Businessmirror august 30, 2015

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A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, August 30, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 325

P25.00 nationwide | 6 sections 28 pages | 7 days a week

Weaker peso may be good for PHL economy–experts

week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

n PREVIOUS WEEK: The local currency started off the trading with a hard-hitting 31.5-centavo depreciation coming from the shortened trading week.

On Monday the peso traded at 46.815 to a dollar, registering the weakest that the peso has been in more than five years.

The peso then continued its rally to close at 46.61 to a dollar on Tuesday and back to 46.72 to a dollar on Wednesday. The peso then hit P46.48 to a dollar on Thursday, and closed the trading week at 46.735 to a dollar on Friday. The peso averaged at 46.712 to a dollar during the week, with a total traded volume of $3.608 billion.

n WEEK AHEAD: The peso is seen to take cues from external data—particularly from the United States and possibly more developments from China—as no significant economic data is set for release this week. The central bank governor earlier admitted that the value of the peso will remain “volatile” in the near term, as markets continue to weigh in on their sentiment on recent global developments. Bank of the Philippine Islands told its clients in a research note that it expects continuous caution in the local markets for the next week.

Bianca Cuaresma

D

By Bianca Cuaresma

espite hard hits to bring the local currency to significantly depreciate in the previous week, a weaker peso may actually be what some sectors in the country need.

Several economists in separate commentaries and interviews said that the losses in the peso’s value against the dollar in the previous week may be beneficial for some sectors in the economy, particularly in giving consumer spending and the central bank’s foreign-currency reserves a boost during the period.

ING Bank Manila chief economist Joey Cuyegkeng said that the peso’s meantime bias toward the

‘Tough talk on China overlooks realities’

weakening side would “provide a lift to spending overseas Filipino workers’ [OFWs] families” in the near term.

This would happen, as the dollars sent by Filipino migrant workers would have a larger peso value during the period, giving more fuel to consumer spending in the country during the period.

Data from the central bank showed that OFW remittances See “Peso,” A2

Belmonte affirms support on passage of measure to cut individual tax rates

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

he leader of the House of Representatives has recently expressed support for the passage of the measure lowering individual tax rates.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in a recent interview with reporters, said that now is the right time to readjust the tax on income to increase the take-home pay of ordinary workers.

“The value of money is going down, but the rates not only of income tax haven’t been resolved in a long time. So on that principle, yes, readjust them with the values that they had,” Belmonte said.

Currently, there are 14 bills pending at the lower chamber seeking to lower the individual and corporate tax rates.

Belmonte said that the Congress leaders may discuss the tax-

PESO exchange rates n US 46.7050

reform measure during their regular monthly meeting.

“Actually, we are due to have a meeting with the senators. So we can see what measures are the doables, so that we can achieve the doables. But there’s no schedule yet [of that meeting],” the Speaker said.

Under the lower chamber’s version of the bill, individuals earning below P180,000 annually will be exempted from paying income tax.

In the current setup, those earning P10,000 or less per month pay a 5-percent income tax.

The bill also reduces the income-tax rate for those earning above P180,000 to 5 percent. The highest rate, at 30 percent, will be paid by those earning P1.1 million annually, he said.

Currently, those with yearly earnings of P500,000 and above pay a 32-percent income tax.

The Philippines has the secondhighest individual income-tax rate in the region, at 32 percent, next to Thailand and Vietnam’s 35 percent, See “Tax,” A2

C

HARLESTON, South Carolina—If there was ever a week for the 2016 Republican presidential candidates to talk tough on China, this was it. Spurred by the stock market’s wild ride, they lashed out at the world’s most populous nation.

Scott Walker demanded that President Barack Obama cancel an upcoming state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mike Huckabee said the next president should “build America’s economy, not China’s or Mexico’s.” Donald Trump said the US economy needs to “do a big uncoupling pretty soon, before it’s too late.”

It’s rhetoric that doesn’t always square with the realities of the relationship between the

world’s two largest economies, said experts on America’s ties with China, even if it does make for nifty campaign sound bites.

“When you’re in the early phases of the primary season, and you don’t have a lot in the way of foreign-policy bona fides, a sure-fire applause line is to go to the extreme—and in the case of China, that’s always a very easy thing to do,” said Jon Huntsman, a former Republican governor of Utah and US ambassador to China under Obama.

No candidate went further than Trump, whose pledge to bring back to the US the roughly 2 million jobs lost to China since 1999 is a centerpiece of his campaign. “Not only now have they taken our jobs...but now they are

pulling us down with them,” he said on Monday amid a worldwide swoon in stock prices.

But “uncoupling” the US from China as Trump proposes would mean undoing the largest trade relationship in the world: $592 billion in goods and services were exchanged last year.

While most of that consists of US imports of Chinese products, China is still the United States’ third-largest export market.

General Motors has sold more cars in China than in the US every year since 2010. Apple’s second-largest market for its iPhones, iPads and computers is China. Said Apple CEO Tim Cook this week, “I get updates on our performance in China every day.”

See “China,” A2

n japan 0.3860 n UK 71.9444 n HK 6.0263 n CHINA 7.2916 n singapore 33.3893 n australia 33.4635 n EU 52.5571 n SAUDI arabia 12.4523 Source: BSP (29 August 2015)

NewsSunday A2 Sunday, August 30, 2015

China...

continued from A1

“It would basically be economic suicide to cut yourself off from the second-largest and fastest-growing economy in the world,” said Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Walker said Obama needs to have some “backbone” and call off the planned visit of China’s Xi next month—a response, he said, to China’s “increasing attempts to undermine US interests.”

But the Wisconsin governor didn’t say how he would settle issues between the nations without such face-to-face meetings. Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, called Walker’s idea “the nuclear option” of diplomacy.

“You can’t just close the door and take your toys and go home,” she said. “That’s not the way that effective international policy is made.”

Glaser said the US-China relationship is best managed by meetings between the chief executives of the two nations, due in no small part to the immense power Xi wields in Beijing.

“If we can persuade Xi Jinping to do something, it will happen,” she said. “That’s actually quite different from a democratic country.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio didn’t go as far as Walker, arguing instead to downgrade Xi’s upcoming trip to a “working visit”— keeping the face-to-face meetings, but scrapping the public pomp and circumstance.

“This is an opportunity to speak bluntly to this authoritarian ruler and achieve meaningful progress,” Rubio said on Friday in a speech outlining his proposed approach to the US-China relationship. He called for bolstering the American military presence in the Pacific, pushing for more free trade and holding the Chinese government accountable on human rights.

The Republicans running in 2016, if successful in winning the White House, won’t be the first to talk tough on China only to face the realities of the relationship once in the Oval Office. It’s something Democrats have done, too.

Peter Feaver, a former National Security Council aide to both President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, recalled Clinton in 1992 calling the Chinese government “the butchers of Beijing”— a reference to the crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square. By the end of his first term, Clinton had bestowed “mostfavored-nation” status on China, further cementing the two nations’ trade relationship.

Glaser said the Republican candidates likely will persist with tough talk on China, because there is no political incentive to do otherwise. Labor unions dislike many international trade deals.

American businesses are increasingly disenchanted with China’s own protectionist policies. Non-governmental organizations decry its human-rights record. AP

BusinessMirror

Peso...

continued from A1 send an average of $2 billion per month to the country.

This means that the $2 billion sent

by OFWs in July this year would have a peso value of P90.53 billion at an average rate of P45.265 to a dollar in July, while the $2-billion remittances sent in August this year would have a peso value of P92.28 billion at an average rate of P46.142 against the US dollar during the month—altogether spelling a difference of P1.75 billion in a month’s difference.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) research officer Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, meanwhile, said that the peso is still seen to maintain a weakening bias—as allowed by the central bank to depreciate.

“The peso will probably take its cue more from external factors. We do not see the US dollar to Philippine peso rate falling below P46 anytime soon, as the BSP could take the opportunity to replenish some of the foreign-exchange reserves they had sold in the market in the last three weeks,” Mapa explained.

The local currency hit is lowest point on Monday, when it shed about a third of a peso to near the P47 territory due largely to global developments, particularly in China.

Despite the depreciation, the peso has been found to be one of the least hit currencies in Asia during the global debacle.

This relative strength of the currency—as compared to its neighbor countries’ money value—is said to be one of the possible reasons for the sustained fall in inflation in recent months, the Singapore-based DBS Bank economist Gundy Cahyadi said.

“Strong foreign remittance flows have been supporting the peso amid the recent bouts of financial-market volatilities,” Cahyadi added.

Tax...

news@businessmirror.com.ph

continued from A1

and the highest value-added tax (VAT) at 12 percent as the country’s current individual income-tax bracket has remained unchanged since 1997.

Earlier, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quim­bo of Marikina also appealed to Congress leaders to urge President Aquino to immediately convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) to tackle the measure lowering of income taxes.

Quimbo, one of the authors of the bill at the lower chamber, asked Senate President Franklin M. Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to initiate discourse with President Aquino on lowering income taxes through the Ledac with the end view of comparing data and reaching a consensus on the proposal for income-tax reforms.

Also, the Department of Finance (DOF) has already proposed to President Aquino to reduce the individual income and corporate taxes but recover the revenue losses from that tax reform by increasing the VAT. The President, however, reportedly junked the proposal of the finance agency.

In a DOF memorandum, the agency asked Mr. Aquino to endorse its proposed “Comprehensive Tax Reform Package,” which includes an all-in income-tax exemption of P1 million to all wage earners.

However, the department also proposed to increase VAT from 12 percent to 14 percent, and expand VAT based by removing all exemption except agriculture, health, banks, education and remove zerorating except direct exports.

Meanwhile, besides President Aquino, several lawmakers have also expressed their opposition to the DOF plan reducing the individual income and corporate taxes and increase the VAT.

Deputy Majority Leader and National Unity Party Rep. Magtanggol T. Gunigundo of Valenzuela said that increasing VAT proposal must be evaluated as it appears self-defeating and negates the perceived positive effects of lowering income-tax rates, which is key to a broader tax base.

“Coupled with simple easy to follow rules, compliance rates and revenue collection will definitely improve with lower tax rates, not to mention improving the savings ratio of Filipinos. Increasing VAT rate from 12 percent to 14 percent might dampen the spending mood of taxpayers and could lead to a slowdown of the economy,” Gunigundo said.

Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers and Terry Ridon of Kabataan, meanwhile, said that reforming the individual income tax system is long overdue and must be addressed by the Aquino administration, “but raising VAT is not an option.”

“We vehemently oppose any move to raise the VAT to offset revenue losses from the lowering of individual tax rates. That would regressively shift the tax burden from lower and middle fixed-income earners to the poor working mainly in the informal economy,” Tinio said.

On the other hand, Ridon said that “I don’t think the DOF should hold hostage the imperative of reducing individual in-

BELMONTE: “The value of money is going down but the rates not only of income tax haven’t been resolved in a long time.”

come taxes by foisting upon the specter of a higher VAT. The latter is a clearly unacceptable proposal given its negative impact on the incomes of all Filipinos.”

House Committee on Ways and Means member and Liberal Party Rep. Anthony G. del Rosario of Davao del Norte, meanwhile, said that the DOF should study the VAT increase on luxury goods.

“I support the reduction of the individual tax rates. This will result in a larger take-home pay, thus, benefiting everyone. The economy will directly benefit from bigger consumer spending. But I don’t agree with increasing VAT from 12 percent to 14 percent, however I might be willing to accept a VAT increase but only for luxury goods,” del Rosario said.

Liberal Party Rep. Ben Evardone of Samar also asked the DOF to restudy its proposal.

“[The DOF] should rethink it because VAT affects everybody. It will have negative impact on the entire sector of society,” he said.

For Party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada, the DOF should maintain the VAT at 12 percent but “review all payroll taxes The value of money is going down but the rates not only of income tax haven’t been resolved in a long time.

EconomySunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

With onset of Asean integration, lawmaker files bill to strengthen Islamic banking in PHL

A

measure strengthening the Islamic banking in the Philippines has been recently filed at the House of Representatives.

In House Bill (HB) 5989, Party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of Anak Mindanao is pushing for an increase in the number of Islamic and conventional banks that can operate Islamic banking windows “to achieve a genuine and productive economic activity in the country.”

The measure seeks to amend Republic Act 6848, or the Charter of Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines, and providing for the regulation and organization of an expanded Islamic banking system in the Philippines.

“There is a need to review and amend the said law for the country to significantly participate in the recent global developments in Islamic banking and provide appropriate regulatory frameworks and policies for local banks and financial institutions to engage in Islamic banking,” the lawmaker said.

According to Hataman, the measure provides the necessary framework and infrastructure for the country to engage in this rising global phenomenon; develop competencies among Filipinos; and popularize the concept of Islamic banking in the country.

The Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank, which was established in 1974, is one of the oldest Islamic banks in the world, making the Philippines a pioneer in Islamic banking.

Currently there are at least 700 Islamic financial institutions operating across more than 70 countries, with the industry registering an annual growth rate of 16.94 percent from 2009 to 2013.

Hataman said that the key stakeholders in the government and private sector must work together to increase financial facilities in the country for financial inclusion and encourage more inflows from foreign investors.

“Islamic banks, both local and foreign banks, can operate in the Philippines provided they are universal banks. Existing local banks can also operate Islamicbanking units,” she said.

Hataman, citing the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s guidelines on universal banks, said that setting up a new Islamic bank requires capitalization of P5 billion.

“We’d like to invite everyone, Muslim and nonMuslims, to take a closer look at Islamic banking as an alternative-financing modality, instrument and facility. This is very good for the economy, considering the enormous potentials of the halal industry.

As we enter the Asean integration, we need to attain financial inclusion for the Muslims in the country,” she said.

Meanwhile Senior State Solicitor Maisara Dandamun Latiph, lead convener of the technical working group that drafted the measure, said, “This bill is a product of convergence of different agencies and sectors. We look forward to its passage to strengthen ethical banking in the country through socially responsible funds and investments. It aims to allow the growth of Islamic banks, paving the way for other investors, both local and international.”

Dr. Nataliya Mylenko, World Bank senior financial sector specialist, also reiterated the significance of Islamic banking in light of the Asean integration.

Mylenko added the potential of Islamic banking and finance in the areas of microfinance and available financing products for small and medium enterprise.

Dr. Zamir Iqbal, head of the World Bank Global Islamic Finance Development Center, emphasized that Islamic banking is not exclusive to Muslims and is, in fact, a growing global industry even in non-Muslim countries, like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Africa.

“From a mere $150-billion industry in the mid1990s, Islamic finance is now worth $1.8 trillion, with presence not just in the Gulf areas, but even in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia,” Zamir said.

“Islamic banking may also be termed structured financing, participation banking, partnership finance. Most people think it is only about being interest-free but that is less than half of what it is all about,” he said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Sunday, August 30, 2015 A3

BSP says zero-remittance day hardly affected local economy

T

By Bianca Cuaresma

he zero-remittance day—or the day chosen by Filipino migrant workers to not send a single cent of remittance to the country as a protest to existing government regulations—will not likely post a significant bump to the general economy, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said.

Central bank Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo, however, said that this does not mean that the government should not pay attention to what overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are trying to say in the protest.

In a response to the BusinessMirror on Saturday, Guinigundo said that “one day of no remittance will hardly be felt by the general economy,” but added that the “meaning of what our OFWs are doing should not be lost on both the government and the OFWs themselves.”

Earlier, several OFW groups declared on August 28 as “No Remittance Day” to dramatize their protest to the recent regulation from

GUINIGUNDO: “We get normally around $2 billion monthly. So that translates into $70 million daily.”

the Bureau of Customs (BOC), giving the government the power to inspect balikbayan boxes from other countries before letting them through on Philippine shores. Smuggling and taxation are among the issues cited by the bureau.

However, Filipino migrant work-

ers fear that the new regulation will only cause officials to be more corrupt and use the recent mandate not for its intended purpose, but to take hold of possessions sent by Filipinos abroad.

“One day of [no] remittance will leave the families of OFWs with a little less to fund their needs, but if the government addresses their concerns, there could be a workable solution to the issue,” Guinigundo told the BusinessMirror.

For this year, Filipino migrant workers have already sent about $12.08 bi l lion in the f irst si x months of 2015, data from the central bank showed.

“We get normally around $2 billion monthly. So that translates into $70 million daily,” Guinigundo said. “ T he impact w il l, therefore, depend on both the duration and the volume of remittance that the OFWs decided to withhold,” Guinigundo added.

The Palace has already said earlier that it is not worried about the recent protest staged by Filipino migrant workers, and said that similar events in the past did not prove to derail general economic movement.

The August remittance data will be released by the central bank by mid-October this year.

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, August 30, 2015

editorial

The country’s richest persons and questions of social equity

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HE revelation two days ago by Forbes of the richest individuals in our country gives us the opportunity to greet and acknowledge these great individuals, and also to improve and strengthen our statistical system. Making a success of a small-scale enterprise of 100 employees is already an achievement. Succeeding in the management of vast, varied and diversified business and commercial empires of thousands of workers has to be a feat of genius.

The contribution of these industrial leaders to the attainment of the national goal of prosperity for all Filipinos is difficult to measure.

The Forbes List for the Philippines contained the country’s 50 richest persons on the basis of their net worth. The estimates of net worth were based on the stock prices and the exchange rate on August 14, 2015.

To have a flavor of this phenomenon, we mention here the top three and bottom three persons on the list and their net worth. The richest Filipinos are 1) Henry Sy Sr. (retail, banking and property development), $14.4 billion; 2) John L. Gokongwei Jr. (food, airlines and property development), $5.5 billion; 3) Andrew L. Tan (property development, leisure and quick-service restaurants), $4.5 billion; 48) Felipe L. Gozon (television), $155 million; 49) Walter Brown (retail), $140 million; and 50) Alfredo Ramos (publishing), $120 million.

These riches, as already said, no doubt have contributed to the growth and development of the national economy, the country’s gross domestic product, specifically to the attainment of prosperity for our people. But to what extent has this tremendous wealth contributed to the generation of employment and the attainment of social equity in our society? To what extent have the great enterprises followed their own guiding light of corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

Here we come face to face with a deficiency of our national statistical system. We do not have the statistics to answer the above questions.

For one, net-worth figures are difficult to put in perspective because National Balance Sheets, the accounting statements in which net worth appears, are not compiled and published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (nor by any other country for that matter), despite the United Nations Statistical Department’s advice that these statements be collected and published.

Nor do we have figures on employment—in particular, the number of people employed directly and indirectly in wealthy enterprises. Neither do we have the statistics on the amount of remuneration paid to workers. On the corporate responsibility side, though it is known that big businesses have sociallyoriented programs, statistical information on CSR is sparse.

We use this as an occasion to urge our National Statistics Office to begin compiling and publishing the National Balance Sheet, enlarging and strengthening facts and figures on employment, compensation paid to workers and CSR programs.

Statistics on these dimensions of national life will give concreteness to the notion of connectivity between private-sector initiatives in production and the welfare of our countrymen and countrywomen involved in those initiatives, including the elimination or reduction of income inequalities in our society.

Children of the world: We are standing watch for you

By Oscar Arias Sanchez TNS

S

AN JOSE—Twenty-eight years ago this month, an indigenous woman stood in the plaza in Guatemala City, watching as the presidents of Central America walked out into the street after signing the Peace Accords that would end the civil wars in our region. When I reached her, she took both my hands in hers and said, “Thank you, Mr. President, for my child who is in the mountains fighting, and for the child I carry in my womb.”

I don’t need to tell you that I have wondered about that woman’s children ever since. I never met them, but those children of conflict are never far from my thoughts. Those children, and others like them, were the audience of the peace treaty I had drafted. They were its true authors, its reason for being. Theirs were the human lives behind every letter we put onto the page, every word we negotiated.

For the presidents who signed the treaty, achieving peace was the most important challenge of our lives. For those children, it was life or death.

But our victory for peace in 1987 did not fully safeguard those children, or millions more like them, because the weapons that had poured into our region during our conflicts did not disappear when the white flag was raised.

For years after arms suppliers channelled weapons to armies or paramilitary forces during the 1980s, those weapons were found in the hands of the gangs that roamed the countryside of Nicaragua, or of teenage boys on the streets of San Salvador and Tegucigalpa. Other weapons were shipped to guerrilla or paramilitary groups, as well as drug cartels in Colombia, ready to destroy yet more lives.

“Throughout modern history, we have, in effect, told the children of the world that while we will regulate

Gospel

Sunday, August 30, 2015

N

the international trade in food and textiles and any other product under the sun, we are not interested in regulating the international trade in deadly weapons.”

We had walked into a new era of peace, but the weapons of the past were shackles at our feet.

As I watched this happen in my region, I also learned that the international trade in arms, free from any regulations whatsoever, was feeding unnecessary violence like this all over the world.

Throughout modern history, we have, in effect, told the children of the world that while we will regulate the international trade in food and textiles and any other product under the sun, we are not interested in regulating the international trade in deadly weapons, even when those weapons are being sold to dictators or other violators of human rights, or placed directly into the hands of child soldiers.

So, in 1997, I began my call for a treaty to regulate the trade of arms. I was quickly joined by fellow Nobel Peace laureates, and then by friends and allies all over the world.

On Christmas Eve 2014, the International Arms Trade Treaty finally took effect. And now, in Cancún, Mexico, between August 24 and 27, the first-ever Conference of Parties to the Treaty is being held so that its implementation can move forward.

I never thought I would see this day; I am delighted that I have. I am also filled with new determination to make sure that the treaty lives up to its potential. For the treaty is a powerful tool, but it will only protect our children if we give it teeth. It will only protect our children if we implement it fully. It will only protect our children if we ensure that consensus is not used as an excuse for inaction.

I urge the 72 nations that have ratified the treaty to define an alternative to consensus so that one party cannot paralyse implementation. The perfect is the enemy of

OW when the Pharisees gathered together to Him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?”

And He said to them, “Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you

the good—and in this case, with human lives depending on our swift resolution of pending issues, inaction would be anything but perfect.

It would be a travesty.

We must also continue to raise our voices in the face of tremendous opposition from groups that continue to oppose the treaty, arguing that it infringes upon national sovereignty. Quite the opposite is true: no sane definition of national sovereignty includes the right to sell arms for the violation of human rights in other countries. A nation willing to carry out such an act is not defending itself, but rather infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations that only want to live in peace.

We must also avoid using the danger and terrorism in the world today as an excuse for lack of regulation. Cicero’s famous phrase “silent enimleges inter armas”—among arms, laws are silent—has often been used to support the mind-set that the law does not apply during times of war.

But it is at times of war that the law must speak most bravely. When weapons are circulating freely into the worst possible hands, the law must speak. When the lives of the innocent are placed in danger by an absence of regulation, the law must speak.

And we must speak, today—in favor of this crucial treaty, and its swift and effective implementation.

If we do, then when today’s children of conflict look to us for guidance and leadership, we will no longer look away in shame. We will be able to tell them, at long last, that we are standing watch for them. We are on guard. Someone is finally ready to take action.

Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica (1986 to 1990 and 2006 to 2010) and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, wrote this opinion piece to accompany the First Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (Cancún, Mexico, August 24 to 27, 2015).

hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

And He called the people to Him again, and said to them, “Hear Me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”— Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, August 30, 2015 A5

Wow! J Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

UAN PONCE ENRILE was granted bail by a giant majority of the Supreme Court (SC). The grant is good law and right judgment.

A man is innocent until proven guilty.

The right of a man or woman to be free is absolute; and while any man can be arrested even for what he did not do, his continued detention on mere allegations of crimes is insufficient to deny him liberty.

This is especially true when

evidence of his alleged guilt is hidden by the government so he is unable to dispute the strength of that evidence as a motivation for his flight. Enrile is incapable of flight; not only because he can barely see; but his hearing is so bad he cannot navigate in the dark. To insist on his detention in those circumstances is ignorant beyond belief on the part of any lawyer.

But to say what even Enrile has

not, yet the decision says on his behalf that, because of Enrile’s “solid reputation in both his public and private lives, his long years of public service, and history’s judgment of him being at stake, he should be granted bail” beggars belief both in the brazenness of its stupidity and in the callousness of its mendacity.

And yet eight justices signed on to this piece of…piece of…piece off.

The SC can do many things, even

wrong things, in passing judgment and so long as they involve judging on the law and the facts it is never impeachable, said Willoughby, because judging is its duty. And, by the way, the SC is a trier of facts, as when justice has been denied because the prosecution dribbled the ball when it wasn’t hiding the ball in pressing a case and will surely do it again before yet another trial court. What the SC cannot do is

further delay justice on the excuse that it is not a trier of facts. It is.

That is how it determines abuse of discretion.

But the SC has no competence whatsoever to pronounce on the moral quality of a person’s life and the patriotism of his public, let alone the morality of his private life as yet another excuse to grant or deny him his right. The quoted remarks have no place in a judicial decision.

The Fed shouldn’t raise interest rates

By Joseph E. Stiglitz Los Angeles Times (TNS)

A

S central bank governors, Federal Reserve (the Fed) officials, economists and reporters convene for the annual economic policy retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend, the question on everyone’s mind is: Will the Fed raise interest rates come in September?

The answer should clearly be “no.”

The preponderance of economic data indicates that the predictable costs of premature tightening—slower job and wage growth—far outweigh the risk of accelerating inflation. Six years into a lackluster US expansion, price growth for personal consumption expenditures— excluding food and energy—has averaged less than 1.5 percent annually in the recovery, well below the Fed’s unofficial 2-percent inflation target. It slowed to 1.3 percent so far in 2015.

Global economic forces are poised to drive inflation still lower. Last week, oil

prices fell to $42, a low not seen since February 2009. Europe’s growth remains anemic and is likely to remain so: The International Monetary Fund forecast for 2015 is just 1.5 percent. And while it is difficult to piece together a precise picture of what is happening in China, most experts see growth slowing markedly, with effects in other emerging markets.

With a weaker euro and yuan, our exports will decrease and our imports increase. Together, this will put pressure on domestic businesses and the job market, which is hardly robust. Despite a headline unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, the true labor-market situation faced by working families in the United States remains dire. Millions remain trapped in disguised unemployment and part-time employment.

As of July, the nation faced a jobs gap of 3.3 million—the number needed to reach prerecession—employment levels, while also absorbing the people who entered the potential

labor force. The true unemployment rate, including those working part time involuntarily and marginally attached, is more than 10.4 percent.

Poor labor-market conditions are also reflected in wages and incomes.

So far this year, wages for production nonsupervisory workers, which tracks closely to the median wage, fell by 0.5 percent. Median household income—a better indicator of how well the economy is doing as seen by the typical American than gross domestic product—at last measure was lower than it was a quarter-century ago. It is hard to see why the Fed would choose slower job and wage growth for most Americans just to protect against the theoretical risk of moderately higher inflation. But, then again, it’s often hard to understand the Fed’s policy choices, which tend to contribute to widening inequality in the US. Too often, after the end of one recession, the Fed, fearing inflation, has used monetary policy to dampen the economic expansion. Its maneuvers keep inflation

low but unemployment higher than it, otherwise, would be, negatively affecting all workers, not just those out of a job. Workers in jobs face greater stresses, downward pressure on wages and diminished opportunities for upward career mobility. The costs of higher unemployment are borne disproportionately by people in lower-income jobs, who also tend to be disproportionately people of color and women.

After the 2008 crisis, the Fed tried to stimulate the economy by buying bank debt, mortgage-backed securities and Treasury assets directly from the market—so-called quantitative easing— which disproportionately benefited the rich. Data on wealth ownership show clearly that the portfolios of the rich are weighed more toward equity, and one of the main channels through which quantitative easing (QE) helped the economy was to increase equity prices. So QE was yet another instance of failed trickledown economics—by giving more to the rich, the Fed hoped that everyone

would benefit. But so far, these policies have enriched the few without returning the economy to full employment or broadly shared income growth.

The Fed has been forthright in pointing out the limits of monetary policy to help the economy. Fiscal policy could lead to stronger and more equitable growth, but the Republican-led Congress has demanded austerity. Still, there is more the Fed could do. It could do more to curb excessive debit-card fees and the anticompetitive charges that credit and debit cards impose on merchants. These fees lead to higher prices and lower real incomes of workers. It could also do more to encourage lending to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Easiest of all, it could choose not to raise interest rates. All policy is made under uncertainty. In this case, however, the risks are one-sided: Ordinary Americans, in particular, will be hurt by a premature rate rise, as the economy slows, unemployment increases and there is even more downward pressure on wages.

Failing to act on climate change is an inexcusable moral failure

By Jim Waggy

Charleston Gazette-Mail TNS Forum

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HE responses of coal-country business leaders and politicians to the Clean Power Plan recently announced by President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency demonstrate that there are no limits to their willingness to pursue coal—industry profits without regard for the harmful consequences of their decisions and actions.

The coal industry has a long history of such irresponsible behavior.

That’s why West Virginia has biologically degraded streams from perpetual acid-mine drainage, fish that can’t be eaten because of too much mercury in their flesh, unstable toxic-sludge impoundments looming over communities, and ecologically vital headwater streams buried under massive piles of

rubble. It’s also why coal miners experience agonizing deaths from black-lung disease, coal-field residents suffer elevated risks of contracting numerous chronic or lethal diseases, and miners are stripped of their hard-won pensions and health benefits.

The coal industry does not have to operate in such a destructive manner.

But the majority of industry decision makers choose to use their economic and political power to oppose every effort to minimize environmental impacts or improve the safety of miners and the health of communities. Yet in opposing the Clean Power Plan, these business leaders and politicians are rising to unprecedented levels of cynicism and recklessness. While they have long shown a willingness to turn regions of the world into virtual sacrifice zones, their new message is that they don’t mind doing the same thing to the entire planet. The coal industry is a primary contributor to

the increase in greenhouse gases that is destabilizing our global climate and global ecosystems.

We are already experiencing impacts from this destabilization, such as more violent and extreme storms, floods, wildfires and droughts. If we continue on our present course, the best evidence indicates that the impacts from climate change will shift from severe to catastrophic. So in opposing the Clean Power Plan, the message from these business leaders and politicians is that they don’t mind inflicting significant harm on every single person on the planet to protect industry profits. Not only that, but they don’t care if continuing to burn fossil fuels for energy degrades the planet for every human that will live on Earth in the future and places the very survival of future generations at risk. Of course, they don’t say it that way. The message comes through in their silence, as they continue to promote coal as an energy

source without even mentioning the enormous challenge of human-caused climate change. And the message comes through as they harass climate scientists, distort scientific information, and work to undermine all substantive attempts at solutions. Since they have nothing useful to say about how to address climate change, they try to change the subject.

They claim the real issue is that Obama is engaging in executive overreach and conducting a personal war on the coal industry. What they don’t say is that the leader of the free world has a moral obligation to respond to this global threat. And we can’t ask other nations to step up to this challenge unless we prove to them that the United States is capable of decisive, meaningful actions.

These business and political leaders also fail to mention that Obama is resorting to executive initiatives because a historically dysfunctional Congress that is filled with members who spend far too

much time begging for campaign cash from billionaires has proven itself utterly incapable of responsible decisions and effective actions.

The irony of all this is that the business community loves to talk about free market economies being dynamic, innovative and flexible—capable of “creative destruction.” Yet what they seem to have in mind is businesses moving across state lines for tax advantages, or corporations moving entire operations to other countries to take advantage of cheap labor. But why can’t we rethink and restructure business models for the purpose of maintaining the health of planetary systems on which we are completely dependent? Well, the very notion strikes many business leaders as preposterous, outrageous and impossible—obviously some sort of radical socialist conspiracy that will cause the economy to crash and our country to go straight down the tubes.

Seeing murder live on TV is traumatic for kids

By Peter Nickeas Chicago Tribune (TNS)

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HE difference between the shooting of TV journalists in Virginia and every other act of gun violence is that the Internet had to see the fear on a woman’s face as she realized she was about to die.

There is a regularity to violence in urban areas. On Wednesday, everyone saw what violence looks like, except the victims are usually a little younger and have darker skin. It’s not often caught on video, so the reaction isn’t so visceral. This is what violence feels like to people who see it happen, we can now all say, because we’ve all seen it happen. Chicago alone has more than

2,000 shootings a year. Go to a crime scene and ask kids if they have seen someone shot. And the answer will be, “Well, the first time....”

What the Internet is going through right now is almost a rite of passage for kids in urban areas. So for everyone sitting at work saying, “Man, that video messed me up,” well, yeah. It should mess you up. It’s a disgusting thing to watch. For everyone who says “I can’t even” or “I need to disengage today,” those are normal reactions to exposure to violence. Seek help if seeing people get hurt doesn’t bother you.

The emotional me wants to grab people by their collars and drag them to a crime scene so they can see the ghostly faces of people who saw it happen,

lingering around waiting for detectives, or the anger behind someone’s eyes while they sit there staring at the body.

The logical me knows that’s not right.

I can’t begrudge someone for being fortunate enough to have never seen or been exposed to violence. I was stewing on all this on the train on Wednesday morning. I was (and sort of still am) having a hard time with educated people from nice homes in nice neighborhoods who went to nice schools being outraged by something that is a regular occurrence. (Just that morning, someone shot into a crowd with an automatic weapon on Chicago’s West Side, killing one and wounding three others.)

I thought to myself: I can’t deal with the outrage and the hot takes

and the grief, so I’m just going to leave social media for the day. I’m going to transcribe interviews and enjoy the scanners and go to an event for work tonight, maybe have a giant glass of Jameson when I get home and sleep in tomorrow.

And then this woman stepped on the train with a small child in a stroller.

She was 9 months old, wore a white bonnet, a blue-and-white striped shirt and had giant brown eyes. Her eyes moved around the train, from face to face, soaking it all in. She had a sort of mischievous grin. (One that my father would call “an Eddie Haskell grin.”) She made faces at me, I’m fairly certain, so I made faces back. The woman sitting next to me was waving and seemed to

derive great pleasure from seeing the child find delight in new sights and sounds. Innocence personified. So I go back and forth.

This world is broken, that it’s in someone’s head to film a murder and upload it to social media. But there’s some good to live for, even if it’s just children who haven’t yet had to face the reality that everyone today is now facing. It hurts to think, though, that this chubby-cheeked child with endless curiosity and eyes that could melt you is going to grow into a world where, yeah, seeing violence is sort of normal. And if she lives in any number of areas in Chicago, it will probably happen sooner than later. A friend, a relative, a loved one.

A6

NewsSunday

Sunday, August 30, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Severe drought threatens Metro Manila, Biliran

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xperts forecast this year’s anticipated record droughtdriving El Niño phenomenon to further lessen rainfall in the country, worsening water woes of Metro Manila and other areas.

“We expect severe drought conditions in Metro Manila and Biliran province by the end of February 2016,” said Anthony Lucero, Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section OIC of state weather agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

He also said moderate or less severe drought conditions are likely by February 2016’s end in several areas across Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Pagasa identified such areas as Luzon’s Region 3 (Central Luzon), Region 4B (Mimaropa), and Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Camarines Sur,

Albay, Sorsogon and Catanduanes provinces; the Visayas’s Panay Island and Negros Occidental, Cebu and Leyte provinces; Mindanao’s Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga provinces, as well as Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Moderate drought is also likely by then in parts of Quezon province, mainland Cagayan Valley and mainland ARMM, Pagasa noted.

According to Pagasa, drought is three consecutive months of way below-normal rainfall condition, or over 60-percent reduction from average rainfall.

Drought can also be five consecutive months of below-normal rainfall condition, or 21-percent to 60-percent reduction from average rainfall, Pagasa continued.

Severe drought covers longer periods, however, Lucero noted.

He urged all sectors to prepare accordingly and use water wisely.

Latest available data indicate the “strong” El Niño that’s already in progress in the tropical Pacific will likely further intensify to a new record high.

“The El Niño at present can possibly become stronger than this phenomenon’s strongest episode during the 1997 to 1998 period,” he noted.

A study published in 2009 in the Philippine Journal of Development cited the 1997 to 1998 El Niño as the strongest to affect the country during the 20th century.

The study also said the 1997 to 1998 El Niño was worse than its

1982 to 1983 counterpart, which caused an estimated $13 billion in global damages.

Philippine damage from the 1982 to 1983 El Niño reached some $450 million, the study noted.

According to Pagasa, weather systems that might affect the country this September despite the prevailing El Niño are ridge of high-pressure area, as well as the rain-driving southwest monsoon, intertropical convergence zone, low-pressure area and tropical cyclones (TCs).

Expected in the country are two to four TCs this September, two to three TCs in October, one to two TCs in November and zero to one TC each in December, as well as January and February 2016, Pagasa also said.

For Metro Manila, this September,

however, Pagasa forecast below-normal rainfall which is among occurrences during El Niño episodes.

The agency expects conditions in Metro Manila to further worsen afterward, forecasting in this megalopolis way below-normal rainfall from October to February 2016.

State forecasters expect Metro Manila to be alreadydrought-stricken by February next year.

For Biliran, Pagasa forecast belownormal rainfall from September to December. Biliran will likely experience way below-normal rainfall in January and below-normal rainfall in February, Pagasa noted.

Pagasa forecast Biliran to be under the dry spell by 2015’s end and drought-stricken by February next year. PNA

New UN facility seen to boost PHL greening effort

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he Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is gearing up to sustain the gains of the National Greening Program (NGP) with a six-year program funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Office (UN-FAO).

Through the National Forest and Landscape Restoration Program (NFLRP), the DENR hopes to expand the country’s forest covers while fighting hunger and poverty across the country during the program’s implementation from 2017 to 2022.

Director Ricardo Calderon of the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau said the program is being finalized but the proposal was already approved by the FAO. “We are now just waiting for inception meeting,” he said.

He said the program will build on the gains and use the facilities and expertise developed during NGP implementation.

As the Aquino administration’s flag-

ship reforestation program, the six-year NGP aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of open, degraded and denuded forest.

Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje claimed that the successful implementation of the NGP from 2011 to 2014 alone was able to help the country “reverse the tide of environmental degradation” through the rehabilitation of over 1.3 million hectares, only about 200,000 hectares shy of achieving its over-all target as of December 2014.”

With the new program setting in, Calderon expressed elation that efforts to expand the country’s forest cover will be sustained beyond 2016.

A $300,000 (P12-million) budget has been allocated by the UN-FAO for the program’s design alone.

“The program will be designed from September to December this year and pilot-tested in the whole of 2016,” Calderon said.

There will be at least one pilot site in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, the country’s three major islands.

“As we phase out NGP, the NFL-RP sets in. The program is to continue our rehabilitation effort,” said Calderon, also the national coordinator of the NGP which will be on its last and final year of implementation next year.

The program, Calderon said, will have a multistakeholder consultation component or process, wherein all stakeholders will be asked to provide inputs “to have a well-consulted program ready for the next administration.”

“It [the program] is aligned with Zero Deforestation and New York Challenge to reduce deforestation by 50 percent in 2020 and zero deforestation by 2030,” he added. Calderon said that the development of the program is simultaneous with the ones being developed in Peru and Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Preparing for the big crash

Firefighters respond to a crash landing of an Airbus plane at the Davao International Airport. Airport authorities mounted a full-scale mock emergency exercise on Friday to attune all rescuers and disaster agencies to an event of an airplane crash. Manuel T. Cayon

Lawmaker casts doubts on credibility of 2016 national polls

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party-list lawmaker on Saturday expressed apprehension over the credibility of the upcoming 2016 national elections after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) awarded the contract to conduct the source-code review for the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) or Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines to the same company that reviewed source codes used in the 2010 and 2013 automated elections.

Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan said the Comelec announced that it has turned over the source code to the Colorado-based certification company SLI Global Solutions, which also conducted the sourcecode review in the 2010 and 2013 elections on Friday.

“The fact that the same company that conducted the source-code review in the past two automated elections has again been employed for 2016 don’t sit well with us. Combine this with the fact that Smartmatic will again provide new untested ma-

chines, and you’ll have a best-in-class recipe for election fraud,” he said.

The source code, a set of alphanumeric instructions that essentially run the voting machines, is vulnerable to fraud, since questionable lines of code and even backdoor access by third parties can be inserted discreetly and compromise the result of the elections, the lawmaker said.

“It’s like the 2010 elections all over again with the shady machines and shadier source-code review. We call on the Comelec to ensure that the source code will also be opened for review by the public earlier, and not repeat the last-minute submission of source codes that happened in the past two elections,” Ridon said.

Ridon particularly noted that the software for the new OMR machines is newly developed and has not yet subjected to rigorous public testing.

The Comelec should ensure that the upcoming public source-code review should be exhaustive, unlike the

“walk-through reviews” conducted in the past, he added.

“Public scrutiny over the preparations for the upcoming polls should intensify. We must scrutinize every step carefully, because if we don’t identify red flags early on, we might not recognize attempts to commit electoral fraud,” Ridon said.

Earlier, Ridon said that it is very suspicious for both the Comelec and Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. to simply junk the more cost-effective refurbishment contract and proceed with the lease of 93,977 new OMR machines.

“Did the Comelec and Smartmatic intentionally abandon the refurbishment option to cover up glitches that may be discovered in the old PCOS machines?” Ridon said, explaining that the ulterior motive in abandoning the refurbishment option may be to “avoid uncovering glaring glitches in the old PCOS machines.”

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Duterte slackens on no-run stance

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief

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AVAO CITY—Yielding to the national gathering of supporters here that includes former generals and local chief executives, this city’s Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on late Friday night begged for “a little more time, this time to consult his family “and others’” in what was seen as a slackening of his refusal to run for the presidency.

“Please allow me a little more time, let me talk to my daughter, Inday, and my wife, and all the others,” he told a throng of people that composed supporters from Luzon, the Visayas and many areas in Mindanao who mounted a motor caravan from Cagayan de Oro City in northern Mindanao to stage a vigil to persuade him to publicly commit to run for the presidency.

Duterte, as in the past few gatherings in his so-called listening tour, laid down again a word of caution to supporters to persuade him to run.

“You know guys, if you will force me to sit down there as the President and bound by the same limitation as the other presidents have to comply, I would only end up inutile and ineffective to institute the changes that we dream,” he said.

Duterte said he would have to work beyond the limitations of the Constitution “if iI wanted to reform the system.”

“That’s the reality that you have to contend with. Otherwise, find someone else who would just sit there as the next President,” he said.

But he warned both the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the two government insurance agencies “if ever I would

become President.”

“I will turn that Customs upside down, and the Government Service Insurance System to be ran like a bank,” he said.

Earlier in the week, he said the two bureaus of Customs and the Internal Revenue “should be better left privatized to increase transparency and accountability and to keep them away from the pressure of any ruling administration to produce the needed election money.”

Estimates vary of the supporters that came here, from 3,000 to as many as 10,000 to include city residents who listened to short speeches of several mayors, including a local executive from a Batangas town who said he was not afraid to be ostracized by the Liberal Party when he would be seen on television.

HAPPY 81ST BIRTHDAY, AMBASSADOR!

You are a role model for all of us.

Your legacy of inspiration has enriched our lives.

We hope to give back even just a little of the love you have shown us: May this day bring you happiness, endless joy, and more fun-filled and fruitful years!

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Sunday, August 30, 2015

Maybank ATR sees 12% net-profit growth for banking industry in 2015

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By Genivi Factao

AYBANK ATR Kim Eng expects the Philippine banking industry to post a 12-percent growth in core net income this year, as it focuses on consumer lending, “where margins are fatter and penetration is low.”

Maybank ATR analysts Katherine Tan and Arabelle Maghirang said strong economic growth will be sustained, driven by robust domestic demand.

“There will be a corresponding growth in lending activities to be supported by abundant liquidity, which will be channeled into healthy deposit levels. Financial liquidity will also be bolstered by a structural current-account surplus,” the analysts said in a research note.

The analysts said the unbanked areas are essentially the new-growth opportunities for the banking industry.

Their top stock picks include BDO Unibank, Metrobank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), Security Bank and EastWest Bank.

They maintain a “hold” recommendation for the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), China Banking Corp., Philippine Business Bank (PBB), Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank).

Based on the research, BDO has been expanding in underserved areas, as shown by its acquisition of One Network Bank. Its focus on core lending business partially offsets the risk of lower trading gains.

Metrobank is enhancing its niche market. The bank targets a strong loan growth of 18 percent to 20 percent this year, as it grows its niche middle market and consumer businesses.

BPI aims to enhance client relationships by cross-selling products and services to its existing depositors, whose diverse financial requirements remain largely untapped. BPI is also beefing up fee-based earnings by reinforcing assets under management and investment banking.

PNB has to increase economies of scale. The bank still has much untapped potential given its sizable branch network, government loan account and sticky current- and savings-account deposits.

China Bank’s strength in commercial loans is being complemented

by a deepening focus in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and consumer lending. Its investment-banking unit is helping drive fee-based income, now 10 percent of gross earnings.

RCBC is expanding its presence in the middle market, SME and consumer segments. Its plan is to grow with its customers, which will eventually become big players in their respective industries.

Security Bank is diversifying into the consumer market. It has formed a joint venture with FWD Life to offer insurance products that should lift its fee-based income.

EastWest’s new capital of P8 billion from its recent stock-rights offer boosts its consumer lending. It has established its life-insurance segment via its joint venture with Aegeas Insurance International of Belgium.

UnionBank, through City Savings Bank, is gaining traction in teacher’s salary-loan business. Eventually, better credit growth could reduce its dependence on treasury gains.

PBB is undergoing branch expansion and small-scale acquisition.

PBB can easily upgrade to a universal bank, which would then allow broader products and services offering.

Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) is looking at expanding its footprint in the Philippine market.

Maybank Group President and CEO Datuk Ahmad Farid Alias said the country’s demography would bring huge dividends that would further push the economic growth to 7 percent to 8 percent.

He said they intend to expand in the Philippines, but they have no immediate plan of buying a Philippine bank.

local banks hail bsp chief for boosting PHL economic growth

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By Bianca Cuaresma

HE country’s banks welcomed another global plaudit for Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., saying that the central bank has been one of the key agencies behind the broad-based continued expansion of the country.

In a response to a query from the BusinessMirror, Bankers’ Association of the Philippines President and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. President Lorenzo Tan said that the central bank chief deserves the recent award given to him by the international finance magazine Global Finance.

“The governor deserves all the recognitions and accolades for his success in steering the financial sector and the economy to an exemplary performance over the years,” Tan told the BusinessMirror.

“The current strength and stability of the Philippine economy can be partly, if not wholly, attributed to the governor, and we thank international institutions, like the Global Finance magazine, for their due recognition,” he added.

Tetangco was recently recognized as one of the select best central bankers in the world, garnering grade “A” from Global Finance, the highest rating given to a central banker’s performance during the period.

The Philippine central-bank governor is one of the nine central-bank governors given such recognition this year. This is Tetangco’s fifth year in a row and seventh overall grade “A” recognition from the international magazine.

For 2015, Tetangco sustained his rank as one of the best in the world—along with Czech Republic’s Miroslav Singer, European Union’s Mario Draghi, India’s Raghuram Rajan, Israel’s Karnit Flug, Malaysia’s Zeti Akhar Aziz, Paraguay’s Carlos Fernandez Valdovinos, Peru’s Julio Velarde Flores and Taiwan’s Fai-Nan Perng.

The grade “A” rating, according to Global Finance, represents an excellent performance in handling their respective central banks.

The international finance publication has given Tetangco the same recognition in 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and this year.

Tetangco is the only two-term governor in the country. His term ends in 2017.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

More e-jeepneys may boost use of public transport

THE Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) said the deployment of more electric jeepneys (e-jeep) would encourage people to use public transportation and, thus, help solve the worsening traffic in the metropolis.

Rommel Juan, EVAP president, cited the e-jeepneys deployed within Filinvest City in Alabang, Muntinlupa, as an example of an improved and orderly traffic situation when these electric vehicles were introduced.

He said e-jeep units in Filinvest City are managed by a professional fleet-management operator, “so that means that the drivers are not on their own and are not left to drive in an undisciplined and dangerous manner.”

Juan said the fleet operators train their drivers to run their vehicles safely and in an orderly manner. The drivers are compensated on a fixed daily wage, with employment benefits. Lenie Lectura

Condo rent most expensive in Makati

PROPERTY in Ayala Center—the commercial core of the Makati Central Business District— commands the most expensive condo rent per square meter than any area in Metro Manila.

Data from property-listing company Lamudi Philippines showed that renting a condo in Makati’s business district can set a renter back anywhere between P1,144 and P568 per sq m per month.

Hence, living in a 100-sq-m condo in the area—which is within striking distance of Greenbelt, Glorietta and most of Makati’s luxury hotels— will cost a renter as high as P110,000 per month.

Meanwhile, a lawmaker is pushing for a measure requiring all condominium developers to allot no less than a quarter of their total project area where local plants and trees are planted.

House Bill 5963, or the proposed Green Spaces Act of 2015, authored by Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Scott Davies S. Lanete of Masbate, seeks to establish efficient and environment-friendly buildings by providing green spaces in all condominium projects.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 4726, or the Condominium Act. Lorenz Marasigan & Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz