed the matter internally and taken actions to ensure that something like this does not happen again.”

Blank told the Associated Press in early February that he had seen enough of the NFL’s investigation to acknowledge wrongdoing by his club in 2013, when the Falcons were touted as a Super Bowl contender but struggled to a 4-12 record. Last seaso Atlanta went into the season finale with a chance to make the playoffs in the weak NFC South, but lost to Carolina at home and finished 6-10.

The Falcons say 101 of 103 games have been sellouts since Blank bought the team in 2002. Last season Atlanta ranked 10th among the 32 NFL teams with its average home attendance of 72,130, though there were clearly more empty seats as the team struggled.

Construction is under way for a new $1.4-billion stadium that will replace the Georgia Dome in 2017. AP

ON WAR PATH Eighteen years and $30 million later, there Venus Williams was again, a few months shy of her 35th birthday, winning her 57th match on these now oh-sofamiliar Key Biscayne tournament grounds.

B M K

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Miami Herald

T is March 20, 1997, and Venus Williams, a 16-year-old newcomer to the professional tennis tour, is playing at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne for the first time. Her beaded braids fly with every serve and powerful groundstroke as she takes a 6-1 lead over an older American player named Ginger Helgeson-Nielsen.

That’s when the shrieking began from the stands. A rat was running loose, creating a commotion. The match was suspended 15 minutes while the rodent was caught and removed. Williams, who was ranked No. 110 at the time, went on to win, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, and then beat 23rdranked Jennifer Capriati before losing to No. 1 Martina Hingis in straight sets.

She took home a paycheck of $6,750.

Eighteen years and $30 million later, there Williams was again, a few months shy of her 35th birthday, winning her 57th match on these now oh-so-familiar Key Biscayne tournament grounds.

She beat Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), on Monday afternoon to advance to the Miami Open quarterfinals, where she will face 12th-seeded Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain, who rallied to beat Agnieszka Radwanska, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

Williams is two wins away from a potential final against her kid sister, 33-year-old top-ranked Serena, who beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2, 6-3, on Monday.

As the younger Williams wrapped up her match on Stadium Court, the elder Venus was in an interview room, reminiscing about that rat-infested day of 1997.

“At that age I was so young and didn’t know much,” Williams said, smiling. “I think I was playing Ginger Helgeson-Nieslen. I played Capriati in the second round. It was a long match. Hingis, at that time, was so much better than I was. I had a lot of potential, but I needed some more experience.

“She definitely, definitely dominated that match, but it was a good experience I learned from.”

Over the past 18 years, Venus has reached No. 1 and won 46 titles, including five Wimbledons and two US Opens.

Venus’s ranking took a major dive from No. 5 to No. 103 in 2011 when she was off seven months after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disease.

She began 2014 ranked No. 47, and many fans and experts figured she would not return to the Top 10. Now, she is within striking distance at No. 16. She has won seven of her past eight matches against Top 10 players.

In men’s third-round play, four-time champion Novak Djokovic defeated qualifier Steve Darcis, 6-0, 7-5, and will next face Alexandr Dolgopolov. No. 4 Kei Nishikori and No. 5 Milos Raonic also won.

No. 22 John Isner, the lone remaining American in the men’s draw, defeated No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

While Serena Williams, 33, has been ranked No. 1 for the past two years, Venus’s fortunes are only lately on the upswing after health issues caused a long slump that stirred retirement speculation.

In January at the Australian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in five years before losing, and with the victory over Wozniacki, she’s 4-0 in 2015 against Top 10 players.

Venus skipped Indian Wells, where Serena recently ended a 14-year family boycott after being booed there as a teenager. Venus said it was wonderful to see the warm reception her sister received there this month, but was noncommittal regarding whether she’ll return.

Given the way she’s playing lately, she might have several chances. Williams credits her persistence and optimistic nature for her recent resurgence, which comes more than three years after she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and sap energy.

“I don’t give up, and I believe in myself no matter what the odds are and what you may experience,” she said. “I have always seen it as something to overcome, and not something that could stop me.”

Unlike her sister, she has never tired of tennis, a problem for some top players even before their skills decline.

“I never get bored, actually,” Venus said. “Tennis is definitely not pushing paper. I mean, when you get out there you have no idea what’s going to happen in the point. You can try to plan it the best you can, but it’s all up in the air. You have to improvise every single time. That never gets boring.”

Williams won Monday with her familiar high-wire approach, swinging aggressively from the baseline.

Sometimes she missed badly, but she hit 40 winners to nine for Wozniacki.

“Today I played similar to how young V would have played, either knocking a winner or knocking an error,” she said, with a grin. “It’s fun to just hit

SPORTS

out, though. It feels good.”

She moved forward more often than in the past, winning 14 points at the net, and used her long strides to chase down balls in the corners and extend rallies.

The stadium crowd applauded Williams’s staying power. So did the 21-year-old Stephens, who could face her in the final.

“She is a superhuman,” Stephens said. “ I don’t know how she does it.”

“She just has so much belief in herself and her ability,” said US Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez, an analyst

for ESPN. “It is a great story for sure.”

Key Biscayne has always ranked among Williams’s favorite tournaments, because she lives 90 minutes up I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens. She’s playing in the event for the 16th time, which leaves lots of room for reminiscing.

“My first match here, there was a rat in the stands,” she said, with a laugh. “They had to stop the match. That was intense.”

She enjoys looking back, and also looking ahead.

She’ll face Carla Suarez Navarro on Tuesday night for a berth in the semifinals.

THAI PM TO LIFT MARTIAL LAW 10 MOS AFTER COUP

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HAILAND’S militaryinstalled prime minister said on Tuesday he plans to lift martial law 10 months after staging a coup, but will invoke a special security measure that critics say is more draconian.

The development has sparked concern from humanrights groups, lawyers, political parties and scholars who say the measure, Article 44 of a junta-imposed interim constitution, gives Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha unchecked authority over all three branches of government.

Prayuth, the former army commander who led the May

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 44.7960

22, 2014, coup that overthrew an elected government, told reporters on Tuesday that he is seeking King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s approval to revoke martial law. The monarch’s approval is considered a formality.

Prayuth has faced growing pressure to scrap martial law, which places the military in charge of public security nationwide and has been criticized as a deterrent to tourists and foreign investors.

Thai media have referred to Article 44 as “the dictator law.”

Under a similar law in the 1960s, a Thai dictator carried out summary executions.

S “M ,” A

TO JOIN OR NOT TO JOIN In this October 24, 2014, file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) shows the way to the guests who attended the signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Malacañang said it has no plan as of now to join the Chinaled AIIB. See related story on A5. AP/TAKAKI YAJIMA

Maybank: Firms need to ‘rethink’ Asean strategies B B C

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INGAPORE—Companies and industry leaders from different sectors are urged to “rethink” their strategies going forward, as the integration within the Asean happens to allow them to keep up with the changing and diversifying markets in the region.

At the annual Invest Asean conference hosted by Maybank in Singapore on Tuesday, corporates in the region were told to reshape their integration plans and strategies and update them to present day trends—such as the use of technological advances in the delivery of payments of goods and services, the rising role of the so-called millennials, the rapidly growing Asean consumer base and the increasing

role of women in economic growth.

“Today to be Asean is no longer simply a matter of being part of cooperative regional grouping. It is an urgent necessity and whether you like it or not, Asean is going to change us in more ways than we can imagine…. Common sense dictates that we need to rethink,” Datuk Abdul Farid, Maybank CEO, said in his address.

The conference—which included about a thousand attendees mostly from 67 corporates in 11 countries in the region—highlighted the expanding role of technology in banking and its proposed integration.

In one of the plenary sessions on Tuesday morning, panelist Ratan Malli, strategic planning director of J. Walter Thomson Asia Pacific, cited the mobile cash-remittance transfer system in the Philippines as a model

for other companies involved in the movement of cash and capital.

Malli said the innovations are good examples of technology “leapfrogging for opportunities.”

“That kind you don’t see in other markets,” he added.

Malli further said that innovations represent the “future” of the region, as more and more people migrate and travel within Asean and companies must set up the infrastructure or pathways to make this more convenient for individuals in the region.

Likewise, the Maybank CEO said the use of technology to transfer funds is important for demographic purposes given that 60 percent of the people in Asean are the so-called millennials.

S “M,” A

■ JAPAN 0.3729 ■ UK 66.2981 ■ HK 5.7766 ■ CHINA 7.2162 ■ SINGAPORE 32.5742 ■ AUSTRALIA 34.2372 ■ EU 48.4961 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 11.9427 Source: BSP (31 March 2015)

News

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

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news@businessmirror.com.ph

DOLE backs plea to limit holidays holidays in the Philippines as a constraint to businesses, as they are to pay working employees an additional 30 percent on top of his daily rate during special nonworking holidays.

For regular holidays, the employee’s pay is doubled if he reports for work, but still receives his regular pay on a regular holiday even if he does not go to work. “ There are holidays declared through laws, those declared by local authorities and those proclaimed by the President. If we can’t change the law, maybe limit those declared by

Continued from A1

conducting a study to determine the effects of too many nonworking holidays on companies operating in the country.

At the meeting, the DOLE acknowledged the need for prudence in declaring nonworking holidays through presidential proclamation, noting that any additional nonworking holiday aside from the regular holidays covered by law should be subject to the agreement between the management and the labor union.

The JFC views the number of

Borrowings. . .

Martial law. . .

Maybank. . .

Continued from A8

expenditures for the year. The government incurred net external borrowings of P12.57 billion in 2014, in sharp contrast to negative net external borrowings of P83.82 billion in 2013, when the government endeavored to pay back some of its maturing obligations on net basis.

The net external borrowings was brought about by higher project loans, program loan and the so-called global bonds exchange undertaken in Januar y 2014,

LGUs [local government units] and the national government to the public sector,” said John Forbes, AmCham senior adviser.

There are 18 holidays this year, both regular and special nonworking, excluding the three declared as a special nonworking holidays in January on the occasion of the pope’s visit.

AmCham is conducting in study to assess the impact of the excessive holidays on select large businesses, citing the cases of Chevron and Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp.

They expect the study to be con-

which amounted to P28.67 billion in foreign debt.

The government also made less amortization on its principal foreign debts in 2014, with such amounting only to P90.37 billion, as opposed to amortization in 2013 that amounted to P117.59 billion. Net domestic borrowings in 2014 amounted to P162.67 billion, which was P240.27 billion, or 59 percent, lower than the net domestic borrowings in 2013.

cluded in May. “We want to know how these holidays, especially the sudden holidays, impact the distribution and logistics operations of the companies,” Hincheliffe added.

The chamber intends to present the findings of the study to its members and the Cabinet.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority, likewise, echoed the concern of JFC, saying it’s an additional burden to enterprises such as electronics companies and business-process outsourcing firms whose operations should run 24/7.

Continued from A1

Millennials are those people born beginning early 1980s to early 2000s.

“In Asean, we have a very young population, with a median age of 28 years old. They are tech savvy, ambitious and also very sensitive to social events with a strong sense of fairness and justice.

They are our largest, best educated new work force—ready to spend in our market places,” the Maybank CEO said.

Among the Philippine companies present at the event were Cebu Air, Con-

cepcion Industrial Corp., Century Pacific Food, RFM, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Security Bank, Universal Robina and Vista Land and Lifescapes. The conference is a two-day event, with sessions centering on technological advances for companies, such as mobile media and cloud technology. Other sessions also include the role of the millenitals and Asean women. Discussions on aviation, oil and gas and gaming were also conducted in afternoon sessions.

David Cagahastian

Oil. . .

Continued from A1

The measure gives Prayuth power over all aspects of the government, law and order, and absolves him of any legal responsibility for his actions.

“Article 44 essentially means Prayuth is the law. He can order the detention of anyone without charge, without having to put the person on trial and for as long as he desires,”

Continued from A8

“If there’s an agreement, that could release a fair bit of oil into the market,” David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “The price has been reasonably resilient given all the downside potential.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery fell as much as 82 cents to $47.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $47.90 at 1:53 p.m. Singapore time. The contract lost 19 cents to $48.68 on Monday.

Pravit Rojanaphruk, an outspoken columnist for The Nation newspaper, wrote on Tuesday.

Prayuth sought to downplay the concerns, telling reporters he would use Article 44 “constructively” to solve security issues.

“Don’t worry,” he told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. “If you’re not doing anything wrong, there’s no need to be afraid.” AP

The volume of all futures traded was about 44 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have decreased 3.7 percent in March and are down 9.9 percent in the past three months. Brent for May settlement slid as much as 63 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $55.66 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It lost 12 cents to $56.29 a barrel on Monday. Prices are down 11 percent for the month and 2.7 percent lower this quarter. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $7.83 to WTI. Bloomberg News

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST APRIL 1, 2015 | WEDNESDAY

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in an interview. A source earlier said the Palace has endorsed the P1.8 billion earmarked for general export-development fund to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in January.

However, the plan has not progressed. Ortiz-Luis said they have not heard from the DBM on the status of the fund.

Exporters have been calling for an increase in funding for export development in a bid to make local exports competitive.

Currently, Ortiz-Luis said the unit of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that is responsible for export promotion only has around P100 million annually, as mandated by the previous PEDP covering 2011 to 2013.

A prime example of DTI’s lack of funding support for exports is the absence of Philippine representation in the renowned Milan Furniture show last October, depriving local furniture makers of potential sales from big spenders in Europe.

A more pressing concern than the grant of funds, however, is the approval of the entire export plan for 2014-2016, which was submitted by the private-public Export De-

BIR. . .

velopment Council (EDC) to the President last December.

Ortiz-Luis said they have yet to receive word from Malacañang on the status of the plan. The plan is crucial for the growth of local exporters, as it lays down the projections and strategies of the export sector to catch up with neighboring countries.

He said even with the export growth of the Philippines reaching 9 percent in 2014 to outperform other Asian countries last November, the numbers are skewed, as competitors have larger economies, thus, triggering a base effect on growth.

“Four years ago we were overtaken by Vietnam, and their export growth now is 2.5 times faster than ours. We need that budget if we are to catch up with Vietnam,” Ortiz-Luis added.

In 2013 merchandise exports totaled $54 billion, translating to $543 per capita. Singapore is at $76,448; Brunei Darussalam, $28,190; Malaysia, $7,662; Thailand, $3,351; Vietnam, $1,479; Indonesia, $734; and Cambodia, $611. Philippines’s export per capita is superior only to those of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic ($390) and Myanmar ($185).

Continued from A8

25 percent of the tax due for failure of the covered taxpayers to comply in full with the e-filing mandate.

The TMAP also said that some taxpayers have encountered delays or technical issues in enrolling into the eBIR Form facility, which should first be addressed by the BIR be-

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fore the full implementation of the e-filing requirement.

The TMAP proposed that the mandatory e-filing requirement be deferred until after April 15, 2015, or to make such requirement as merely optional to give way for a gradual full implementation.

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Cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers and/or thunderstorms Rains wiht Gusty Winds

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

www.panahon.tv

SABAH

LOW TIDEMANILA HIGH TIDE SOUTH HARBOR

MAR 27

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

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RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE AREA EXTENDING OVER NORTHERN LUZON (AS OF MARCH 31, 5:00 PM)

Ridge of High Pressure Area (HPA) will bring fair weather to the country except for isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening.

METRO MANILA 23 – 34°C

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Exporters. . .

@PanahonTV

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, April 1, 2015 A3

Legislator hits DFA for ‘Sabah sellout’

Palace: Congressmen’s 20 questions on Mamasapano will be answered if…

A

M

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

MEMBER of the House Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday assailed the reported offer of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to downgrade the Philippines’s claim on Sabah in exchange for Malaysia’s support to the country’s case against China over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea. Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian warned that such move will hurt the country’s sovereignty.

The Philippine has filed several cases and protests against China before a United Nations court following Beijing’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea. “ T he DFA’s move to u se Sabah as a bargaining chip to gain the support of Malaysia for our case against China lodged before the UN is a huge diplomatic faux pas bordering on a sellout,” Gatchalian said.

Earlier, Party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo of Magdalo said China’s ongoing reclamation in disputed islets and shoals on the West Philippine Sea pose an impending danger to the Philippines’s national security.

“​I urge the National Security Council—President Aquino— please convene it and tackle this impending existential threat to our country’s territory, sovereignty and economic well-being,” Acedillo said.

The National Security Council (NSC) is the principal advisory body on the proper coordination and integration of plans and policies affecting national security.

The council proper is a collegial body chaired by the President. It includes concerned officials of the Cabinet and Congress, as members, as well as other government officials and private citizens who may be invited by the President.

Gatchalian said: “The very idea of giving up our strong claim of ownership over Sabah, even if it is just a ‘note verbale,’ smacks of a sellout.”

He also criticized the DFA for even toying with the idea of having a quid pro quo deal with Malaysia since there is no assurance that Malaysia will help the Philippines with its dispute with China, saying, “Malaysia itself has overlapping territorial interests and is China’s top trading partner in Southeast Asia.”

By Butch Fernandez

ALACAÑANG on Tuesday said the leadership of the House of Representatives should first set the “processes” that would apply in dealing with the 20 follow-up questions posed by Congress investigators seeking clarification on the role of President Aquino and his trusted aide, resigned National Police Chief Alan Purisima, in the botched Mamasapano operation that killed 44 police commandos, 18 Moro rebels and five noncombatants.

Asked at a Palace briefing if President Aquino would attend the House inquiry into the Mamasapano carnage or just submit written answers to the 20 questions posed by congressmen, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda reaffir med Aquino’s commitment to ferret out the truth but

suggested that the House should first lay down the process for doing so.

“I think the processes, the deliberations on the request to [answer] the 20 questions should first be addressed to the House leadership,” Lacierda told reporters, adding that, “Again, we’d like to emphasize the

LACIERDA: “In fact, the questions themselves [that were] posed by the Makabayan Bloc… most of them have been responded [to] one way or the other by the President.”

commitment of the President to uncovering the truth.”

He explained that part of the reason the Palace took the position “is to ensure that the statements of the President will also be enshrined in official documents. And for that reason, there is the commitment to seeking out the truth.”

“However, this is a House investigation and, therefore, it should be in keeping with the House leadership as to the procedure, the manner of eliciting the truth, mindful again—and let me emphasize— mindful of the separation of powers and the respect for coequal branches of government,” Lacierda reminded lawmakers posing the questions to Aquino.

He noted that most of the questions submitted by the congressmen have already been answered

by Aquino himself in previous speeches, giving the President’s versions of what happened in the planning and execution of Oplan Exodus, which resulted in the killing of 44 Special Action Force commandos by rebels belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

“In fact, the questions themselves [that were] posed by the Makabayan Bloc…most of them have been responded [to] one way or the other by the President,” Lacierda said.

He asked reporters why the questions are being repeated and suggested his own answer: “Siguro you don’t want the answers the President gave, one reason; or you are not satisfied with the President’s statement; or there is a line that you want the President to state, to say.”

As to the 20 questions posed by congressmen for the President to answer to clarify the unresolved issues in the Mamasapano incident, Lacierda countered: “You are members of the House of Representatives, it’s up to you to go through and the House leadership to go through the procedure and—ensuring, however, that the separation of powers and the respect to the coequal branch is maintained.”

Economy

A4 Wednesday, April 1, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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Comelec under scrutiny for apparent inside track of voter-verification bidder

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By Joel R. San Juan

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is facing another controversy for allowing French firm Safran Morpho and Comfac Corp. to continue participating in the bidding process for the supply of the P727-million Voter Verification System (VVS) of the poll body, despite its failure to perform a demonstration of its machine at the close of the submission of bids last week.

Sources at the Comelec said the joint venture of French firm Safran Morpho and Comfac Corp. is allegedly fronting for a former official of the poll body and another technology provider to ensure that the tandem corners all contracts related to preparations for the 2016 elections.

The Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) found Morpho to have submitted the lowest calculated bid of close to P500 million.

“Despite being a first-time participant in the local election automation, Morpho apparently has an inside track at the Comelec and the BAC which explains why it easily breezed through the bidding process,” one Comelec source said.

The source also observed the BAC’s undue preference for the French company based on its ruling.

For instance, the source said, a bidder filed a motion seeking the

EQUALLY SWEET Sisters Cherry (left) and Christy Base entice motorists with a creative showcase of sliced yellow watermelons at the farm gate of Centeno Farms in Alicia, Isabela. The sisters help their father sell his harvest of sweet watermelons during the summer break. LEONARDO PERANTE II

disqualification of the Morpho joint venture for submitting incomplete requirements on March 11, particularly the soft copies of

both the technical documentation and the source code, in accordance to the BAC’s bid bulletin released on February 16.

Another source noted how the Safran-Comfac JV also failed to bring its VVS equipment during the preliminary bid submission as required by the Comelec through Bid Bulletin No. 3.

However, the source said, BAC Chairman Helen AguilaFlores apparently dismissed the apparent violation by Morpho and Comfac despite the protest registered by counsels of other bidders.

“Legal counsel for SafranComfac said the VVS unit was not included in their copy of the requirement checklist to which Chairperson Flores apologized for the confusion the committee has caused for the conflicting

requirement checklist,” a portion of the BAC ruling read.

Another questionable move by the BAC, according to the same sources, was to disallow other bidders and observers from participating in postqualification proceedings.

The BAC granted the MorphoComfac JV’s request to prohibit other bidders from observing the testing and demonstration of the VVS, that was to be held a week after the submission of bids on grounds of confidentiality.

Previously, the sources said, all bidders were allowed to observe and participate in the initial demonstration for the Optical Mark Reader (OMR).

They noted that Smartmatic and its competitor in the OMR bidding Indra Sistemas SA were required to do a demonstration of its OMR technology in front of the BAC, the

media, and observers to show the capabilities of the machines and how they worked.

It was provided for in the Manual of Procedures for the Procurement of Goods and Services, Comelec insiders said.

Early this week the Supreme Court stopped the P268.8-million deal between the Comelec and Smartmatic for the repair of the 80,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines for violating the government procurement law.

Along with other watchdog groups, C3E assailed Smartmatic’s violations of the automated election laws, and demanded that the company be blacklisted from doing election-related activities for having misrepresented itself and claiming it owned the automated-election technology and that it was the manufacturer of the PCOS machines.

Sy Group foundations renovate health center in Benguet

BENGUET residents celebrate the opening of the La Trinidad Main Health Center with dances and other cultural presentations.

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HE La Trinidad Main Health Center in Benguet, which caters to 16 barangays, has been renovated and accredited with Philippine Health Insurance Corp. for its outpatient benefit package.

This means that the 21,425 households comprising these barangays can now avail themselves of treatment in the health center. Thanks to SM Foundation and BDO Foundation who undertook the complete renovation, quality health service is brought to these communities.

In the past, the Rural Health Unit of La Trinidad (RHU-La Trinidad), the principal workplace of the present-day Municipal Health Services Office, was called the La Trinidad Dispensary in Poblacion, La Trinidad, Benguet, Mountain Province. Benguet was formerly a subprovince of Mountain Province until June 18, 1966, with the enactment of Republic Act

4695, creating the provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao.

On July 16, 1990, the RHU was devastated by an earthquake that rocked the whole of Luzon. RHU services continued at temporary tents installed at the Provincial Capitol grounds. Reconstruction was promptly undertaken in 1991. Due to the need to further renovate the building, the clinic was temporarily transferred to the La Trinidad Central School (HomeEconomics Building). The RHU had been enlarged and refurbished several times from 1997 to 1998.

Today, the renovated center which serves 100 patients a day has a laboratory, dental room, treatment area, consultation area, family-planning room, prenatal and postnatal room, immunization area, coldchain storage area, and an FTS Wellness Center for children and the elderly.

Economy BusinessMirror

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DA 11 allocates P65 million for women empowerment

By Noel T. Provido Contributor

T

HE Department of Agriculture in the Davao region (DA 11) has allocated 5.1 percent of its total budget for the promotion of gender and development (GAD).

DA 11 Regional Director Remelyn Recoter said out of this year’s P2.6-billion budget of the regional office, 5.1 percent, or P65 million, will fund projects involving woman beneficiaries. These include provision of farm inputs, farm mechanization, postharvest facilities, food processing and other value-adding activities.

“The fund will also support the conduct of training and extension services to rural-based woman organizations, including incentives for our local government agricultural extension workers who are mostly woman technicians,” she said.

In her message during the culmination of DA women’s month celebration in Davao City, Recoter said various development in the region can be attributed to rural women being able partners of their husbands in farm production.

The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) in a message delivered by DA 11 GAD focal person Ev-

elyn Basa said that women should occupy 50 percent of the leadership whether in civil-society organizations, academe, bureaucracy or electoral politics.

“Men and women have different life experiences, they think differently and have different perspectives and priorities. Hence, both of them should be in all the different levels of leadership,” the PCW said.

Recoter said the DA is one of the gender-sensitive agencies and have put emphasis on the capability of women to govern and lead.

“At the helm of 16 DA regional field offices, 50 percent are woman regional directors. In the livestock sector, three out of the four DA attached agencies are also being led by women,” she said.

Compared to other countries in Asia and other parts of the world, Recoter said “the women in our country are now given equal opportunities and actively participate in decision-making.”

This year’s DA monthlong women celebration in the region was hosted by the Philippine Rural Development Project-Mindanao support office. The celebration focused on the theme: “Juana, Desisyon Mo ay Mahalaga sa Kinabukasan ng Bawat Isa, Ikaw Na!”

Wednesday, April 1, 2015 A5

Single-digit export growth likely in first quarter 2015

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By Cai U. Ordinario

EAK consumer demand in the United States will likely keep the country’s exportearnings growth in single digit in the first quarter of 2015, according to First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Capital Markets Research.

The country’s export-earnings growth already started 2015 with a contraction of 0.5 percent in January. However, this was an improvement from the contraction of 3.2 percent in December 2014 and contraction of 3 percent in January 2014.

FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research said this was due to a decrease in the outbound shipments of

five of 10 major commodities, such as other manufactures, woodcrafts and furniture, chemicals, metal components and coconut oil.

“Exports may temper in Q1 [first quarter] to a single-digit pace as consumer confidence in the US has been very volatile. China’s growth has also eased, while sluggishness in the euro zone persisted with the unresolved Greece debt problem,”

FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research said.

However, the think tank said they expect that the recovery of the US economy, stabilization of China’s economic growth, and the quantitative easing in Europe and Japan will be able to spur demand for Philippine exports.

Overall, the group remains confident that the Philippine economy will attain the low-end of the government’s 7 percent to 8 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth target this year.

In January FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research said the Philippine economy will likely register a GDP growth of between 7 percent and 7.5 percent this year.

The optimism of the think tank stems from the strong consumption spending by Filipinos on account of low inflation. In the first quarter, FMIC and UA&P Capital Markets Research expect inflation to average 2.5 percent.

The group’s inflation estimate for the January to March 2015 period is below its full-year average expecta-

tion of 2.7 percent on account of low crude prices.

Apart from low inflation, other factors that could contribute to higher GDP growth this year include higher government spending and higher export growth in the coming months.

“Two other factors will determine if the Philippine economy hits a 7-percent GDP growth rate in Q1: [a] Stronger infrastructure and government spending, for which there is little obstacle lurking, and [b] More robust expansion in exports than that exhibited in December 2014 and January 2015,” the think tank said.

The growth projections of the think tank are contained in the latest edition of Market Call, the group’s monthly publication on economic trends.

The publication is a result of an in-depth analysis on the emerging and leading trends in the global and local markets that have shaped the direction of the Philippine capital markets in the last four weeks.

Workers want discount card, unemployment insurance for laid-off workers Turkey, PHL trade to rise

with entry of Turkish Air

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

T

HE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)Nagkaisa is asking President Aquino to implement a government-initiated discount card for minimum-wage workers and unemployment insurance for laid-off employees to cope with the day-today cost of living.

According to TUCP-Nagkaisa, the P15 wage increase approved by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for Metro Manila workers is not enough for workers to cope with the food-price increase, transport fares, electricity and water-rate hikes.

The group is also proposing to Mr. Aquino to approve a majority coconut-farmer administered trust fund to ensure the proceeds of the P77-billion coco levy are used to promote jobs in the coconut industry; ensure the completion of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with respect to lands under current Notice of Coverage; and assist the peasant farmers through appropriate support measures and financing including trainings, appropriate technology and easy-term credit.

These demands, TUCP-Nagkaisa said, are “doables” which President Aquino can think about for the benefit of minimum-wage earners during the Holy Week.

“Among the measures which will assist and empower the basic sectors include an unemploymentinsurance policy for the 3.4 million minimum-wage earners providing three months of minimum wage-salary coverage in cases of retrenchment and a minimum discount card that serves as a voucher or CCT-like program for minimumwage employees to give them discount on tuition, purchase of rice, basic food commodities, medicines

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

E

LENTEN SACRIFICE The price of fish has increased this Lenten season from its regular price for P90 per kilo to P120 at the Paco market in Manila.

ROY DOMINGO

worth P2,000,” said Gerard Seño, TUCP-Nagkaisa vice president.

The group cited that from March 1 to 7, the Pulse Asia Survey on urgent national concerns surfaced that four of the top 5 concerns relate to the daily survival needs of ordinary Filipinos.

It showed 46 percent are crying out at inflation, 44 percent have said salaries are too small to cover daily expenses, and another 34 percent said there are no decent jobs.

On March 18 the wage board approved only a measly P15 dailywage increase for the minimum wage in Metro Manila amid the TUCP-Nagkaisa petition of P136.

They said the government value of the current minimum wage is only P356.64, or P7,846.08 a month salary, or P931.92 short of the P8,778 national poverty threshold set by the National Economic and Development Authority and Philippine Statistics Authority for 2014.

TUCP-Nagkaisa Executive Director Louie Corral said labor groups are encouraged by the President, reminding the leaders of the FilipinoChinese Chambers of Industry last week that by giving a greater share to their workers, they are encouraging increased consumer spending which itself expands the economy.

However, Corral said the government must also do the greater part of aiding workers who are not benefiting from a growing national economy.

“TUCP-Nagkaisa interprets this as a clear signal from the President to the business sector to share the gains that have brought many of them to the Forbes list of the wealthiest with the workers who have been in the forefront of the struggle to create our nation’s wealth. But to stably uplift the lives of workers who are not benefiting from high gross domestic product growth, Mr. Aquino must step right in and make the government make the impact long lasting,” Corral said.

PHL ‘in no rush’ to join China-led Asian infra investment bank

By Butch Fernandez

T

HE Aquino administration is in no hurry to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as its finance officials said they are still seeking assurance the AIIB, among others, would be “truly multilateral in nature.”

President Aquino’s chief spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, however, did not rule the possibility that the Philippines may eventually join the AIIB despite its

brewing territorial conflicts with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). Lacierda said Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima had indicated there is no rush to join it right now.

“The Philippines’ joining AIIB has not been discussed of late,” Lacierda told Palace reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. The AIIB, according to Purisima, “is nonbinding until June when we have to make a commitment.”

Lacierda quoted Purisima as saying Department of Finance officials

are still looking at its governance structure to make sure “it is an inclusive business plan.”

Purisima added this is in order to “make sure it complements rather than competes with the Asian Development Bank [ADB] and the World Bank [WB].”

“Finally, we want to make sure it is truly multilateral in nature,” Purisima said. Envisioned by the government of China as an international financial institution, the AIIB was billed to become a multilateral development bank that

would also provide funding for infrastructure projects in the region, complementing the work of ADB, the WB and the International Monetary Fund.

Early this month, it was reported that the United Kingdom indicated willingness to extend an unspecified amount as a loan to help start the AIIB, but the move came under criticism from the US with the Obama administration admitting it was “wary about a trend toward constant accomodation of China.”

XPECT richer trade and a healthier relationship between the Philippines and Turkey, high-ranking officials from both the government and the private sector said, as the flag carrier of the transcontinental country started mounting direct flights from Istanbul to Manila on Monday.

Turkish Airlines landed on Manila’s soil at around 6:40 p.m. on Monday, and was welcomed by a water-cannon salute at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1, which is currently at the last stages of being upgraded.

The carrier’s maiden flight had a 90-percent passenger load factor, meaning almost all of its seats were occupied, Turkish Airlines Chief of Marketing and Sales Ahmet Olmustur said. It is a sign the aviation company, hailed as the Europe’s best international carrier in 2014, was right in expanding its already-extensive route network to the Philippines.

“The reason we started our flights to Manila is because of the more than 500,000 Filipinos living in Europe. The maiden flight had a 90-percent load factor, and most of them are transit passengers from Europe,” he said late Monday.

He said the airline’s target market include businessmen, tourists and transit passengers seeking a gateway to Europe, noting that transit passengers prefer to use Turkey as a jump-off point to Europe for its seamless transfer procedures.

Turkey is strategically located in the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa.

He said Turkey’s flag carrier decided to enter the Philippine market due to the country’s robust economic growth in recent years.

“Turkish Airlies sees opportunities in expand-

ing air-travel services in the country, which not only has a booming economy and a large population, but excellent tourist destinations as well,” Olmustur said. “Turkish Airlines is also committed toward strengthening ties between Turkey and the Philippines.”

The Istanbul-Manila service is currently available thrice weekly, and was made possible thanks to the expansion of the air-services agreement between the two nations in November 2014.

Manila is the latest addition to Turkish Airlines’s morethan200destinations,makingthePhilippines the 109th country that the carrier flies to.

Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado said the direct flights fromIstanbul to Manila “marks another milestone to the Philippines’s aviation industry.”

“This is a welcome addition to the growing list of international airlines in the Philippines, thereby diversifying the choices for passengers,” he said.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito C. Bengzon Jr. added the new flights would effectively double the current tourism numbers between the two nations.

“This offers new opportunities for tourists to come to the Philippines. With the launch of these direct flights to Manila, we are confident that we can double tourist arrivals to the Philippines in the next couple of years,” he said.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed that a total of 3,731 tourists from Turkey visited the Philippines in 2013.

Turkey’s Ambassador to the Philippines Esra Cankorur also expressed her confidence that tourism exchanges would increase over time. This, she added, would also introduce the Philippines to a well of opportunities outside Asia.

Bayan Muna: Passengers of delayed, canceled flights deserve compensation

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ARTY-LIST Rep. Neri J. Colmenares of Bayan Muna has urged airlines that canceled three flights and delayed 26 others to compensate their harried passengers.

Colmenares, principal author of the Magna Carta of Airline Passengers Rights, said this early, commercial airlines have responded to the Holy Week holiday rush by showing their inefficiency and incompetence in handling the capability of their fleets.

“This is becoming a perennial and festering problem, and to prevent this from happening again, we, in the Makabayan bloc, already filed House Bill (HB) 5361, or the Magna Carta of Airline Passengers Rights, which lays down the basic rights of airline passengers and to prevent the continued abuse of passengers by unscrupulous airline carriers,” he said.

“One of the main contents of HB 5361 is to prohibit overbooking. It also

creates the Office of Aviation Arbiters to do away with unduly long and costly court litigations so that passengers can have fast resolution of their complaints,” Colmenares said.

“Also, the bill’s Section 12 enumerates the eight rights of airline passengers, to wit: a) right to full information; b) right to fair and reasonable airfare; c) right to receive the full value of the service purchased; d) right against discrimination; e) right against unjust vexation; f) right to be respected; g) right to compensation; and h) right to redress of grievances.

“The Magna Carta also clearly specified compensation for death, which is P3 million, and depending on the physical injuries ranging from P75,000 to P1 million, these amounts were set with consideration of international practice,” said the solon.

Marvyn N. Benaning

A6 Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Redeveloping slums through PPP

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MONG the deathless legacies that the great Lee Kuan Yew left to his people is the housing program for the poor people of Singapore.

In 1960, when Lee was inaugurated as prime minister, Singapore was a backwater colony of slums and its people a vast community of slum dwellers. Lee established the Housing and Development Board to replace slums and squatter settlements with apartments. Before long, he produced the desired results. Today more than 80 percent of the population lives in government housing, with 95 percent of them owning their own homes. There are no slums in Singapore.

Now comes the news from India that the country is engaged in a massive slums-redevelopment program to get rid of a shameful feature of the country’s urban centers. In Mumbai, the country’s leading banking and financial metropolis, the private sector and the city government, in a public-private partnership (PPP) program, are collaborating to redevelop their slums into first-class residential-commercial areas with full accommodation of all previous residents with proof of lawful connection to their residences at no cost to them.

And the partners are succeeding. One developer alone has rebuilt 12 slum projects, giving housing to 40,000 residents. Selling elegant units at middle-class-rich prices to compensate for the poor people’s housing cost, the developer is turning in a decent return on investment. The city government is enjoying enormous new revenues, as well as taking pride in the breathtaking skyline.

It seems that, in India, the city government gives freedom to private builders to develop slum areas of their own choice into residential-commercial areas, so long as they obtain the free consent of slum families to the transformation, and guarantee and deliver to those who have lawful connection to their residences housing units of approved dimensions at the proper time. The city sets up an administrative office to enforce requirements, as well as encourages the banks to provide liberal financing to developers.

We can do the same thing in the Philippines. It might be too much to expect the national government to do the job, floundering as it has been on its own PPP projects, but we have the right to expect city governments to take the initiative to convert their slum areas into first-class residential-commercial communities. Right now we have in mind two cities, Manila and Cebu, which can proceed along the new lines to redevelop their slums.

In Manila, think of what will be the result if the vast Tondo area encompassing everything west of Juan Luna and South of Caloocan, including the gang-ruled thickly congested port areas, is redeveloped into brand-new residential-commercial districts. We will have mixed communities of housing for professional and working people, wide roads, moderate-rise and high-rise towers, commercial establishments, banks, amusement parks and other amenities. If the communities are designed by our urban-planning professional groups, even better. The Manila City government will enjoy revenues that will boggle its imagination.

Cebu City, likewise, if it pursues its own slums-redevelopment program, at no cost to itself, will have a new look that will be pleasing to all who wish it well.

We support the redevelopment of slums through PPP and similar programs. We hope our city governments, with encouragement and support from the national government, will take up this worthy cause.

What’s in a name?

Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security

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HAT is a question made famous by the great William Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet. In the stage play’s celebrated balcony scene, Juliet worries over Romeo being a Montague, the sworn enemy of her family, the Capulets. Hence, in her monologue, she says: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The eavesdropping swain hiding in the courtyard beneath the balcony comes out and readily declares his willingness to give up his name if that was what it would take to win her love, saying: “Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; Henceforth, I never will be Romeo.”

Alas, if it were only that simple in the real world, where changing one’s name requires a bunch of supporting documents. However, thanks to Republic Act 9048 (An Act Authorizing the City or Municipal Civil Registrar or the Consul General to Correct a Clerical or Typographical Error in an Entry and/or Change the

First Name or Nickname in the Civil Register Without Need of a Judicial Order), it is now possible to change or correct one’s name without having to go to court to do so.

Among the common problems of Social Security System (SSS) members are concerns about their names. Oftentimes, members who are about to file their retirement or other pension claims find out that their names in their birth certificates are not the same as those registered with the SSS, or that their first names, middle names or last names have been misspelled.

When these mistakes happen, it

is important to correct the name on record with the SSS and make it consistent with that in the birth certificate or vice versa.

If the error is in the birth certificate, it is crucial to make the correction with the civil registrar before presenting the document to the SSS as a supporting document for a pension claim. Based on RA 9048, the following corrections may be made: 1. Correction of clerical or typographical errors in any entry in civil registry documents, except corrections involving the change in sex, age, nationality and status of a person. A clerical or typographical error refers to an obvious mistake committed in clerical work, either in writing, copying, transcribing, or typing an entry in the civil register, that is harmless and innocuous, such as a misspelled name or misspelled place of birth and the like, and can be corrected or changed only by reference to other existing record or records.

2. Change of a person’s first name in his or her civil-registry document under certain grounds specified under the law through administrative process.

As soon as the birth-certificate

Debt could derail China’s ambitions William Pesek

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BLOOMBERG VIEW

HINA’S Xi Jinping made a lot of grand promises over the weekend, pledging a new order where China and Chinese-led institutions, such as the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), would promote prosperity across the region. But he was on shaky ground—literally. The Boao Forum where Xi spoke took place in Haikou, capital of China’s island-province of Hainan, whose local government, it seems, may not be able to pay its debt this year.

Much has been written about the $50-billion AIIB, which has won support from staunch United States allies Australia, South Korea and the United Kingdom, among others. Xi is clearly relishing what looks like a softpower victory over the US, gleefully touting China as a one-stop shop for “markets, growth, investment and cooperation opportunities.” Before he starts writing checks, though, Xi should take a closer look at China’s own books. Haikou’s is just one of many local governments grappling with a $4-trillion-plus debt pile. If Chinese leaders are going to achieve their growing international aspirations, they’re going to have to be far more ambitious about getting their financial house in order first.

At 282 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the McKinsey Global Institute, China’s total debt now exceeds America’s

269 percent and Germany’s 258 percent. Even more worrying: If the credit buildup continues at its current pace, that ratio will explode to 400 percent by 2018. At those levels, China would be dangerously susceptible to a surge in long-term interest rates that triggers an accelerating series of defaults in economically vital sectors, like real estate. Even if China can avoid a South Korea-like crash, the resulting slowdown could precipitate a second wave of default risks and financial chaos from which Beijing would take years to recover.

China would suddenly be an exporter of deflation, not development aid.

Yes, China is still growing 7.3 percent, its potential seems boundless and it’s run by smart policy-makers who are aware of where the cracks in the system lie. But then, the conventional wisdom said the same of Japan 25 years ago. To gain some semblance

of control, Xi’s government needs to do three things immediately: cap China’s credit bubble; rein in stateowned enterprises; and create a mechanism to begin disposing of bad debts. Trouble is, Xi’s government isn’t doing enough to address any of them.

Take credit growth. For all the rhetoric about tightening the money spigot, aggregate financing continued to accelerate in February to about $216 billion. New yuan loans totaled $164 billion, while M2 money supply rose 12.5 percent. That hardly looks like evidence of a serious crackdown.

On Tuesday the government even lowered the down payment requirement for some second-home buyers, hoping to revive a slumping property sector. Meanwhile, state companies continue to receive copious financing through a shadow-banking apparatus that the People’s Bank of China and government regulators pledged to curtail back in 2013.

As for bad loans, no credible estimate exists, thanks to the opacity inherent to China’s political system.

According to the well-regarded Chinese journal Caixin, commercialbank nonperforming loans have swelled for 12 quarters now. As of the beginning of December, Caixin estimated that about $136 billion worth of loans had gone sour. That’s not a huge problem for a $9.2-trillion economy, but then the number is rising even before the sharp economic slowdown many observers expect is coming. China’s recent move to let local governments convert maturing

entry is corrected, the member can then initiate the correction of his or her record with the SSS, if needed, by accomplishing form E-4 (Member’s Data Change Request) and attaching the corrected birth certificate as authenticated by the National Statistics Office.

Changing one’s name in an instant for the sake of love may sound romantic, but may not be legal and could lead a person into trouble later on. A name is important not only to the person bearing it but also to agencies, like the SSS, whose job is to ensure that social-security benefits are given to the rightful persons. It is a vital means of identifying people.

Thus, members should make sure that their records carry their correct names to avoid delays in claiming their benefits in the future.

For more information about the SSS and its programs, call our 24-hour call center at (632) 920-6446 to 55, Monday to Friday, or send an e-mail to member_relations@sss.gov.ph.

Susie G. Bugante is the vice president for public affairs and special events of the Social Security System. Send comments about this column to susiebugante.bmirror@gmail.com.

high-cost debt into lower-yielding municipal notes to be repaid at a future date is a step in the right direction. But it’s too small and unfocused to defuse China’s debt time bomb.

In order to steer China off its current trajectory, leaders are going to have to tolerate a bigger hit to GDP. They must also quickly build a transfer mechanism to allow banks, state-run enterprises and entire municipalities to dispose of bad loans.

One way would be to emulate America’s deleveraging strategy following the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis, establishing a series of Resolution Trust Corp.-like entities. “Given that local governments and state-owned enterprises are responsible for the majority of China’s bad debts, writeoffs, funded by central-government bonds, will probably be necessary, and soon,” writes Zhang Jun of Fudan University in Shanghai in a Project Syndicate op-ed.

If Japan taught the world anything these last two decades, it’s that trying to delay the pain only courts deflation—which already poses a threat to China—and falling living standards.

Last week Standard & Poor’s downgraded Shenzhen developer Kaisa to default, after it failed to make coupon payments on two of its dollar-denominated bonds. Once the defaults begin—and places like Haikou run out of money—there’s no telling how wobbly China may become. If he really wants to challenge America abroad, Xi would be smart to emulate some of its boldness at home first.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A major push forward Is he, in fact, Petrus Romanus? for gender and environment

By Joni Seager, Deepa Joshi & Rebecca Pearl-Martinez

Dennis B. Funa

Inter Press Service

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EW YORK/NAIROBI—Experts from around the world gathered in New York recently to launch work on the Global Gender Environment Outlook (GGEO), the first comprehensive, integrated and global assessment of gender issues in relation to the environment and sustainability.

Never before has there been an analysis at the scale of the GGEO or with the global visibility and audience. It will provide governments and other stakeholders with the evidence-based global and regional information, data and tools they need for transformational, gender-responsive environmental policy-making—if they’re willing to do so.

The writing workshop happened in the context of the recent 59th session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) 20 years after 189 countries met in Beijing to adopt a global platform of action for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Beijing+20 offers a critical moment to assess how far we’ve come and put gender at the center of global sustainability, environment and development agendas. Twenty years later, what have we accomplished?

In 2015 governments will be setting the development agenda for the next 15 years through the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as negotiating a new global climate agreement.

The UN Environment Programme (Unep) will be making a bold contribution to these global efforts by putting gender at the heart of environment and development analysis and action in the GGEO. The GGEO will be presented at the UN Environment Assembly in May 2016.

A recent flagship publication by UN Women, The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Gender Equality and Sustainable Development (2014), reveals that 748 million people globally (10 percent of the world’s population) are without access to improved water sources.

Women and girls are the primary water carriers for these families, fetching water for over 70 percent of these households. In many rural areas, they may walk up to two hours; in urban areas, it is common to have to wait for over an hour at a shared standpipe.

This unpaid “women’s work” significantly limits their potential to generate income and their opportunities to attend school. Women and girls suffer high levels of mental stress where water rights are insecure and, physically, the years of carrying water from an early stage takes its toll, resulting in cumulative wear and tear to the neck, spine, back and knees.

The bodies of women, the survey concludes, in effect become part of the water-delivery infrastructure, doing the work of the pipes. Not only in water, but also in all environmental sectors—land, energy, natural resources— women are burdened by time poverty and lack of access to natural and productive assets.

Their work and capabilities systematically unrecognized and undervalued.

This is a long call away from the Beijing commitment to “the full implementation of the human rights of women and the girl child as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

On the one hand, our thinking about the inter-linkages between gender, sustainability and development has progressed significantly since 1995. Innovative research and analysis have transformed our understanding so that gender is now seen as a major driver—and prerequisite—for sustainability.

Gender approaches in UN climate negotiations are a good case in point.

Thanks to persistent efforts on advocacy, activism, research and strategic capacity building by many, it is more widely accepted that gender roles and norms influence climate-change drivers such as energy use and consumption patterns, as well as policy positions and public perceptions of the problem.

These were acknowledged—albeit late—in negotiations, policies and strategies on the topic. One small indication is that references to “gender” in the draft climate change negotiating texts increased dramatically from zero in 2007 to more than 60 by 2010.

According to data by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization as of November 2014, 32 decisions under the climate-change convention now include gender.

On the other hand, not much seems to have changed. In 1995 inequalities, foremost gender inequality, undermined economic prosperity and sustainable development. This is even more the case today.

Perpetuating gender inequality and disregarding the potential contribution of both men and women is shortsighted, has high opportunity cost and impacts negatively on all three the pillars of sustainable development—environmental, social and economic.

The course to achieving gender equality also remains plagued by a simplistic translation of gender as women and empowerment as ‘gender mainstreaming’ in projects and interventions that are not necessarily planned with an objective of longer-term, transformational equality.

Numerous studies point out the obvious links between social and political dimensions of gender inequality and the economic trade-offs, and that narrowing the gender gap benefits us all and on many fronts.

The World Bank, World Economic Forum and the OECD, for example, have all concluded that women who have access to education also have access to opportunities for decent employment and sustainable entrepreneurship—key components of an inclusive green economy. The education of girls is linked to its direct and noticeable positive impact on sustainability.

The facts are conclusive: addressing gender equality is both the right and the smart thing to do. And yet, despite the obvious benefits, around the world, gender inequality remains pervasive and entrenched.

And most global policies on environment and development remain dangerously uninformed by gendered analysis.

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INSURANCE FORUM

N this season of Lent, we shall deviate from our regular production of insurance-related articles to tackle a more spiritual discourse, but not exactly spiritual. We give way to other human needs and to feed, as well, the necessities of our faith. I am referring to the papal predictions by Saint Malachy.

As a high-school student in the 1980s, I purchased an innocuous book, titled Book of Predictions, which compiled hundreds of predictions by dozens of soothsayers, from Nostradamus to forgettable quacks.

Toward the end of the book was a section on “Saint Malachy’s Papal Predictions.” This was in the 1980s and the incumbent pope at that time was, of course, Pope John Paul II. In reading the book, the natural query was, who would be the next pope after John Paul II? The book credits Malachy for “accurately” forecasting the identity of every single Roman Catholic pope from 1143 A.D. He predicts the popes by using descriptive terms which can be associated with the pope. And he gave these terms in the sequence by which the popes would succeed. In the case of Pope Paul VI, for example, Malachy predicted using the words: “flower of flowers.” Paul VI was eventually represented by Flos Florum and his coat of arms showed three fleurs-de-lis. John Paul II’s successor was predicted with the phrase Gloria Olivae or “glory of the olive.” Prior to the assumption of Pope Benedict, almost all interpreted that the next

pope would be from the Benedictine Order for the order is also known by another name: Olivetans. Instead, Cardinal Ratzinger chose to be known as Pope Benedict.

Succeeding Gloria Olivae is Petrus Romanus. What is earth-shaking of Malachy’s predictions is that Petrus Romanus is the last on the list, triggering the speculation that Petrus Romanus is the last pope. The naming for Petrus Romanus comes with a prediction that “the 7-hilled city will be destroyed.”

In 1909 it was reported that Pope Pius X had a vision, after which he allegedly uttered, “What I see is terrifying. Will it be myself? Will it be my successor? What is certain is that the pope will quit Rome, and in leaving the Vatican, he will have to walk over the dead bodies of his priests.”

Among the other books I have read is the book on the Fatima apparitions in Portugal. Any devotee would, of course, know about the three secrets of the Fatima. The Third Secret remained a secret until it was finally revealed on June 26, 2000.

That third secret, of a 1917 vision, was written in a letter made in 1944.

The letter stated:

The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

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was walking alone along Sansom Street in Philly when a man approached me and asked for a dollar because he “needed something to eat.”

My response in these situations is wildly inconsistent. I often wave the person off, and we go about our business. This time I opened my wallet, fished around, found a ten spot, and handed it to the man who called me a “blessing.”

My faith tells me that this act of mercy should have been done in secret, so I just blew that out of the water. I begin to realize as well that such acts, the giving of alms, donations to the poor, a tenner to a beggar, are acts available

mainly to the more powerful. I had money; he, presumably, didn’t.

Mercy is what the powerful get to show the powerless. As is cruelty. Some time ago, a person familiar with the history of our country’s once-thriving slave trade explained a crucial aspect of that institution: “The planter might be kind to his slaves. He might also be unrelentingly cruel. The problem is, he has the option.”

The evil of slavery, in other words, is the evil of one human’s power over others, the power to capture them, move them to the forced labor camps known as “plantations,” and treat these persons any way you wish, with or without mercy—with or without cruelty. The only justice is God’s own.

real wimp when it comes to physical pain’” And quiet oddly, just a few weeks ago, he spoke about serving as pontiff for “another two or three years,” adding: “I feel that the Lord has placed me here for a short time” and that he had “a vague sensation he would not reign as pope for long.”

In the same month he made a surprise announcement declaring a massive holy festival on the month of December to mark the Extraordinary Jubilee Year beginning December 8. The last jubilee was in 1983 called by John Paul II to celebrate the 1,950 years since Jesus Christ’s redemption. The theme of the festival is mercy. It is expected to draw millions of Catholics to Rome and the Vatican.

Almost simultaneously, the Islamic State militants “singled out” the Vatican for possible attack, showing online the group’s black flag flying over Saint Peter’s Basilica.

This was released together with images of the beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt. The Islamic State’s propaganda magazine Dabiq ran a cover photo of the militant group’s flag flying above the Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican with the headline: “The failed crusade.”

In the February 22 issue of the USA Today, it was reported that the terrorist group called Italy “the nation signed with the blood of the cross.” The Italian Interior Ministry is reported to be making plans to deploy 5,000 police officers to Rome after their deployment for the Milan Expo, which will end in October this year.

The Vatican has officially remained silent about these threats.

We resume our discourse on insurance matters after the Holy Week.

Facilitation agreement will raise PHL trade competitiveness

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By Hans C. Shrader

HE Philippines’s trade competitiveness can get a major boost once the country addresses stumbling blocks—unclear regulations and overly complex or inefficient trading processes—that can be fixed quite easily.

“Outdated and inefficient border procedures, inadequate infrastructure and unreliable logistics services are all likely to increase the time it takes to trade—driving up costs like storage fees and inspection charges,” says the “World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2013” report about any economy. In the Philippines, for instance, every container coming into the ports is supposed to be inspected regardless of relative risk for pest, disease or smuggled goods. This contributes to unnecessary delays in trade and inefficient use of stretched border resources. In turn, the volume of trade is lessened and potential international competitiveness for businesses diminished.

The World Bank Group finds that by simply speeding up the rate of moving cargo from production line to the ship by 10 percent can increase exports by 4 percent in the East Asia Pacific region.

Losses from the import-export contraction and manufacturing slowdown caused by the city of Manila’s truck ban that led to

congestion at the Port of Manila from February to November 2014 cost the Philippine economy some P70 billion ($1.6 billion), as estimated by the National Economic and Development Authority. As many as 37,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) bound for Manila accumulated in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kaohsiung, while 17,000 TEUs of empty containers from an average of 8,000 clogged Manila’s port.

Import container traffic in Manila and Luzon fell by 17 percent and the contraction in export containers hovered at 18 percent in the third quarter. Manufacturing growth dropped to 7 percent also in the third quarter, from 12 percent in the previous quarter, due to delays in the shipment of raw materials.

While there is little doubt that Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) took a hit as a result of the truck ban, GDP does not give a human face to the story. The real impact is on the livelihoods and pockets of thousands of workers and small businesses affected by

As sinners, it’s time for us to show a little mercy

By Orlando R. Barone

“We saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the Earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’

“And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father.’ Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions.”

The apparition at Fatima has received full recognition of the Catholic Church.

In March Pope Francis spoke about the possibility of being assassinated. Pope Francis has said: “Life is in God’s hands. I have said to the Lord, ‘You take care of me. But if it is Your will that I die or something happens to me, I ask You only one favor: that it doesn’t hurt. Because I am a

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Pope Francis has just announced a one-year jubilee, “The Holy Year of Mercy.” Certainly, he is calling on all of us to extend the hand of mercy. I also sense that, in keeping with his papacy’s theme, he is calling out the powerful, those with an extra ten spot in their pockets, and issuing a special challenge to us.

The year starts December 8, the much misunderstood feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is Francis at his most ironic. His call is for us to understand mercy as the act of sinners. We show mercy precisely because we need mercy. We forgive precisely because we require forgiveness. We are sinners.

The Immaculate Conception refers to the Virgin Mary, the one human being, apart from Jesus Himself, who was

conceived without sin. In other words, folks, if you are worthy to bear the son of God in your womb, you are exempt from showing mercy. Any takers?

We can’t help recalling gospel exhortations like, “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful,” or Jesus’ required prayer, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” We are called upon to use our privileged position, our power, to emulate the most powerful.

We are told to let our mercy and forgiveness bottom out as soon as God’s does.

Much has been written about just what the pope is changing in the Catholic Church. Well, here it is. We Catholics tend to be kind, pretty friendly, and reasonably generous. We do have a habit, however, of shaking our fingers

the contraction.

This is why I applaud the Philippine government for seeking to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). (Please see “PHL Set to Ok Trade Facilitation Pact” by Catherine Pillas, BusinessMirror, March 5) The TFA seeks to reduce transaction costs, lower red tape, and improve transparency of trade regulations and policies. Contrary to some speculation, the agreement does not change tariffs or quotas as these will continue for industries receiving these protections.

The TFA urges countries to publish relevant trade-policy requirements and fees in a nondiscriminatory and accessible manner, provide the right of appeal to border agencies’ administrative decisions, limit trade-related fees and charges to the approximate cost of the services rendered and minimize complexities of import, export and transit formalities. The more efficient processes and the resulting lower cost to trade will benefit Philippine consumers of imports, Philippine businesses using imported inputs for production and Philippine goods exporters.

Actually, much of this work is not new to the Philippines, with the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Customs among the agencies already working to streamline processes and improve transparency

of border-related systems.

Properly implemented reforms should significantly reduce time and cost to trade. The World Bank Group sees that the longer it takes to get import and export permits, the more likely corruption is introduced to the system. Conversely, cutting time for procedures, and potentially reducing opportunities for corruption, can result in over 10-percent increase in regional trade.

With the gradual implementation of the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, countries with more efficient trade procedures will increase their import and export volumes. Philippine competitiveness is already under pressure to improve its own border-related systems—it ranked 63 in the latest Doing Business survey’s trading across borders indicator, with neighbors Indonesia at 62 and Vietnam at 74.

By ratifying the agreement and drumming up support for it, the Philippines is demonstrating its commitment for increased world trade and an improved regulatory environment, which will benefit Filipino entrepreneurs and Philippine competitiveness.

at wrongdoers. We have a lot to say to sinners about their sordid little sins.

We listen to the Prodigal Son story and relate better to the son who never dissed his dad and got upset that the fatted calf went to the reprobate.

We listen to the story of the woman caught in adultery and focus on the fact that Jesus said, “Go and sin no more,” rather than the story’s point: Only the sinless get to throw stones, and, since the Virgin Mary isn’t one for stone-throwing, then none of us is qualified. Drop the rocks!

Francis has redefined “evangelizing.” We spread the gospel, not so much by converting unbelievers but by showing them divine mercy and love, using our talents, our power and our money to

heal, to feed, to clothe, to lift up. What they believe after that is in God’s hands.

In other words, we talk a lot to sinners. Francis is recommending, instead, that during the Holy Year of Mercy, we stop talking to sinners and start talking as sinners. Then maybe we will start using the power we have to forgive and to show mercy. We will realize that no matter how often we do forgive, no matter how often we show mercy, we need it more.

Try this. The next time you are tempted to render judgment on the sin of another, whisper this prayer: “Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Then see what comes out of your mouth.

Full disclosure: That little recommendation came from Jesus, not me.

Hans C. Shrader is a Senior Program Manager, Trade and Competitiveness, The World Bank Group.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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Exporters see hopes for ₧1.8-B fund fade E

By Catherine N. Pillas

xporters are now starting to lose hope that the P1.8-billion support fund that was promised to them in January would be given during President Aquino’s term.

The support fund is a vital component of the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2014-2016, which remains in limbo four months after its submission to the Palace.

“I’m beginning to see that it’s not going to come out on a timely basis, because the plan is going to end in 2014-2016, we’re now halfway, so we don’t even know which budget it will be put in. The earliest budget it can be placed in is 2016, and some might reason that it’s not necessary anymore because the PEDP only covers 2014-2016,” said Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. See “Exporters,” A2

Cash in circulation grew 8.5% to ₧7.5T in February

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By Bianca Cuaresma

otal cash in circulation, or money readily available to businesses and households, picked up speed and grew by 8.5 percent to P7.5 trillion in February this year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The central bank said this was based on preliminary data and an acceleration from domestic liquidity growth averaging 7.7 percent in January that represented a two-year low.

A growing cash supply is beneficial for a growing economy like the Philippines, providing it fuel for the productive sectors that increase the nation’s capacity to grow.

However, an excessively slow-grow ing cash supply may be bad for the nation, particularly if this proved insufficient to keep productive activities going.

Nevertheless, excessively high money-supply growth in an economy for an extended period could heighten risks of developing instability pockets, such as asset bubbles and upside inflation pressures.

In January 2014 the moneysupply growth peaked at 38 percent—prompting the central bank to dampen liquidity growth by putting in place several measures last year, such as the hike in the banks’ depositreserve ratio and adjustments in the special deposits account (SDA) interest rate.

Money-supply growth, alternately known as M3 growth, was attributed to the sustained demand for credit and the

increase in placements of trust entities in the BSP’s SDAs. This also reflected the socalled statistical base effects associated with the acceleration in domestic liquidity growth a year ago averaging 36.6 percent.

Domestic claims during the period grew by 10 percent in February, from 10.8 percent in Ja nu a r y. Publ ic-sector credit, meanwhile, contracted by 4.5 percent compared to t he 2.2-percent dec line a month earlier.

“Going forward, the BSP will continue to monitor monetary conditions and remain prepared to take appropriate measures necessary to ensure that domestic liquidity stays adequate to support a noninflationary growth trajectory,” the BSP said.

The BSP’s next policy meeting is on May 14 this year.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Govt’s net borrowings fell 45% in 2014

T

he government’s net borrowings in 2014 amounted only to P175.24 billion, a drastic cut from net borrowings the previous year, and attributed to higher revenue collection and underspending by the government for the period.

The total P175.24 billion in net borrowings for 2014 was P143.88 billion less, or 45 percent lower, than the P319.12 billion in net borrowings made by the government in 2013.

The lower net borrowings was traced to higher revenue collection by the government, which amounted to P1.908 trillion, or an 11-percent growth from the previous year’s revenue collection, and an indication that the government needed less from an array of creditors to help fund the various publicsector operations.

Underspending by the government in 2014 also contributed to the lower net borrowings for the year, with total expenditures amounting only to P1.981 trillion, or 13 percent lower than the programmed See “Borrowings,” A2

BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT Boys swim beside a fishing boat in suburban Parañaque, south of Manila, on Tuesday.

AP/Aaron Favila

B.I.R. ASKED TO DEFER E-FILING OF RETURNS

By David Cagahastian

T

he Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) has appealed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to defer the implementation of the mandatory electronic filing, or e-filing, of tax returns by certain kinds of taxpayers.

In its letter to Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, the TMAP claimed there was not enough time for taxpayers to comply with the new requirement to file their tax returns using the eBIR Form given that the regulations requiring the same was issued less than a month before the deadline for the filing of tax returns on April 15.

Under Revenue Regulations 5-2015, Henares added certain kinds of taxpayers to the list of those required to file their tax returns electronically.

The additional taxpayers required to use the eBIR Form facility include 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; government-owned and -controlled corporations; and cooperatives registered with the National Electrification Administration and the Local Water Utilities Administration.

The TMAP said that, while it supports the BIR’s efforts to fully automate the filing of tax returns, the lack of time for taxpayers to learn and prepare their electronic submissions could expose them to hefty fines.

The new regulations impose a penalty of P1,000 per return and a surcharge of See “BIR,” A2

Oil set for third quarterly drop

O

il headed for a third quarterly loss as Iranian and Western diplomats worked toward a nuclear deal that may lead to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member increasing crude exports and worsening a global supply glut.

Futures dropped as much as 1.7 percent in New York, falling for a third day.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left the talks in Switzerland and will only return if an agreement is in sight, signaling negotiations may continue into the final hours leading to Tuesday’s deadline.

US crude stockpiles probably expanded further from a record last week, a Bloomberg survey showed before government data on Wednesday. Oil is sliding toward the longest run of quarterly declines since 2003 amid speculation the global surplus that cut prices by almost 50 percent last year will persist.

Iran may be hoarding 7 million to as much as 35 million barrels, shipbrokers and government officials estimated, which Barclays Plc. and Société Générale SA predict would be the first to be sold abroad should a nuclear pact be reached.

See “Oil,” A2