Japan’s Emperor Akihito (left) delivers his remarks with Empress Michiko during a memorial service at Nippon Budokan martial-arts hall in Tokyo on Saturday, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Story below. AP/Shizuo Kambayashi
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BSP brushes off deflation fears D
week ahead
ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Peso
n Previous week: The local currency hit a tough spot last week, as sentiment toward the peso was largely affected by the developments in the Chinese yuan. The peso opened trade on Monday at 45.755 to a dollar, which further decelerated to 45.93 to a dollar on Tuesday. The peso hit a big decline on Wednesday and hit its lowest value for the week at 46.26. This is the lowest that the peso has been in more than five years. The peso slightly corrected to 46.15 to a dollar, and ended the week at 46.215 to a dollar. The average for the week is at 46.062 to a dollar, about a peso weaker than the 45.709 average in the previous month. The total traded volume also almost doubled during the week at $4.179 billion, from the $2.824 billion in the previous week. n Week ahead: Market is still on the lookout for possible leads from the US, and movement on the sideways is expected, as markets still reel from the effect of China’s one-off move to devaluate its yuan. Traders are also on the lookout for remittance data set for release in the coming week.
Remittance data (June)
August 17, Monday n May remittances: Overseas Filipino workers’ remittances hit about $2.1 billion in may this year, posting a
See “Outlook,” A8
By Bianca Cuaresma
ESPITE the continued slowdown in the projected inflation rate of the country—as reflected in the central bank’s latest forecast for the average inflation for the year—the Bangko Sentral brushed off deflation fears, and said that inflation will still remain on the positive side up until the end of 2015. In a response to reporters’ queries, BSP Department of Economic Research Director Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja said that, while latest baseline-inflation forecast has shifted downward for the year, deflation is still out of the picture for the Philippines. Deflation is the general decrease of the prices of goods in the economy. This occurs when the country’s inflation rate falls below
Japan’s emperor akihito expresses remorse over war, in contrast to Abe
Emperor Akihito, accompanied by Empress Michiko, leaves after delivering his remarks during a memorial service at Nippon Budokan martial-arts hall in Tokyo on Saturday. AP/Shizuo Kambayashi
zero percent. The latest monthly inflation print for the country has already hit 0.8 percent in July this year, with its downtrend tracing back since February this year. The central bank also announced that inflation is now likely to fall below target this year— indicating a further slowdown in inflation number in the next months before ticking up back to See “BSP,” A2
IMF calls China’s yuan moves welcome step to more flexible rate
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he International Monetary Fund (IMF) said China’s move to link the yuan’s value to market forces is an encouraging step toward what may become a freely floated currency within the next few years. The changes by China will help it gradually transition “from a tightly managed system linked to the US dollar to one that is more open and more flexible and more responsive to market conditions,” Markus Rodlauer, the IMF’s mission chief to China, said on a conference call on Friday. The currency ought to move to “free float” within two to three years, he said. See “IMF,” A2
PESO exchange rates n US 46.1290
Yuan to dollar exchange rate Between 1997 and 2005, China’s Renminbi Yuan currency had a fixed exchange rate set by the government, rather than a floating exchange rate determined by market forces. The chart below shows the value of the yuan compared with U.S. dollars. The higher the line goes on the chart, the weaker the yuan is in comparison with the dollar.
J
1997: The yuan is fixed at a rate of 8.28 per U.S. dollar.
10
8
6
2005: China “unpegs” the value of its currency from the dollar.
4
2
1981
’85
’90
’95
’00
Source: Federal Reserve, Congressional Budget Office
’05
’10
’15
Graphic: Tribune News Service
apan’s Emperor Akihito expressed “deep remorse” over his country’s actions in World War II, in a departure from his usual remarks, at a ceremony on Saturday to mark 70 years since the end of the conflict. “Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse over the last war, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated,” he said, after a minute’s silence to remember the war dead. It was the first time, since acceding to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1989, that the emperor has expressed regret in such terms at the annual event, according to public broadcaster NHK.
His words contrasted with those of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said in a statement on Friday that Japan shouldn’t be expected to continually apologize for a conflict that ended 70 years ago. “Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war,” Abe said, adding that these positions articulated by previous governments will “remain unshakable.” Akihito is widely seen as a pacifist. He has never visited Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine because it memorializes war criminals, while Abe made a donation to the shrine on Saturday, and went See “Japan,” A2
n japan 0.3707 n UK 72.0304 n HK 5.9488 n CHINA 7.2088 n singapore 33.0390 n australia 33.9733 n EU 51.4800 n SAUDI arabia 12.2978 Source: BSP (14 August 2015)
NewsSunday BusinessMirror
A2 Sunday, August 16, 2015
Japan...
continued from A1
continued from A1 there in December 2013. Earlier this year, the emperor visited the Pacific island of Palau where he said the “tragic history” of that World War II battleground should never be forgotten.
Peace desire
“Our country today enjoys peace and prosperity, thanks to the ceaseless efforts made by the people of Japan toward recovery from the devastation of the war and toward development, always backed by their earnest desire for the continuation of peace,” Akihito said on Saturday. The emperor is a ceremonial head of state who is barred by the US-imposed postwar Constitution from involvement in politics. His father, Hirohito, was the monarch when Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. “The emperor’s words reflect his own will,” said Koichi Nakano, professor of politics at Sophia University in Tokyo. “Abe argues that the US-Japan alliance and its power of deterrence ensured peace after the war, but by stressing the role of pacifism the emperor seems to disagree.”
Abe forgoes visit to war shrine
Abe stayed away from a Tokyo war shrine on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s World War II defeat on Saturday, a day after he tried to draw a line under previous official apologies for the conflict, saying Japan inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering.” Rather than paying his respects personally, Abe made a donation to the Yasukuni shrine. More than 60 lawmakers and at
least two Cabinet ministers visited on Saturday, risking the ire of South Korea and China that view the shrine as a symbol of Japan’s past aggression in Asia. In blazing heat, thousands of people of all ages—some in military uniforms—streamed into the shrine where 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined along with millions of war dead. The street leading to the main entrance was packed with campaigners for causes such as changing the pacifist Constitution and withdrawing a 1993 apology to the thousands of women forced into Japanese military brothels. In his much-anticipated statement on Friday—aimed at China and South Korea as much as domestic voters—Abe stopped short of making a personal apology for Japan’s wartime action. He said Japan inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering,” but shouldn’t be expected to continually apologize for a conflict that ended 70 years ago. “We should not apologize forever into the future,” Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Saturday in a speech at the shrine. In crafting the first official Japanese statement on the war in a decade, Abe sought to mend frayed ties with China and South Korea, which have accused him of trying to whitewash history and revive Japanese militarism. The history issue is one of the main reasons Abe has yet to hold a formal summit with either Chinese President Xi Jinping or South Korean President Park Geun-hye since coming to power in 2012. Abe has been reaching out to both leaders as he sees to shore up relations with Japan’s two-biggest Asian
trading partners, which buy more a quarter of Japanese exports.
Korean occupation
In response to Abe’s speech, China urged Japan to make a “sincere apology” and produce an explicit statement on the nature of “the war of militarism and aggression and its responsibility on the wars” rather being evasive on the issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hua Chunying said in a statement on the ministry’s web site. Park said in a speech on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the end of Japan’s 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula that Abe’s statement was “lacking.” “History is not something that can be hidden, but it lives through the testimony of witnesses still alive,” she said. Still, she signaled it was time for relations between the two countries to move forward “based on the right historical recognition despite many challenges remaining.”
‘Conservative constituency’
Abe, grandson of a Cabinet minister who signed the declaration of war against the US, sought to offer enough contrition in his statement to prompt a thaw in relations with Japan’s neighbors, while keeping his nationalist base on side. “In the end, Abe does realize that the price of appeasing his more conservative constituency would be alienating many of the neighbors in Asia,” said Rana Mitter, a professor of the history and politics of modern China at Oxford University. “It’s likely that the statement will keep the temperature lowered with Beijing, though Seoul may protest.” Bloomberg News
IMF...
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BSP...
continued from A1
Rodlauer reiterated the IMF’s assessment that the yuan is no longer undervalued, even after the currency dropped nearly 3 percent this week. “What has happened now over the past few days does not change our assessment,” he said, noting a substantial appreciation during the past year. The yuan depreciated 2.9 percent this week after the People’s Bank of China announced its move on August 11 toward a more market-determined rate. The IMF said later the same day the move “appears a welcome step as it should allow market forces to have a greater role in determining the exchange rate.” The Chinese government should put in place an “effectively” floating rate for the yuan before fully liberalizing its capital markets, the Washington-based fund said in its annual assessment released on Friday of the Chinese economy, which the IMF now says is the world’s biggest, taking purchasingpower differences into account. Moving to a free float is “necessary for allowing the market to play a more decisive role in the economy, rebalancing toward consumption, and maintaining an independent monetary policy as the capital account opens,” the IMF said in the report dated July 7, which was written before China devalued the yuan this week. The fund is reviewing a bid by China to have the yuan included in the basket of currencies that make up the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, which countries can count as a reserve asset. Approval would boost China’s efforts to have the yuan considered a reserve currency, alongside the US dollar, euro, yen and British pound. IMF staff also recommended
curtailing interventions such as measures China took recently to stem a rout in the nation’s stock market. Chinese policy-makers went to unprecedented lengths to put a floor under the market as the Shanghai Composite Index slumped more than 30 percent in four weeks through July 8. The “heavy intervention created risks exacerbating ‘moral hazard,’” fostering a perception the government wouldn’t let prices fall below a certain level, IMF staff said in the report on Friday. “This set of interventions needs to be curtailed to permit a return to normal price discovery,” the report stated. In an effort to bolster consumer confidence and prevent soured loans backed by equities from infecting the financial system, China banned large shareholders from selling stakes, ordered state-run institutions to buy shares and let more than half of the companies on mainland exchanges halt trading. The IMF said China is moving into a phase of “slower, yet safer and more sustainable” growth. The fund reiterated its projection that the economy will grow 6.8 percent this year, down from 7.4 percent in 2014. Growth will slow to 6.3 percent next year, as the IMF indicated last month. Gross domestic product will expand 6 percent in 2017 before rebounding “modestly,” the fund said. Growth should be allowed to slow to 6 percent to 6.5 percent per year to address vulnerabilities in the economy. China’s reliance on creditfinanced investment as the primary engine of growth since the financial crisis has created “large vulnerabilities” in the fiscal, real estate, financial and corporate sectors, the fund said. Bloomberg News
continued from A1 more normalized levels toward the end of the year. In the latest monetary-policy meeting just last week, the BSP said that inflation is now expected to hit 1.8 percent on average for the entire 2015. The present inflation average for the first seven months of the year is at 1.9 percent. Abenoja argued that domestic inflation, although projected to be lower, will not touch the negative territory as domestic demand conditions remain firm and continue to receive a boost from lower oil prices. “As a net oil importer, the Philippines stands to benefit from low oil prices through an increase in household real income, as well as the lower cost of production,” he said. He also said the BSP expects potential upside risks to inflation such as pending petitions for utility rates and the adverse impact of El Niño is expected to pull inflation upward toward the fourth quarter of the year. He also said that amid this, a slower-than-expected global economic activity can put downside pressures on the inflation in the country this year. The central bank has its eyes fixed on setting up a favorable inflation environment for it to fall within their annual target as part of its primary mandate. For six consecutive years, the central bank was able to put inflation within target. Failure to do so warrants it to write an explanation to Malacañang as to why it missed its target for the year. The central bank revises the annual inflation forecast every six weeks, or every monetary-policy setting meting. The next meeting of the BSP is on September 24.
EconomySunday
www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
BusinessMirror
Sunday, August 16, 2015 A3
Fuel-price House panel approves ‘Green Jobs’ bill hike set HE chairman of the House Committee this week on Labor over the weekend said the By Lenie Lectura
O
IL companies are set to adjust the prices of petroleum products in a few days. Eastern Petroleum Corp. Chairman Fernando Martinez said over the weekend that diesel price will go up by about P0.50 per liter, while the price of gasoline will be reduced anywhere between P0.26 and P0.36 per liter. The price adjustment is likely to be implemented on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, he said in a text message. The upcoming price rollback in gasoline will be the ninth consecutive weekly adjustment. Martinez attributed the rollback to the continuous downward trend in world oil prices at the end of last week’s trading. “The oversupply situation and downward trend in world oil prices continue to pressure local pump prices to go down further. Analysts also believe world oil prices will rebound toward the end of the year at an average of $60 to $69 per barrel,” he said. World crude prices generally lowered on combined predominant reports on Chinese stock-market rout and crude-supply glut. He added that analysts have indicated that prices may continue to remain stable at its current low levels up to August. Thus, motorists can rest assured that local pump prices will be reflective of the price trend in the world oil market. However, prices for September appears to be on the upswing, Martinez said. Last week gasoline and diesel prices went down by P0.45 per liter, while the price of kerosene was slashed by P1 per liter.
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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
panel has approved and endorsed for second reading a measure seeking to open job opportunities in the field of green technology and environment conservation.
The panel chairman, Liberal Party Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles of Davao City, author of the bill, said House Bill 4969, otherwise known as the Philippine Green Jobs Act (PGJA), has also passed the scrutiny of the House Committees on Appropriations and Ways and Means to determine the viability of the proposal in terms of funding. The “Green Jobs” bill seeks to promote work that produces goods and services that will benefit and preserve the environment. These particularly involve business enterprises that use fewer natural resources in their production processes. The measure is also pushing for fiscal incentives and tax perks to encourage in-
dividuals and enterprises to participate in the creation of green jobs, practice the use of environment-friendly techonologies and produce green goods and services. Under the bill, the so-called green companies or business enterprises that are involved in the production of environmentfriendly products and those that offer services to promote environmental protection and conservation are entitled to fiscal incentives that may include additional deduction of labor expense and duty-free importation of capital equipment. The incentives shall be determined and administered by the Department of Finance. The bill also said the Department of Labor
and Employment is tasked to create a national green jobs human-resource development plan, which will sustain the transition into a green economy. “It shall include programs, projects and activities pertaining to basic, higher and technical vocational education and training, a database that identifies and links green job opportunities with private and public entities, and information on knowledge and skill requirements of a green economy,” it said. The bill also seeks to name the secretary of labor and employment as an additional member of the Climate Change Commission, as well as mandates the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to design and implement the appropriate curriculum in support of the green economy. “With the adverse effects of climate change being felt around the world and its increasing threat to lives and properties, nations have found it imperative to facilitate and guide the process of making industries less harmful to the environment,” Nograles said. With this bill, Nograles said that he hopes to see the establishment of many “green investments” in the Philippines, such as those
that are involved in the production of electronic vehicles, solar panels and even power companies that use renewable resources. “This is the future. I think that in the next 10 to 20 years, we will already see a lot of homes equipped with their own solar panels and homes that have their own water-recycling facilities. What we need now is to encourage more investments on green technology. This is like in the early 1990s, where mobile phones were only for the rich, whereas today, every Filipino has their own cellular phone,” he said. The lawmaker added that with the world’s dwindling resources, countries have no recourse but to move toward a more sustainable use of their natural resources and harness the full potential of renewable resources. “Public policy must center on developing a green jobs agenda, enhancing workers skills and ensuring a just transition to a green economy,” Nograles said. The Senate, through Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, has also promised commitment to pass Senate Bill 2893, or their version of the Green Jobs Act, which was hailed by the United Nation’s International Labor Organization as the “first of its kind” and a creative innovation to address the challenges of climate change.
Asian Eye wins its third ‘Reader’s Digest’ Trusted Brand
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SIAN Eye Institute received, for the third time, the Reader’s Digest Gold Trusted Brand Award for being the most trusted eye center. The ceremony was held recently at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas,
Pasig City. Asian Eye first received its awards from the magazine in 2011 and 2012. Asian Eye Vice President and General Manager Alwin Santa Rosa said: “We are honored that consumers
continually place their trust in Asian Eye. This ultimate seal of approval validates not only the quality of our services but also the confidence of the consumers in our brand.” The Reader’s Digest, through the
leading global market research Ipsos, surveyed 1,000 respondents from the Philippines, requiring each respondent to complete the survey on their most trusted brands in 42 categories of products and services.
SundayV
Busine
A4 Sunday, August 16, 2015
editorial
Legislative investigations as public inquisitions
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HE Constitution grants Congress all the freedom it needs to get to facts, ideas and the eternal verities to make good laws that will govern us and our country. Thus, Congress, through its committees, regularly conducts investigations “in aid of legislation.” In the normal course of events, these investigations, very technical or even scientific in nature, can become so boring they can put people to sleep. Not so with some of the investigations conducted recently by a Senate subcommittee. These investigations became tools for political persecution—the shaming and maligning of political enemies of the investigators. In some instances, they became instruments for browbeating the very citizens who have been summoned to provide advice in the making of the laws the legislators are constitutionally mandated to make, to begin with. Can the senators and congressmen conducting these inquiries simply invoke parliamentary immunity to justify the abuse, the arrogance and the irresponsibility they rain upon hapless citizens? Have common citizens no means of redress against politicians out there pursuing investigations “in aid of election”? Often, we are so overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness that we decide to just grin and bear it. That will be wrong. We, aggrieved citizens, have the justice system—with all its flaws and infirmities—for fighting back. Two events of recent days suggest that we can resist legislative bullying. One, the suit filed by Vice President Jejomar C. Binay for libel—against Senators Antonio F. Trillanes IV, Alan Peter S. Cayetano and Aquilino Pimentel III; Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales, the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer, and others—seeking P200 million in damages from charges the Vice President considers as assassinating his character. The other, a suit filed by Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. against Sen. Trillanes, for contempt, seeking the senator’s punishment for accusing two justices of the Court of Appeals of receiving bribes in connection with the issuance of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction against the Ombudsman. We are neither friends nor foes of the contending parties. But we find pleasure in seeing that, for the first time in memory, the tables are being turned on the accusers. The untouchable prosecutors are now being required to prove their accusations. In particular, we want to see or hear Senator Trillanes bring out the evidence or proofs that he has been telling the national community he has in his possession showing the guilt or culpability of the Binay father-andson tandem. We hope the senator does not hide behind the cloak of parliamentary immunity. In some democracies, there is an official time for the questioning of public officials by citizens. It is called Question Hour. During this period, citizens can confront their officials with any question pertaining to the public interest. There is no such opportunity in our democracy in the Philippines. Here, any citizen questioning a public official in any public forum will be hauled off by the security people as a heckler or troublemaker. Result: Citizens discouraged and dejected; senators and congressmen strengthened in their belief they are beyond the reach of ordinary citizens. To conclude, although we hold no brief for any of the protagonists, we are elated and uplifted in seeing the inquisitors, particularly Senator Trillanes, already twisting in the wind.
Washing away the myth of mine safety By Joel R. Reynolds Los Angeles Times/TNS Forum
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HE definition of a mine, said Mark Twain, is a hole in the ground owned by liars. And this month the industry’s biggest lie—that it can be trusted with our water—is once again on display as another mining disaster has spilled millions of gallons of toxic mining waste and chemicals into US streams, rivers and lakes. On August 5, at the abandoned Gold King mine in southwest Colorado, a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleanup team inadvertently unleashed into a tributary of the Animas River a 3-million-gallon soup of toxic mining wastewater. The accident has closed the Animas indefinitely and threatens drinking-water supplies, the economy and wildlife in the region, into New Mexico and potentially all the way to Lake Powell. This latest tragedy followed by one year almost to the day a pair of mine-containment failures in Canada and Mexico. On August 4, 2014, at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine in central British Columbia, an earthen dam built 17 years ago to hold mining waste laced with mercury, lead, copper and other heavy metals— called tailings—failed, inundating the Fraser River watershed. Three days later and 1,200 miles south at the Buena Vista copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, 10 million gallons of mining acid turned the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers orange with poisonous chemicals, shutting down drinking-water supplies, closing schools and affecting an estimated 800,000 people. Called by Mexico’s environment minister the “worst natural disaster provoked by the mining industry in the modern history of Mexico,” the spill was appar-
Gospel
Sunday, August 16, 2015
‘I
ently caused by recently constructed but defective holding tanks. This trio of mining disasters is, or at least should be, a wake-up call. In an era of advancing climate change, fresh water is the indispensable natural resource, essential to life for everyone everywhere, and becoming more valuable with each day of deepening drought. Yet, staggering quantities of this precious resource are consumed by mining exploration, operations and long-term maintenance. Each year roughly 180 million tons of tailings flow into rivers, lakes and oceans—an estimate that leaves out the unpermitted contamination caused by containment failures like those at Gold King, Mount Polley and Buena Vista. Federal decision-makers should consider this damage as they decide whether to permit a host of massive mine projects around critical water bodies. Best known is a proposal to build the largest copper and gold mine in North America at the headwaters of the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery, in southwest Alaska, which produces 30 million to 50 million fish each year. If the Pebble Mine were built as planned, it would generate an estimated 10 billion tons of mining waste laced with toxics—about 3,000 pounds for every person on Earth—to be contained forever in an area of high seismicity behind earthen dams as tall as the Three Gorges Dam in China. According to the EPA, the project poses a catastrophic risk to the waters of Bristol Bay, its wild salmon fishery and the $1.5 billion in revenue and 14,000 jobs it sustains each year. The battle over the Pebble Mine will set the stage for a long list of other proposed mining projects in risky proximity to critical waters: in Oregon, a nickel mine on a federally designated wild and scenic river that
am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My flesh
feeds the communities and natural wonders of the Northern California redwood coast; in Minnesota, copper and nickel mines that threaten the pristine waters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness; in Montana, the Black Butte copper mine on Sheep Creek in the upper watershed of the Smith River, a state-designated Blue Ribbon Trout Fishery and an essential source of irrigation and stock water for ranchers. Although mining-industry advocates argue correctly that mining is essential—copper, for example, is ubiquitous in our cars, phones, computers and appliances—there’s no denying that mining is a dirty business. According to the EPA, mining produces more toxic waste than any other industry—about 25 percent of the entire US toxics inventory. The permissive General Mining Law of 1872, written to encourage mining, is still in force even though the pick, shovel and pan were long ago replaced by giant earthmovers that gouge open pits more than a mile across and thousands of feet deep. Billions of gallons of water are consumed in production, pumped through miles of vulnerable pipelines and stored in open pits of acidifying waste; huge swaths of land are destroyed in the wake of closed, abandoned and inadequately remediated mines. After this month’s mine disaster on the Animas, there is even less reason to believe the self-serving, impossible promises of mining executives who claim that with good engineering, they can protect our waters for centuries. Although cutting-edge technology should be mandatory for all mining today, not all areas are mandatory for mining. Assurances of safety must be skeptically reviewed. And some mining projects—such as the Pebble Mine—just aren’t worth the risk.
and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”— John 6:51-58
Voices
essMirror
opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, August 16, 2015 A5
Why some cities don’t like tourists C
Bloomberg View
By Leonid Bershidsky
ITIES like Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon and Hong Kong, which only became major tourist destinations in the last couple of decades, are starting to look for ways to keep visitors out. This isn’t about xenophobia: It’s a protest against the changing nature of tourism. In Barcelona leftist mayor Ada Colau has advocated a cap on the number of tourists in the city, the world’s 11th-biggest destination for overnight visitors last year, drawing 7.37 million of them—more than four times the city’s population. Colau only ended up introducing a oneyear moratorium on new tourist-accommodation licenses, due to opposition from the national government. Even so, that created uncertainty for 30 still-unlicensed hotel, hostel and bed-and-breakfast projects under way in the city. Short-term rentals, through services such as Airbnb, are already illegal in Barcelona. In Lisbon, a rising European destination expected to receive 3.6 million overnight foreign visitors this year (about 6.5 times its resident population), local officials like what Colau has done for Barcelona. A group called People Live Here advocates for protecting locals against
the flood of tourists. In Berlin, which received 4.5 million foreign overnight visitors last year (a million more than its population), antitourist sentiment has festered for years. There have been protests, and some clubs and bars make foreigners feel unwelcome. Airbnb is illegal, even if widely used in practice. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong—the world’s ninth-biggest tourist destination, with 8.84 million overnight international visitors last year (about 1.7 million more than its population—there has been a strong backlash against the flood of tourists from mainland China. One could put such hostility down to these cities’ relative lack of experience with tourist overflow. Parisians, for example, are philosophical about their 15.57 million annual visitors, a figure second only to London and Bangkok, and are enterprising about making money from them. The French authorities fight Uber to the death, but they’re unlikely to outlaw Airbnb, the Uber of the hospitality business—even if city officials do sometimes crack down on the hosts. But this growing hostility can’t be
The growing hostility against tourists can’t be explained by growing pains alone. Today’s urban tourism is also more intrusive than it used to be. “New urban tourists,” as researchers call them, can no longer be railroaded into parts of town especially meant for them, known as tourist “bubbles” or “enclaves”: Gaze at a cathedral on your right, check out the palace on your left, see some art, eat at a tourist restaurant, sleep in a hotel, go away. Today, tourists are often looking for “authentic,” or “off the beaten track” experiences. Entire industries are devoted to creating the illusion of such authenticity. Tourists show up where ordinary people live and make contact, often surprised that locals in a blue-collar area had never felt the need to learn English. explained by growing pains alone. Today’s urban tourism is also more intrusive than it used to be. “New urban tourists,” as researchers call them, can no longer be railroaded into parts of town especially meant for them, known as tourist “bubbles” or “enclaves”: Gaze at a cathedral on your right; check out the palace on your left; see some art; eat at a tourist restaurant; sleep in a hotel; go away. Today tourists are often looking for “authentic,” or “off the beaten track” experiences. Entire industries are devoted to creating the illusion of such authenticity. Tourists show up where ordinary
people live and make contact, often surprised that locals in a bluecollar area had never felt the need to learn English. Some Berlin pubs used to put signs in their windows saying: “There are no lattes here.” The goal was to keep tourists out, but the signs may just have made these venues more attractive to people in search of authenticity. “The sought-after imaginary of urbanity is often connected to former working-class and postindustrial inner-city neighborhoods,” Henning Fueller and Boris Michel wrote in a 2014 paper on tourism in Berlin’s bohemian area, Kreuzberg,
which in 2010 banned the opening of new hostels, much as Colau has done in Barcelona. Once the tourists show up, however, gentrification soon sets in. The causality here is not certain: It could be that the visitors want the local color to be safe, preferring to hang out in areas that are already gentrifying; or it could be that local businesses and landlords spot the upturn in visitor numbers and start catering to them. Yet, to locals, there is a clear connection between rising tourist numbers and upswings in housing costs, as well as the replacement of their favorite haunts with upscale cafés, wine bars and hipster gastro pubs. There’s nothing visitors can do to look like locals in foreign cities, especially where they don’t speak the language. All they can do is to be as quiet and respectful as possible, while burrowing down into the local life. This includes not flashing cash and spending only as much as locals would, to keep neighborhood ecosystems intact. In other words, travelers need to behave as they do their our own neighborhoods—like neighbors, rather than tourists.
No sanctuaries for criminals I
N the never-ending national debate over immigration, there is at least one point of agreement between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans: If someone with a criminal record is arrested by local police, and that person is wanted for questioning by federal immigration authorities, the handover should be automatic. In some cities, however, that doesn't happen—and the consequences can be fatal. Last month Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican man who had been deported five times, was arrested and accused of killing 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco. Local police had recently released him from custody without honoring a detainer request by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, contrary to federal policy. In 2013 San Francisco adopted a law, now being reconsidered, preventing authorities from honoring
such requests, unless the person had been convicted of a violent felony charge and was also facing another violent felony charge. Lopez-Sanchez didn’t meet those requirements. That law has put so-called “sanctuary cities” in the crosshairs of conservatives—understandably so. Cooperating with federal authorities should not be a matter of discretion for cities. At the same time, the enforcement of immigration laws is a federal responsibility, and cities have an obligation to protect public safety. When immigrants who are in the US illegally fear contact with the government, everyone becomes less safe. When someone is afraid to report a robbery or shooting, criminals stay on the loose. When someone is afraid to go to the hospital, disease can spread. Citizens and legal residents, not just the undocumented, are the beneficiaries of policies that don’t
When immigrants who are in the US illegally fear contact with the government, everyone becomes less safe. When someone is afraid to report a robbery or shooting, criminals stay on the loose. When someone is afraid to go to the hospital, disease can spread. Citizens and legal residents, not just the undocumented, are the beneficiaries of policies that don’t allow local authorities to ask residents about their immigration status. allow local authorities to ask residents about their immigration status. But that doesn’t mean authorities get to thumb their noses at federal agencies. Like it or not, a nation of laws must enforce its laws—or change them. US immigration laws, as outdated and in need of reform as
they are, cannot simply be ignored, and cities cannot refuse to cooperate when federal authorities seek to enforce them. From 2008 until 2014, the Department of Homeland Security ran a program called Secure Communities, which required local law-enforcement agencies to send the fingerprints of arrestees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which then determined their immigration status. The program identified more than a half million noncitizens. But as deportations from the nation's interior rose significantly under a Democratic president, so, too, did political opposition to the program from urban leaders. In response, the Obama administration ended Secure Communities and replaced it with the Priority Enforcement Program. Under the new program, which began on July 1, local authorities must still send fingerprints of arrestees. But the
federal government will only seek custody of convicted criminals or other classes of known publicsafety threats who are prioritized for removal. That’s a sensible approach. Just as prohibiting local authorities from asking about immigration status protects the public, so, too, does honoring federal detention requests for those with criminal records. If San Francisco and other selfstyled sanctuaries don’t get with the program, Washington will need to compel them. That could occur through the courts or—as congressional Republicans have proposed, and Kathryn Steinle’s family has supported - through the loss of federal funding. Congress’s inability to deal with the 11 million people in the US illegally is frustrating and dismaying. But cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities are making a bad situation worse. Bloomberg View
Regulating speech on campus By Cynthia M. Allen Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS
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ARLIER this year, Harry Vincent, a sophomore at Texas Christian University (TCU), got some surprising news. He had been effectively suspended from school for a year—allowed to attend classes, but prohibited from participating in any social activities and from living on campus. He was also ordered to serve 60 hours of community service, attend diversity and sensitivity training, and to meet biweekly with the associate dean of students, presumably to endure routine shaming for his offense. What was his transgression? Inappropriate tweeting. Vincent had made comments on Twitter and Facebook that caused offense to at least one reader, and she reportedly felt compelled to rally others to join her in complaining to TCU. School administrators reviewed Vincent’s tweets, which a reasonable person might consider provocative at most (several commented on the recent Baltimore riots and the Islamic State, and one used a slur for Mexicans that Vincent has since pleaded
ignorance about and apologized for using), and determined the student’s actions warranted punishment. Severe punishment. To be clear, Vincent’s comments were certainly regrettable, and posting them on Twitter was probably ill-advised. But worthy of suspension? Hardly. College students are notorious for saying and doing stupid things; campus life creates an environment that facilitates both. And social media now gives them an additional venue to preserve unfortunate remarks and share them with a far broader audience. But this story really isn’t about social media. It’s about a strange and troubling phenomenon that’s sweeping college campuses. It’s a movement, driven largely by students but blessed and often enforced by administrators, to restrict language and ideas that cause offense and to make an example, sometimes by way of harsh punishments, of the offenders. And all this is to the detriment of free speech and learning. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a free speech group that came to Vincent’s defense and may have aided the reduction of his punishment, has catalogued
dozens of similar incidents. A case last year at the University of Tulsa involved the suspension of student George “Trey” Barnett for comments made by his husband, who was not a TU student, on Facebook. The comments criticized two faculty members. Similarly, in their book End of Discussion, authors Mary Katherine Ham and Guy Benson relay a series of vignettes. One tells the story of a college disk jockey in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who was fired for playing the popular song “Blurred Lines,” which some modern feminists have called a “rape anthem.” But as Ham explained during a recent radio interview, the song didn’t actually offend anyone. The DJ was terminated because a listener complained about the possibility that it might. While private universities have some latitude in regulating speech on campus, and arguably have an interest in creating an environment where, in the words of TCU, students should “behave in a manner consistent with [the school’s] mission,” shouldn’t part of a school’s mission be to allow students to express themselves and engage in honest dialogue with the ultimate goal of furthering more
While private universities have some latitude in regulating speech on campus, and arguably have an interest in creating an environment where, in the words of Texas Christian University, students should “behave in a manner consistent with [the school’s] mission,” shouldn’t part of a school’s mission be to allow students to express themselves and engage in honest dialogue with the ultimate goal of furthering more sophisticated thinking and eventually learning to temper and refine words on their own? sophisticated thinking and eventually learning to temper and refine words on their own? These policies and punishments are having a chilling effect on students, but they may have more significant consequences. Writing in The Atlantic, constitutional lawyer Greg Lukianoff and psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who call the speech restrictive movement “vindictive protectiveness,” lament that the presumed “extraordinary fragility of the collegiate psyche,” coupled with university adminis-
trators who are only too eager to institutionalize speech codes and punish violators, may be discouraging students from thinking critically. Instead, vindictive protectiveness is teaching students to think pathologically and is poorly preparing them for professional life—frankly, for any existence beyond the protective university walls. Lukianoff and Haidt offer a series of solutions to combat the intellectual disservice done by too harshly regulating speech, which includes raising consciousness of the need to balance free speech with a welcoming environment and equipping students with the tools they need to “thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control.” The government, too, has a role to play. The authors suggest that it “release universities from their fear of unreasonable investigation and sanctions” that arguably catalyze the kind of punishments we have seen at schools such as TCU. While some words don’t warrant defense, the right to say them almost always does. And nowhere should that be more true than on college campuses. How else will these students ever learn?
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A6 Sunday, August 16, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
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Budget scrutiny is lawmaker’s job, Zarate tells Osmeña, Drilon
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By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent
ARTY-LIST Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna has reminded his fellow lawmakers that their principal job is to enact laws and not to share in the pork barrel, which was introduced by the Americans in 1920. As such, voters expect every legislator to scrutinize the very critical piece of legislation that they craft annually, which is the national budget, Zarate added. He said left-handed compliments and witticisms, as well as pained explanations for the neces-
sity for pork barrel by other legislators, will not stop the Makabayan Coalition from ferreting out pork from hidden codes or misdeclared items for the benefit of President Aquino’s anointed and his allies. Zarate made the statement in response to Sen. Sergio R. Os-
meña III’s comment that he will leave the examination of suspected pork-barrel items in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) drafted by the Department of Budget and Management to Bayan Muna lawmakers. Osmeña also claimed that the Supreme Court (SC) decision against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2013 did not define what pork barrel is. The lead petitioner in the PDAF case was Carol Pagaduan Araullo, a leader of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, along with officers of Bayan Muna party-list group and other organizations. “Bayan Muna and the rest of the Makabayan bloc are committed to defend our scarce resources against the greed and corruption. We study and scrutinize the budget
closely, ever watchful for ways, creative or otherwise, through which we are being robbed by cunning officials,” Zarate reminded Osmeña. The senator earlier stressed that Bayan Muna should take the lead in the scrutiny since it exposed the purported pork-barrel items in the draft budget prepared by Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad and approved by President Aquino. “Yet, since there are 5.8 million cells in the NEP 2016, the people will surely welcome the expertise of Osmeña and the rest of the Senate to make sure that the 2016 budget will benefit the people,” Zarate said. He also belied the claim of Abad that there are only two lump sum appropriations in the budget. “As pointed out by Kabataan Party-list group, at least P648.2 billion pork can be found in the
2016 budget aside from the P217.8billion worth of lump sums stashed in the budget of 38 agencies,” Zarate added. K abataan Party-list earlier revealed that 22 percent of the P3.002-trillion budget could be considered as “pork” allocations, which are discretionary in nature, making them prone to being used for patronage politics and graft. “This is contrary to Senate President Franklin M. Drilon’s claim that lump sums only appear in ‘logical’ budget items, such as the calamity fund and death benefits. There remains to be lump sums for housing, roads, bridges and irrigation with no clear indication how the funds will be used, or where the projects will be built,” Zarate argued. He added that more than P430.4
Lawmaker seeks probe of new Comelec deal with Smartmatic By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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PARTY-LIST lawmaker on Saturday asked the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms to reexamine the new deal struck by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. involving the lease of 93,977 new optical mark-reader (OMR) machines for possible breach of election laws. Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan said the new machines set to be provided by SmartmaticTIM may not be compliant with
RIDON: “So we ask: has Smartmatic been able to conclusively prove their new machines’ capability in past elections, even in other countries? If not, then our election system is at the brink of disaster.”
Republic Act (RA) 9369 or the Automated Election System law. “It has been clearly reported that Comelec will lease new
machines from Smartmatic. But we need to ask—are these machines compliant with existing election laws, especially the provision in Section 10 of R A 9369, which states that systems used for elections should first be tested successful in either a local or foreign elections?” Ridon asked. The lawmaker said that the new OMR machines may not possess the exact specifications and software as those previously used in past Philippine elections, thereby needing to undergo renewed evaluation, as provided
under RA 9369. Section 10 of RA 9369 provides that, “To achieve the purpose of this Act, the Commission is authorized to procure, in accordance with existing laws, by purchase, lease, rent or other forms of acquisition, supplies, equipment, materials, software, facilities and other services, from local or foreign sources free from taxes and import duties, subject to accounting and auditing rules and regulations. With respect to the May 10, 2010 elections and succeeding electoral exercises, the system procured must have demonstrated capability and been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad. Participation in the 2007 pilot exercise shall not be conclusive of the system’s fitness.” Ridon also said that the new OMR machines set to be leased by Comelec needs to comply with Section 10 of RA 9369, especially with regard to the provision on demonstration of capability in past local or foreign elections. “So we ask: has Smartmatic been able to conclusively prove their new machines’ capability in past elections, even in other countries? If not, then our election system is at the brink of disaster,” Ridon said. R idon also expressed concern with the revelation that Comelec’s hands were practically tied when it came to deciding which election equipment will be used in the coming polls.
“It is wasteful and impractical for Comelec to do away with the refurbishment option. The old Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, numbering 81,896, will now be useless scraps of metal. By approving the new lease deal, Comelec just wasted P10-billion worth of taxpayers’ money, excluding costs for storage and maintenance,” Ridon said. Ridon also said the Comelec’s decision to lease 93,977 new OMR machines for the 2016 elections will undoubtedly make the upcoming national elections more vulnerable to fraud. Earlier the Comelec said that it has unanimously decided to lease new OMR machines from Smartmatic, as it was considered the most “viable, practical, and safest option” to ensure the credibility of the 2016 presidential elections. “With all due respect to Comelec Chairman Andres D. Bautista, we disagree with his position that leasing OMR machines is the safest and most viable option. Most probably, the decision was reached due to Comelec’s tight preparation schedule, and not because it will ensure the credibility of the polls,” Ridon said. The lawmaker also called for heightened citizen vigilance amid Comelec’s latest decision. He asked the pol l bidy to reconsider its position and reassess the secur it y r isks posed by merely renting OMR machines.
billion is allocated for Special Purpose Funds (SPFs), which lend themselves to abuse since they are classified as discretionary funds. “If you study the budget items more closely, the SPFs reaches almost P500 billion. How would these budget managers claim that the budget is pork-less? The budget is dripping with pork grease,” Zarate claimed. He reiterated the bases of the scrutiny of the budget are the SC rulings on PDAF and the equally illegal and unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program. “The pork barrel—congressional and presidential—is institutionalized patronage politics and a breeding ground for corruption. The Filipino people had successfully rid the country of this pest hole and we should defend that victory,” Zarate also said.
No CDO against gold- trading firm
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MID continuing media reports about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdown on companies that are offering investment-type products without the proper authorization, gold- trading company GoldXtreme clarified that it is not included in the SEC’s Cease and Desist Order (CDO) list. “The SEC’s CDO list a publiclyviewable file that is clearly posted on their web site. Anyone can log on and check it out,” GoldXtreme lawyer Dennis Manalo explained. “There are currently 73 companies included on the list and I can assure you with 100 percent certainty that GoldXtreme is not one of them,” Manalo added. The lawyer went on to point out that GoldXtreme actually supports the SEC initiative against unethical and unlawful companies. “The company’s goal is to give hardworking Filipinos a chance to augment their income legally, by becoming gold traders. They registered with the SEC as a gold- trading company, and have remitted valueadded tax to the Bureau of Internal Revenue amounting to almost P44 million for the second quarter of 2015,” he added. In an earlier advisory, the SEC stated that it received reports that GoldXtreme was soliciting investments from the public, with the promise of guaranteed returns. Manalo said this was not in accordance to the company’s business model and practice, and that GoldXtreme itself would sanction traders who gave this impression.
Skyway firm renews certification As a result of the successful surveillance audit by TUV Rheinland–Philippines late last month,
the Skyway O&M Corp.’s (Somco) certification under the triple standards of ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004+Cor.1:2009 and OHSAS 18001:2007 has been renewed recently. Somco has continuously maintained its certification for the past five years. Top photos show TUV Rheinland lead auditor Minda Fe Villapando discussing toll collection operations with Somco officers in one of her field visits at Skyway toll plazas, while bottom photo shows Somco President Manuel M. Bonoan (standing, sixth from left) with the members of the Somco Management Committee, ISO department representatives and the TUV Rheinland audit team. Somco operates the 16.2-kilometer elevated tollway from Buendia to Alabang and the 13.5-kilometer at-grade toll road from Magallanes to Alabang.
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Marcos’s ‘balancing act’ on Bangsamoro bill earns accolade
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EN. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday received an unexpected accolade from Centrist Democratic Party Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), for shepherding an important bill to end the decadeslong conflict in Mindanao. “It is without a doubt a difficult task. There are a lot of balancing acts to be done to ensure that the BLBar [Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region] remains true both to the genuine aspirations of the Bangsamoro for self-determination and the 1987 Constitution,” Rodriguez said. The House committee held 24 public hearings, 19 regular meetings and eight executive sessions since the original BBL draft was transmitted to Congress by the Office of the President in September last year. The BLBar is the amended version of that draft and was the one endorsed for House plenary debates. The substitute bill devised by Marcos’s Committee on Local Government is also called the BLBar. The House and the Senate versions of the BLBar carry significant differences. Among these are the Senate’s removal of the bill’s preamble, as well as the deletion of the Special Development Fund, amounting to P17 billion, designed to speed up infrastructure development in the Bangsamoro during its first five years. Early reviews of the Senate version also point to the seeming weakened Bangsamoro parliamentary system of government. Rodriguez commented that the differences are to be expected. “This only proves that we have a working and healthy democracy. As legislators with independent minds, different takes on the bill are to be expected.” “But, I think, both committees have been working on the same premise that the basic law should
be inclusive so as not to alienate any stakeholder in the Bangsamoro. This is a very exciting, yet precarious, time for all of us. We want everybody onboard the peace process,” Rodriguez added. “In my honest recollection and knowledge, I know of no other bill that has undergone a consultative process as exhaustive as what we did in the BLBar. We know Senator Marcos’s committee extended the same diligence.” Earlier, Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters at a media briefing that “[t]he agreement that we entered with the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] during the peace negotiations... as well as the comprehensive framework on the Bangsamoro, took into consideration all the stakeholders whether you’re a lumad, you’re a Christian, or a Muslim. Everyone was involved.” Rodriguez clarified that the differences in both versions could be ironed out when the bill reaches the bicameral body. “That is the beauty of our democratic system. You have independent minds working on the same thing who will eventually compare notes, as they say, and reach a consensus.” The Cagayan de Oro City lawmaker highlighted the importance of passing the law as soon as possible. “But, as I’ve said, we are at a very important juncture. The consensus I mentioned should be reached very soon. We should pass this now, as the Bangsamoro basic law is a very important legacy of Congress to ensure peace and development not only in Mindanao, but throughout the country.” House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II told the media last week that the House plans to conclude the BBL plenary debates before the General Appropriations Bill is passed at the committee level. The Senate, meanwhile, is expected to commence with its plenary debates next week.
Over 400 families benefit from community farms
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ONSANTO Fund Gawad Kalinga, the Department of Agriculture, local governments and other non-governmental organizations have joined forces to address the pertinent issue of starvation in Southern Mindanao. Dubbed as Bayan-Anihan, the project aims to support one family at a time by setting up sustainable food programs in every impoverished community in the Davao region through the setup of 10 farms. The farms are near villages built by Gawad Kalinga (GK). The Bayan-Anihan sites have benefited over 413 families in the region. A recent Social Weather Stations survey, released in the fourth quarter of 2013, indicated that 18.1 percent, or an estimated 3.90 million families, are experiencing involuntary hunger. Filipinos have been suffering from the lack of anything to eat. Maria Leonora Pitogo, 25, was pregnant with her second child when she and her husband Arman, 29, started working on their farm plot, as part of the Monsanto-GK project, beside their house. Arman is a farmer and has no fixed income. Before the project, the couple did not know how they were going to come up with enough money to accommodate the medical expenses when Leonora gives birth, on top of the daily needs of their small family. “Hindi na kami mamimili ng gulay dahil mayroon na kaming makukuhang gulay mula sa aming hardin. Nakakapagbigay pa kami sa kapit-
bahay,” Arman said. When Leonora gave birth to baby Arialla at the CJ Maternity and Laying Inn Clinic in Toril, Davao City, on January 10, her healthcare insurance paid for everything, allowing mother and baby to go home without paying for anything. Because Leonora breast-feeds, she needs to eat healthy in order to produce optimum milk for her baby. The vegetables from the farm plot help a lot in ensuring baby Arialla’s and firstborn Aryan’s (5 years old) needs as a milk-dependent infant and growing child, respectively. The Pitogos are just one of the many families in the different GK sites in the Davao region who have benefited from Monsanto’s partnership with GK. These families utilize their harvested vegetables not just for home consumption but also for earning additional income through selling the excess yield. “Monsanto has been supporting poverty-alleviation mechanisms, specifically projects that address the critical issue of hunger. We have been working closely with Gawad Kalinga in helping more communities to achieve sustainable and sufficient sustenance,” said Christopher Samuel, corporate engagement regional director of Monsanto Co. Samuel said, “Poverty has been one of the most pressing social problems which must be addressed promptly. It is closely linked to hunger, which also leads to malnutrition and several diseases.
Sunday, August 16, 2015 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo A7
Chavit asks Congress to prioritize passage of anti-dynasty bill
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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
FORMER governor recently asked both chambers of Congress to prioritize the passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty bill. Former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson said that he is supporting the passage of the anti-dynasty measure, and reiterated the need to pass the required legislation. “Personally, I dislike political dynasties, so there needs to be a law in place,” he said. The Singson clan has a long history that is embedded in Ilocos Sur politics, dating back to the 1800s, when his great-grandfather acted as the gobernadorcillo or mayor during that era. “Yes, you can say that we are a political dynasty but I made sure that, even if the law had many loopholes, my family remained disciplined. I disciplined them,” he added.
To support this assertion, Singson called to mind how he forbade his wife or any of his children to seek a congressional seat while he served as governor, saying that it came to a point, in fact, when he actually supported the political rivals of his siblings and other relatives when they ran for Congress during his term. “Voters today are smarter— whether or not a candidate belongs to a dynasty, they will vote for him if he is kind, helpful and capable,” Singson said, adding, “but if there is a law against political dynasties, everyone must follow it.” The Constitution said that the state shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service,
and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law. Earlier, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that President Aquino’s endorsement of the Anti-Political Dynasty bill—during his recent State of the Nation Address—will help the passage of the measure at the lower chamber. “Maybe his [Aquino’s] declaration of support will help the passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty bill,” Belmonte said. Nationa l Unit y Par t y Rep. Fredenil Castro of Capiz, chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, on the other hand, said Mr. Aquino’s support for the bill means that political dynasties have become a big problem in the country. “The clear endorsement of the President to both the Senate and the House of Representatives to expedite the passage of the AntiPolitical Dynasty law is an unequivocal acceptance of the nation that the existence and proliferation of political dynasties in our country is, indeed, a menace to our political system that has brought stagnation in what we could have possibly achieved in terms of eco-
nomic and political advancement,” said Castro, one of the authors of the bill. However, Castro said there was a strong lobby among lawmakers, particularly those from political clans, to sabotage the approval on second reading of the measure in June. House Bill 3587 seeks to limit the political power exerted by political families by allowing at most two members from one family to both be elected to posts at the national and local levels at the same time. One family member could also hold a national post, while the other will serve in the local government. For local posts, the amended measure provides that two family members may assume office in one province, city or town. Also, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon vowed to pass the Anti-Political Dynasty bill in the Senate. “I support the anti-dynasty bill 100 percent. But I truly believe we need to push hard for this, because it’s not easy for the Senate and the House of Representatives to do this,” Drilon admitted.
Partners, learners gather for Project Hope
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A R L AC C I T Y— Sec tora l groups supporting out-ofschool youth assembled recently in Tarlac City, with partners and beneficiaries, to launch the Project Hope program. The project is spearheaded by the Eduardo Cojuangco Foundation (ECF). The Project Hope, which will initially benefit 1,000 out-ofschool youth, is a partnership among ECF, the Department of Education, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), La Salle Greenhills and the Tarlac provincial government to provide technical-vocational training and job opportunities for 5,000 outof-school 18- to 30-year-old over a five-year period. Env isioned by A mbassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr., the project aims to bring a significant segment of the unemployed sector to the mainstream of produc t ive l ive l i hood i n h i s home province. Representing Cojuangco in the
Former Rep. Carlos Cojuangco speaks at the grand launch of Project Hope before 1,000 learners at the Diwa ng Tarlak in Tarlac City.
gathering was his son, former Rep. Carlos O. Cojuangco, who, in his remarks, inspired the learners to seize the opportunity provided by the Project Hope to hone their
skills, become productive changers in their community and begin a life path for the future. “Project Hope is a classic example of an undertaking that
cou ld on ly be possible w it h teamwork from the public and private sectors working toward a common goal,” the younger Cojuangco said.
MGB eyes more mineral-reservation areas
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HE government is in the process of identifying more mineral-reservation areas for potential new projects with the hope of enhancing mining’s contribution to the economy, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Leo L. Jasareno said. By establishing more mineral reservation areas, the MGB hopes to lure more investors and increase mining revenues by virtue of the 5-percent royalty tax on top of the 2-percent excise tax the government can collect under Republic Act 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. “We are in the process of identifying mineral-reservation areas in every region,” Jasareno said. “It is a continuing process,” he added. There are four government-declared mineral-reservation areas located in Zambales in Central Luzon and Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands in the Caraga region. Earlier, Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje vowed to push the
establishment of more mineralreservation areas with the hope of increasing the annual tax collection from mining. Areas rich with precious metals, particularly gold and copper, are good candidates for the establishment of mineral-reservation areas, Jasareno said. The Department of Natural Resources, through the MGB, identifies and recommends an area to be declared as mineral reservation by the Office of the President based on the area’s economic potential. Once declared as mineral reservation, an area covered by the proclamation shall be “reserved” for future mining exploration and exploitation, and will be covered by the 5-percent royalty tax under the mining law. There are currently 47 operating mines in the country. Mining royalty from gold and copper alone could substantially increase royalty earnings of the government, Jasareno said, which could benefit both the national and
local governments, while waiting for the enactment of a new mining-revenue-sharing law that will mandate higher taxes. Mining royalty tax represents 5 percent of the market value of the gross output of the minerals produced by mining companies within a declared mineral reservation area. Ten percent of the amount collected shall accrue to the MGB for “special projects and other administrative expenses related to the exploration and development of other mineral-reservations.” The rest shall be divided between the national government (54 percent) and the local government (36 percent) where the minerals are located, the law states. Metallic-production value reached P137.53 billion in 2014, up by 38 percent from P99.38 billion in 2013. Gold accounted for P79.84 billion, while copper accounted for P22.76 billion. Combined, copper and gold output last year would have translated into an additional royalty tax
of P5.13 billion had the areas where the projects are located been declared as mineral-reservation areas. Mining contribution to the country’s gross domestic product remained below 1 percent. While the country is endowed with rich mineral deposit, the mineral-development sector remains underdeveloped despite the government’s aggressive promotion of mining to large-scale foreign mining companies. According to the MGB, less than 3 percent of the 9 million hectares identified as having high mineral potential as of November last year are covered by mining tenements. According to the MGB, taxes, fees and royalties collected by the government from the mining industry last year was pegged at 21.41 billion. The mining industry currently employs 235,000 workers. For every direct job, four indirect jobs may be generated in the upstream and downstream sector. Jonathan Mayuga
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Country lacks network-security professionals
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By Roderick L. Abad
ODAY’s digitization of local enterprises demands for more network-security professionals, but there is a shortage owing to the failure of the educational system to prepare for this need. “We believe that the Philippines, as an emerging market, has seen tremendous growth, particularly in the manufacturing and services sector. As businesses adapt to the latest in cloud, mobility, virtualization and big data, there is a growing demand for networksecurity professionals who can deal with the challenges in the evolving technology landscape,” said Amar Mehta Sr., head of Cyberoam Asia Pacific. “The present educational setups in most emerging economies, like the Philippines, are not ready to meet this demand and, hence, we have seen a high uptake of our training certifications here in the Philippines,” he added. While it seems to be a concern nowadays, this is not an isolated case locally, for it is widely spread globally, as well.
A 2015 Frost & Sullivan study showed that 62 percent of respondents worldwide stated that their organizations have “too few” information-security professionals. According to 14,000 respondents, an insufficient pool of suitable security candidates is causing this widening skills gap. If not addressed, the report estimates the shortfall in the globalinformation-security work force to reach 1.5 million in five years. To help cope up with this, Cyberoam has been bridging the missing link of education, career and industry on this matter by way of providing courses related to network security. In the Philippines it has been offering Cyberoam Certified Network Security Professionals and Cyberoam Certified Network Security Experts programs since 2008.
These include rigorous practical training modules and interactive sessions—all designed to meet the current network-security industry requirements. To date, more than 15,000 Cyberoam certified network-security professionals and engineers have been produced internationally. In the Asia-Pacific region Mehta said that “the Philippines has the second-highest number of Cyberoam-certified professionals,” next only to Thailand. With its local partner NetPlay Inc., the American company has been holding network-security trainings in selected centers in Manila and Cebu. Although majority of the Cyberoamcertified professionals are now employed as information-technology (IT) consultants, and network and firewall administrators in different sectors, more programs are needed to supply the current demand for skilled workers. It is for this reason that a free short course is being offered under its training arm—the Cyberoam Academy. “Because the demand for network-security skills in the Philippines is much higher than the supply, we want to close this gap through the Cyberoam Academy,” said Ajay Nawani, chief of Cyberoam Academy. “This would entail, though, a major contribution from the local educational institutions.”
The institution recently opened its partnership program for universities and colleges in the Philippines to offer the short networksecurity course, called Novice to Professional, free of charge. For 56 hours, this training
program will provide high-quality cybersecurity training for Filipino students. “Once we have more Cyberoam Academy university partners, we can offer our free network-security courses to more Filipino
students. This means we can produce more network-security professionals and experts that we hope can augment the current skills demand of the Philippines’s evolving IT security landscape,” Nawani said.
Foreign players face difficulty penetrating credit-card market in PHL–Metrobank
By Genivi Factao
F
OREIGN banks coming in for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) integration may face difficulty in penetrating the credit-card markets in the region, which are largely dominated by top local banks, Metrobank Card Corp. (MCC) President Riko Abdurrahman said. Abdurrahman said foreign players can offer credit cards, but it is not going to be easy because they are latecomers. “Look across the Asean countries today. Who dominates the credit-card business? In Indonesia it’s the local banks—Bank Mandiri, Bank Central Asia. Who dominates in Malaysia? It’s Maybank, CIMB. In Singapore you have DBS Group Holdings Ltd., United Overseas Bank Ltd., OverseaChinese Banking Corp. Ltd. In the Philippines it’s Metrobank, Banco de Oro Unibank and Bank of the Philippine Islands. We have seen that local banks are dominating the market, and it will stay,” he told the BusinessMirror. Abdurrahman added that foreign banks eyeing tie-ups with local banks is one route that they can take.
“However, a lot of foreign banks, when they come in a new country, wanted to establish their own brand. If they tie up with a local bank, the local bank would want to use their brand,” he said. The MCC, a subsidiary of Metrobank Group, is 60 percent owned by Metrobank and 40 percent owned by Australia New Zealand Bank. Abdurrahman said about 10 to 20 years ago, foreign banks were successful in the credit-card business in the country. He added that new players need to set-up the infrastructure, as retail business, in general, cannot be run without system. They have to invest huge in technology, in distribution channels and people. In a country with more than 100 million population, tapping the unbanked sector is a potential market for any banks. However, he maintained that it’s not easy, even though they have that aspirations. Abdurrahman explained that the local banks have the distribution channel, having 700 to 900 branches nationwide, unlike foreign banks with only a few. “Look at Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Standard Chartered and Citibank, compare them to big banks
here. All the key ingredients to become successful in the creditcard business, such as technology, distribution and people, are what the local banks have. “Foreign banks cannot compete in distribution channel. The glorious days of foreign banks in credit-card business are gone. If foreign banks that are coming in think they can dominate the credit-card business in a new country, then better think twice. Please come, but think twice,” he said. Credit Card Association of the Philippines Executive Director and Spokesman Alex Ilagan welcomes the possible entry of large regional banks in Southeast Asia, which is expected to spur growth in the industry. “These larger banks, with vast resources and bigger appetite to take more risks, will stimulate competition in the market. This is expected to result to new credit-card variants being introduced to penetrate finer segments in the market,” he said. Ilagan said regional banks can leverage on their vast resources to gain a foothold in the credit-card market in the Philippines that can serve as their stepping stone in entering the consumer-banking sector.
Board: FDI in bioethanol fuels to hit $770 million next year
T
By Lenie Lectura
HE National Bioethanol Board (NBB) anticipates that local and foreign direct investments involving bioethanol fuel will jump to $770 million next year, from $386 million this year. NBB on Bioethanol Concerns Vice Chairman Regina BautistaMartin said during the Ethanol and Biofuels Asia 2015 conference held recently that bioethanol investment in the country was “reinvigorated,” since the policy guidelines on the utilization of locally produced bioethanol were passed in 2011. “Local and foreign direct investments have grown from around $206 million in 2012 to $386 million in 2015. It is projected to grow to $770 million in 2016,” said Martin, who is also the administrator of the Philippine Sugar Regulatory Administration.
Outlook...
In her presentation, Martin explained that these investments have sustained the dynamism of the rural economy where the plant is located. “Jobs are sustained, upstream and downstream smallscale enterprises have emerged, giving new livelihood opportunities for the local community surrounding the bioethanol plant.” Annual benefits are received by workers and their families through the social amelioration and welfare program, which is on top of other statutory benefits afforded to workers under the Labor Code, Martin noted. She said that the biofuels law was enacted in the latter part of 2006 and became effective a year later. But the 5-percent and 10-percent bioethanol mandates were implemented in 2009 and 2011, respectively, to give enough time for bioethanol investors consolidate-feedstock areas and con-
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stronger growth of 5.8 percent from the value of remittances in May last year. The May inflow of remittances from Filipino workers abroad brought the total money sent by migrant workers for the first five months of the year at $9.906 billion. This is 5.4 percent higher than the $9.34 billion seen in the same period last year. ”Remittanes remained resilient on the back of sustained demand for skilled Filipino manpower overseas,” the Bangko Sentral said in a statement. n June remittances: The inflow of cash from Filipino migrant workers is not expected to surge into the upside during
the month. Instead, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. said in its most recent research on the Philippines that remittances is expected to be “steady,” only enough to support the country’s balance of payments (BOP) for the year.
Balance of payments (July)
August 19, Wednesday n June BOP: The Bangko Sentral reported that the country’s BOP hit a surplus of $1.68 billion in the first half of the year. The country’s BOP in the first half of the year is a significant turnaround from the $4.144-billion deficit seen in the same
struct the bioethanol plant. The Biofuels Act of 2006 requires the use of clean alternative fuels, such as ethanol mixed with gasoline, which are expected to save the country P35 billion in annual oil imports. “When the biofuels law was passed, several investors lined up who were interested in investing in bioethanol-fuel production and the development of sugarcane plantations in the rural areas as sources of feedstocks,” Martin said. “What transpired in the past, the challenges and biofuel policy decisions of the Philippine government, have given policymakers and stakeholders enough lessons learned in making the bioethanol program successful. All these are in tandem with the sustainable development of the sugarcane industry and providing a sustainable and clean energy for the country,” she added.
six-month period last year. This commenced, as the BOP surplus in June hit $485 million, the second largest-monthly BOP surplus for the year. n July BOP: The most recent BOP is expected to continue to be in surplus, as BSP Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo earlier expressed confidence on the target set by the BSP, citing continued inflow of dollars into the country through tourism and businessprocess outsourcing receipts, as well as remittances. However, if the latest foreign portfolio investments (FPI) is an indicator, negative sentiment on the Philippines is seen as the FPI—more popularly known as “hot” money— displayed net outflow in July this year. Bianca Cuaresma