BusinessMirror December 15, 2014 by BusinessMirror

BusinessMirror

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

U.N. Media Award 2008

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INSIDE

building great business relationships Monday, December 15, 2014 E 1

great BuSineSS relationShipS

way to be friendly and helpful.

As I was leaving an appointment with the chief information officer of an investment bank, he handed me an order dramatically increasing their purchase of our software and renewing their contract six months early. I was stunned. There was no reason for him to reorder so early. For me, this was spectacular news: I would earn a lot more money making this sale in late December than in June. Later I realized that after years of having a solid relation-

ship with me, he’d developed an emotional stake in my success. He had used his precious political capital to help me. To me, such a gesture is the defining attribute of a great business relationship. I have identified five steps that can lead someone to have an emotional stake in your professional success:

1. They must like you. You can’t move very far in any relationship without this basic prerequisite. Go out of your

2. They must respect you

professionally. They must admire how you do your work, behave and treat others. Work hard at getting people to respect you. 3. They need to admire your “whole person.” This only

happens as your relationship begins to migrate outside the workplace. Maybe you’ll attend a ballgame together or go to dinner. If the other person feels you are living a life worthy of others’ respect, he will be genuinely happy to hear of your accomplishments.

4. Your lives start to mingle more deeply. Eventually, it becomes natural to invite spouses, significant others and children to your out-of-office interactions. At this stage, they

A CompAnY’s Good deeds CAn enerGize emploYees

may provide a job reference or set up a meeting with a peer of theirs at another company. They will burn some political capital to help you out.

5. You maintain the inten-

sity of the relationship. Consistency and longevity are key. This is where lots of people fall off—once the business benefit disappears, the relationship fades away. Just as it’s about to becomes the most valuable, they turn the dial down or off. Good relationships and trust are the lubricants of a successful career. But it’s important not to pursue relationships cynically. These relationships are only worth pursuing with people you genuinely like.

Jim Dougherty, a veteran software CEO and entrepreneur, is a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management.

WHAT’s losT WHen eXperTs reTire

By Christoph Lueneburger

By Dorothy Leonard, Walter Swap & Gavin Barton

TruGGLInG companies often have a hard time keeping employees engaged. Leaders tend to focus on cost-cutting and big strategy shifts rather than on talent retention. But what if there was a way to revitalize a business while simultaneously energizing its people? In my experience, the key is a culture of purpose. Purpose is a pledge to do the right things, making the company a force for good and a creator of value for all stakeholders, especially employees. (Shareholder returns are a byproduct of this success.) I’d like to offer two case studies on iconic companies that have responded to tough times with purpose-driven initiatives that inspire employees and improve results.

CrOSS the globe, there is a tsunami of Baby Boomer retirements. What does this mean in terms of losing business-critical, experience-based knowledge—what we call deep smarts? One organization reported that the next anticipated wave of almost 700 retirements would mean the loss of over 27,000 years of experience. In dozens of interviews with chief technology officers, chief information officers and top human resource managers for our new book Critical Knowledge Transfer, we found that managers often don’t know what they’ve lost until after the expert leaves. We heard about critical losses in the following four areas. The price tag associated with such losses were estimated to be as much as 20 times the tangible costs of recruitment and training. First, consider relationships. Built up over years, they allowed a seasoned expert to pick up the phone and get a response from a customer’s CEO or a timely bit of analysis from an expert in a different field. A corporation’s reputation may take a hit because an incoming replacement doesn’t have the high level of experience and skills required. And what about rework? Fresh thinking is often very valuable. But when the incoming successor has to spend time understanding product lines or critical processes, learn ways to get things done and how organizational units interact, that’s time-consuming, wasteful re-work. Perhaps the most expensive knowledge to lose is the capability for regeneration, the capability to bring out the next new product. Innovation springs from fresh thinking, true. But it is also often built on years of experience and expertise with designing and producing a particular kind of product. You can never extract and transfer all the deep smarts that an expert has accumulated, but it’s important to identify what needs to be captured. In-depth succession planning, knowledge-sharing programs, even just questioning the experts before they leave are imperative steps to ensure that your organization’s deep smarts stay within the walls of your organization. The four costs we’ve described are widespread and surprisingly pervasive. They put your company at risk, both immediately and in the future. Managers can’t afford to ignore them.

monday morning

American standard

WHEn Jay Gould became CEO of American Standard in January 2012, the 136-year-old sanitation company was bankrupt. “My job,” Gould says, “was to get us back on track.” A key part of its 2013 turnaround was reaching out to places where sanitation remains a life-and-death issue. Collaborating with the Gates Foundation, a small American Standard research and development team devised a plastic toilet pan that can be easily connected to a common latrine pit. The company then launched Flush for Good, which promised that for every Champion brand toilet sold, it would donate a latrine cover to combat disease in the developing world. Champion sales increased by 62 percent in 2013, and over a 20-month stretch, American Standard quadrupled its earnings. Gould says that a 180-percent quantified improvement in employee involvement is just as significant.

free things to see and do in brussels Hewlett-packard

BEFOrE Meg Whitman became its CEO in September 2011, Hewlett-Packard felt rudderless. Whitman has since restructured the company, including separating it into two new publicly traded companies. But she also became committed to strengthening HP’s culture of purpose. Early this year, the company launched “Matter to a Million”—a global partnership between its foundation and Kiva, a nonprofit that helps individuals make microloans to lowincome entrepreneurs in some of the world’s most impoverished regions. HP gave its 270,000 work force the power to direct the donations. Each got a $25 Kiva credit to lend as he or she saw fit, and in the first six months, more than 115,000 employees made loans totaling more than $5.5 million. Matter to a Million is building transformative energy across HP. These are prime examples of how to build a better company by building a better world. Even in adversity, leaders must find the courage to pursue cultures of purpose because there is no surer way to energize employees and unleash the forces that drive business success.

BusinessMirror

Dorothy Leonard is the William J. Abernathy professor of Business Administration Emerita at Harvard Business School and chief adviser of the Leonard-Barton Group. Walter Swap is professor of Psychology Emeritus, former dean of Colleges at Tufts University. Gavin Barton is managing director of the Leonard-Barton Group and a principal of GB Performance Consulting. All are coauthors of Critical Knowledge Transfer, Harvard Business Review Press, 2015.

A6 Monday, December 15, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph In this December 4 file photo, tourists wander at the Grand Place in Brussels. AP

FIVE FrEE thIngs to see and do in

Brussels FIVE FrEE thIngs to sEE and do In

By Raf Casert | The Associated Press

tourism&entertainment B RUSSELS—The city of Brussels, which the famous Belgian cartoon character Tintin roamed as an intrepid reporter, has plenty to offer to any inquisitive mind. And the Belgian capital is making it easier for tourists.

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 36 pages | 7 days a week

By Lenie Lectura

House set to approve today 2015 natl budget

Tourism & Entertainment

Christoph Lueneburger leads the private equity practice at Egon Zehnder. He is the author of A Culture of Purpose: How to Choose the right People and Make the right People Choose You, Jossey-Bass, 2014.

n Monday, December 15, 2014 Vol. 10 No. 67

“As a big net fuel importer, emerging Asia is a main beneficiary of the recent plunge in global crude-oil prices. The drop is helpful for the balance of payments and inflation, provides space for macropolicy, and is supportive of economic growth. These gains bolster the region’s readiness to absorb the likely steps toward US monetary-policy normalization in 2015,” the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said in its December 10 report. In the Philippines oil firms reduced anew on Sunday the prices of diesel by P1.55 per liter, gasoline by P1.75 per liter and kerosene by P1.80 per liter. The latest See “Oil,” A2

Five StepS to Building By Jim Dougherty

ountries in the Asian region, including the Philippines, stand to benefit from the unprecedented drop in oil prices, which could plummet further in early 2015.

30 DAYS

t was the early 1990s, the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I was working as a sales representative for a software company.

‘Oil prices to plummet further’

BusinessMirror

DROP IN GLOBAL CRUDE-OIL COST TO BOOST GROWTH OF PHL, EMERGING ASIA

PAPAL VISIT 2015

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business

he House of Representatives is set to approve on Monday (today) the Palace-proposed P22.46-billion supplemental budget and ratify the proposed 2015 P2.606-trillion national budget, a lower chamber leader said on Sunday. Liberal Party Rep. Isidro Ungab of Davao City, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the majority of the lawmakers are expected to vote for the passage of the two important budget measures. “We already finished the period of interpellation on the supplemental budget last Thursday. Tomorrow is the voting,” Ungab told the BusinessMirror. Earlier, the House Committee on Appropriations had deleted the P715.36-million budget of the Supreme Court (SC) for its Enterprise Information System Plan under the P22.46-billion supplemental budget. Ungab said that under House Bill (HB) 5237, or the supplemental budget, the SC and the lower courts lost their P715.36-million budget to the Obligations Arising from Implemented Infrastructure Projects of the Department of Public Works and highways (DPWH) and the Emergency Shelter Assistance for Victims of Typhoon Yolanda of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

It is planning to make more of its center a no-go area for cars, opening up more medieval and 19th-century streets for carefree strolling and biking. Enough of the city’s attractions are free to fill the best part of two vacation days.

See “Budget,” A2

3d world A woman poses at a Christmas-themed 3D painting at Art in Island 3D Art Museum in Cubao, Quezon City, the largest 3D interactive museum in Asia, which can accommodate 14,000 visitors per day. More than 180 3D paintings made by almost 80 Korean and Filipino painters will be showcased at the gallery. The Art in Island is set to open before Christmas Day. ALYSA SALEN

City of Dreams opens at Entertainment City By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror

ITY of Dreams Manila, the newest integrated casino resort in the country, opened without fanfare at 3 p.m. on Sunday, but promises local and international gamers, as well as foodies and tourists, a new and exciting leisure and entertainment destination for Christmas and New Year. The $1.3-billion (P58-billion) resort sits on a 6.2-hectare property at the gateway to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s Entertainment City along Manila Bay. The resort is being developed by listed Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. (MCP), a unit of Macau’s gam-

ing and resort developer Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., in partnership with the SM Group’s Belle Corp. In an e-mail, Charisse Chuidian, vice president for public relations of City of Dreams Manila, told the BusinessMirror the soft opening gives the public a “sneak peek of the resort, which combines electrifying entertainment, an amazing array of accommodations, regional and international dining, together with designer brand shopping, as well as a spacious and contemporary casino.” The resort will hold its grand opening “before the Chinese New Year,” on February 19, 2015. Currently open to the public are “mass-gaming areas on the ground and mezzanine levels; CenterPlay, an en-

tertainment bar featuring live performances by foreign and local artists, on the gaming floor; Nobu restaurant for dinner and Nobu tea lounge; Red Ginger, a Southeast Asian-inspired bistro and Noodle8 adjacent to gaming floor; Hyatt Hotel and Hyatt Café, an all-day dining buffet restaurant; as well as some shops and food outlets at The Shops at the Boulevard,” she added. In an earlier interview with veteran hotelier Bill Barnett, managing director of consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, he advised local gaming firms to tie up with more established casino giants with an existing client base to entice foreign gamers to come to the country. He particularly See “City of Dreams,” A2

Grand Place

DON’T let your jaw drop when you start out at the very center of the old town. The world may have other stunning city squares—Venice’s Saint Mark’s Square comes to mind—but count Brussels’s Grand Place among the best. Stand on the gleaming cobblestones, look at any direction and a great piece of architecture will stand out. The 15thcentury City Hall is Gothic art at its most elegant. And if its beauty doesn’t fully move you, try figuring out why the white spire doesn’t rise from the middle of the building. Legend has it the architect threw himself from the tower to his death when he realized it was off-center, but it’s likely that various construction issues led to the asymmetry. Guilds, which are professional associations from various crafts and industries, occupy many of the Baroque buildings surrounding the square, including one for Belgium’s beer brewers.

PESO exchange rates n US 44.5770 Galerie de la Reine/du Roi

A BLOCK from the Grand Place is the exquisite Galerie de la Reine/ du Roi, a 19th-century jewel of hallowed halls with glass ceilings, apartments lining the upper floors, and loads of luxury boutiques and In this February 24 file photo, crocus flowers bloom in a park near the Atomium, one of Belgium’s most famous landmarks, in Brussels. AP

In this December 4 file photo, tourists look at a shop window at the Galerie de la Reine/du Roi, a 19thcentury jewel of a covered gallery in Brussels. AP

chocolate shops laid out along a magnificent quarter-mile. Chocoholics have Marcolini, Neuhaus, Mary and Corne within smelling distance. The list also includes Godiva, a Belgian brand that’s become ubiquitous in the United States. Gaze left, right, front and back amid the chocolatiers and you’ll realize what it must have been like for Charlie in Roald Dahl’s Chocolate Factory. Of course, you’ll have to pay to indulge in a taste, but smells and sights are free. Some of the shops look like museums, with pralines exhibited liked prized possessions behind glass.

Justice Palace

STROLL past painter Pieter Breughel’s old haunts in the Marolles district and go up in a glass elevator to come face to face with Brussels’s humongous, super-eclectic Justice Palace. If ever the Assassin’s Creed video game needs a 19th-century setting for its hero to climb into and up and over, this is

it: columns, marble and statues galore, and, for good measure, so much renovation scaffolding that has been there so long, it is in need of renovation, too. Court cases, from terror trials to petty theft, are still held there on weekdays. Warning: Don’t lose your way!

n japan 0.3748 n UK 70.0929 n HK 5.7514 n CHINA 7.2031 n singapore 33.9402 n australia 36.7949 n EU 55.2621 n SAUDI arabia 11.8774 Source: BSP (12 December 2014)

Army Museum

CONSIDERING Brussels’s often rainy weather, it’s good to have indoor sightseeing options, and another great one is the Army Museum in the Cinquantenaire Park, close to the European Union headquarters. It is one of the few big museums where entry is free, and its collection of planes, parked on the ground or suspended from the ceiling, leaves kids in awe. With the centennial of World War I in full flow, military history is at the center of attention again. Note that the permanent collection is free, not the special exhibits.

The Atomium

THE 1950s look brand-new again, now that Brussels’s best-known monument, the Atomium, has been renovated and turned into a gleaming symbol of the city. There is a fee to enter, but the best views are from outside, where it costs nothing to behold the 102-meter (335-foot) monument with nine giant balls depicting an iron crystal. The structure was meant to symbolize the power of atomic science and the quest for a better future when Brussels hosted the World’s Fair in 1958. In 2014 it just looks like one of the strangest buildings around. Still, it is a must-see in Brussels and it is surrounded by a scenic park that leads to the royal palace.

See “China,” A2

News BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, December 15, 2014

City of Dreams... cited City of Dreams Manila, which “has the existing network—[it’s] building tourism generators [and it has] a client base,” because of its gaming resort in Macau. Most gamers who go to City of Dreams Macau are from Hong Kong and mainland China, who will expectedly make the trip to the Ma-

continued from A1

nila property, as well. Chuidian said the Manila property will “definitely” be hiring staff who are fluent in Mandarin to cater to the expected influx of high rollers from China. Earlier it was announced that some 5,000 jobs would be created in City of Dreams Manila. Upon its grand opening, City

of Dreams Manila will cater to the diverse needs of a wide array of visitors—from family, to business, to luxury travelers. During this sneak peek, guests will be able to experience Hyatt City of Dreams Manila. “The 365-room hotel offers modern, restful rooms in a comfortable and approachable setting, with all the contemporary niceties and amenities,” said a news statement from the resort.

Other hotels set to fully open in 2015 are the 260-room Crown Towers—a luxurious premium hotel brand of Australia’s Crown Resorts Group and Macau’s Melco Entertainment, and the 321-room Nobu Hotel, a New York-based hotel brand cofounded by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro, and film producer Meir Teper. Nobu Hotel Manila is the first property of Nobu Hospitality Llc. in Asia.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Oil...

continued from A1

rollback comes after the December 7 rollback—P2.50 a liter for gasoline and P2.25 a liter for diesel and kerosene—the biggest reduction in pump prices so far. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the December 14 price adjustment was the 24th rollback in gasoline prices and 31st for diesel and kerosene. To date, gasoline prices decreased by P12.49 per liter, P13.68 per liter for diesel and P14.22 per liter for kerosene. The drop in the prices of petroleum products here reflects the global oil prices, which have been falling due to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec) decision to maintain current production levels despite a glut in the market with an estimated oversupply of 1.5 million to 2 million barrels daily. Experts said this is seen as a bid by Opec corner market share at a time when the US and other non-Opec countries are gaining share with the discovery of new oil fields and shale-gas deposits. “It’s mainly due to the oil and gas from shale fields because of the fracking technology developed by the US,” they said, adding that the weak European economies and a slowing Chinese economy are also keeping oil prices low. Following a period of relative stability above $100 per barrel, oil prices have plunged since mid-2014, falling by more than $40 per barrel to five-year lows. “The overall net impact on the global outlook is clearly positive. In our assessment the price drop is largely a consequence of surging oil supply, together with a strategic decision by Opec not to cut back its own output. The result is a shift in purchasing power from producers to consumers that should provide a significant boost to global demand at a time of excess capacity. The price drop also provides more space for supportive monetary policies in a number of economies, as well as the lowering of cost of energy subsidies. “Assuming that the price decline is largely sustained, we estimate the net effect will be to raise global GDP [gross domestic product] by roughly 1/2 percent over a two-year period,” said the global association of financial institutions. The implications of lower oil prices for corporate earnings are generally net positive. Lower oil prices help increase earnings growth as cheap energy boosts real purchasing power and, therefore, spending, the IIF explained.

Further reduction

The drop in oil prices is seen to continue in the coming weeks. The IIF expects oil markets to tighten only very gradually during 2015. “All in all, we set our forecast for the Brent benchmark at $74/ bbl in 2015 Q1. Beyond the first half of the year, we expect Brent to rise to $78/bbl in Q3 and to $85/bbl in Q4, reflecting the pick-up in global growth on the demand side, and the pullback in US shale production on the supply side. This scenario would result in a $78 average for the year as a whole,” IIF said. In the Philippines, gasoline prices are pegged on the Dubai crude benchmark and not on Brent crude. However, Dubai crude benchmark closely follows Brent crude prices, with Dubai crude averaging at $76.33 a barrel in November, the lowest since September 2010. Still, local oil firms expect this downward trend to continue. “We are projecting that oil price will remain weak. It might even be weaker in 2015 compared to 2014. But those with refineries and on stockpiling inventory suffer most. In our case, we import in Singapore,” PTT Philippines Corp. (PTTPC) General Manager Danilo Alabado said. The country imports at least 90 percent of its fuel requirements. For PTTPC, Alabado said it is not much affected by the recent steep drop in fuel prices. But for Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner, its net income for nine months was down by 26 percent to P3.2 billion. The drop was mainly due to the sustained fall in crude prices in the third quarter, resulting in weak margins as higher-priced inventory was sold at lower prices. The benchmark Dubai crude fell from an average of $108 per barrel in June to an average of $97 per barrel in September, Petron said. This resulted in nine price rollbacks during the period. If the crude price was stable in the third quarter, operating income would have been higher by P1.9 billion. Petron said it was optimistic of its growth prospects amid this temporary weakness in global oil prices. “We are operating in two of the fastest-rising economies in Asia and we are well-positioned to participate in this growth and further expand our business,” Petron Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said.

Lower inflation

Falling oil prices mostly affect inflation through retail gasoline costs, which means savings at the gas pump can help lift prices for other products. Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil Beltran had said lower oil prices will translate into lower inflation. However, the government’s economic team has not yet discussed the effects of the low prices of oil in the world market on the current macroeconomic projections of the government. But the price of gasoline products is one of the factors considered in arriving at the inflation rate, which stood at 4.3 percent at end-October this year. Nonetheless, the recent price rollback in fuel already prompted the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to bring down the minimum jeepney fares to P7.50 from P8.50 effective immediately. “Hopefully, the trend in fuel prices will bring more benefits to our consumers, not only in jeepney fares but also in other commodities,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said.

Budget...

continued from A1

From the proposed P1.849 billion, the DPWH funding for the said purpose is now P1.9 billion, or an increase of P53 million. For DSWD’s emergency shelter assistance, the budget was increased by P661.7 million to P2.161 billion. Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad has said the supplemental budget would address urgent funding requirements for priority infrastructure, socioeconomic programs and rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. “These priority projects were identified as urgent this year but only after the 2015 National Expenditure Program had been sent to Congress in May. As such, there is no truth to misgivings that these projects are funded by any existing appropriations law, much more the proposed 2015 national budget,” he said. Ungab said the members of the House of Representatives are also set to ratify next year’s P2.606-trillion national budget. “Yes we will ratify the P2.606-trillion national budget tomorrow [Monday].” According to Ungab, both houses of Congress have already agreed to adopt a new definition of savings. Ungab also assured public that the Congress’s definition of savings complies with the Supreme Court decision against the Disbursement Acceleration Program. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Economy

A4 Monday, December 15, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

PHL executive-search firms seen to flourish in integrated Asean

By Catherine N. Pillas

he executive-search industry is confident of its prospects at the onset of the Asean integration in January 2016, expecting a healthy demand for Filipino talents in top-tier positions in the region. “The industry is here to stay. We’re trying to evaluate the impact of the Asean integration and, overall, it’s a good development. And from the standpoint of Filipino executives, it’s an even better development because of our distinct advantages,” said Jun Gil, president of the Philippine Association of Executive Search Professionals Inc. (Paespi), in an interview. The industry also sees the scaling up of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as another growth engine. The local executive-search industry, which essentially deals with the recruitment of executives and top-level personnel and match-

es them with client-businesses, has slowly been growing, notching a range of 10 percent-to-15 percent growth in the last five years, Gil said. This growth trend, he added, has not been deterred by the advent of modern forms of job recruitment. Gil, who operates Amrop Philippines, observed that though online job portals have gained popularity, the impact on the corporate matching industry is negligible as the pool of talents where they source candidates from are different. “From experience, online job marketplaces like JobStreet and JobsDB, tend to suit the needs of non-

managerial positions like officers, rank-and-file employees and secretaries, so they serve a purpose; but executives don’t go around sending their résumés because confidentiality of the search is key to industry. So the talents [our clients] are looking for are unlikely to be found there,” explained Paespi Vice President and President of H.I.R.E. (Highest Integrity in Recruiting Executives) Ma. Carmen “Babes” T. Guevara in the same interview. Gil said although the worth of the industry cannot be quantified, currently, 70 percent of executive and top-level executives are still culled from the executive-search industry. Industries serviced by executivesearch firms include the businessprocess outsourcing (BPO), industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, retail/ food service, telecommunications and utilities, to name a few. The BPO industry, in particular, has been a significant driver of the executive-search industry’s growth, Gil said. Given the healthy demand for its service, the outlook of the industry is rosy when the Asean integration

begins, primarily because of the competitive edge of the Filipino talent pool, the industry president said. The regional integration will allow for free exchange of not just goods and commodities, but also of labor, which may be a boon for the industry, given the profile of the Filipino executives. “The Filipino executives, aside from the excellent English skills, have good academic training, have been trained by a lot of multinational companies, and are adaptable. The Asean integration will favor the Filipino executives,” the Paespi head said. Another growth driver for the industry, whose revenues are determined by the salary grade of the candidates they place in top-tier positions, is the expansion of local SMEs, which are expanding their client base, aside from conglomerates and large corporations. “SMEs are getting bolder because of the economy; they’re starting to flex their muscles and they have been a source of growth. There are many expanding SMEs now that are professionalizing and looking for executives to fill their top positions,” Gil added.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Gambling, betting activities earned P110.9B in 2012–PSA By Cai U. Ordinario

ambling and betting activities may be the most lucrative form of recreation and entertainment in the Philippines, as the industry raked in a P110.9-billion income in 2012. This accounted for 84.2 percent of the total income earned by the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation establishments in the Philippines in 2012. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the gambling and betting industry has the most number of establishments and employees, and pays the highest compensation among industries in the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector. There were a total of 1,262 gambling and betting establishments, or 41.4 percent of the total. The industry employed 33,182, or a 53.7-percent share of the sector’s total. In terms of compensation, gambling and betting establishments collectively paid P13.5 billion, or 77.2 percent, of the total compensation of the sector. This means that the industry paid an average annual compensation of P418,300 per employee in 2012.

“Compensation includes salaries and wages, separation/retirement/ terminalpay,gratuitiesandpayments made by the employer in behalf of the employees,” the PSA explained. Apart from gambling and betting activities, the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector is also composed of the creative, arts and entertainment activities; libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities; sports activities; and other amusement and recreation activities. In terms of government subsidies, the creative, arts and entertainment activities received the most with a total of P201.3 million. This represented 96.4 percent of the P208.9 million worth of subsidies extended by the government to the entire sector. However, the total income earned by the creative, arts and entertainment industry at P1.62 billion is the second-least amount of total income earned by an industry included in the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector. The lowest income was generated by libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities at P1.3 billion in 2012.

PDIC seeks upgrade in compensation

By Genivi Factao

he Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has sought to increase its compensation comparable to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). PDIC, as co-regulator, is seeking for yearly merit reviews, or increases, based on productivity, with the prevailing compensation plans of other government financial institutions. “The compensation structure shall be comparable to that of the Bangko Sentral,” the PDIC said in its draft bill on its charter’s amendment. PDIC also wants to be exempt from existing laws, rules and regulations on compensation package, position classification and qualification standards, such as, but not limited to, Presidential Decree (PD) 985, PD 1597, Republic Act (RA) 6758, as amended, Joint Resolution 4 (2009), and RA 10149. “It

shall, however, endeavor to make its system conform as closely as possible with the principles under RA 6758, as amended,” it said. Instead of making BSP’s remuneration structure as its reference, BSP suggested that PDIC’s proposed compensation structure and travel allowance be based on a market survey of comparable positions or responsibilities. BSP Deputy Governor Vicente Aquino stressed that the BSP and PDIC have different mandates to fulfill. “Apart from its financial stability functions, the BSP is also mandated to promote price stability through the conduct of appropriate monetary policy,” Aquino said. On the other hand, PDIC’s statutory mandate is to promote and safeguard the interest of the depositing public by providing permanent and continuing insurance coverage.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Economy BusinessMirror

Monday, December 15, 2014 A5

MRT 3 maintenance deal now up for grabs

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he contract to maintain the most congested railway system in the Philippines for three years has been placed on the auction block, almost two months after the original auction was declared a failure.

The government has decided to revise the terms of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3’s upkeep deal, raising the price tag to P2.4 billion, from P2.2 billion. Interested parties may purchase bid documents starting today (December 15) until January 30. A prebid conference will be staged on December 22, while the deadline for the submission of offers is on January 20. The initial auction for the P2.2-billion maintenance contract was ditched by prospective bidders: Busan Transport Corp., Mosan-Inekon Phils. Ltd. Co., SMRT International Pte. Ltd., Miescorrail Inc. and D.M. Consunji Inc. The companies raised concerns on the deal’s provisions on “penalties and performance indicators” amid the current status of the 15-year-old train system, said the train system’s spokesman, Hernando T. Cabrera. The current upkeep provider, APT Global Inc., thus,

DOH supports probe into ‘sin’ tax loopholes By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

he Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday expressed support to the growing clamor of lawmakers, led by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., for a congressional probe into the alleged “sin” tax malpractices of tobacco firm Mighty Corp. DOH Spokesman Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said the agency would be more than willing to cooperate should the Congressional Oversight Committee proceed with the proposed investigation on the supposed excise-tax liabilities of the Bulacan-based cigarette maker. Lee Suy said the alleged noncompliance of companies like Mighty Corp. with the law has a huge impact on the country’s health-care system. “Willing kaming makipag-coordinate para malaman kung mayroon ngang hindi sumusunod [sa batas] para sa gayon ay mabigyan din ng sapat na aksyon at ma-address ang mga concerns na ’yan, [We’re willing to coordinate to find out if there are noncompliant companies so we can take appropriate action and address these concerns],” Lee Suy said. Lee Suy said noncompliance to the sin-tax law would adversely affect the DOH’s national budget allocation, which it uses to finance various health campaigns and activities. The sin tax law, or Republic Act 10351, is one of the antismoking measures passed by the Aquino administration, with the aim of increasing cigarette prices and alcoholic drinks, thereby making them unaffordable for the youth and the poor. Under the law, 85 percent of sin-tax revenues is allocated for the enrollment of the poorest of the poor to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). Mighty Corp. has been receiving flak for selling its products at economically unsustainable prices—even below the cost of production, excise tax and value-added tax. Thus, cigarettes priced at P1 per stick continue to flood the market, defeating the spirit of the law. Tobacco giant Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. and other local cigarette makers have accused Mighty of alleged nonpayment of correct taxes and duties, which enables it to sell its products at a loss-and-gain market share. Last week Belmonte, Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Juan Edgardo Angara called for a congressional inquiry into allegations involving Mighty Corp., and as to why the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has not lifted a finger on Mighty’s alleged fraudulent practices to evade hundreds of millions of pesos in tax and duty payments. The speaker made the call following reported funding shortfalls for the government’s universal health-care program. Specifically, Belmonte said he wants lawmakers to look into why Mighty Corp. has grown so big in so short a time; whether private companies are paying the right taxes; whether government agencies, like the BIR and the Bureau of Customs, are doing their duty in collecting the proper taxes and duties; and whether sin-tax collections were being used for the designated beneficiaries, specifically the DOH. But, aside from Mighty Corp., Lee Suy said the DOH is also interested in the aspect of how sin-tax revenues are being allocated and utilized under the government’s universal healthcare program. Records of the Department of Finance show that, of the P91.6-billion revenues from the sin-tax law in the first 11 months of 2013, about P61.622 billion came from tobacco products, while the remaining P30 billion came from alcoholic drinks.

continues to maintain the line, along with the shadowing team deployed by the transport agency. The government is currently pursuing a P54-billion takeover of the line’s corporate owner, a move that MRT Holdings II Inc. (MRTH-II) is blocking due to lack of communication with the party led by the Sobrepeña family.

MRTH-II is the majority shareholder of MRT Corp., the owner of the assets of the 15-year-old line. The buyout of the train system’s private concessionaire will put to a close the ongoing arbitration case in Singapore between the government and the concessionaire. This will also terminate the concession agreement, and end the

government’s obligation to pay billions of pesos in equity rental payments to Metro Rail Transit Corp. Once the buyout is completed in 2016, the transport agency may then bid out an operations and maintenance contract for the line, thereby tapping private-sector efficiency and customer-service orientation for operational needs, while retain-

ing regulatory functions for passenger protection with the government. Since 2004 the train system has been operating at overcapacity. Currently the line serves nearly 550,000 passengers per day. It even reached, at one point this year, the 650,000-daily passenger mark. It has a rated capacity of 350,000 daily passengers.

BusinessMirror

Tourism & Entertainment A6 Monday, December 15, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph In this December 4 file photo, tourists wander at the Grand Place in Brussels. AP

FIVE Free things

to see and do in

Brussels Five Free things to see and do in

By Raf Casert | The Associated Press

RUSSELS—The city of Brussels, which the famous Belgian cartoon character Tintin roamed as an intrepid reporter, has plenty to offer to any inquisitive mind. And the Belgian capital is making it easier for tourists. It is planning to make more of its center a no-go area for cars, opening up more medieval and 19th-century streets for carefree strolling and biking. Enough of the city’s attractions are free to fill the best part of two vacation days.

Grand Place

Galerie de la Reine/du Roi

In this December 4 file photo, tourists look at a shop window at the Galerie de la Reine/du Roi, a 19thcentury jewel of a covered gallery in Brussels. AP

Justice Palace

Army Museum

The Atomium

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LANDBANK shares Bank of the Year Award with clients and partners

HE Land Bank of the Philippines dedicates its recent “Bank of the Year” win to its clients and partners who are instrumental in its continued growth.

LANDBANK was named “Bank of the Year” for the Philippines by The Banker, the world’s leading monthly journal of record for the banking industry for 90 years now. “We share this award with our clients and partners, who constantly challenge and inspire us to be better at what we do. LANDBANK’s success has always been driven by our commitment to help others grow because by growing others, we grow ourselves,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Gilda E. Pico. Considered the Oscars of the banking and finance industry, the Bank of the Year Awards is an annual event that promotes excellence in the global banking community by recognizing top financial institutions in the world. Judges select only one bank from each country, making it a much sought-after award across the globe. The Banker also recognized LANDBANK’s disaster response efforts and rehabilitation programs in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan. “In a year when the Philippines was disastrously hit by Typhoon Haiyan, the Land Bank of the Philippines exemplified how financial services can be crucial on the ground in a natural disaster scenario while maintaining strong performance in net profits, assets and Tier 1 capital,” The Banker announced on its website this November. The Banker cited LANDBANK’s immediate deployment of mobile ATMs to extend prompt financial services to survivors. The Bank was also first to restore services in the typhoon-hit areas. Apart from its Post-Yolanda efforts, LANDBANK was also recognized for its innovative strategies to ensure that banking products and services are delivered to under-served areas in the country. These include the LANDBANK Easy Access Facilities (LEAF) that the Bank rolled out to reach unbanked and underserved areas. The LEAF will function as an Other Banking Office and will host ATMs and other machines and provide other customer service functions. The Bank also continues to expand its partnership with conduits such as cooperatives, farmers’ organizations and countryside financial institutions to further complement its extensive physical presence across the country. The Bank of the Year Award is a fitting end to the year for LANDBANK, marked by a recordbreaking number of local and international awards and recognitions. These include the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award conferred by the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards Philippines 2014, the Top Award at the Sustainable Business Awards Philippines 2014, the 1st Philippines Best Practice and Benchmarking Award, the Anti-Red Tape Breakthrough Agency Award from the Civil Service Commission, and the Excellence Award for Eco-Friendly Government Offices from the DENR. LANDBANK was also named as the # 1 Government Securities Eligible Dealer by the Bureau of the Treasury for the second year in a row and as the Outstanding Lending Bank under the Credit Surety Fund category conferred by the BSP, also for the second consecutive year. The other awards it received this year are: Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement Award from the Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Award and six major awards from the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific for its Outstanding Infrastructure Development projects and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs.

Sustainable Business Award

1st Philippines Best Practice Award

Anti-Red Tape Breakthrough Agency Award

Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award

Monday, December 15, 2014

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Monday, December 15, 2014 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

QC seniors can seek 1% share of annual barangay budget

By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

UEZON City’s older citizens can now ask their local barangay to fund their proposed plans and activities for the year, after a city resolution to this effect was signed into an ordinance in November, said a city legislative staff. The ordinance, number 2355, Series of 2014, authorizes all Quezon City barangays to allocate “at least 1 percent of the total of their annual budget” for programs, projects and activities that will benefit seniors and persons with disabilities (PWDs), said Nica Veron B. Ticman. Senior-citizen associations in the barangay registered with the Office

for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) only requires to propose a plan to the barangay council for funding, since the budget is not in the “form of cash,” she said. Senior citizens can receive the budget in the mode of duly approved programs, projects and activities that shall meet the basic needs and be beneficial to the

senior citizens,” Ticman noted. Recognizing the role of senior citizens in nation-building, the ordinance is seeking to provide them with programs, projects and activities that include medical/dental services, fitness and wellness, social services, livelihood and employment, legal assistance, and recreation. The social services will cover home health care and assisted living. The ordinance states that other programs, projects, or activities also include other benefits and privileges under senior citizens and PWDs law. The 1 percent of the total annual budget for the barangay shall be “proportionately divided among senior citizens and PWDs,” since the number of seniors is usually bigger than the PWDs, she said. The Osca in Quezon City has the record of the existing number of registered senior citizens in each barangay in the six districts. For this reason, all the barangays

shall get the number of their PWDs, which is required in determining the proportionate sharing of the annual budget, she added. Ticman made clear the ordinance per se is not the 1 percent of the IRA from the barangay that the senior citizen law stipulates. “It’s total annual budget for seniors and PWDs,” she said. The same proposal, Resolutions SP-4324, S-200, by then-councilor Francisco Calalay, who is now representative for the first district, was enacted by the city council, she said. Unfortunately, it was vetoed by the past administration. Councilors Roger P. Juan and Godofredo T. Liban II, as main proponents, raised the same pro-senior citizen measure early this year. Signed by Mayor Herbert Bautista on November 28, the ordinance will seek to benefit about 375,000 registered senior citizens in Quezon City, Ticman said.

Poor Filipino seniors treasure P500 pension

AVAO CITY—Today P500 is a small amount to many with the spiralling prices of goods in the country, but, for senior citizens, it is a “treasure” in the form of pensions. At present, there are 20,561 beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens in the Davao region. Undayong A. Tula, 80, of Marilog is one of the beneficiaries very delighted to receive the long-overdue monthly pension, which has accumulated to P4,500 (covering nine months) as the Regional Social Pension Unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) resumed its payout here. Uban’s family belongs to the Ata Manobo tribe living in the uplands of Marilog District. Her family depends mostly on the sale of farm produce, whose proceeds are divided among her children and their respective families. Oftentimes, Tula is left with only a small amount of money, which according to her, is never adequate to buy her food and other primary needs. Tula is conversant in Cebuano, which is quite unusual since most members of her tribe are not conversant in the dialect. She is also abreast with some of the latest news and technology and believes in modern medicine. Like any other elderly, Tula has her animated moments. She enjoyably recalled memories of her childhood days, how early they arose each day to tend to their farm and how strict their parents were. She also shared stories of her teen days, how she and her husband met and how they ended up together. Tula’s vibrant storytelling was cut

Revisiting arthritis By Cheridine P. Oro-Josef, MD, FPAFP, FPCGM

right to health

‘T

IS the season to be jolly!” Thus says the season’s song. However, the season is also the season to be “wobbly.” Just today, a 75-year-old patient came in, walking slowly with much difficulty due to severe right-knee and thigh pain. She has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for three years now. Normally, during the cold season, she complains of pain. Frequent attacks of arthritis when it is cold may be attributed to vascoconstriction of blood vessels, which leads to slow circulation and, hence, dryness of joints. There are two kinds of arthritis, which affect older persons more frequently. Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto immune disease affecting the joints. For reasons not known to us, the immune system attacks its own tissues, including the synovium, which is a thin membrane lining the joints. This inflammation eventually destroys the cartilage and bone within the joint. The inflammation affects the surrounding muscles, ligaments and tendons which support and stabilize the joint. The attack causes fluid to build up, stopping the joint from working its normal way. Osteoarthritis, which is the most common type, occurs when there is a breakdown of cartilage. This is a substance that provides cushion between two bones that meet at a joint. The much-needed cushion enables ease of movement. Without this cartilage, the bones begin to rub against one another, resulting in pain, swelling and stiffness. Osteoarthritis can affect any joint in the body. However, it generally involves joints in the hands, hips, knees, neck and lower back. In some people, these inflammatory diseases are relatively mild and hardly affect day-to-day life. However, in others, it can be severely debilitating and may affect the quality of life. The pain can also cause depression and anxiety. Financially, the effect is felt due to loss of work ability and costs related to treatment. During acute attacks, adequate pain management with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs may be needed to ensure quality of life. Aside from oral-pain relievers, there are a lot of topical agents now available in the market to help alleviate pain.

Goutritis provides relief from gout attack without damaging your liver

G year-round snack

Sonny Cardinas, a street vendor, peels pineapple from the Bicol region for a customer on Sunday afternoon at Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City. Cardinas has been in the business for more than 20 years. He said the price of the pineapple they sell was not affected when Typhoon Ruby (internationl code name Hagupit) hit the eastern part of the Philippines. alysa salen

when she was handed her accumulated social pension of P4,500. Her wrinkled eyes widened and moistened. Out of happiness and gratefulness, she proceeded to hug the DSWD staff tightly. She then started to share her plans on what she’ll buy out of the pension she just received. “Ako ni ipalit og tambal, bugas ug pagkaon para sa akong apo unya [I will buy medicines, rice, and food for my grandchildren later].”

She repeatedly thanked the DSWD for the social-pension program as she considers it a really big help to her and other indigent senior citizens, as augmentation funds for their medical and daily needs. “Kaya namo sagubangon ang kalisud tinabangan sa social pension [We can overcome hardship with the help of the social pension].” Tula exemplifies the many senior citizens in the Philippines who have

been struggling to make ends meet for their daily needs. For needy senior citizens, a P500 monthly stipend can go a long way and will definitely help them finance not only their prime needs, but also their medicines and even for some small items they want. Tula doesn’t desire a luxurious life. What makes her happy are the simplest of things that a P500 bill can pay for. PNA

OUT is said to be one of the most painful experiences. A gout attack is characterized by swelling and severe, debilitating pain that emanates from a joint due to the formation of uric-acid crystal deposits caused by too much uric acid buildup in the body. The body is so sensitive to touch that even the slight brush of a bedsheet on the inflamed area causes a surging burning pain that can make gout sufferers scream. Goutritis, an all-natural herbal dietary supplement, provides relief from the swelling and pain without the side effects commonly associated with prescription drugs such as druginduced liver disease. It is available in bottles of 90 capsules (P900) and blister packs of 10 capsules (P100) at Mercury Drug stores nationwide. Goutritis, is Food and Drug Ad-

ministration-approved and 100-percent organic. It is a safe and effective alternative to common pain relievers and anti-inflammatories such as NSAIDs, colchicine and steroids. As such, more and more gout patients are turning to Goutritis to help manage their condition. Tart cherry is the active ingredient in Goutritis. This has antioxidants which help reduce inflammation associated with gout. Moreover, tart cherry has properties that may lower uric-acid levels to address not just the symptoms but also the root cause of gout. It inhibits the activity of Xanthine oxidase, the enzyme which causes the production of uric acid. For additional product information, e-mail info@goutritis.com or visit www.goutritis.com and www.facebook. com/GoutritisSupplement.

US nursing facility offers program to prevent hospital readmissions

HEN Leota Dumire entered Pebble Creek skilled nursing center in Green for rehabilitation after a recent hospital stay, she brought a host of health problems with her. Along with recovering from a severe kidney infection and battling diabetes, the 81-year-old from Green deals with congestive heart failure— the most common cause of hospitalization and readmissions for elderly patients. Dumire is exactly the type of patient Pebble Creek and its corporate parent are targeting in their ongoing efforts to better monitor

chronic illnesses and prevent costly repeat hospital trips. Pebble Creek is among the first nursing facilities in the country to adopt a new program called Cardiac 360. The program combines close monitoring and observation by staff with a noninvasive testing device developed by an Israeli company that measures cardiac output. The technology with Cardiac 360 uses sensors to determine the amount of blood the heart is pumping and the resistance within the blood vessels, said Dr. Matt Wayne, chief medical officer for CommuniCare Family of Cos.

The company, headquartered in suburban Cincinnati, operates 42 nursing facilities nationwide, including Pebble Creek. “We’re able to predict an exacerbation of heart failure seven to 10 days before a patient has any symptoms,” said Ronald Wilheim a principal with CommuniCare. The information can be used to adjust medications before the patient’s condition worsens and requires hospital care, Wayne said. “It effectively helps us to know which medications to use and which medications to continue to adjust,” he said.

Cardiac 360 is run by Complex Care Partners, a division of CommuniCare that focuses on developing and administering chronic disease management programs. CommuniCare’s Wyant Woods Care Center in Akron, Copley Healthcare and Kent Health Center also are among the first skilled nursing centers to adopt the program. Complex Care Partners has the exclusive US rights to the technology in the post-acute market, said Wilheim, the group’s chief executive. In an earlier trial with 40 patients at two facilities, including Wyant

Woods, participants in the program had no hospital readmissions over a four-month period, Wilheim said. Typically, 20 percent to 25 percent of patients with heart failure return to the hospital within 30 days, said Dr. Arman Askari, a retired Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who is serving as cardiology medical director for Complex Care Partners. The technology “takes the guesswork out of what you need to do for your patients,” he said. CommuniCare plans to roll out the initiative at more of its facilities as well as to other customers that want

to adopt the program, Wilheim said. Nationwide, about 1 million patients are hospitalized each year with a primary diagnosis of heart failure at a cost of more than $17 billion to the Medicare program, according to an article in the American Heart Association’s professional journal, Circulation. Cardiac 360 could help CommuniCare’s nursing centers attract patients from hospitals, which often serve as a major referral base. Hospitals are under increasing pressure to reduce the number of patients who come back within 30 days after discharge. Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Monday, December 15, 2014 A9

NDRRMC: Power, utilities restored in Hagupit-hit provinces

By Rene Acosta

OWER and telecommunications, downed and cut during the onslaught last week of Typhoon Ruby (international code name Hagupit), have been restored in nearly all of the affected provinces as the government shifted to an “early recovery” mode in its ongoing assistance to the typhoon victims.

The National Disaster Risk R e duc t ion a nd M a n a ge me nt Counci l (NDR R MC) repor ted that except for Samar, all of the provinces that experienced power outage due to Ruby have all been reenergized even as the government is working 24 hours in order to help the affected residents get back to their feet. The NDRRMC also said that 98 percent of the telecommunication lines in all of the typhoon-affected areas has been restored, with all of the affected telecommunication companies eyeing their full and complete operations at least within this week.

Edsa Shrine: Filipino legacy, faith as strong as 25 years ago

As of Sunday the NDRRMC said that a total of 902,291 families, or 3,852,672 persons, have been affected by the typhoon in Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas,

By Joel P. Mapiles Correspondent

HE Edsa Shrine is a 25-yearold landmark that exemplifies the Filipino people’s strong faith in God and their love for freedom. The shrine was consecrated and dedicated on December 15, 1989, to Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, who is credited with miraculously interceding to bring down a tyrannical leadership and restore the country’s democracy through the peaceful and bloodless People Power Revolution in 1986. “The Edsa Shrine has developed from a small, thriving community into a host of believers who not only serve the Church, but the people who come here to fulfill their spiritual needs,” said Rev. Fr. Nilo Mangussad, rector of the Edsa Shrine. While others think of it as a parish, the priest said it’s merely a “quasi-parish” welcoming individuals and families of the faithful, forming 23 ministries and serving multitudes of people from different sectors. “Simply, its vision and ongoing mission is to become a vibrant

community of Christian servantleaders that advocates love, peace, truth and unity, inspired by Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Edsa,” Father Nilo said. “So, it is indeed a conglomeration of a lot of different people from different dioceses,” he said. “Historically coming from thenJaime Cardinal Sin and Archbishop Socrates Villegas, it is trying to become a community that will show that unity is possible; prayer to love problems is possible; a community that loves, understands, forgives is possible; and that truth, freedom is possible not by powerful means or force, but by prayer.” On its 25th anniversary, a celebration will revolve around its theme “Edsa Shrine@25: Truly Alive!” Kicking off the silver jubilee was the unveiling of its logo in October, followed by the Bayanihan Cleanup activity by the different ministries of the Edsa Shrine last month, and a series of talks on the Art and Architecture of the Edsa Shrine. Leading to the inception date

itself, Novena Masses to Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, were celebrated until December 14, at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and 6 p.m. on Sundays. Different bishops and beloved priests presided, among whom is His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, archbishop of Manila, who celebrated with the community on the ninth day. The ceremonial Mass of the 25th anniversary of the Edsa Shrine will be on December 15 at 5:30 p.m., to be officiated by His Excellency Socrates B. Villegas, archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan and incumbent president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. A grand celebration concert dubbed Edsa Shrine@25: Truly Alive!”shall follow at Meralco Theater at 8 p.m. This free concert is produced and participated in by many volunteers of the shrine to look back at its humble beginnings and where it is headed to. Performances from the various ministries and members of the community, as well as surprise guest artists are lined up.

Manila Water set to start ₧8-M water improvement project in Jalajala, Rizal

ANILA Water Co. Inc. recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the local government of Jalajala in the province of Rizal for an P8-million waterservice improvement project in Barangay Punta. The project will include the rehabilitation of the town’s existing deepwell, installation of chlorinator and laying of new pipelines that

will provide individual water connections to more than 350 households of Barangay Punta. Manila Water officials headed by Manila Water East Zone Business Operations Group Director Ferdinand dela Cruz together with Manila Water Operations Group Director Geodino Carpio and Rizal Area Business Manager Mabelle Amatorio welcomed Jalajala Mayor Narciso Villaran and Vice Mayor El-

mer Pillas during the MOA signing held in the Manila Water head office in Balara, Quezon City. Manila Water is the east concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System that provides water and used-water services to more than 6.3 million residents of parts of Quezon City and Manila, Marikina, Pasig, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pateros, Makati City, Taguig and several towns in Rizal province.

were cleared from debris or floods have already subsided, while classes have already resumed, except in Borongan and Catbalogan in Eastern and Northern Samar. Earlier, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said that Samar, which was the hardest hit among the provinces battered by Ruby, is already stabilized as relief efforts are already reaching the province even by land. He said that even economic activities, which are needed to revive the province, are beginning to function, with markets, gasoline stations and sari-sari stores already opened.

Pampanga vice gov to mayors: Desilt rivers, creeks to avoid flooding now ITY OF SAN FERNANDO —Vice Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda asked the Pampanga mayors to excavate and desilt all silted rivers, creeks and tributaries in their respective municipalities and cities now until before the next rainy season. The vice governor said the local government units in the province should act now to do something about the siltation of rivers and waterways to avoid problems on perennial flooding, water-borne diseases and inconveniences of the affected families during calamities. The vice governor said with the free flowing of water in the river channels and waterways, the farmers would benefit from it as they could utilize it for the irrigation of their farmlands. “Let us bring back the old glory of our rivers that can be enjoyed by the small fishermen and the residents who want to use it as means of transportation through the use of boats,” the vice governor said, adding that the provincial government is very much willing to

THE Edsa Shrine with Fr. Nilo Manggussad (inset)

Caraga and in the National Capital Region. Of this number, almost 20,000 persons are still being served inside and outside evacuation centers. At least 18 people were killedwhile at least 916 others were injured. In terms of effects on government projects and livelihood, the t y phoon has damaged at least 241,705 houses, and this is aside from the total worth of at least P3.349 billion in agriculture and infrastructure projects that were destroyed. All of the highways and bridges have also been passable after they

lend its newly purchased backhoes and other desilting equipment to the local government units (LGUs) on a “first-come, first-served” basis. “Submit your request to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office [PDRRMO] to immediately schedule the use of our equipment,” he told the mayors and barangay officials who attended the briefing and updates on Disaster Preparedness and Climate Change for Barangay Officials recently as part of the 443rd Aldo Ning Kapampangan. Recently Santo Tomas Mayor Lito Naguit entered into a partnership with the Capitol on the desilting operations done along the Federosa River in his town. “The Federosa River, which is part of the third river, has been silted for so many years, but with our partnership with the Capitol, the water here is now free flowing and as it was also cleared with hyacinth,” Naguit said. The mayor said the Capitol has provided backhoe equipment, while the municipal government provided the fuel as counterpart. He said the sharing agreement between the Capitol and LGU

Santo Tomas is a big help for the municipality. “Now, with less flooding, Santo Tomas will become more investmentfriendly. Businessmen are now ventilating their interest to invest and try the town for their business,” Naguit said. Minalin Mayor Edgardo Flores, whose town is perennially visited by floods, said the Minaleños are thankful to the governor and the vice governor for their generosity in providing equipment for the desilting of the river and waterways in the municipality as many of their villages now are flood-free. Guagua Mayor Dante Torres disclosed that for more than 20 years, the San Jose creek in Barangay Natividad going to Betis remained silted resulting to the perennial floods in various communities. “But now, we see the openhandedness of our provincial government led by Governor Pineda and Vice Governor Delta and Angie Blanco of the PDRRMO, we will no longer experience what we had experienced from the past years especially during rainy season,” Torres said.

Opinion BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, December 15, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Disaster preparedness: We finally got it right

VERY business manager knows that there are only two things that determine a business’s success or failure: the system and the people running it.

In stores all over the country, from the smallest sari-sari store to the largest supermarket, items or goods of the same type are grouped together. The sari-sari store will have one shelf for cans of sardines, tuna and the like. In the same way, the supermarket will devote one aisle to only canned fish or meat. Employees in both establishments are expected to follow the system, and this system can function efficiently if all involved follow it. No matter how imperfect the system might be, it must be implemented. No matter how reliable the employees are, a faulty system will result in failure. The government’s general success in avoiding a massive death toll from Typhoon Ruby (international code name Hagupit) shows that it may have finally found a way to mitigate the damage inflicted by storms. All involved in the disaster-preparedness efforts are patting themselves on the back for a job well done, and they should. While Ruby was obviously not as strong as Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), there was no comparison when it comes to loss of life. Ruby could have left thousands dead if the various government bodies and units, from the highest-ranking national agency to the smallest barangay, didn’t have an efficient system in place and if the people didn’t follow it. This time, the disaster-preparedness system really comes down to three words: “preemptive mandatory evacuation”. Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council show that over 1 million Filipinos were moved out of Ruby’s path, compared with the 125,000 who were forced to evacuate their homes when Yolanda approached the country in November 2013. Interestingly, the initial paths of both storms were almost the same. “The government’s swift evacuation response has saved many from injury and even death,” United Nations Children’s Fund Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander said in a statement. Executing an evacuation plan of this magnitude is not easy, by any measure. It takes strict coordination, from the very top to the individual who has the job of knocking on the doors of those who need to be moved. Supplies must be put in place and protected from damage. As our response to Ruby showed, we had a good system in place and people who properly implemented it.

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Philippines receives another credit-rating upgrade Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

HE Philippines received a great Christmas gift last week: a credit-rating upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service, one of the three major international credit-rating agencies.

The country was awarded investment-grade ratings last year by these three big agencies, the other two being Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings. Moody’s upgraded the Philippines’s sovereign rating by a notch, from “Baa3” (the lowest investmentgrade rating) to “Baa2”, with a stable outlook, founded on the country’s high ability to repay short-term debt, resilience to external risks, reforms in the Bureau of Customs, efforts toward budget transparency and good economic prospects. For comparison, some of the other “Baa2” nations are Brazil, Spain, Russia, Uruguay, Bulgaria and Panama. Even with the upgrade, the Philippines is still behind Singapore (“Aaa”, stable), Malaysia (“A3”, stable) and Thailand (“Baa1”, stable). However, it is now in front of Indonesia (“Baa3”, stable) and Vietnam (“B1”, negative). A stable outlook signifies that the rating is likely to remain as it

is over the short term. According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, this is the 21st positive credit-rating action that the country has received during the Aquino administration, and comes at a time when credit-ratings agencies are being conservative in handing out upgrades. Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda attributed the upgrade, in part, to the good-governance policy of the Aquino administration, adding, “With these upgrades comes increased fiscal flexibility, and the Filipino people can be assured that our administration will continue channeling these gains toward the benefit of the broader spectrum of society, as we continue to tread the straight path toward a Philippines that is more prosperous, progressive and inclusive.” The latest rating upgrade shows that the government’s economic policies are effective in attracting investor confidence and

boosting economic growth across various sectors. Experiencing expansion, in particular, is the export sector. According to the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippines led other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries in merchandise-export growth in September, growing 15.7 percent. In this regard, the Philippines did better than China (15.3 percent), Vietnam (14.4 percent), South Korea (6.9 percent), Taiwan (4.7 percent), Indonesia (3.9 percent), Thailand (3.2 percent), Malaysia (3 percent), Hong Kong (1 percent), Japan (- 1.2 percent) and Singapore (-1.6 percent). For the period, total revenues from exports reached $5.8 billion, compared with $5.1 billion in September 2013. The increase was attributed to higher overseas sales of forest products, manufactured items and petroleum. Japan is the country’s top export market—at 29.6 percent of total revenue from merchandise exports— for the period. The United States comes in second, at 13.6 percent; and China, third, at 10.5 percent. The majority of the country’s exports—56.3 percent—went to East Asian nations: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Mongolia and North Korea. Association of Southeast Asian Nations members followed, with a 13.9-percent share; and the European Union,

with 10.9 percent. Among the goods that posted strong gains were machinery and transport products, electronic exports, chemical products and coconut-oil exports. Moody’s latest credit-rating upgrade and the good performance of the export sector are among the signs of a vibrant economy—no longer are we the “sick man of Asia”. This transformation can be credited largely to the Aquino administration’s policy of reform, good governance and transparency along the daang matuwid (straight path), which, in turn, leads to the increased confidence of not only foreign investors, but also of the Filipino people. This is reflected in the November 2014 Pulse Asia research survey on the performance and trust ratings of the top 5 Philippine government officials and key government institutions. The survey’s results reveal that the majority of Filipinos showed 59-percent approval of and 56-percent trust in President Aquino, an increase from last quarter’s 55 percent and 54 percent. Building on these solid accomplishments, the Aquino administration looks forward to even better gains in the next two years. Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Banks tell cash-stuffed companies to look elsewhere By Ann McFeatters Tribune News Service

ASHINGTON, D.C.—This is a short compendium of weird stuff that is happening in the United States economy as 2014 draws to a close.

Weird thing No. 1: American banks say they have too much money on hand and are whispering to their most favored customers to find somewhere else to stash the cash. It’s hard for ordinary mortals to know how to respond to such news, reported by The Wall Street Journal, the authority on all things financial with special expertise on Big Greed. You would think banks would like to have money so they can lend it out at profitable rates. Apparently, that’s so yesterday. Banks are telling insurance companies, hedge funds and large corporations that, if they don’t remove their dollars, fees will be imposed on them. Naturally, some cash-stuffed companies are getting come-hither looks from foreign banks. Or the corporations may put their money in more sophisticated kinds of instruments, which, of course, will lead innovative (conniving) people to come up with new ways to make money. If you listen to Wall Street, the

fault, as always, is with Washington and new regulations that are designed to keep banks from getting so much federally uninsured money, or else another 2008 kind of economic catastrophe could occur. Up until now it has just been us, the little guys, paying ridiculous bank fees on our paltry savings deposits and checking accounts. Now the federal government wants the banks to hold reserves worth as much as 40 percent against corporate deposits and as much as 100 percent of some financial institutions, such as hedge funds. Thus, the banks are proposing fees on gigantic deposits that were free. The real problem is that corporations are sitting on piles and piles of money because they don’t want to hire new people. Thus, jobs are not being created, and middle-class Americans don’t have much money to spend, so the economy isn’t expanding as fast as it should. Meanwhile, corporations are amassing huge

amounts of money they don’t know what to do with. Aarrgghh. Weird thing No. 2: The US is putting great faith in expanding oil and natural-gas production and fracking, giving lots of tax incentives and other goodies to spur energy-development companies to ramp up production, just as the price of oil is falling. Republicans are gleefully counting on pushing the final stretch of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada through Congress and getting rid of a lot of environmental regulations that have allegedly stymied research and development in the energy field. But the fall in the price of oil may mean that the global economy will improve as manufacturers and consumers have more cash (the big guys looking for places to put it). Since big oil importers, such as Europe, Japan and China, all are struggling economically right now, this is good news. Right? But big oil exporters, including the US, oil companies and oil-rich states, such as Texas and Louisiana, will feel the pinch. Oil-exporters, such as Russia, are getting desperate and can’t pay their debts. Previous drops in the price of oil usually came with recessions or serious economic downturns. As the oil prices fell sharply this month, the

stock market fell. The problem with a complicated global economy is that nobody really knows if the oil price drop will continue well into 2015, or who the winners and losers will be. The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are preparing to raise interest rates, despite nervousness around the globe. As we learned in 2008, when the dismal scientists (economists) start predicting one way or another, be afraid. Be very, well, you know. Weird thing No. 3: With the housing situation still trembly, the federal government is lowering down payment rates from 20 percent to as little as 3 percent. This sounds like a good thing, right? More people will buy houses. But wait! Low down payments fueled the subprime mess that caused worldwide havoc just six years ago. We’re still struggling to climb out of that slough of despond. Don’t worry, the feds assure us. That won’t happen again. This time, we will monitor to assure “safe and sound lending practices.” Because whether it’s torturing prisoners or restructuring weak economic underpinnings or shutting down the government or reducing debt or protecting the environment, we learn from our mistakes, right?

Opinion BusinessMirror

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China opens up to Western capitalism

What stress does

By Harold Jackson

Teddy Locsin Jr.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

N a train from Xi’an to Beijing, which is traveling 180 miles an hour as it cuts through air so polluted that you can’t see the tops of city skyscrapers, a female attendant mops the speeding car’s floors between stops to keep the compartment tidy. Clean floors, dirty air. This is China in the 21st century. Arriving in the People’s Republic of China three weeks ago, I expected to learn a lot—and I did. Perhaps, most important, I learned that United States President Barack Obama is right to try to shift America’s foreign policy focus to Asia. Unfortunately, our country’s preoccupation with the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks won’t allow us to put that perpetually roiling situation into perspective and move on. Two months prior to my nine-day visit, sponsored by the Hong Kongbased China US Exchange Foundation, a group of Chinese journalists, who were visiting The Philadelphia Inquirer office while making a similar tour of the US, expressed disappointment in Americans’ lack of knowledge about their country. Now I understand what they meant. Despite having watched the grandeur of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing on television, many older Americans, if they think of China at all, remember it as the uniformly dressed nation of Mao sycophants clutching copies of his Little Red Book of directives and exhortations as they march to assigned jobs in the fields and factories. That’s not the new China. I visited Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing with three other US journalists—from the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post. We met with erudite government officials, entrepreneurs, academics, students and, on a side trip, even a few farmers, all of whom expressed their fervent belief that China’s participation in the world market—not military prowess—is crucial to its success. Their message brought back memories of an interview I did years ago with A.G. Gaston, who, in the early 20th century, became Alabama’s first black millionaire. Gaston’s autobiography was titled Green Power. That’s what the Chinese want. They aspire to replace America, but not as the world’s policeman. They want the most powerful economy in the world, but realistically acknowledge that that will take years. China’s 1.3 billion people include almost as many poor—200 million—as the entire US population. But the Chinese are confident. Take venture capitalist Eric X. Li (“capitalism is no longer a bad word in communist China”), founder and managing director of Chingwei Capital. We met Li in Shanghai. He believes that American-style democracy is killing the US. In contrast, Li said, a country like China that puts the good of the “collective” above the individual flourishes. He said China’s meritocracy works better than America’s because its public schools are better. In America, he contended, only the rich can afford the type of education needed to excel. Of course, today’s China has rich people, too, including Li, whose views about the collective haven’t stopped him from individually accumulating wealth as the CEO of a successful investment firm. He epitomizes the new China, which is guided not by Mao’s classless society ethos, but by Deng Xiaoping’s 1979 credo: “Let some people get rich first, and gradually all the people will get rich together.” How are the Chinese getting rich? With companies such as Huawei Technologies in the Pudong area of Shanghai, which is producing telecommunications devices for consumers in 140 countries—but not in the US, which has accused Huawei of manufacturing products designed to allow unauthorized access by the Chinese government, a charge the company denies. The Huawei complex, an architectural marvel designed to house

I left China agreeing with the Chinese that Americans don’t know enough about what is happening in that country and why we should be paying more attention to it. But I also expressed to the Chinese I spoke with that they need to do more to get their message across. 8,000 workers, is impressive. Even more impressive, however, is the Chinese version of Silicon Valley being built in Shaanxi province, home of Xi’an, the very modern city where, in 1974, archaeologists discovered an army of life-size terra-cotta soldiers entombed by Qinshihuang, China’s first emperor, about 209 B.C. Just miles from the mausoleum-cummuseum where the clay soldiers stand guard, companies like Oracle, Bosch, Siemens, Fujitsu and PepsiCo are busy trying to create their next big thing. Taking a brief respite after touring the beehive known as the Xi’an HiTech Industries Development Zone, our group motored in a van about 75 miles up Mount Huashan to the tiny village of Da Ping (population: 100). Its mostly elderly residents (only one baby lives there) said most of the young people have left for jobs in the city. They know their village is dying, but they have no desire to leave. One man said through an interpreter: “We like our clean air.” Our group appreciated the clean mountain air, too, if not the communal latrine, and we appreciated it even more after leaving Xi’an for Beijing, where the air particulate count one day exceeded 400 (anything above 100 is considered unhealthy). It would have been nice to see Tiananmen Square when it and Beijing’s skyscrapers weren’t obscured by low-hanging smog. Only on our last day in Beijing did the wind blow the pollution away and allow the sun to properly illuminate the structures. In Beijing we met with the highest-ranking official on our itinerary, Fu Ying, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, who repeated the message we kept hearing from other Chinese—that they don’t see themselves as either America’s enemy or competitor, but as a trade partner that wants a closer relationship. Fu asked not to be quoted, but much of what she said mirrored remarks in her book, When I Was There, a compilation of speeches. Particularly noteworthy are comments she made in London after the 2008 Olympics: “China’s three decades of reform and opening up is a process of opening up to and learning from the West and other countries.... The market economy is deepening and concepts like democracy, the rule of law, and human rights are taking root.... But we don’t simply copy and paste. China learns useful things according to its own needs and national conditions.” I left China agreeing with the Chinese that Americans don’t know enough about what is happening in that country and why we should be paying more attention to it. But I also expressed to the Chinese I spoke with that they need to do more to get their message across. Even tiny Jamaica has a budget to promote itself directly to Americans. China, too, can make a direct appeal to Americans, rather than leaving it to visiting politicians and journalists to convey its desire for a closer relationship with the US. To be understood, China must, to use Fu’s words, “open up” even more.

Free fire

Y producer, Ichi Batacan, says students in the Philippines make false bomb threats to avoid exams. But at Fresno State University in California, the stress of taking exams drove a 23-year-old student to have sex with an ewe, one of several sheep kept by the veterinary department of the school for breeding experiments.

The student was caught in the act because the sheep bleated during the

experience. With satisfaction or dissatisfaction, no one knows.

Monday, December 15, 2014 A11

The student blamed the stress of taking exams, but schoolmate and veterinary student Marisa Burkdoll said, “It’s just kind of disgusting and revolting, and [it] personally makes me angry. I mean, why would you do that?” By “that”, however, she did not mean the act, but the taking advantage of the sheep. “It’s just kinda sick. It’s unnatural, and the animals,” she said, choking up. “They can’t, really—I mean, they can’t defend themselves.” Then she corrected herself as a veterinary student. “Well, they can defend themselves to an extent, but they’re innocent. You know what I mean?”

It was almost as if it would have been better if the stressed-out student had raped a classmate instead, as far as she was concerned. What does Burkdoll think the school is doing to the ewes in her department, if not to get them raped by rams held in the same pen? It is not like the ewes were asked to give their consent to the experiments. In the West the same concern for female sheep in the hands of stressed-out students does not exist when it comes to 14 year-old girls who were raped, passed around for more and then sold into brothels by Islamic State militants, who are Western assets gone rogue in Syria.

The role of the media and visibility for malnutrition around the world Mario Lubetkin

Inter press service

OME—The vast international and national media impact of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), held in Rome from November 19 to 21, demonstrated the growing interest that nutritional problems are arousing worldwide, primarily because the media themselves are increasingly reporting issues related to poverty and exclusion.

Thousands of articles in leading newspapers from different countries of the world, numerous television reports and substantial social-media activity focused on ICN2, jointly held by the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 22 years after the first international nutrition conference, held also in Rome. Global representation was ensured through participation by more than 100 ministers and deputy ministers as the leading actors responsible for nutrition-related matters in their respective countries. With a policy document and a framework for action containing over 60 points, adopted by consensus and applicable at national and international levels, this conference completed one phase and launched another, whose results will be seen in the years to come. Unlike other international meetings of this nature, this time the media highlighted the interventions of keynote speakers and the final documents, but, more important, continued to publish information and thought pieces on nutrition for some weeks following the conference.

Nutrition has achieved visibility as an issue on the global news agenda, primarily because of its serious social ramifications in developing and developed countries. Countless experts brought to the fore the inherent existing contradiction of having 800 million people suffering from hunger (albeit 200 million fewer than 20 years ago), while 500 million adults are suffering from obesity. The seriousness of the situation is compounded by the fact that the number of the latter is still rising and is resulting in serious health risks for the population at large. Suffice it to say, 42 million children are overweight, while malnutrition is the underlying cause of 45 percent of infant mortality. Statistics indicate that unhealthy diets and lack of exercise are the cause of 10 percent of deaths and permanent-disability cases. Over 2 billion people, or approximately one-third of all humanity, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. The problem among children younger than five years old is particularly distressing, because 51 million suffer from wasting, or low

weight for height, which, in turn, results in higher mortality from infectious diseases. Moreover, 161 million children in that particular age group also suffer from growth retardation. Malnutrition also has high economic costs. Recent studies have indicated that malnutrition hunger, micronutrient deficiency and obesity result in annual costs of between $2.8 billion and $3.5 trillion, or 4 percent to 5 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP). The per-capita cost is estimated to be $400 to $500 a year. In his speech during the International Conference on Nutrition, Pope Francis said, “When solidarity is lacking in one country, it is felt around the world.” Despite there being enough food for everyone, food issues are subject to manipulated information, corruption, claims regarding national security or “teary-eyed evocations of economic crisis,” the pontiff said. “That is the first challenge we need to overcome,” he asserted as he called for the rights of all human beings to be uppermost in all development assistance programs. The pope also stressed the need to respect the environment and protect the planet. “Humans may forgive, but nature does not,” he argued, adding that “we must take care of Mother Nature, so that she does not respond with destruction.” In this way, he linked the debates on nutrition with the just-concluded International Conference on Climate Change in Lima, Peru. However, despite the breadth of international coverage, it is worth noting that the leading media did not fully analyze the conference’s Framework for Action, which essentially sets the course for gradual resolution of nutrition’s major challenges.

This framework proposes the enhancement of political commitments; promotion of national nutrition plans incorporating the different food security and nutrition stakeholders; an increase in responsible investment; the fostering of inter-country collaboration, whether it be North-South or South-South; and the strengthening of nutrition governance. The framework also recommends measures to achieve sustainable food systems; revise national policies and investments; promote crop diversification; upgrade technology; develop and adopt international guidelines on healthy diets; and encourage gradual reductions in consumption of saturated fats, sugar, salt or sodium. The chapter on communications suggests the conduct of socialmarketing campaigns and lifestylechange communication programs promoting physical activity, dietary diversification, consumption of micronutrient-rich food products to include traditional local foods, and taking cultural factors into account. Although the principal responsibility for implementing the framework rests with governments and parliaments, nonstate actors, such as civil society and the private sector, have an important role to play by joining forces in ensuring that the proposals are put into action. Throughout this process, the media have a crucial oversight role in ensuring that the challenges and proposed solutions identified by the Second International Conference on Nutrition become reality in the short and medium terms. Mario Lubetkin is the director of corporate communications at the Food and Agriculture Organization.

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145 I.L.P. PARTICIPANTS TO FREE UP 603 MW–TY By Jovee Marie dela Cruz

t least 145 large companies in Luzon have committed to run their standby generator sets from March to July next year so other consumers will have adequate supply of electricity amid the projected power shortage. House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG Marketers’ Association Rep. Arnel U. Ty said with 145 firms using their backup generators, some 603 megawatts (MW) of supply from the Luzon grid will be freed and made available for use by smaller businesses and homes. According to Ty, a senior member of the House Energy Committee, 38 big customers of the Manila Electric Co. and 107 clients of retail-electricity suppliers have voluntarily enlisted in the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) of the Department of Energy as of December 12. Under the ILP, participants with loads of at least 1 MW each—mostly industrial facilities, shopping malls, as well as office and residential skyscrapers—will be asked to disconnect from the grid and run their standby

generators once the supply of electricity is expected to fall short of the demand. The ILP guarantees other consumers —those without any self-generating capacity—ample electricity despite potential supply deficiencies. “We have very high hopes that the ILP will help address the power-supply shortfall in a big way,” Ty said. He also expressed confidence that the falling price of oil would encourage more businesses to join the ILP in the weeks ahead. On September 12 President Aquino requested Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very tight energy supply as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.

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Number of households with savings lower in Q4

By Bianca Cuaresma

here were fewer households with savings in the fourth quarter compared with households in the third quarter, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). In a special portion of the survey on consumers’ expectations for the months of October and November, the central bank said the number of households with savings dipped to only 25.7 percent, from 26.9 percent in the previous quarter. Most of the savers said they

set aside money to future emergencies, health and hospitalization expenses, retirement finances, education fees, business capital and investments. The diminished number of savers was from the low- and middleincome groups. However, there was a

moderate increase in the number of savers from the high-income group, which had an offsetting effect. Of the 25.7 percent that indicated owning savings for the period, two-thirds have bank deposit accounts; 29.6 percent kept their savings at home; and 22.2 percent put their money in cooperatives, paluwagan and other credit/ loan associations. In the consumer expectation survey, the household respondents said they see a pickup in economic activity in the country due to brisker business activities in the run up the long Christmas holidays. Meanwhile, of the 558 households included in the survey that received overseas Filipino worker (OFW) remittances in the last

quarter of the year, 96.1 percent used the remittances to purchase food and other household needs. About three-fourths of OFW families, meanwhile, allocated a portion of their remittances for education. More than half set aside money for medical expenses, while more than two-fifths, or 42.1 percent, for debt payments. OFW households that utilized their remittances for savings rose to 41.2 percent, from the 39.7 percent in the previous quarter. “Those that allotted their remittances for investment and for the purchase of consumer durables and house remained steady. Those that apportioned part of their remittances to purchase cars or motor vehicles decreased,” the central bank added.