trade pact Ministers from 12 nations negotiating a Pacific Rim trade pact hold a news conference in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, saying that they made significant progress in reaching an agreement. The ministers are (from left) Australia Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb, Brunei Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Lim Jock Seng, Canada Minister of International Trade Ed Fast, Chile Director General of International Relations Andres Rebolledo, Japan Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, Malaysia Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed, Mexico Secretary of the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, New Zealand Minister of Trade Tim Groser, Peru Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Magali Silva and Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Hng Kiang Lim. Story below. AP/Audrey McAvoy
three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012
U.N. Media Award 2008
BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
A broader look at today’s business
n Sunday, August 2, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 297
P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week
DOTC sets eyes on nonroad mass-transportation systems Pacific trade ministers bare progress in Hawaii talks S By Lorenz S. Marasigan
week ahead
ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW
n Previous week: The local currency traded considerably weaker in the previous week, averaging at 45.59 to a dollar. This is a depreciation from the previous week’s average traded value at 45.324 to a dollar. The peso started trading during the week at 45.56 to a dollar, then slightly corrected to 45.5 to a dollar on Tuesday. The peso then went back to a depreciating trend toward the end of the week at 45.53 to a dollar on Wednesday. The peso then hit 45.62 to a dollar on Thursday and closed the week at 45.74 to a dollar. The total traded volume is at $2.935 billion. n Week ahead: Local market players are likely to trade still in the upper end of the P45 territory and seen to be conscious of upcoming data releases in and out of the country, particularly the inflation data and corporate income data.
July inflation August 5
n June inflation: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced yet another record-low inflation in June this year, at 1.2 percent. The June inflation print is a further slowdown from the previous month, beating May’s record-low inflation of 1.6 percent. It also contrasts with the June inflation rate in the previous year, at 4.4 percent. The month’s inflation is also lower than the expectations of economists as polled by the BusinessMirror, which yielded an average of 1.4 percent. n July inflation: Inflation is largely seen to post another record low in July this year, possibly to below 1 percent. Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. forecasted inflation to fall at 0.5 percent to 1.3 percent in July, a concept seen to be agreed upon by private economists in the country (see related story). Bianca Cuaresma
USTAINABLE transportation development requires investments in nonroad mass-transit systems—such as railways, ferries and bus rapid transit—to address the ever-growing congestion problem in Metro Manila. “Our challenge is creating sustainable public transportation at a time when humanity is opening its eyes to the ill effects of fossil fuels on the environment and our health; to the finite quality of conventional sources of energy; to the susceptibility of our countries to the capriciousness of nature and natural di-
sasters,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said. Manila is facing a greater challenge than its neighbors in terms of modernizing its publictransportation systems, the Cabinet official noted. See “DOTC,” A2
Economists forecast lower inflation
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By Bianca Cuaresma
NFLATION in the country could have dipped below 1 percent in July, but it can still further decelerate coming into August, several economists said. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) research officer Nicolas Antonio said he is looking at inflation to fall to 0.9 percent in July this year. However, he said inflation is still likely to bottom out in August
PESO exchange rates n US 45.6180
before resuming closer to the inflation target, as the effect of the oilprice decrease wanes. Mapa’s forecast is within the Bangko Sentral governor’s forecast for the month at 0.5 percent to 1.3 percent. ING Bank Manila economist Joey Cuyegkeng also sees inflation to hit 0.9 percent in July this year, and is still expected to creep higher toward the end of the year. “We expect average inflation rate of 1.7 percent for 2015 and 2.8 percent in 2016,” Cuyegkeng said. Cuyegkeng’s average forecast for inflation for the year is below the government’s target range for See “Inflation,” A8
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AHAINA, Hawaii—Trade ministers from a dozen Pacific Rim countries made significant progress this week toward a new trade agreement that would cover nearly 40 percent of the global economy, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Friday. Reading from a statement on behalf of all the ministers, Froman said they have agreed to be engaged intensively, but have not set a date yet for future discussions. He said some issues are bilateral in nature, and some will involve groups. The ministers, who have been meeting at a hotel on Maui’s Kaanapali Beach since Tuesday, are more confident than ever that an agreement is within reach to support jobs and economic growth, the statement said. See “Pacific Trade,” A2
Former Japanese Agriculture Minister Masahiko Yamada (center) and other demonstrators protest on Wednesday outside the Westin Maui resort in Lahaina, Hawaii, where ministers from Pacific Rim nations are gathering to negotiate a new trade pact. The demonstrators say an agreement would benefit a few major corporations, while sacrificing protections for public health, the environment, local jobs and indigenous rights. AP/Audrey McAvoy
n japan 0.3675 n UK 71.1686 n HK 5.8848 n CHINA 7.3464 n singapore 33.1743 n australia 33.2275 n EU 49.8696 n SAUDI arabia 12.1645 Source: BSP (30 July 2015)
NewsSunday BusinessMirror
A2 Sunday, August 2, 2015
Pacific trade...
DOTC...
continued from A1
The Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations are aimed at erasing most tariffs and other barriers to trade and investment among participants. It would also clarify and standardize trade rules, making it easier for companies to sell goods and services in the Pacific Rim. The wide-ranging discussions have addressed tariffs on autos, rice and dairy products, as well as intellectual-property protections for pharmaceuticals. The talks have also covered establishing environmental protections for participant nations, which range from developing countries like Vietnam to industrial powers like Japan. The Obama administration has said a pact would boost US economic growth and help keep
high-quality jobs in the country by increasing exports. Critics have complained that the deal is being negotiated in secret and that it favors multinational corporations over workers and consumers. The proposed deal is a central element of Obama’s efforts to boost US influence in Asia and to serve as an economic counterweight to China. The US came to the Maui round of negotiations strengthened by the Obama administration’s successful legislative fight winning fast-track negotiating authority. This allows Congress to approve or reject trade agreements, but not change or delay them. The agreement was proposed by Chile, New Zealand and Singa-
news@businessmirror.com.ph
continued from A1
pore in 2002, but Washington has taken the lead in promoting it since joining the talks in 2008. Participants include the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. China, the world’s secondlargest economy after the US, is not part of the talks. But there is a potential it could join the pact later. Beijing has been negotiating a separate agreement with many of the same nations under the socalled the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. This pact would cover 16 countries, including the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. AP
It ranked as the 95th in the 2014-2015 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum in terms of overall transport infrastructure quality. “Sustainable transportation development requires drastic action to reduce traffic congestion on our roads, as well as the adoption of alternative fuels to power our vehicles,” he said. But the government, Abaya quickly added, must also give the public a better commuting alternative to road-based transportation. “One essential strategy for sustainable transportation development in the coming years is to invest in nonroad-based masstransport systems, such as railways, which are still the most efficient; water-based options, such
as river ferries; and the relatively newer BRTs,” he said, referring to the bus rapid-transit system. Currently, there are four railway systems in the country—the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the Philippine National Railways (PNR). Most of these train lines are operating at overcapacity, and are in dire need of rehabilitation. The government has been rolling out P9.7 billion worth of projects to upgrade the services of the MRT 3 that serves commuters on Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. It also recently signed the contract to develop and extend the LRT 1 to Cavite with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp.
The government is also planning the extension of LRT 2 to Antipolo in the east, and the port area in Manila to the west. As for the PNR, it plans to develop its services all the way to Sorsogon. The government is also planning to develop a ferry system that will operate on Pasig River to provide an alternative means of transportation for passengers within Metro Manila, much like in Bangkok. The BRT projects are also all lined up. The first one to be developed is the system in Cebu, the next one is in Manila, and the other one will be in Davao. These have all been planned, with some already being implemented. Most are still gathering dust.
EconomySunday
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
BusinessMirror
Sunday, August 2, 2015 A3
Lawmaker: Filipino nurses remain most active job-seekers in America
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LEADER in the House of Representatives on Saturday said Filipinos remain the most active job-seekers in America, as a total of 2,509 Philippine-educated nurses took the US National Licensure Examination (NCLEx) for the first time, from January to June this year.
to how many of them are trying to obtain US licenses or seek gainful employment in America,” he said. Since 1995, a total of 159,877 Filipino nurses have taken the NCLEx for the first time, including 4,580 nonrepeaters who took the test in 2014. The NCLEx is administered by the US (National Council of) State Boards of Nursing Inc. (USNCSBN). USNCSBN statistics show that among foreign-educated nurses, Filipinos remain the most active job-seekers in America, according to Gullas. The lawmaker said 395 Indians, 236 Puerto Ricans, 195 South Koreans and 130 Jamaicans also took the NCLEx for the first time from January to June this year. Gullas said a Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA)-licensed recruitment firm will screen qualified Filipino nurses for possible deployment to the United Kingdom and Singapore, with indicative monthly pay rates of £1,500 (P107,000) and S$1,950 (P65,000), respectively. He said the screening will be conducted at the Cebu Provincial Capitol’s Public Employment Service Office on August 17 and 18. Gullas said he has been pushing Congress to restore the entry-level basic monthly pay of public nurses to Salary Grade (SG) 15, the equivalent of P24,887. The Nursing Law of 2002, or Republic Act 9173, fixed the starting pay of public nurses at SG 15. However, the Salary Standardization Law III later effectively reduced their pay rating to SG 11, or P18,549. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
House Assistant Majority Leader and Nacionalista Party Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. of Cebu said these Filipino nurses hope to obtain gainful employment in America. “The number is up 28.6 percent versus the 1,951 Filipino nurses who took the NCLEx for the first
time, excluding repeaters, in the first semester of 2014,” said Gullas, vice chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education. “The number of Filipino nurses taking the NCLEx for the first time is considered a good indicator, as
Eastern Petroleum announces lower gas prices on Tuesday
Solon wants refund given to airline passengers who cancel flights
By Lenie Lectura
A
NOTHER price reduction in petroleum products is expected to take effect on Tuesday, an oil firm said. Eastern Petroleum Corp. Chairman Fernando Martinez said another round of reduction in diesel and gasoline prices may take effect next week. At the end of Thursday’s trading, Martinez said, diesel and gasoline prices may decrease by close to a peso and more than 50 centavos, respectively. “World oil prices continue to be low owing to the oversupply situation of petroleum products in the world oil market. And while analysts have earlier indicated that prices may remain stable at low levels up to August, 2015, September prices are seen to be on the uptrend. But motorists can rest assured that Eastern Petroleum’s pump prices will be reflective of world oil prices,” Martinez said. If and when this happens, this will be the seventh consecutive price rollback. Last August 1, the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) also went down. Eastern Petroleum’s EC Gas is now sold cheaper by P1.10 per kilogram (kg), or P12.10 for an 11-kg cylinder. Martinez said the latest price reduction reflects the downtrend in international contract price of LPG in July. In July Eastern Petroleum also reduced the price of its EC Gas by P4 per kg or P44 for an 11-kg cylinder.
A
LAWMAKER has recently filed a measure mandating airline companies to refund in full the tickets of passengers who cancel their flight reservation three days before the scheduled trip. House Bill 5676, authored by Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Evelina Escudero of Sorsogon, seeks to protect the right of passengers by granting them the privilege to avail of themselves a full refund of their ticket without service charge or cancellation fee. The bill provides that the cancellation of the flight should be made three days before the scheduled trip, and subject to the submission of the ticket and other
pertinent documents. Under the measure, the refund availed of by the passenger or the purchaser of the ticket shall be processed and release not later than seven working days after submission of complete requirements. The bill also imposes a fine of P10,000 for violation of the proposed act. The fine shall be imposed for each violations committed. In filing the bill, Escudero said the policy on refunds is included in the “condition of carriage” of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for all Philippineregistered airlines. “Local or foreign airlines allow voluntary refund subject to certain conditions, including the payment of
service charges or cancellation fees,” Escudero said. She said the airlines are compelled to refund the ticket of the passengers if the carrier cancels a flight or fails to operate a flight reasonably according to schedule. “Likewise, airlines may refund the tickets if the carrier causes the passengers to miss a connecting flight on which the passenger holds a confirmed reservation or unable to provide previously confirmed space,” Escudero said. The lawmaker said that in case a portion of the ticket has been used, the refund would be the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for the transportation used. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
Briones wants body created to monitor spending of Yolanda reconstruction fund By Estrella Torres
F
ORMER National Treasurer and Social Watch convener Prof. Leonor M. Briones urged the Aquino administration to create a body to monitor spending of the P170.9-billion Comprehensive Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Plan (CRRP), citing Supertyphoon Yolanda-devastated areas have not recovered two years after. She said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) claimed to have released P88.9 billion for the CRRP, but only a portion, or P21 billion, actually went to Yolanda-devastated areas.
“Immediate resolution of these snags in the implementation of the reconstruction plan can be addressed if only President Aquino will designate a separate entity that has technical and administrative competence to implement the CRRP and other reconstruction efforts in the future, with the necessary budget and mandated to steer the recovery process,” Briones said. Briones’s call for transparency in the budget for Yolanda rehabilitation came amid a statement of United Nation special rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Chaloka Beyani that the Philippine government has
not done enough for Yolanda survivors, since many thousands of them live in shanties without access to electricity and water. Social Watch said Congress should examine the P44.49-billion allocation for the Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program in the 2016 national budget, and compel the DBM to specify the allocation for every program, activity and project. She said the Special Provisions of the 2016 budget for Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Malacañang refuses to make spending transparent with specific amount for each of the programs in the list.
ON DUTY
Manila Electric Co. linemen rearrange cables along the South Luzon Express Way in San Andres, Manila, to give way on the ongoing construction of the skyway. The government believes the skyway will ease the persistent traffic congestion in Metro Manila. ALYSA SALEN
NegOcc fishermen benefit from mangrove rehabilitation project
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AUAYAN, Negros Occidental—Several fishermen are now reaping the fruits of their labor. They now have more fish to catch and their partnership with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) helps them make ends meet in times of natural calamities. Mary Ann Cordilla, president of the Caliling Environment-Friendly Production Association, said since 2012, they have been in partnership with BFAR through the Philippine National Aquasilviculture Program. The group’s 47 members, all based in Barangay Caliling, Cauayan, earn by helping rehabilitate mangrove forests. Under the partnership, they are also tapped as guardians of mangrove forests. The group now engages in culturing crabs and maintains a small cage in Danjugan Island. Speaking in Tagalog, Cordilla said the mangrove forest protected them against the impact of Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in November 2013. “In other areas, the damage was severe. In our town, as well as other areas with mangrove forests, it was not as bad,” she said. Under the BFAR program, she said their group was assigned to rehabilitate 5 hectares, which they success-
fully planted with 6,000 propagules in 2012. The following year, they were assigned another 5 hectares and planted 37,000 propagules, for which they are paid P6.50 for every propagule planted. Next year, she said the area assigned to them would require them plant 75,000 propagules in 10 hectares. She also said that maintaining a healthy mangrove forest helps make fishing more productive. “We don’t need to go far to catch fish. Ordinarily, whenever we go out fishing, we earn P450 a day.” Randy Quezon, president of Linahon Sustenance Fishing Association, said their group benefitted from the program, having been assigned to rehabilitate two hectares in 2012, 48 hectares in 2013. Next year, he said they are looking forward to planting mangrove in more areas. “The income from planting mangroves under the program help a lot. As fishermen, we go out to fish every day and when the weather doesn’t permit us, we do not need to worry because our group earns from mangrove rehabilitation,” he said. He also said because of the healthy mangrove forests they maintain, fish such as gusaw, sapsap and crabs called kasag thrive in the municipal fishing ground. Jonathan L. Mayuga
SundayV
Busine
A4 Sunday, August 2, 2015
editorial
Planning for the post-Aquino period
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F the recently delivered State of the Nation Address showed anything at all, it is that President Aquino enjoys being at the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, wallowing in the accumulated slime there. He wants to take us to that pit, to join him in throwing dirt at his predecessors, rubbish of his creation at his critics, and insults to the intelligence of plain citizens. Let us refuse to join him in his journey of the dumb.
Instead, let us lay out the vision of the Philippines that we want for ourselves, where prosperity and inclusiveness prevail throughout the land, a vision that we can bring into realization within our lifetime. From a rule of thumb in computational algebra, we know that a variable that is increasing at a given rate doubles in value in that period of time shown by the number 75 divided by the given growth rate. Applied to concrete Philippine economic reality, this is saying that if our gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $2,700 of today is growing at 6 percent per annum, it will double in approximately 12.5 years, reaching approximately $5,400 by 2028. This is nowhere approaching high-income status among nations, but it is high enough to justify parading proudly on the world stage, in fact, for some nations, even arrogantly pushing neighbors around. Beginning in July 2016, when the current administration mercifully bids good-bye, let us plan out doubling our GDP per capita by 2028. This will happen if our GDP grows steadily at 8 percent per year, while our population remains growing at its current rate of approximately 2 percent per year. Can we do it? Why not? Our context raising the GDP growth rate to 8 percent per annum will require larger amounts of investments than we have been mobilizing so far. We just have to attract more and more foreign direct investment. Notice how even the biggest of our domestic investors are now finding need for foreign partners as they bid for the public-private partnership projects that the government has been rolling out lately. Increased investment will produce another extremely salutary effect: The inclusiveness that we desire for all Filipinos. Increased investment will create jobs in the hundreds of thousands and, perhaps, later in the millions for our working people. This will enable us to begin getting rid of poverty in our midst and begin establishing a less unequal society. Some consensus has long been reached that economic growth is indispensable to the success of any income-distribution program. It is economic growth that creates employment and it is employment that gives working people access to the benefits of the expanding economy. Without economic growth, income distribution cannot be improved. Of course, it is not increased investment alone that will enable us to give improved incomes to our working people. Foreign trade policy that gives primacy to the export of labor-intensive products, as well as fiscal policy that expands and intensifies social benefits to lower income groups will also have to be mobilized to bring about that end. Just one more year and we can begin working for the realization of our dream.
Islamic State makes the Taliban nervous T Bloomberg View By Noah Feldman
Gospel
Sunday, August 2, 2015
HE Taliban’s smooth and rapid transition after their acknowledgment of Mullah Omar’s death sends a strong message: They are afraid of the potential rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan if they fail to project unity. That reality should be useful to the US government, as it tries to negotiate a transition deal with the Afghan government and the Taliban. It’s still true that the Taliban can demand something close to de facto control as part of the deal. But now, the Taliban have an incentive to talk that didn’t exist before the rise of IS. They have something to lose if the country devolves into congeries of competing warlordcontrolled territories. The man who will replace Omar, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, was Omar’s deputy and has been effectively leading the Taliban since Omar’s death, and perhaps, before that. His selection seems to suggest that the Haqqani Network, a faction that has gradually become powerful enough to rival the Quetta Shura within the Taliban, was willing to compromise on leadership, rather than pressing for Omar’s son, whom the Haqqanis were rumored to favor. The two deputies to Mansour, however, are one of the leaders of the Haqqani Network and a former Taliban judge who is said to be close to the Haqqanis. That signals a kind of grand compromise between the Quetta Shura and the Haqqanis, who’ve struggled for dominance over the years. The most logical conclusion is that both the Quetta Shura and the Haqqanis have concluded that, at this moment, projecting Taliban unity is much more important than their squabbling. Further underscoring this interpretation is that the announcement seems to have been made in haste, to follow immediately on the public acknowledgment of Omar’s death. Not all the
I
Taliban leaders were present when the decision was made, another indicator of time pressure. What explains the unity and dispatch among the famously factious and patient Taliban? The answer is almost certainly the recognition that lapses in Taliban authority could have major consequences now. What’s changed for the Taliban is the rise of IS. To be sure, the IS players in its Syrian-Iraqi heartland are both geographically far from Afghanistan and politically disconnected from Pashtun alliances at the heart of the Taliban’s complex structure. But IS has presented itself as the symbolic alternative for any organizational entrepreneur who might want to form a new, competing, alternative to the Taliban. In Libya, also far away from IS territory, similar organizational entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the power vacuum and labeled themselves as belonging to the group. The name alone carries a program of eventual unification, and a now-familiar strategy of expanding to take over territory within ungoverned space. (It hasn’t been said enough that IS follows a version of the “build and hold” or “inkblot” strategy advocated by the US military’s counterinsurgency manual.) In Afghanistan an IS alternative is the only plausible option to displace the Taliban. There can be no doubt that some Afghans would share the objectives of the Sunni militant group. And IS aspires, as a definitional and existential matter, to rule the entire Islamic world. The Taliban calls itself an “emirate,” and Mansour is its new emir, or prince. IS claims a caliphate—and under classical Islamic constitutional thought, an emir owes formal allegiance to a legitimate caliph. In the construct of IS ideology, it trumps the Taliban. The potential IS threat to the
N the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
Taliban is a boon to the US—a small glimmer of a silver lining in the gathering cloud of the IS threat. Until now, the structural problem with peace talks between President Ashraf Ghani’s government and the Taliban has been that the Taliban have little incentive to give up the fight. The Afghan government can’t ultimately control much territory without US support—and that support has appeared to be of limited duration. The right tactical move for the Taliban has, therefore, been to keep fighting at a moderate level and wait patiently for the US to pull back and Ghani’s government to collapse. Now, the Taliban can see a potential cost associated with the slow collapse of the government and the country. Gradualism begets disorder, a power vacuum and internal Taliban strife. In other words, the longer it takes for the Ghani government to fall, the greater the chances for IS to undermine the Taliban. The Taliban want to avoid a situation, in which, having won their long war against the US and its Afghan puppet regime, they have to fight another civil war against an IS offshoot. The Taliban, therefore, should favor a deal with the Afghan government that lets them consolidate de facto power before IS can make further inroads. Because the true US goal is now to see transition in Afghanistan without mass revenge killings and the immediate, absolute suppression of women throughout the country, it should seize the moment. Admittedly, this result of a more rapid transition to the Taliban is so modest that it might seem horrific. But this is Afghan politics, which means it’s a game of worst-case scenarios. And in the end, more civil war in Afghanistan followed by the possibility of IS moving in is worse for the US than a de facto Taliban regime. And the Taliban knows it.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom, there will be no end.”— Luke 1:26-33
Voices
essMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, August 2, 2015 A5
He has a good chance T Free Fire
By Teddy Locsin Jr.
HERE, was that so hard to do? Noynoy finally “anointed” Mar Roxas; not as his successor; that would raise doubts about automation; but as his choice, if it were all up to him. And it is a bold choice on the part of Noy, going by Mar’s dismal rating in the surveys. But if Noy really wants to know, not what flatterers tell him, but what people really think of his record, he must take a chance on Mar, who is his carbon copy—not least in his obsessive need to micromanage and his compulsive desire to be 100-percent sure before giving it a go. Noy was rewarded by Mar’s ceaseless outpouring of gratitude— not for the presidency, but for the chance of a go at it—in a roomful of Liberal Party stalwarts, at least half of them accused of pork misuse; the other half wanting someone else as standard-bearer; and none of whom Mar can trust as far as he can throw an elephant. And yet I have a feeling, as the song goes. I have a feeling that Mar’s
is far from a forlorn quest. When Mar stepped aside from his presidential run for Noynoy in 2010, he was way ahead of the pack. He had just wiped the floor of the debates with his rivals; one of them was pretty and articulate; another had just come out of jail; and the other was adamantly silent under a hail of accusations from Jamby. Mar had come out the previous election No. 1 in a Senate race, like Grace Poe did three years later. No one has said he would have lost the 2010 presidential race. Well, he’s back—and those who believed in him can do so again. I predict this will show in the next survey. He has for baggage only this administration’s record, but it is a record ably defended by Noy in his last State of the Nation Address. Sure, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) is a total screwup for which only the government is to blame; certainly, not Sumitomo, the greatest company in the world. And then there’s Mamasapano. But Mar was deliberately
kept out of the loop, and so not to be blamed. And yet, he alone stood by his fallen men’s grieving families. Alongside Mamasapano, there is Zamboanga, where Mar showed the small circumference of his patience with terror. Pull out a gun and he will pull out a cannon, right or wrong. He will be hit on several issues but not for anything he did wrong but that he did nothing about them. Even his invention of the business-process outsourcing business, for which everyone must credit him, was not followed up by support for further measures, like a separate Department of Information Technology, which he slammed. But that’s Mar for you. He did what was needed to set up BPOs. Why do more, especially set up a regulatory agency? Indeed, nothing has shown the need to regulate or help the business. My swimming companion was one of the big players. I offered to add tax incentives in Congress. He said, “What for? I make so much money, I am at a loss what to spend it on; tax
me some more.” Mar thinks it’s best to leave well enough alone. Mar is not an exciting guy. He is just the guy who gets things done and nothing more. Except, of course, the MRT, but he will have to answer for that alone. He is infamous for never helping friends; not even with the smallest favors or kindnesses; none of them improper and all of them compassionate. That’s just not him. Compassion is not Mar’s strong suit. It is honesty and minimalism. You can never have too much honesty and you should never do more than the absolute minimum so you can quickly move on. BPOs are doing fine? Then enough already. Again, we are back with MRT; that was working fine, but somebody wanted to fix something that wasn’t broke and sent it to Paniqui, Tarlac, for repairs. But the blame for that has been fixed— not on Mar, but Vitangcol. I have said that experience is not needed in the presidency. Look at Noy. He had no experience at all
and yet, ever since he delivered his 2.25-hour valedictory, not a peep has been heard to dispute the record he established. Except, of course, the MRT. Mar has had experience which in Philippine politics is destructive, but in Mar’s case not fatally so. He served three presidents and, while you can dispute that he did much, he did nothing wrong. Others might say, I have no experience in cheating and stealing, but he can say, “You never had a chance. I did. I had every chance to cheat and steal, but I did not, not even close. My mother did not make me that way.” So, as I see it, if Mar scrambles, if he fights as he must for every inch of ground until he achieves a critical mass of acceptance that can sweep him to victory, Mar has a good chance to be president. Less than he did when first he ran but more than his competitors if they run amateur campaigns riding only on popularity, which is slippery. Ten months is a long, long time to go.
The ‘cowardly lion’ is make-believe, but cowardly hunters are real By Ingrid Newkirk
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals TNS Forum
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VERY bad guy in history tries to use it as a “get out of jail free” card: I didn’t know what I was doing was wrong. And that includes overblown, overpriviledged little men, like Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer, who reportedly paid more than $50,000 to stalk, wound and kill a beloved, well-known lion named Cecil. Even though Cecil was wearing a tracking collar, Palmer, who has spent his life killing all kinds of animals to behead and hang on his wall, claimed ignorance of the
lion’s protected status. The details of what took place are appalling, but while it is unusual for the animal to be so well known, do not think for a second that what I’m about to describe constitutes unusual conduct for the pathetic white men who go to Africa and elsewhere to gun down wildlife. According to news reports, after luring Cecil out of his protected homeland in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park by tying a dead animal to their truck as irresistible bait, Palmer and his paid accomplices blinded him with a glaring spotlight, making it easy for the trophy hunter to shoot him with a high-powered crossbow. But, despite Palmer’s
extensive experience in killing, it wasn’t a fatal shot. Cecil lay hidden and wounded for 40 long hours, a steel arrow through his body, before Palmer and his party finally found him and shot him to death. Palmer posed with the dead lion, grinning from ear to ear, before having his assistants skin and decapitate Cecil for his trophy wall, and then just left his body to rot. Zimbabwe authorities said the hunters also tried to destroy Cecil’s collar to hide the evidence. Is it any surprise that someone so devoid of empathy, understanding and respect for living creatures has already run afoul of the law? Palmer pleaded guilty to federal
charges in 2008 for lying to a federal agent about where he had shot a black bear in Wisconsin. He and others had transported the dead bear, who was killed 40 miles outside a legal hunting zone, to a registration station inside the legal area. Palmer was sentenced to one year of probation and fined nearly $3,000. Palmer is listed as a member of the trophy hunting organization Safari Club International. His kill profile includes 43 victims, including caribou, moose, deer, buffalo, a polar bear and a mountain lion. This is the same outfit that brags that one of its “top priorities” is to reduce the regulatory “burdens” of importing hunting trophies into the United States.
These animals were just living their lives, going about their business and raising their families. What massive emotional disconnect must one have to take joy from such killing? All animals value their lives, but to hunters, they are nothing more than targets. Palmer and others like him hark back to the early 20thcentury upper class, which viewed plundering of Africa’s wildlife as a pastime for the privileged. But today’s trophy hunters, with their high-powered weaponry, beheadings and contempt for fundamental human decency, are wildlife’s ISIS. The US and Europe need to ban the importation of heads, horns, feet and other trophies—pronto.
When can investors talk to companies? By Matt Levine Bloomberg View
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ESTERDAY the Justice Department appealed the big Newman and Chiasson insider-trading decision to the Supreme Court, and also explained what it thinks stock analysts do: Effective professional analysis of the value of a company’s stock is a labor-intensive process that demands extensive research, an understanding of financial and other technical data, in-depth knowledge of the relevant industry, and sophisticated modeling. If certain analysts sidestep that labor by siphoning secret information from insiders in breach of their duties, thereby arriving at “predictions” of corporate performance that no model can equal, then other analysts will be discouraged from doing the work that is necessary for the markets to function effectively. Er. Um. Sure. But another component of effective professional analysis of the value of a company’s stock is talking to the company. There’s a reason that companies have earnings calls. There’s a reason that, when analysts get into the weeds on those calls, the companies say things like, “We’ll follow up with you individually afterward.” There’s a reason that companies selling stocks or bonds do one-on-one meetings with potential buyers. There’s a reason that companies not selling stocks and bonds also do one-on-one meetings with current and potential investors. There’s a reason that companies have investor-relations departments full of people who talk to current and potential investors. These are hugely awkward facts for insider-trading law, or at least for insidertrading rhetoric, which makes much
of the notion that everyone should have the same amount of information. Analysts and investors talk to companies all the time. In principle, the companies are not supposed to give the investors material nonpublic information during these conversations. In practice, the conversations are not social calls. The analysts hope to get something out of them. It’s rarely “our earnings are going to be way better than anyone expected.” It might be something vaguer and squishier than that: hints, body language, a general sense of how management thinks about the world, its industry, its competition, its opportunities. Or it might be something much narrower and more specific: The company might help the analyst with particular line items in her model, adding nuance to her sophisticated understanding of its financial situation. These things are plausibly not “material nonpublic information.” But they are obviously things that investors want. That’s why investors meet with companies. That’s why investors who meet with companies perform better than those who don’t. And all of this is legal. Or legal-ish. Or at least in a broad gray area between legal and illegal. As the Supreme Court said in Dirks v. SEC: Imposing a duty to disclose or abstain solely because a person knowingly receives material nonpublic information from an insider and trades on it could have an inhibiting influence on the role of market analysts, which the SEC itself recognizes is necessary to the preservation of a healthy market. It is commonplace for analysts to “ferret out and analyze information,” and this often is done by meeting with and questioning corporate officers and others who are insiders. And information that the ana-
lysts obtain normally may be the basis for judgments as to the market worth of a corporation’s securities. Here is how prosecutors say Todd Newman insider traded on Dell: The insider at Dell was Rob Ray, who worked in the investor-relations department and then moved to the corporate-development department. Ray had access to specific information on Dell’s quarterly earnings—information that under Dell policy was to remain strictly confidential until Dell made a public earnings announcement. Despite that policy, Ray provided detailed, preannouncement earnings information to Sandy Goyal, an analyst at Neuberger Berman (and former Dell employee), in multiple successive quarters. For instance, Ray told Goyal in August 2008— after the close of the quarter but before the earnings announcement—that gross margin was “looking at 17.5 percent” versus market expectations of 18.3 percent. When Goyal wanted to speak to Dell’s investor-relations department, he had authorized contacts other than Ray with whom he generally communicated during business hours. In contrast, the conversations in which Ray provided Goyal with material, nonpublic information typically took place at night or on weekends, when Ray was away from his work cubicle and could not be overheard by his colleagues. Goyal then passed this information on to Jesse Tortora, Newman’s analyst, who then made trading recommendations to Newman. The government’s theory is that Newman should have known that he was trading on illegal inside information because the guy who gave the information to the guy who gave the information to the guy who gave the information to
Newman did so on weekends. If the guy who gave the information to the guy who gave the information to the guy who gave the information to Newman had done so at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, it would have been totally legitimate. That guy (the first guy) was, after all, an investor relations employee at Dell. His job was to have relations with investors. I suppose some part of those relationships were built on, like, talking about baseball, but probably they were mostly built on talking about Dell, and investing. But don’t discount the baseball. The oddity of insider-trading law is that if Ray told Goyal stuff, even secret stuff, for business reasons—on behalf of Dell—it was legal for Goyal (Tortora, Newman, etc.) to trade on it. If he told Goyal the same stuff for personal reasons—in breach of his duty to Dell—it wasn’t. But that is a very hard line to police. Ray was not a robotic voice on a customer service line. He’s a person, dealing with people, in a people business. His job was to develop relationships with investors, and those investors’ jobs were to develop relationships with him. Those were business relationships, but the best business relationships have an element of social friendship, too. You don’t just call the investor-relations guy and bark, “So how are the numbers?” You chat him up first. You ask about his family. He asks about your family. You discuss each other’s hopes and dreams. You try to help each other out. You make time to talk outside of work hours. You simulate a friendship. Maybe you even develop a friendship. A work friendship, sure, but work friendships can be real. And then he gives you information, and you trade. If he gave you the information as part of the job, that’s
fine. If he did it as part of the friendship, it’s a crime. That’s crazy! Law can’t really work that way! How could you ever know? So the courts developed a clear test of whether a corporate insider is providing inside information in violation of his duties to his company. It’s from the Supreme Court’s Dirks decision: The test is whether the insider personally will benefit, directly or indirectly, from his disclosure. Absent some personal gain, there has been no breach of duty to stockholders. And absent a breach by the insider, there is no derivative breach. This is usually called the “personal benefit” test. What is nice about it is that it makes the law reasonably clear. If you call up the IR guy at a company and talk about the quarter for a while, you won’t go to jail. If you also talk about sports, you won’t go to jail. If you also ask after his kids, you won’t go to jail. If you also “talked about going on joint vacations,” as Goyal and Ray did, you won’t go to jail. If you hand him a bag of cash in a parking lot in exchange for the information he gives you, you’ll go to jail. But really if you hand anyone a bag of cash in a parking lot you should be getting ready for prison. The law, under the personal benefit test, is clear and understandable and intuitive. As the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in reversing Todd Newman’s and Anthony Chiasson’s conviction (which is what prosecutors are appealing here), “a breach of the duty of confidentiality is not fraudulent unless the tipper acts for personal benefit, that is to say, there is no breach unless the tipper ‘is in effect selling the information to its recipient for cash, reciprocal information, or other things of value for himself.’”
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A6 Sunday, August 2, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
BusinessMirror
85,000 classrooms need to be built during Aquino’s last 11 months in office By Recto Mercene
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ROM August 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, or nine months from now, the government must build an average of 254 classrooms a day—or about 2 kilometers long every 24 hours—in order for President Aquino to redeem his promise of building 84,728 classrooms in his last 11 months in office. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto underscored this “awesome but challenging target” in urging the two agencies responsible for “building the most number of classrooms in the shortest time” to boost their capability to undertake the project. Recto was referring to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the tandem agencies tasked to build education facilities. Under the “division of labor” in building schools, the DepEd handles the identification of sites, while the DPWH is mainly responsible for construction. But a recent report to Congress on the status of DepEd projects revealed delays
in classroom construction, Recto said. Of the 41,728 new classrooms programmed for 2015, not one has been built as of July 1, 2015. In fact, the backlog stretches back to the 2014 deliverables, with 7,000 classrooms unfinished as of May 2015, out of the 43,138 supposed to be built that year, Recto said. For 2016, the government plans to build 43,000 classrooms, which, if added to the 41,728 classrooms already funded for 2015, would raise the two-year goal to 84,728. While the classrooms to be constructed in 2016 could be delivered until the end of the year, “it would be better if they will all be completed by June 30,
President Aquino’s last day in office,” Recto said. “Ito na siguro ang regalo o good-bye gift ng mga ahensya sa Pangulo, na tapusin ang lahat ng silid-aralan na kanyang inutos gawin bago n’ya lisanin ang Malacañang,” Recto said. “Let us work on this scenario: Before he goes to the inaugural of his successor, he will inaugurate the 84,728th classroom built in the last 11 months of his term,” Recto added. To meet the June 30, 2016, deadline, an average of 254 classrooms must be built daily which Recto describes “as 2 km long if put end to end, and that’s just for a day’s work.” “Kaya kung ilalagay mo ang classrooms na dapat itayo sa loob ng dalawang linggo lang, kasing haba ng Edsa iyan,” said the senator, referring to Metro Manila’s 23.8km car-choked main artery. “Kung December 31, 2016, naman ang deadline of completion, 164 classrooms kada araw ang dapat maitayo—still a very tall order,” Recto said. “And this is just for brand-new classrooms. Outside this tally are classrooms for repair and new technical-vocational workshops,” he added. “If you add, for example, the almost 10,000 rooms to be renovated and the almost 500 vocational workshops which will be constructed this year, then the target is higher. Baka umabot ng dalawa at kalahating
kilometro kada araw ang haba,” Recto said. To achieve this, Recto said the DepEd and the DPWH must agree “on a battle plan on how to attack the problem of delayed implementation of school projects.” The guidelines on how to unclog implementation chokepoints have been spelled out in President Aquino’s Administrative Order (AO) 46, which strengthens the capacity of agencies to execute and monitor projects. In the AO, Mr. Aquino directs all agencies to transform themselves into “FullTime Delivery Units” through, among others, the creation of multiple Bids and Awards Committees and staff these with permanent personnel. Recto noted that in his budget message for 2016 expenditures, Aquino said the DPWH must function “as the lead construction agency of the government.” But its role in classroom construction would be facilitated “if this early,the DepEd identifies and clears what schools will receive how many classrooms next year.” “Preparatory work should be done a year in advance. Or better if there is a multi-year forecast para hindi sa simula ng fiscal year lang magkukumahog kung saan magtatayo,” Recto said. For 2016, the budget for new classrooms is pegged at P61.8 billion. Also for next year, DepEd’s budget is proposed to increase by 15 percent, or to P436 billion from P378 billion.
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DOJ prosecutor faces bribery charge By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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HE Sandiganbayan has recently ordered the suspension of a Department of Justice prosecutor for allegedly mulcting P1.2 million from members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea), the Office of the Ombudsman said. The Office of the Ombudsman said Assistant State Prosecutor Diosdado Solidum Jr. is currently facing trial for Direct Bribery and violation of Section 7(d) in relation to Section 11 of Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. The office said in a four-page resolution issued on July 23 that the Sandiganbayan directed Solidum to “cease and desist from performing his present government function or any other public office which he may now or hereafter be holding, for a period of 90 days.” “Solidum was indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman after he was caught redhanded with ‘ boodle money’ in an entrapment operation conducted by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on August 8, 2013, in a restaurant along Timog Avenue in Quezon City,” the office said. The Ombudsman said the entrapment stemmed from the complaint filed by Gerardo Rivera, president of Palea, alleging that Solidum requested a meeting in Quezon City where Solidum intimated that reversing a prosecutor’s resolution would entail costs, and assured Rivera that he can reverse the decision. “Records show that Solidum initially demanded the amount of P10,000 from each Palea member/ respondent, or an equivalent of P2.5 million, which was later reduced to the sum of P1.2 million payable in installment, in exchange for the dismissal of the charges filed against the Palea members,” it added.
Relocation of Meralco facilities allows Naia Expressway project to proceed By Lenie Lectura
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HE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is close to completing the relocation of some of its electric facilities to give way for the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Expressway project. “Roughly, our overall completion rate is around 85 percent,” Meralco Networks Head Ronnie Aperocho said in a text message. The Naia Expressway project is a four-lane elevated expressway with a total length of 7.15 kilometers. It will be implemented in two major phases. Phase 2A will run through Naia Road with
ramps to Roxas Boulevard, Macapagal Boulevard and Pagcor City. Phase 2B, meanwhile, will start from the existing Skyway in the South Luzon Expressway and then through Sales Avenue, Andrews Avenue and Tambo River. The route of the expressway will provide access to Naia Terminals 1, 2 and 3, linking them to the Skyway and the Manila-Cavite Expressway. The project timeline is from December 2013 to August 2015. In its latest presentation, Meralco said it has 197 affected facilities within Phase 2A; 175 have already been relocated. “For phase 2A segment, we expect to complete our clearing works by end of August or
even earlier,” Aperocho said. For the other Phase, Meralco has relocated 298 of its facilities out of the total 340. “For Phase 2B, we expect to complete all clearing works by end of September. But we will also exert best effort to complete them earlier than that,” the Meralco official said. Meralco has signed an agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways for the relocation of Meralco’s affected facilities, including the payment arrangement for the cost of relocation. The total number of Meralco facilities affected by the implementation of both phases is 340 of which 298 were already relocated.
siesta time A stall owner naps while waiting for customers in the Trancoville Satellite Market in Baguio City. MAU VICTA
Comelec: No more multiple voters’ lists in 2016 polls By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief
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AVAO CITY—Only the computer list of voters with biometrics data would be used to let voters into the polling precincts in next year’s presidential and local elections, discarding the manual list of voters that has been fraught with controversial list of dead and multiple-listed voters. Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Robert S. Lim of the committee on campaign finance told reporters here on Friday that this would be the first time that only a single list would be held by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), the three-person team in each polling center, unlike in previous elections when the BEIs would have two or three separate lists, made more confusing with the clustering of polling places. Lim said the yearlong registration of voters under the biometrics data-capturing has entered 9.6 million more voters into the new system, leaving only 3.8 million with no biometric data. He said the remaining registrations that may involve several offsite-registration centers would attempt to capture 2 million more qualified voters into the system until the deadline of December 15 this year. “We have to meet that deadline and it would be final because we have to catch up with the submission of the final list to the ERB [Electoral Registration Board] for
their final hearings before the elections,” he said. The ERB is a unit constituted in each city or town and composed of the election officer, the highest-ranking school division official and the chief of the civil registrar’s office. This unit meets only once in a quarter. “Realistically speaking, it is now impossible to register all the remaining 3.8 million voters out there,” he said. The country has about 54 million voters, going 2 million more if the Comelec reaches its target to get them into the system until the deadline. Its request to acquire 23,000 more Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines was intended to spread out wider the polling centers, and reduce the number of clustered barangays or polling centers, from the average of 1,000 clustered centers, to as few as 600 clustered areas. Lim said there were 81,896 PCOS machines in the inventory, and the Comelec has requested the government that these would be repaired and upgraded to synchronize with the capability of the newer machines that would be purchased. Or the government may have to purchase 71,000 new counting machines that have newer and speedier counting capability and improved security systems to boost the reliability of the output, he said. “Either way, we would still proceed with the computerized election,” he said.
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Sustaining high economic growth remains a challenge in Calabarzon By Zen Trinidad
Philippines News Agency
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A L A M B A C I T Y—Lu i s G. Banua, officer in charge of the National Economic and Development Authority Calabarzon Office, said that high economic growth remains the major challenge of the region despite posting a 5.1-percent growth, although lower by 1.6 percent in 2013 with the agriculture sector recording a negative growth of 1.3 percent in 2014. Banua made the statement at a news conference on the “2014 Report on the Regional Economy of Calabarzon” held at RSM Lutong Bahay Seafoods Garden Restaurant here. Calabarzon stands for Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces which have been grouped to constitute Region 4A. “Sustaining high economic growth remains to be a challenge to the region as the economy is vulnerable to adverse external shocks affecting the industry and service sectors,” Banua said. He said the negative growth of the agriculture sector of 1.3 percent in 2014 compared to 3.7 percent in 2013 was attributed to typhoons Glenda and Ruby that hit the country, as well as coconut infestations and fish kills in the region. “The agriculture sector’s negative growth of 1.3 percent from 3.7 percent in 2013 was due to prolonged dry spell and extensive damage brought by Typhoon Glenda amounting to P3.2 billion. Typhoon Ruby caused further damage,” Banua said. “The coconut plantations and fish cages in Laguna de Bay and Taal Lake
suffered great damages. Batangas province took the heaviest loss at P1.46 billion,” he added. However, Banua remained hopeful that the region can rebound from its slower pace of growth since the region has comparative advantages in agribusiness, manufacturing and logistics and services. “Maayos ang ating transport, ang expressway, iyong road system including the port, lower cost of power. Ito ang advantage natin [Our transport is in order, the expressway, the road system including the port, lower cost of power. This is our advantage],” Banua said. He identified the advantage of the region as soon as the infrastructure projects will be completed, like the Daang Hari Road, Ternate-Nasugbu Road, Marawoy-Dagatan Road, Molino Boulevard, Laguna Lake Expressway Dike, North-South Railway Project and Light Rail Transport Line 6 Project that “will lead to increase mobility that will lead to further economic activities.” Moreover, Banua explained that the Port of Batangas will continue to be vital in solving the congestion at Manila International Container Port. The Pililia-Santa Maria Wind Farm Project with an aggregate capacity of 66.5 megawatts (MW), which is expected to be completed this year, will interconnect Malaya-Teresa 115-kiloVolt transmission lines, and the Pagbilao Coal Power Plant in Quezon with 420-Mw capacity (which is expected to be operational in 2018), will reduce power cost, and will prevent power outages and brownouts in the region.
Sunday, August 2, 2015 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo
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Fight vs destructive mining spreads
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ORE than 140 representatives of mining-affected communities, people’s organizations and individuals from more than 29 countries who took part in the recent International People’s Conference on Mining (IPCM) held in Quezon City vowed to fight destructive mining.
The IPCM held from July 31 to August 1 paved the way for sharing of experiences in mining-affected communities around the world, as well as telltales of people’s struggles against destructive mining.
Conference participants released a unit y statement expressing concern over what they describe as “crisis in the global m ining indust r y wh ic h t hey themselves experienced over the
past several years.” In a unity statement released by organizers of the meeting, the participants expressed support behind the creation of an international center for legal research on destructive mining, and work together to strengthen sciencebased tools and methods that can be adapted to empower local communities to monitor the environmental and health impacts of mining. They said that projects, backed by mining liberalization laws and policies, are becoming more reckless in their production processes, neglecting the safety of their workers, host communities and the environment. “This convergence of various
experiences of resistance and struggle, gaining lessons from victories, as well as defeats, has brought us inspiration and hope, and has given us steadfast resolve to stop the further onslaught of imperialist mining plunder and greed against the people and the environment,” the participants said in a statement. To fight destructive mining, they vowed to “engage in people’s campaigns and researches on destructive mining vis-à-vis climate change, human-rights violations, ecological and health impacts, national mining policies, corporate and financial aspects of mining activities, and the engagement of emerging economies in international mining.” Jonathan Mayuga
Bill bans ‘Muslim’ tag on crime suspects
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FORMER government peace negotiator-turned-lawmaker has filed a bill in the House of Representatives that restricts members of the media from identifying using the word “Muslim” to describe a person who is involved in any violation of the law. House Deputy Minority Leader Silvestre Bello III filed the proposed measure titled “An Act Prohibiting the Use, in Philippine Tri-Media, Police Blotters, and Other Government Agencies, of the Word ‘Muslim’ to Describe Any Person Suspected of Committing Any Felony When Re-
porting Such Felony.” Bello wanted the media to refrain from using the word Muslim, because it connotes bias and negative perception against the ethnic religious group in Mindanao. He once headed the government panel in the peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front. Bello said in initiating the bill, he wanted the media and other organizations “to be prudent and judicious” and “fairly and accurately report the suspected malefactor for what he did,
rather than for who he is, especially his ethnicity and sect.” He said the use of the word Muslim by the media smacks of “prejudice and unwarranted notoriety for the Filipino minority group.” “Why aren’t there any headlines of Catholics or other religious sect members suspected of committing similar criminal acts like ‘Catholic rebels torch town hall’ or ‘Police arrest Protestant bombing suspect’ or ‘Cops nab Aglipayan kidnapers’?” Bello asked. He said the use of the word Muslim in the media should be used with utmost prudence, fairness and accuracy. “The only justifiable and legally
tenable use of the word Muslim for violations of law should be when the criminal act was expressly performed by the suspected malefactor or criminal for religious purposes or with religious underpinnings, or purposely done to draw attention to their being Muslims,” he added. Bello said that Muslim relates to a person who follows the religion of Islam, a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the Koran. Bello said the prohibition on the use of the word Muslim applies to all government and private institutions, law enforcement agencies and hospitals. Rene Acosta
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
A8 Sunday, August 2, 2015
Hackers to victimize free Wi-Fi users–security firm
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By Roderick L. Abad
S more and more people now have access to the Internet, given the recent rollout of the government’s provision of free Wi-Fi connection to some areas in Metro Manila, a network security provider warned users to be very cautious of sharing personal information on a public domain, as they may fall prey to hackers. Alvin Rodrigues, Fortinet market-development director for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, lauded the national government, particularly the Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Tech-
nology Office, for pilot-testing the free Wi-Fi zones at the Rizal Park in Manila and the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City last week. This came after President Aquino approved last month House Bill 5791, titled “An Act
Providing Free Public Wireless Internet Access in Public Buildings, Terminals, Parks and Plazas Throughout the Country.” Once fully implemented, the project will cover 7,112 public places in 967 towns, 3,269 schools, 202 rural health units, 59 major rail stations, 21 seaports, 10 airports and local governments across the nation. Also, it will serve around 105,000 concurrent users with 256 kilobits per second each, which is considered the lowest prevailing speed requirement for broadband service. The free Internet service, which has a budget of P1.408 billion, is expected to achieve 99-percent connectivity by the third quarter of this year. “Public Wi-Fi is not a bad thing. It’s a good thing,” he said, while citing that it increases connectivity among people who have no access to the Internet. “And that’s what the government is addressing.” But what makes it dangerous is that it could be taken advantaged of by cybercriminals at large, who could also get into the
network meant for general use. Fortinet International Inc. (FII) Country Manager for the Philippines Jeff M. Castillo said hackers are so intelligent that users do not know they are being robbed of all their personal information, even just from their mobile phone. “So this is the thing that we have to rethink when using a free Internet connection,” he said. While the decision still comes from end-users, FII regional presales consultant Nap S. Castillo noted that it depends on the level of confidentiality and security they have when they are online. “We all know that wireless network is the easiest part of the network where hackers can really do the hacking,” Castillo said. Among the practical activities done online, he advised the users not to do their banking transactions on the Web, especially in an open wireless network, as more and more users can easily connect into it. “Because if I am a hacker and I also get hold of the Wi-Fi password, I can still do nasty things that I used to do,” Castillo explained. For Rodrigues, he, likewise, cautioned the users from booking their travel or shopping online in a public domain, as it requires credit-card information that can be traced by the hackers. He suggested them to use their data plan, instead, for most of their transactions in cyberspace. “The idea here is to minimize personal information from being taken freely on any sort of public domain. Human is often the weakest link [here]. Human ignorance or human lack of awareness on network security is the culprit here. And that’s where the level of education is needed,” Rodrigues stressed.
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Asean’s strong economic performance no guarantee of integration’s success
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HE region’s strong economic performance, as a whole in recent years, does not guarantee the success of economic and banking integration of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members. Amid preparations for the integration of both markets and banking systems in the region, the diversity of economic and banking environments remain one of the key challenges most especially for the implementation of the Asean Banking Integration. In a conference titled “Asean Financial and Banking Integration: Opportunities and Challenges,” James Villafuerte, Asian Development Bank (ADB) office of regional integration economist, explained that the integration is faced with important challenges to hurdle— particularly the gap between economic performances of Asean countries and the possible costs on the individual economies with regard to the Asean Economic Community. Villafuerte said the Southeast Asian nations, as a region, showed strong economic performance over the past 10 years in terms of gross domestic product that contributed to the increase of per-capita income. In the grass roots, however, he pointed out diversity among the countries. “But despite the very strong performance in the region, each economy in the region are quite diverse—some are advanced, specifically the middle income Asean members, while others are lagging behind,” Villafuerte said. Likewise, he said that diversity is most felt and most crucial in government effectiveness, volume of foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances and quality of education. “The Philippines is very low in terms of governance as compared to Malaysia or Thailand,” Villafuerte said.
Inflation...
While the Philippines has been getting more FDI, it is known to lag behind peer countries, owing to several reasons, including—as some local economists repeatedly pointed out— the foreign ownership restrictions in the country. However, the Philippines boasts of the robust remittances amounting to some $23 billion annually. In 2011 the governors of the central banks of Asean countries agreed on the Asean Financial Integration Framework. Villafuerte also said that this financial integration could possibly trigger contagion, debt vulnerability and capital misallocation that could lead the asset bubble to collapse. “If you open up your capital market, what happens is that any movement in the global market and regional markets will affect you,” Villafuerte explained. Similar to the strength of the economy, the stability of the banking system of the region, in general, can still be overshadowed by the diversity of the state of banking systems in the region. “Despite that stability, the financial sector in the region is quite small, specifically for the small Asean countries—Brunei [Darussalam], Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam and even the Philippines. They are quite small and quite segmented. They are also susceptible to shocks from outside,” Villafuerte added. “If you compare the asset per capita, we’re about less than 1 percent the asset per capita in Singapore. That’s how far off the banking sector in the Philippines is,” he also said. “So even for the Philippines that we consider ourselves advanced to the financial system relative to our neighbors, like Myanmar and Cambodia, even the extent of banking sector development is at an early stage,” Villafuerte said.
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the year, at 2 percent to 4 percent. Security Bank economist Patrick Ella also said that July may not have the lowest inflation for the year, as commodity prices are still stalling. He forecasts inflation to hit 0.89 percent for the month. Ella also said the low inflation cycle is “absolutely nowhere” near posing a threat to the country’s economic stability.
Banco de Oro chief market strategist Jonathan Ravelas, meanwhile, sees inflation hitting 1 percent in July, while DBS Bank economist Gundy Cahyadi said July inflation may likely hit 1.2 percent. All economists’ forecast point to a certain deceleration of inflation from the record-low 1.2 percent seen in June.
UP transport expert: MRT Line 3 deal flawed By Lorenz S. Marasigan
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HE chronic mess that passengers experience at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 is proof that the contract to build and lease the train line was flawed, a transportation expert said. Jose Regin F. Regidor, a research fellow at the University of the Philippines Diliman National Center for Transportation Studies, said the accidents that hound the rail system can be traced back to the deal signed between the government and the private proponent in the 1990s. “The main or root problem seems to be legal and not at all technical. The technical problems experienced are manifestations of a contract that is a textbook case for how not to do a PPP,” he said, referring to the Public-Private Partnership Program. The government and MRT Corp. (MRTC) signed the buildlease-transfer agreement in 1997, requiring the private company to construct a railway line on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue to ferry passengers from the northern and southern corridors of Metro Manila. Under the agreement, MRTC is required to lease the facility to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), which
will then operate the train line. In return, the government will pay rental fees to the company. MRTC, which owns the assets of the train system, is controlled by MRT Holdings Inc. (MRTH) of businessman John Robert L. Sobrepeña. The Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines jointly own an 80-percent economic interest in MRTC. Recent events show that the two parties—the government and the private partner—are at odds with how they want to proceed with developing the most congested train line in Metro Manila. For starters, the government procured 48 new train cars for the system. But MRTH moved to block this by filing cases against the purchase. The case is still pending before the Court of Appeals. The state also wants to buy the private partner out, but MRTH is not too keen on that proposal. What it wants, according to Sobrepeña, is to improve the railway line that has been pestering commuters with bad service for quite some time now. The difference between the two camps took a toll on the train system, which saw itself bogging down several times a day. The worst incident involving technical problems was when an MRT coach rammed against its depot in Pasay City, hurt-
ing passengers in the process. “We can’t really blame a specific person or persons, but, perhaps, entire organizations that are supposed to be responsible for the mess that is the MRT 3,” Regidor said. He emphasized the need for the two parties to take away any hidden agenda with the train line, and focus on developing it as a public service. “In the end, the DOTC must decide whether it is all worth it to maintain the stalemate with MRTC, considering that the public interest is at stake here, and things will just become worse with inaction,” Regidor added. The 15-year-old mass-transit system, which ferries more than half-a-million passengers daily, has been in a state of decay. Passengers frequently complain of long queues caused by the lack of trains and coaches. The public was also outraged by the MRT’s inefficient ticketing system, humid train cars, and faulty elevators and escalators. “Perhaps, the government should move toward the best compromise they can live with, considering the urgency of addressing the problem at hand,” Regidor said. Today the rail line’s average daily ridership is already over 560,000, and its highest single-day passenger count is now at 620,000. It was designed to carry only 350,000 passengers a day.