BusinessMirror December 3, 2014

BusinessMirror

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A broader look at today’s business

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Tuesday, November 18,3,2014

Wednesday, December 2014Vol.Vol.1010No.No.4055

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DOMINGO WANTS 30% DROP IN OIL COST REFLECTED IN PRICES OF BASIC, PRIME GOODS

INSIDE

DTI: Cut prices by at least 3% T

putin: russia will scrap south stream pipeline BusinessMirror

World The

B3-1 | Wednesday, December 3, 2014 • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

By Catherine N. Pillas & Bianca Cuaresma

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspect military honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the new Presidential Palace in ankara, Turkey, on Monday. AP/BurhAn OzBilici

Putin: Russia will scrap South Stream pipeline

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NKARA, Turkey—Amid spiraling tensions with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that Moscow is spiking a multibilliondollar gas pipeline project for southern Europe and will focus instead on boosting its energy ties with Turkey.

Moscow will increase gas supplies to Turkey across the existing pipeline and later could build a new link and possibly work with Turkey on creating a gas hub on the border with Greece, Putin said.

He argued that the EU’s opposition to the South Stream pipeline— which would have run under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further on to southern Europe—meant Russia had no other choice but to scrap it.

The announcement is part of the Kremlin’s efforts to forge new

alliances as Russia-West relations have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis. It reflects the narrowing room for maneuver for Russia, which previously had competed with Turkey for the role of a key energy conduit to the lucrative European markets.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed ties with Russia, but was tight-lipped on the prospect of creating the energy hub proposed by Putin, signaling that tough bargaining lies ahead.

Cold-shouldered by the EU, Putin still wants to expand Russia’s gas exports to the EU markets bypassing Ukraine and is also keen to demonstrate that Moscow can find new partners despite Western efforts to isolate it. Erdogan, in turn, sees ties with Russia as an important tool to raise Turkey’s global leverage and boost its economy.

Reflecting a shared interest in expanding ties, both leaders sought to downplay the differences, such as their conflicting views on the Syrian crisis.

“Turkey and Russia don’t share the same views on many issues, in particular on Syria...[but] Turkey will continue to purchase energy from Russia,” said Prof. Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University.

Putin’s move to try to build an energy alliance with Turkey reflects Moscow’s precarious position regarding the South Stream. Russia’s statecontrolled natural gas giant, Gazprom, already has invested nearly $5 billion in building the pipeline on Russian territory, about half of its projected cost.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said

that his company signed a memorandum on building a new Turkeybound pipeline under the Black Sea, which would be capable of pumping about 63 billion cubic meters to Turkey, the same capacity as the South Stream.

If Erdogan accepts the Russian offer of forming an energy alliance, it would mark a sharp policy change for Turkey that so far has served as a major transit route for oil and gas resources from the Caspian and Central region to the west, bypassing Russia.

The US and the EU have strongly backed energy exports via Turkey as a way of reducing the continent’s dependence on Russia’s energy resources. Putin added a sweetener, saying that Russia will offer a 6-percent price discount for its gas supplies to Turkey starting next year and could offer an even better deal if the two countries reach an agreement on deeper energy cooperation.

Turkey already is a major importer of Russian gas, coming second only to Germany. In addition to gas, Russia will invest $20 billion in a contract to build Turkey’s first nuclear-power plant. AP

sTudEnT leader Joshua Wong wipes his eye during his hunger strike at the occupied area outside government headquarters in Hong Kong on Tuesday. AP

Taiwan Cabinet resigns after local elections

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OSCOW—Taiwan’s Cabinet has formally resigned following the massive defeat of the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party, Kuomintang or KMT, in Saturday’s elections, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. Eighty-one ministers will still continue to work until their successors are chosen.

“As the Cabinet is now entering into the caretaking period, I want to implore you to continue carrying out your roles until the new Cabinet is formed…. Hopefully the period won’t last too long,” Jiang Yi-huah, the island’s prime minister, said in a statement, as quoted by AFP. Jiang Yi-huah stepped down hours after poll results were announced. The largest local elections

in Taiwan were held on November 29. Approximately 20,000 candidates were running for 11,130 local government and legislative offices.

Voter turnout has been estimated to be as high as 70 percent, according to the Global Times.

Kuomintang had won 40.7 percent of the vote in what amounts to KMT’s worst poll performance. The party has lost five out of six large municipalities to the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Moreover, Kuomintang was defeated in two of its traditional strongholds, the country’s major cities of Taipei and Taichung.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou is expected to announce a new line up in the coming days. Ma is expect-

ed to make what KMT Spokesman Chen Yi-hsin described as a major announcement on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s president also apologized for the party’s poor performance. “The KMT has suffered a huge defeat in the elections and I must apologize to all the Party members and supporters as well,” Ma, who also serves as KMT chairman, said during a news conference, as quoted by Xinhua. Elections have been viewed as a key barometer ahead of the presidential poll, scheduled for 2016. KMT’s defeat reflects voters’ concerns over Taiwan strengthening ties with China since 2008, when Ma Ying-jeou came to power.

Progress in bilateral relations will be stalled if DPP wins in the

presidential election, asserted Hu Shiqing, a researcher at the Taiwan Studies Institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences, according to the Global Times.

“While the current governing KMT recognizes the ‘one China’ stance and emphasizes the Chinese mainland’s importance to Taiwan’s economic development, the DPP has advocated closer economic ties with the US, Japan and Europe to balance the Chinese mainland’s influence on Taiwan,” the researcher said, as quoted by the newspaper.

Li He, a deputy director of the Beijing-based National Society of Taiwan Studies, said that KMT’s defeat would have limited impact on Taiwan-China relations. PNA/Sputnik

Hong Kong teen protest leader on hunger strike

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ONG KONG—A prominent Hong Kong teen protest leader said on Monday he’s going on a hunger strike after a failed attempt by pro-democracy activists to step up their flagging movement for democratic reforms by surrounding government headquarters.

Joshua Wong’s announcement came after protesters carrying umbrellas—which have become symbols of the pro-democracy movement—battled police armed with pepper spray, batons and riot shields for hours overnight before being driven off a main road outside the complex at dawn.

The government complex was forced to shut temporarily and the city’s Beijing-backed leader said public patience was wearing thin, adding that police would “continue to take decisive action to enforce the law.”

Student leaders conceded that their attempt to escalate their movement had failed. With options running out, the 18-year-old Wong announced at a rally late on Monday that he and two other members of his group would go on an indefinite hunger strike to press demands that the Hong Kong government drop restrictions on inaugural 2017 elections for the city’s top leader.

Wong leads Scholarism, one of two student groups that have played key roles organizing the protests that have occupied major streets around the city for two months. Hundreds of protesters overran police lines on Sunday night as they tried to block traffic on a main road, but were stopped by police barricades from going down a side road to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying’s office.

The protesters, many wearing surgical masks, hard hats and safety goggles and chanting, “I want true democracy,” said they wanted to occupy the road to prevent Leung and other government officials from getting to work in the morning.

At one point after midnight, police charged the crowd, aggressively pushing demonstrators back with pepper spray and batons, after some protesters started pelting them with water bottles and other objects. Police later fell back, letting demonstrators reoccupy the road. At dawn, police charged again and cleared the protesters from some areas around the government headquarters.

Police Spokesman Steve Hui said 40 protesters had been arrested while 17 officers were wounded, but did not give a total injury count.

“Radicals and troublemakers were found in between the crowd who created chaos deliberately,” he said.

Protesters said they were taking action to force a response from Hong Kong’s government, which has made little effort to address their demands that it scrap a plan by China’s Communist leaders to use a panel of Beijing-friendly elites to screen candidates for Hong Kong’s leader in inaugural 2017 elections.

Leung told reporters that police patience should not be interpreted as weakness.

“If this can be tolerated, what cannot?” he said. Hundreds remain entrenched in the main downtown protest site, building tents, work tables and other infrastructure, even as energy has diminished on the streets since the first surge of demonstrations in late September. AP

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UNDERSCORING THE ‘ULTRA’ IN ULTRA HDTVs F

You may do

ATHER in Heaven, we abandon ourselves in Your hands, do with us what You will. Whatever You may do, we thank You. We accept all. We are ready for all. Let only Your will be done in us and in all Your creatures. We wish no more than this, oh Lord.

We confidently ask Your guidance. Amen.

CHARLES DE F. AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

‘THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY–PART 1’ SOARS AGAIN... »D3

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

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THE 49" LG UB850T Ultra HDTV powered by webOS, which brings the Smart TV experience to something utterly refreshing and thoroughly intuitive.

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THE motionenabled Magic Remote that comes with LG’s range of Smart TVs and Ultra HDTVs—one of best remotes ever.

Underscoring the ‘ultra’ in Ultra HDTVs B G R Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor

smartphone, we never ever had to dig up the manual to work our way around and get productive with the Pre. Ditto with the Pre 3.

Then, HP—another technology giant, which acquired Palm in 2010—royally f@%#ed it up. Amid an internal upheaval, the company released three webOSpowered devices—two smartphones and one tablet—in the first half of 2011. Before year’s end, as the company faced both internal turmoil and a tough smartphone market, HP announced it was halting webOS device development and production. The decision left in the lurch the thousands who bought into and instantly fell in love with the platform, with not a few of webOS fans, ourselves included, wondering what would become of the beloved mobile operating system.

Well, now you can check any of appliance centers in your favorite mall to see what has happened to webOS since LG acquired it from HP in 2013 as a replacement to the aging NetCast platform that was then powering the company’s smart TVs. The consumer electronics giant, headquartered in South Korea, has embraced the slogan “simple is the new smart” and, in an interview earlier this year with TheVerge.com, Colin Zhao, director of product management for LG’s Silicon Valley Lab, said the company sought to “make TV simple again.”

This, LG has accomplished for the most part with its new range of Smart TVs and Ultra HD TVs (also known as 4K TVs). The webOS powering these new

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OWADAYS it’s not often that we get worked up to an excitement over a new smart TV range in the same way that a new smartphone or tablet or wearable technology easily does. Of course, this should come as no surprise given that our increasingly mobile lifestyles have us constantly looking out for things that would help speed us from one appointment to the next, from one destination to another.

Then again, not all smart TVs are powered by webOS, the platform on which global consumer electronics giant LG has launched its 2014 range of Smart TVs and Ultra HDTVs, one of which—the 49" LG UB850T Ultra HDTV loaned to us by LG Philippines—we have been playing with for a few weeks now.

If you’re a huge fan of the Palm Pilot, then webOS needs no introduction. It is a Linux kernel-based operating system that Palm Inc. built from the ground up to replace its aging Palm OS Garnet, this as the company made the final transition from its best-selling personal digital assistants to the then-nascent product category of smartphones. webOS was a revolutionary platform—it was wicked fast, absolutely smart, with a graphical user interface that was not only downright gorgeous, but thoroughly intuitive. When we acquired our first webOS-powered Palm device, the original Pre

web-connected TVs, it must be said, doesn’t look anything like the OS you once knew and loved on those ill-fated Palm/HP devices, having been stripped the user interface of subtle gradients for a flatter but no less appealing modern look.

The card metaphor that once defined the excellent multitasking capabilities of webOS has also been rethought and rejiggered, with both software and hardware features appearing as cards arrayed horizontally at the bottom of the display whenever you call up the home screen at the press of a button on LG’s Magic Remote, a motion-enabled remote that has got to be one of the best we’ve ever wielded in front a TV screen.

Each of those cards represent not just the apps (YouTube, web browser, Skype, etc.) that come with the smart TV, and the web-enabled apps you have downloaded and installed from the LG app store, but also your variety of inputs (external storage, set-top box, Playstation 4 and so on), and they appear as an overlay to whatever it is that you’ve had playing—and which, by the way, continues to play even as you go through all those cards. It makes for a thoroughly refreshing seamless experience, so unlike other smart TV interfaces that yank you from whatever it is you’ve been viewing and dump you onto a separate screen the minute you press on the home button of the remote.

LG’s iteration of webOS would make any fan of the platform proud—and easily make fans of new users, as well. Should it be any surprise then that the company’s

market share for smart TVs and ultra HD TVs has grown considerably while newspapers report of the current struggles of its once seemingly invincible South Korean rival?

Beyond how webOS has redefined “smart” in smart TVs for LG, its 2014 releases, in particular the more affordably priced 49" LG UB850 Ultra HDTV that we have been playing with, are beautifully designed and solidly constructed. The UB850 boasts of the slimmest bezel we have encountered on a 4K TV that the display—an IPS LCD panel that gorgeously reproduces high-definition content—might as well be frameless. Like its pricier sisters, the UB850 packs such technologies as HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, integrated HEVC decoder, built-in WiFi connectivity, auto-screen dimming and passive 3D capabilities, among others.

All in all, our weeks-long sampling of the 49" LG UB850 Ultra HDTV has been a most pleasurable experience. However, before you bring home your Ultra HDTV of choice from the appliance store to attach to your Skycable set-top box, do tell the LG sales personnel, as there is some very minor hardware compatibility issue between the box and the Ultra HDTV—and which is easily resolved with some magic sauce from LG that only takes a few minutes to apply. ■

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THE iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are available from Globe Telecom.

Apple’s new smartphones and the complete digital experience SO you’ve written Santa that what you would want to find waiting under the tree on Christmas morning is one of the hottest new smartphones in the market?

Well, you should hope that jolly old Saint Nick got wind of Globe Telecom’s exciting offerings surrounding its recent launch of Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus (www.globe.com.ph/iphone6).

“Finally, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have arrived in the Philippines and Globe is beaming with excitement to bring the latest iPhones to Filipinos with best-in-class postpaid plans, exclusive privileges and the biggest rewards, and a complete suite of value-added services

and apps,” Issa Cabreir said a, senior vice president for consumer mobile marketing at Globe Telecom.

The mobile communications provided is bringing back its highly successful Reset program, a Globe-first, which allows existing postpaid customers to renew or extend their existing account to get the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

This means that, if a subscriber’s 24-month contract is still not up for renewal to get a new device, a corresponding “reset fee” can be settled to get the latest devices under the same postpaid line. The Reset program is available until December 31.

Another exclusive offer is the easy apps purchase from the US iTunes Store

using GCash American Express Virtual Card, enabling customers to download and purchase apps, media and games and charge it to their postpaid bill or prepaid load without using a credit card.

Besides the iTunes store, the virtual card also allows the user to shop conveniently online from local and international sites.

Customers can also enjoy a complete digital experience with Globe Apps, where they can store and access photos, videos, music, documents, contacts and messages in one place with Globe Cloud; book seats and buy movie tickets with GMovies; enjoy great discounts and deals, membership privileges and redeem offers with GDeals; and check load balance, subscribe to promos,

share load and manage account with GServices.

Globe is offering the iPhone 6 (16GB) at Plan 1299 with P800 monthly cashout good for 24 months, while the iPhone 6 Plus (16GB) is available at Plan 1299 with P1,000 monthly cashout also for 24 months, payable through major credit cards at zeropercent interest.

Both plan offers come with 3GB of GoSURF mobile data monthly, Photo Bundle for unlimited access to Instagram, Photo Repost, Photo Grid, and Instasize, 20 minutes of calls to all networks, 400 texts to all networks, free three months of access to Spotify Premium, and free Gadget Care coverage for one month.

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BusinessMirror

Aquino certifies bill on emergency powers as urgent

Editor: Tet Andolong

SM Center Angono is SM Prime’s 50th mall and the third in the province of Rizal after SM City Taytay and SM City Masinag.

SM Center Angono now open

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M Prime Holdings recently marked a milestone when it opened its 50th mall, SM Center Angono, in the Art Capital of the Philippines. It is SM’s third mall in the province of Rizal, after SM City Taytay and SM City Masinag.

Located on a 12,650-sq-m property along Manila East Road and Quezon Avenue in Barangay San Isidro, Angono, Rizal, the 42,000-sqm three-level mall will serve custom-

ers in Angono and Binangonan, as well as other towns in the province of Rizal like Cardona, Teresa, Morong, Baras, Tanay and Pililla.

With its rich natural and indig-

enous resources, rich cultural heritage, as well as all-out government initiatives, Rizal today is a firstclass province. It is envisioned to be the country’s next business capital with its strategic geographical location, artistic and talented work force, dynamic small and thriving large industries, and an expansive infrastructure.

SM Center Angono creates a memorable identity along Manila East Road with a bold, varied and dynamic exterior wall; a vivid backdrop for two strategically located and prominent entrances. A series of brightly colored art pylons located along the front of the center highlight Angono as the Art Capital

The mall is illuminated from above via continuous clerestories, which provide ample daylight without glare.

of the Philippines.

Colors in the mall’s design are bright and memorable, creating visual interest as well as a memorable retail icon. Whether entering the mall from the street or from the parking ramp, all customers will have convenient access to the heart of the SM Center Angono experience.

SM Center Angono is organized around a soaring pedestrian mall, generously sized and configured to allow a clear line of sight to every shop and restaurant at all levels. Conveniently placed bridges and balconies provide convenient access to all portions of the mall; while elevators and escalators en-

hance customer convenience.

The mall is illuminated from above via continuous clerestories, which provide ample daylight without glare. A custom-designed ceiling feature—especially designed for SM Center Angono—add additional visual interest and texture.

SM Center Angono has Savemore as its major anchor along with SM mainstays like Watsons and BDO. It has fashion boutiques like Shapes, Mint and Aksesoriz; jewelry stores like Jewels, Silverworks, Imono and Unisilver Time; eyewear stores like Executive Optical and Ideal Vision; sports stores like World Balance and Toby’s Sports; and a National Book-

store branch. Also scheduled to open soon are SM Appliance Center, Simply Shoes and Bench.

The mall will also have services, wellness centers, amusement centers like Worlds of Fun for kids, and an IT Zone for techies.

Eating-out options include Razon’s, Classic Savory, Coco Fresh Tea, Katsumi’s Cocoro, Turk’s Shawarma, Potato Corner and Dorothy’s Waffle House.

SM Center Agono’s design team includes DSGN Associates, mall designer; G&W Architects, architect of record; Don Lee Builders; DA Abcede, construction manager; and EDD Construction, project managers.

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biggest threat Sports BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, deCember 3, 2014 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

goaLIE NEUER chaLLENgES RoNaLdo, MESSI foR BaLLoN d’oR

BIGGEST THREAT »

aRgENtINEaN striker Lionel Messi (left), germany’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (center) and Portugal star cristiano Ronaldo are in the running for the Ballon d’or.

By Rob Harris

Bach

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2022 WCUP, OLYMPICS

MUST NOT CLASH-IOC

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ONDON—International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach says he’s convinced International Football Federation (Fifa) will keep its pledge to prevent the 2022 World Cup from clashing with that year’s Winter Olympics, as soccer’s governing body considers whether to move the tournament to the January-to-February months to avoid Qatar’s summer heat.

Fifa has assured the IOC that the two events won’t clash, but some senior soccer officials like Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President Michel Platini recently suggested they don’t share those concerns.

However, Bach said he’s convinced the pledge from Fifa President Sepp Blatter to keep the events separate on the calendar still stands.

“I have no reason not to believe [him],” Bach said in an interview with British broadcaster BBC on Monday. “He made it very clear that a clash of these two great events is in nobody’s interest.”

Fifa is studying options for when to stage the 2022 tournament in Qatar, with the two main proposals being to play in either January to February or November to December.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are expected to be held in February, with Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, the only candidate cities bidding for the games.

“A clash would be bad for the international audience who would have two major sports programs broadcast worldwide, so the public’s attention would be divided,” Bach said. “The athletes and the players would not get the attention they deserve, and for all the other sponsors and broadcasters being involved, it would be very, very difficult to manage. It’s in the mutual interest that this is not happening and we have this commitment.”

Fifa’s panel studying 2022 options meets again in about two months.

UEFA is among several continental soccer confederations that are pushing for the January-to-February option, and Platini indicated last month that the World Cup’s interests should come first. “[Fifa] don’t want to clash with the Olympic Committee but the rest of the world wants to find the best solution for the football,” he said. AP

The Associated Press

ONDON—The goalkeeper who won the World Cup will be challenging Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or. While the footballer of the year prize has switched between the world’s top scorers since 2008, Manuel Neuer of Germany is the first goalkeeper to make the Ballon d’Or top 3 since 2006.

Ronaldo won the 2013 honor, ending Argentina forward Messi’s three-year run as the world’s best player since International Football Federation (Fifa) and France Football magazine merged their awards.

In the women’s category, five-time winner Marta of Brazil was nominated on Monday alongside 2012 winner Abby Wambach and Germany midfielder Nadine Kessler, who is seeking the honor for the first time.

The winners, chosen by national team captains and coaches, plus select journalists, will be announced in Zurich on January 12.

Messi has broken the Champions League and Spanish league scoring records this month after winning the Golden Ball at the World Cup, but he will end 2014 without a team honor.

Argentina lost to Germany in the World Cup final, Bayern Munich goalkeeper Neuer keeping a clean sheet as he

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PhILadELPhIa 76ers’ K.J. Mcdaniels walks the court in frustration as his team drops another game, this time to the San antonio Spurs. AP

followed winning the German league and cup by lifting football’s biggest prize.

The last goalkeeper to make the Ballon D’Or top 3 was Gianluigi Buffon after Italy won the World Cup final in a shootout against France.

Neuer earlier this month played down his chances of winning the top individual award in football by citing his lower profile away from the pitch, particularly his lack of photo shoots wearing underwear.

Ronaldo, though, is one of the most marketable men in sport—posing regularly in adverts when wearing little and celebrating scoring in the Champions League final in May by ripping off his shirt to show his muscled body to cameras.

Although the two-time Ballon D’Or winner triumphed in the Champions League and Union of European Football Associations Super Cup with Real Madrid this year, he scored only one goal at the World Cup as Portugal went out in the group stage.

That solitary goal was not enough to

make Fifa’s goal of the year short list.

Two nominees for the Puskas Award were World Cup goals: James Rodriguez’s volley for Colombia against Uruguay and Robin van Persie’s header for the Netherlands against Spain.

The short list was completed by an unfamiliar name with Ireland forward Stephanie Roche nominated for her goal for Peamount United, scored in front of a handful of fans in a domestic game against Wexford Youths.

The Fifa ceremony in Zurich will also give awards to the best coaches in men’s and women’s football.

The men’s list features Carlo Ancelotti, who led Real to its 10th European Cup in May, Germany’s World Cup winner Joachim Loew and Diego Simeone, who broke the dominance of Real and Barcelona to win the Spanish league with Atletico Madrid.

The women’s list is made up of Wolfsburg Coach Ralf Kellermann, Maren Meinert, who won the under-20s 2015 World Cup with Germany, and Norio Sasaki, coach of Japan’s Asian Cup-winning side.

SPURS KEEP 76ERS WINLESS

HILADELPHIA— Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 26 points and had a crucial three-point play in the final minute to help the San Antonio Spurs defeat the winless 76ers, 109-103, extending Philadelphia’s club-worst losing streak to start the season to 0-17.

The Spurs (13-4) played without stars Tim Duncan (rest) and Tony Parker (shoulder).

Even without the duo’s more than 31 points out of the lineup, San Antonio had little trouble dispatching Philadelphia. Aron Baynes scored 15 points and Manu Ginobili and Cory Joseph each added 14 for San Antonio, which won its eighth straight.

Leonard also had 10 rebounds while tying a career-high in points.

Michael Carter-Williams had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Alexey Shved chipped in 19 points for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia became just the fourth team in league history to open a season with 17 losses, joining the 1998-1999 Clippers (0-17), 19881989 Heat (0-17) and the 2009-2010 Nets (0-18).

The 76ers can tie the Nets for the worst start in National Basketball Association (NBA) history on Wednesday at Minnesota with a potential chance to break the record at home on Friday against Oklahoma City.

Denver’s Ty Lawson had 15 points and made a double-pump jumper to beat the shot clock with 29.6 seconds left to boost the Nuggets over the Utah Jazz, 103-101.

The game heated up after Arron Afflalo was ejected and the Jazz stormed back from a 22-point deficit to tie the game in the final minutes.

Lawson, who also had 12 assists, made the game-winner from the left wing between two Jazz defenders.

Hayward scored 25 points, Burks had 22 and Burke chipped in 18, but Utah’s losing streak hit six games—the longest skid since March 10 to 19 last season.

“Filipino consumers should also benefit from the continuous fall in world oil prices that have gone down some 30 percent since June this year,” Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said.

Another positive news resulting from the lower prices is the statement of ING Bank that the softer inflation print expected in the waning months and into the long-holiday season is seen boosting local output, measured as the gross domestic product (GDP), in the last quarter of the year.

Joey Cuyegkeng, chief economist at ING Bank Manila, said moderating consumer goods’ prices—along with remittances during the period—should help boost domestic consumption during the holiday season and make up for the lower-than-expected growth in the first nine months of the year.

See “DTI,” A2

sm center angono opens E1 Wednesday, December 3, 2014

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is calling on producers of goods and services to roll back their prices by at least 3 percent, due to the decrease in their transportation costs following the drop in global oil prices.

At Washington John Wall had 18 points and 13 assists as the Wizards made their first seven three-pointers to beat the Miami Heat, 107-86.

The Wizard held the Heat to two-for-22 from beyond the arc for the game.

Rasual Butler scored 23, and Marcin Gortat added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who never trailed and led by 21 in the first half and 25 in the second.

Chris Bosh led Miami with 21 points, and Dwayne Wade had 20 in his second game back from an injured right hamstring.

The Los Angeles Clippers downed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 127-101, in the most successful road trip in club history after Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick each scored 23 points before sitting out the fourth quarter.

DeAndre Jordan had 13 rebounds and 11 points for the Clippers, who won their fifth in a row following their 6-1 trip and beat Minnesota for the 10th straight time.

Shabazz Muhammad had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves. AP

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resident Aquino has certified as urgent Joint Resolution 21, granting him emergency powers to address the projected power-supply deficit from March to July 2015.

In a one-page letter to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. dated November 27, Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. said Mr. Aquino is certifying Joint Resolution 21, authorizing the Chief Executive to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity as mandated by Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), to effectively address the projected electricity shortage in the Luzon grid next year.

“We are transmitting the letter of His Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, certifying to the necessity of the immediate enactment of House Joint Resolution 21,” Ochoa said. Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday delivered his sponsorship speech on the resolution.

“The House Joint Resolution 21 is not a resolution that will let this country spend P6 billion to P12 billion to acquire additional generating capacity. It will not even add a single centavo on our electricity bills. Rather, this resolution is the most cost-effective piece of legislation that could have been formulated to respond to the looming power crisis. This resolution is the consensus efforts See “Emergency powers,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 44.9150

pope visit A worker at the Holy Family Church in Makati City carries a photo standee of Pope Francis. The Catholic Church’s preparation for the pope’s visit on January 15 is now in full swing. Nonie Reyes

TAIWAN, HONG KONG GIVING XI HEADACHE

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n electoral pummeling for Taiwan’s pro-Beijing ruling party and a new spike in prodemocracy protests in Hong Kong have delivered a reality check to Chinese President Xi Jinping, just when he was riding a wave of high-profile diplomacy.

Xi’s message of a better economic future by joining forces with Beijing, rather than aligning against it, doesn’t seem to be working with the electorate in Taiwan, where voters turned out in droves over the weekend to support the chief opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in local elections.

The DPP advocates more distance between Taiwan and China, and taps into concerns many Taiwanese have over any eventual unification with authoritarian Beijing.

Likewise, Xi’s message is not working with the Hong Kong protesters, who clashed with police early Monday, as they tried to surround government headquarters to revitalize their flagging movement in the face of Beijing’s intransigence on democratic reforms.

The Hong Kong protests reminded Taiwanese voters of what Taiwan could become in the event of unification with China, said Kweibo Huang, associate professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

“Hong Kong consolidated Taiwan voter worries about relations with mainland China,” Huang said.

The DPP won seven of nine races for mayors and county chiefs, delivering a major setback to the ruling See “Taiwan, Hong Kong,” A2

Ayala Land renews bid to buy Panlilio property

By VG Cabuag

A

yala Land Inc. has offered to resume its dealings with the Panlilio family-led Boulevard Holdings Inc. for the purchase of “a large chunk” of land in Puerto Azul in Ternate, Cavite.

Jose Marcel Panlilio, Boulevard Holdings chairman and CEO, informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that Ayala Land Premier head Jose Juan Jugo approached the company on November 17 to indicate Ayala’s interest in buying the Panlilios’1,000-hectare property in Puerto Azul.

Previously, Ayala Land wants to buy about 300 to 400 hectares of land for about P2.3 billion.

Panlilio said he asked Ayala Land President Bernard Vincent Dy to elaborate the company’s offer. “We don’t know if this verbal offer is serious, or where they are coming from. Nothing is for sure and this topic is still informational,” Panlilio said.

Ayala Land dropped its negotiations with Boulevard Holdings in September, citing several issues, such as ownership of land. Its funding for the purchase of the Puerto Azul property was also channeled already to its township project in Porac, Pampanga.

The Panlilio firm in March has agreed to sell to Ayala Land certain parcels of its

PANLILIO: “We don’t know if this verbal offer is serious, or where they are coming from.

Nothing is for sure, and this topic is still informational.”

land in Ternate for the development of high-end, mixed-used community. That deal was supposed to be concluded a few months later, but was postponed for several times, until it was scrapped.

Panlilio said the company’s board advised that Ayala Land should get the original 300 hectares to 400 hectares of land before buying the additional 600 hectares on a later date. The price and terms of the agreement will also be revised, after prices may have gone up.

Boulevard Holdings owns about 3,000 hectares of land. The company also planned to have a Fridays Resort in Paniman Beach. Panlilio also said the company met with some foreign investors that may be interested in their property.

“All we can say for now is we are determined to finish this,” Panlilio said.

n japan 0.3795 n UK 70.6827 n HK 5.7926 n CHINA 7.3009 n singapore 34.3807 n australia 38.2093 n EU 56.0225 n SAUDI arabia 11.9684 Source: BSP (2 December 2014)

A2

News BusinessMirror

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

DTI. . . continued from a1

Tagle: No political gimmicks in Pope Francis visit please

M

anila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Tuesday appealed to politicians who wish to welcome Pope Francis during his visit not to use the occasion for their “self-promotion,” especially those eyeing positions in the 2016 elections.

He urged unnamed political personalities to refrain from taking advantage of the popularity of the pontiff for their own self-promotion.

“If you must welcome then do so without calling attention to yourself. Please use the name of the Church responsibly and in a manner that dignifies all of us,” Tagle told reporters at the third prepapal visit news briefing held at the Knights of Columbus in Intramuros, Manila.

Pope Francis is scheduled to make a pastoral and state visit to the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015.

Tagle reiterated the scheduled trip to the Philippines of Pope Francis is a “spiritual visit.” He stressed that banners and streamers from politicians are okay as long as they are “simple,” not ostentatious and not focused on their persona but on Jesus.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)

“We believe that domestic demand would strengthen in the fourth quarter as inflation eases and the peso value of overseas Filipino workers’[OFWs] remittances provide an added purchasing power,” Cuyegkeng said in an e-mailed response to the BusinessMirror.

Earlier, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the country’s inflation was seen to slow in the waning months on lower oil prices and as the adjustments by the monetary board work their way in the economy and finally begin to bite.

In particular, Tetangco forecast inflation ranging from 3.5 percent to 4.3 percent in November, or just below the month ago inflation rate of 4.3 percent.

This was also within the government’s target of 3 percent to 5 percent for 2014. Cuyegkeng said inflation will likely fall to 4 percent in November, approximating rates posted in earlier months.

“The softening inflation rate trend is likely to continue. Despite the weak third quarter agriculture output, food prices continue to ease week-on-week and month-on-month but year-on-year inflation remains elevated. Power rates and oil product prices moderate headline inflation,” Cuyegkeng said.

The November inflation numbers will be released by the Philippine

announced that bishops all over Asia will be flying in especially for the Holy Father’s Mass with the clergy and religious at the Manila Cathedral on January 16, 2015.

“It should also be noted there will be Asian bishops who will come. We are just waiting for their confirmation. Some have already confirmed,” Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, head of the CBCP Commission on Mass Media, said.

“We know this is also a regional celebration. So they will be coming and they will be part of the Manila Cathedral celebration,” he said.

Brunei Bishop Cornelius Sim, one of a number of Asian prelates to have confirmed their coming to Manila for the papal visit, expects both to be strengthened and encouraged by Pope Francis’s words to the clergy.

Sim also said he expects a strong message from the pontiff saying,“I think we have a good sense he’ll continue to point us to enlarge our sometimes myopic rule-based approach to ministry and be more willing to make the human person as our primary concern.”

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Taiwan, Hong Kong. . . continued from a1 Nationalist Party, which advocates greater economic integration across the Taiwan Strait.

That poses a complex challenge for Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take control of the island by force if necessary. The poll results build on months of opposition among the young and middle class to Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou’s steps to further reduce economic barriers

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday, December 5.

Domingo said: “We are going over our data to check how the price drop should be reflected in the prices of basic and prime goods. The steady decline of oil prices should now have a significant impact on the prices of all products and services. At the minimum, they should decrease by 3 percent.”

The trade chief directed the consumer-protection arm of the department, led by Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba, to determine the reduction in the suggested retail price (SRP) of basic necessities and prime commodities that include agricultural goods and non-agricultural products because of lower transport and energy costs.

SRPs are issued by manufacturers to retailers to ensure fair competition in the market. Production cost, distribution cost and profit margins of retailers and distributors are factored in.

The DTI requires the manufacturers of basic necessities and prime commodities to quarterly submit their product SRPs whether there are price changes or not.

If the manufacturers have plans to change their SRPs, they are required to submit these changes a month prior to their effectivity dates together with their reasons and justifications. The trade

Emergency powers. . . continued from a1

between the sides and propel them toward talks on political unification.

Concerns in Hong Kong that the economic rise of mainland China marginalizes the former British colony also are high among the pro-democracy protesters there.

Likewise in Taiwan, many residents fear the island’s economy could be swallowed up by China, flooding its labor market to keep wages low as living costs rise. AP

of all public and private sectors to save this country from the looming electricity crisis,” Umali said.

As of this writing, lawmakers are still holding plenary deliberations on the resolution.

Earlier, House Majority Leader and Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II of Man-

daluyong City said the resolution is set to be approved in the lower chamber this week.

On September 12 President Aquino, requested the Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST DECEMBER 3, 2014 | WEDNESDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”. It affects the

DEC 4

THURSDAY

DEC 5

FRIDAY

agency will then publish the approved SRPs to guide consumers.

Last Friday the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) agreed to maintain production at 30 million barrels per day as first agreed in December 2011.

Immediately after this, the price of the benchmark Brent crude fell below $72 a barrel, its lowest since August 2010, before settling at $72.82, a 5-percent drop on the day.

With this development, oil prices can be expected to remain low in the months to come.

The Department of Trade and Industry, as the chairman and secretariat of the National Price Coordinating Council, will coordinate with its members that include the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Health to determine the extent of the effect of the falling prices of world crude oil on products and services.

Based on Department of Energy (DOE) records, the average pump price of diesel fell about 20 percent this year, from P44.63 per liter in January to P36.71 this November.

DOE records also show the average household liquefied petroleum gas price dropped by about 25 percent over the same period, from P45.36 per kilogram to P34.54.

The DTI is urging government

agencies such as Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Civil Aeronautics Board, Maritime Industry Authority and the Energy Regulatory Commission to also assess the impact of the 30-percent decline in world oil prices on trucking and shipping rates, land transportation fare, fuel surcharges and electricity rates, among others.

“We are calling on producers and distributors to share with the public the savings they are realizing as a result of the lower cost of transportation and energy, particularly on agricultural products and basic consumer goods,” Domingo adds. “This would be a timely and much-needed service to Filipino consumers especially with Christmas just around the corner.”

The DTI is the agency that has jurisdiction over nonagricultural basic goods, such as canned fish and other marine products, processed milk, coffee, laundry bar, candles, bread, salt, instant noodles and bottled water.

Nonagr icultural pr ime commodities include flour, canned pork, chicken and beef, vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, bath soap, paper, school supplies, cement, clinker, GI sheets, hollow blocks, construction materials, batteries, electrical supplies, light bulbs and steel wires.

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.

Under Section 71 of Epira, “the Congress may, upon the determination by the President of an imminent shortage of the supply of electricity, authorize the President, through a joint resolution, to provide for the establishment of additional generating capacity. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

DEC 6

SATURDAY

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

DEC 4

DEC 5

25 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

FRIDAY

THURSDAY

DEC 6

SATURDAY

METRO MANILA

23 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

24 – 32°C

METRO CEBU

TUGUEGARAO

22 – 30°C

21 –30°C

21 – 29°C

TACLOBAN

24 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

24 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

24 – 31°C

24 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

METRO DAVAO

24 – 33°C

25 – 33°C

25 – 33°C

24 – 32°C

24 – 32°C

25 – 32°C

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON.

eastern portions of the country. It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rains and showers.

(AS OF DECEMBER 2, 5:00 PM)

LAOAG

LAOAG CITY 24 – 31°C

SBMA/CLARK 24 – 30°C TAGAYTAY CITY 21 – 30°C

METRO MANILA 23 – 30°C

23 – 31°C

BAGUIO

15 – 22°C

15 – 22°C

SBMA/ CLARK

23 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

TUGUEGARAO CITY 22 – 31°C BAGUIO CITY 16 – 22°C

24 – 31°C

TAGAYTAY

21 – 30°C

22 – 30°C

15 – 21°C

25 – 31°C

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 31°C

ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 30°C

TACLOBAN CITY 24 – 31°C

METRO CEBU 25 – 31°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY 23 – 32°C

PUERTO PRINCESA

ILOILO/ BACOLOD CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 24 – 31°C METRO DAVAO 24 – 33°C

25 – 31°C

24 – 30°C

SUNRISE

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

6:06 AM

5:25 PM

2:54 AM

2:48 PM

22 – 30°C

LEGAZPI CITY 25 – 30°C

LEGAZPI

ZAMBOANGA

24 – 30°C

HALF MOON

FULL MOON

SOUTH HARBOR

DEC 06

NOV 29

6:06 PM

24– 31°C

25 – 31°C

24 – 31°C

8:27 PM

CELEBES SEA

2:07 AM

0.20 METER

7:52 PM

0.45 METER

Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and/or thunderstorms Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers

24 – 31°C

25 – 31°C

25 – 32°C

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

Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

Light rains

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

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Wednesday, December 3, 2014 A3

DOJ files charges against 14 Tau Gamma Phi members

Sandiganbayan junks Revilla, Napoles, Cambe pleas for bail

T

T

By Joel R. San Juan

HE Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday recommended the filing of criminal charges against 14 members of the Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity for alleged violation of Republic Act (RA) 8049, or the Anti-Hazing Law of 1995, in connection with the death of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde student Guillo Cesar Servando during their initiation rites on June 28.

Charged before the Regional Trial Court in Makati City were Cody Errol Morales, Daniel Paul Martin Bautista, Kurt Michael Almazan,EsmersonNathanielCalupas, Hans Killia Tatlonghari, Eleazar Pablico III, John Kevin Navoa, Vic Angelo Dy, Mark Andrew Ramos, Michael David Castañeda, Justin Francis Reyes, an alias “Kiko,” an alias “Bea” and a Jane Doe. The DOJ, however, recommended the dismissal of the complaint against six other respondents—identified as Jemar Pajarito, Luis Solomon Arevalo, Carl Francis Loresca, Steven Jorge Penano, Ma. Teresa Dayanghirang and Alyssa Federique Valbuena— for insufficiency of evidence.

The DOJ held that all of the respondents were present during

the initiation rites of Servando and three other neophytes—identified as John Paul Raval, Lorenze Anthony Agustin and Levin Roland Flores.

It noted that the initiation rites of the four neophytes were conducted by the respondents from the Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity, La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde Chapter without notice and authority from school authorities concerned, thus, unlawful and in contravention to the provisions of RA 8049.

“The positive identification of the fraternity members of Tau Gamma Phi by the three neophytes—Raval, Agustin and Flores—who survived the hazing, as well as their vivid recollection of what really transpired on June 28, 2014, which, at least were not rebutted by the respondents, who either resorted to flight or disappeared to parts unknown, more than swayed our minds to morally conclude that they were telling the truth, and that their testimonies were, in fact, credible, true and straightforward,” the DOJ said in a 26-page resolution.

The testimonies of the three neophytes were corroborated by the sworn statements of the maintenance and security personnel of One Archer’s Place Condominium, where the neophytes were staying.

The DOJ noted that the condominium personnel had firsthand interaction with the neophytes and respondents Tatlonghari and Pablico when they returned to the condominium unit, where Servando expired.

“The other pieces of evidence, that is the closed-circuit television footage recorded at One Archer’s Place that fateful day...as well as the photographs submitted by complainants, have more than morally convinced the undersigned panel of prosecutors to accord credence to the veritable testimonies of the victims and the other witnesses,” the resolution said.

“Thus, the aforesaid respondents must be charged with violation of the Anti-Hazing Law, primordially on account of the demise of neophyte Guillo Cesar Servando,” it added. The resolution was signed by a panel of prosecutors, composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Arnold Magpantay, Alejandro Daguiso and Stewart Allan Mariano.

T heir resolution was approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arrelano.

In earlier hearings on the case, it was found that five respondents have already left the country—Navoa, Calupas, Tatlonghari, Pablico and Valbuena.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

HE Sandiganbayan on Tuesday junked the bail petitions filed by detained Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., his former chief of staff Richard Cambe and alleged pork-barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles in connection with the alleged P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (Pdaf) scam.

In a 71-page ruling written by Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz of the antigraft court’s First Division, the Sandiganbayan said “the prosecution has established that there exists a strong evidence” that Revilla, Cambe and Napoles, “in conspiracy with one another, committed the capital offense of plunder.”

Plunder is a nonbailable offense.

The court, however, can grant bail if it deems that evidence presented by the prosecution of guilt is weak.

“Wherefore, in light of all the foregoing, accused Ramon M. Revilla Jr., Rirchard A. Cambe and Janet Lim-Napoles are denied bail,” the ruling said.

Earlier the Office of the Ombudsman said Napoles, Senators Rev illa, Jing goy Estrada and Juan Ponce-Enrile took undue advantage of their official position to illegally divert, in connivance with certain respondents, their respective Pdaf allocations to the non-governmental

organizations of Napoles, in exchange for kickback-commissions amounting to more than P172 million for Enrile, P242 million for Rev illa and P138 million for Estrada.

The court, however, clarified that the decision would not mean that Revilla, Napoles and Cambe will be found guilty of the charges against them.

“The court cautions that such conclusion [to deny bail] shall not be regarded as a prejudgment on the merits of the case that are to be determined only after a full-blown trial,” the ruling said.

The bail-denial order signals the beginning of the formal trial of plunder and multiple counts of graft against the accused.

Revilla and Cambe are currently detained at the National Police Custodial Center in Camp General Rafael Crame, Quezon City, while Napoles is held at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

However, government prosecutors on Monday asked the antigraft court to order the detention of Revilla and Cambe to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, where high-profile captured Abu Sayyaf bandits and the suspects in the Ampatuan Massacre are held.

Economy

A4 Wednesday, December 3, 2014 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

1 in every 3 Filipinos of working age not in labor force–PSA report

O

By Cai U. Ordinario

ver 20 million Filipinos are not in the labor force, or are deemed “economically inactive,” between 2006 and 2013, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed that the number of economically inactive Filipinos increased to 23.2 million in 2013, a 17.1-percent increase from 19.8 million in 2006.

Persons not in the labor force, or the economically inactive, are persons who are neither employed nor unemployed. They are composed of people who do not have work, are not available for work and not seeking work due to their schooling, household duties, retirement or old age, and infirmity.

“The number of persons not in the labor force was consistently in-

creasing from 2006 to 2013, with the fastest growth observed in 2007 at 3.4 percent, and the lowest in 2011 at 0.2 percent,” the PSA said.

The PSA also said the country’s inactivity rate remained at around 35 percent to 36 percent during the period. This means that one in every three Filipinos of working age are not in the labor force.

The country’s inactivity rate peaked in 2008 at 36.4 percent, and was at its lowest in 2011 at 35.4 percent.

The PSA explained that the inactivity rate is the proportion of

persons not in the labor force to the total working-age population.

It added that a low inactivity rate indicates that the economy is providing the working-age population with sufficient market activity. “[The] inactivity rate continuously dropped after 2008, but started to depict an upward trend after 2011,” the PSA said. Data also showed that, between men and women, more females were not in the labor force.

The PSA estimated that, the inactivity rate for women are more than double than that of men between 2006 and 2013.

Data also showed that around 61 percent to 63 percent of the total number of women, who are not in the labor force, said their household duties keep them from getting a job.

“This indicates that these Filipino women still play their traditional roles as homemakers, or child rearers, resulting to a higher inactivity rate for women than men,” the PSA added.

The PSA said most of the economically inactive Filipinos

live in Metro Manila, or the National Capital Region.

Data showed that 2.95 million Filipinos in Metro Manila are economically inactive in 2013. This accounts for 12.7 percent of the megacity’s population last year.

This was followed by Region 4A with 2.94 million, or 12.7 percent, of its population economically inactive last year. The least number of economically inactive Filipinos are those living in the Cordillera Administrative Region where there’s only 378,000, or 1.6 percent, in 2013.

In terms of inactivity rate, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had the highest, ranging from 41.8 percent to 44 percent from 2006 to 2013. The lowest inactivity rate, ranging from around 28.2 percent to 31.7 percent, was observed in Region 10.

The data used for profiling persons not in the labor force were based on annual averages of estimates for the four rounds of the 2006-to-2013 Labor Force Survey conducted every January, April, July and October.

Solon to Aquino: Where did rest of Malampaya funds go?

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

W

hile the Commission on Aud it (COA) has tagged 12 bogus nongover n ment a l orga n i z at ion s (NGOs) as the recipients of P900 million from the Malampaya funds, the nagging question remains: Where did the rest of the gas-reserve proceeds go?

Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan popped this question on Tuesday as he criticized the COA for “moving at a glacial pace” in investigating and auditing the use of the Malampaya funds.

“The COA’s refusal to divulge more details on how the Malampaya funds were utilized under the Aquino administration has created a blind spot in public accountability. While things are clearing up on how the P900-million Malampaya fund scam under the Arroyo administration came to be, the public is still left in the dark on how Aquino used Malampaya during his term as President,” Ridon added.

For his part, Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna said, “It is good that the Senate has finally started its probe on the Malampaya Fund scam and we hope that legislation that would make the Malampaya Fund and other off budget funds would be remitted to the general fund or in a fund that could be directly given to the people instead of a special account under the discretion of the President.”

He added: “In fact we already filed House Bill 2993 placing the Malampaya funds in the General Appropriations Act .We urge the House leadership for its urgent approval. The Malampaya Fund is presidential pork-barrel and it must be abolished because billions of public funds must not be given to the disposition of a single person, especially if he is the President.”

In her testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Monday, COA Chairman Grace Pulido Tan said that 12 NGOs linked to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles siphoned off some P900 million in royalties from the Malampaya gas fund in 2009.

Tan also revealed that a “special audit” is currently being conducted to review the use of the Malampaya funds, saying that her agency found red flags on several fund releases, particularly for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of the Interior

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Philippines sees ‘extraordinary opportunities’ on Apec hosting

T

he Philippines has seen its Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit hosting in 2015 to bring “extraordinary opportunities” not only for the country, but also for foreign investors eyeing to venture in the Philippines.

“For the Philippines there is nothing ordinary about 2015. The year 2015 is an extraordinary opportunity to showcase to the world what the Philippines has to offer,” Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said during the Apec 2015 National Launch in Makati City.

Domingo disclosed that one of the assets of the country is its 100-million population, a pool of skilled and talented work force, which both public and private sectors can take advantage of.

“There is nothing ordinary about the 12th largest population in the world to reach the demographic sweet spot.... Such an extraordinary opportunity can only be properly seen by building an extraordinary partnership between the government and the private sector,” he added.

Hence, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) chief called on the local business community, as well as foreign investors, to invest in the Philippines in time for Apec 2015.

“In 2015 we invite you, our partners, to leverage on our hosting of Apec to bring your foreign counterparts here to see with their own eyes that now is the best time to invest in the Philippines,” Domingo said.

Moreover, as the theme of Apec 2015 is “Building Inclusive Economy, Building a Better World,” the DTI chief noted that the government will ensure that the country’s Apec hosting will spur economic activities in other parts of the Philippines; thus, promoting inclusive growth.

He mentioned that the government decided to bring the Apec meeting to other regions, including Legazpi, Clark, Bataan, Boracay, Bacolod, Iloilo, Tagaytay and Cebu.

Apec kick-off ceremony

President Aquino on Monday evening led the kick-off ceremony for the country’s hosting of the 2015 Apec Forum, unveiling its theme, “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World.”

“Southeast Asia, in particular, has been identified as one of the world’s most promising regions. It is for this reason that the Philippines has chosen to orient this year’s Apec toward making certain that this growth has

Bring out the kiddie rides Workers carry assorted parts of a disassembled amusement ride for installation along the Baywalk on Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Tuesday in preparation for the Christmas season. PNA

and Local Government.

The chief state auditor, however, refused to give more details on the upcoming report, which she promised to release next year.

“Since the Malampaya scam erupted last year, the Filipino people have been clamoring for the release of COA audit reports that cover the entire fund. Yet, COA chairman has again dodged this request with another cliffhanger,” Ridon noted.

Out of the estimated P170-billion Malampaya gas-reserve fund, a total of P33 billion has been released to various government agencies as of June last year, Tan told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Monday.

“If that’s true, then the government has yet to account for about P32 billion in Malampaya Fund releases, considering that P900 million has been clearly funneled to bogus NGOs. In other words, we’re talking about an awful lot of public funds that have yet to be fully audited,” Ridon said.

The Malampaya Fund is sourced from the proceeds of the Malampaya natural-gas project in Palawan and is meant to be used for energyrelated purposes.

In the Supreme Court ruling on the pork barrel issued in No-

vember, the High Court ruled as unconstitutional the provisions of the several laws that allow the President to use the Malampaya fund for other purposes other than energy-related projects.

In September last year Malacañang said the Aquino administration has used the Malampaya Fund for 10 projects, namely: 1. Fuel requirement of National Power Corp. (Napocor)-Small Power Utilities, P2 billion; 2. Public Transport Assistance Program (PTAP)-Pantawid Pasada, P300 million; 3. P TA P-Pa nt aw id Pa sad a, P150 million; 4. Acquisition/transfer of USCGC Hamilton, P423,063,900; 5. Fuel requirement, genset lease/rental and half of capital expenditures requirements of Napocor-Small Power Utilities Group, P1,624,500,000; 6. Upgrade of capability requirement for 2011 relative to the security and protection of the Malampaya Natural Gas-to-Power Project, P4,954,580,167; 7. Sitio Electrification Project, P814,411,357; 8. Napocor’s short-term loan facility with LandBank of the Philippines (Missionary Electrification), P3 billion;

9. Barangay Line Enhancement and Sitio Electrification Projects, P1,108,245,890; and, 10. Transfer, dry-docking and periodic hull maintenance costs of Weather High Endurance Cutter Class Vessel, P880,615,176.

“There are several projects in the list that are vaguely energyrelated, such as the purchase of the US surplus warship by the military. And we’re only talking about the official list of Malampaya-funded projects under President Aquino. What assurance does the public have that there are no other projects funded through Malampaya other than those in the list?” Ridon asked.

“With COA refusing to release its audit report on the Malampaya Fund releases and the Aquino administration not releasing more details on the use of the special fund, the risk of a bigtime corruption cover-up is very high,” he noted.

“The Malampaya fund question is just another proof that the Palace’s ‘tuwid na daan’ rhetoric is hollow. With billions of unaccounted public funds left in the discretion of the president, we fear that a government-run mafia is orchestrating a bigtime corruption scheme, with the aid of no less than the COA itself,” the legislator added.

tangible effects on the lives of all our peoples. This explains our theme: ‘Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World,’” Mr. Aquino told his audience at the event held at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati City.

“I am confident that, with our country’s remarkable turnaround in recent years, our story and our experiences can certainly enrich the discussions on this topic,” he said.

The President credited the country’s “significant transformation” to the empowered private sector, conducive investment environment, sound fiscal foundation and the Filipinos’ perseverance.

“More than two decades ago, when we last hosted Apec, the Philippines was considered one of the world’s most promising economies.

In the span between then and now, however, there were moments when many of us wondered if our country’s potential had been completely squandered by self-serving leadership. Thankfully, the Filipino persevered,” he said.

After his speech, Mr. Aquino proceeded to the center of the stage and pressed a button, signaling the launch of the 2015 Apec logo.

A boy sporting a yellow shirt, blue shorts and high-cut rubber shoes then showed up, flying a virtual kite and started running around the venue, where the wall served as a 360-degree white screen.

As he ran past a spot, a tourist landmark from one of the 21 Apec member-economies appeared on the screen. The boy then stopped close to where he started, and the spotlight turned to the 2015 Apec logo as it rose on the screen. The boy then turned over a replica of the virtual kite to President Aquino.

With the President at the stage were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Secretary Joel Villanueva, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee Foods, and businesswoman Doris Magsaysay-Ho. Also present during the event were members of the diplomatic corps, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, CEOs of various companies, and other government officials.

PNA with Catherine N. Pillas

P-Noy signs order mandating ‘Integrity Management Program’ in all govt offices

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By Butch Fernandez

resident Aquino on Tuesday signed an executive order mandating an “Integrity Management Program” for all government offices to ensure sustained reforms as part of Philippine commitment under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

Speaking in Malacañang before delegates atttending the Second State Conference of the UNCAC, Mr. Aquino also directed Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad to make sure funds are made available for the program under the Judiciary department. President Aquino admitted he was encouraged to see that judiciary officials tasked to oversee the program “have not grown weary of your jobs.”

“In fact, it seems as if you are only asking for even more work...since one of today’s resolutions is the request for an executive order institutionalizing an Integrity Management Program throughout all levels of government, with the UNCAC as a guide,” the President said, adding: “Rest assured: I will only be too happy to give you more to do, if it means we are able to achieve our goals sooner rather than later.”

He disclosed that Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, “in his quest for more efficiency, gave this particular document for me to sign early last night. So the request has already been done.”

Mr. Aquino stressed that “more is at stake here than just the implementation of a single project, or the attainment of 100-percent compliance with UNCAC.”

He explained that with the 2016 elections not too far off, it is timely to issue a reminder “that we are working to make change permanent, to make the commitment to good governance a commitment that lasts beyond this administration.”

“We are working to rid the Philippines of the corruption that has tainted its reputation and plagued it for so long; we are working to institutionalize a legacy that finds its roots in the mind-set of our countrymen, who will never again settle for anything less than true public service,” he added.

Aquino recalled that when he was a Senator, he gained notoriety “for my scrutiny and persistence during budget deliberations.”

“This was because I believed then, as I do now, that for government to focus on its reason for being and serve the people, it must have the wherewithal to do so. That wherewithal is embodied in our national budget. And, if funds are lost due to leaks or holes in our systems; if funds are wasted because of corruption, then the Filipino people will be deprived of the benefits they are entitled to in the present, and also deprived of a better future,” President Aquino added.

As Chief Executive, Mr. Aquino said he persisted despite road blocks encountered when his administration embarked on a straight path.

“Anomalous projects were canceled; governmentowned and -controlled corporations that were once the cash cows of a corrupt few underwent reforms. We, likewise, turned our attention to budget and procurement, which was significant in light of the situation we came across.”

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House approves VAT-exemption measure for persons with disabilities

briefs e-trike prequalification bidding set on december 15

The Department of Energy (DOE) will start soliciting bids for the supply and distribution of electric-tricycles (e-trikes) in January next year.

Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos said a prebid conference is scheduled on December 15.

Thereafter, the agency will start issuing bid documents.

“We are waiting for an NOL [No Objection Letter] from the ADB [Asian Development Bank] for the bidding.

Once we receive this, we will issue bid documents,” Marcos said.

Bids will be opened on January 15.

Thereafter, an evaluation of the bids will follow.

“The first envelope will be opened on the submission date, then there will be an evaluation for maybe three weeks. Once awarded, we’re giving three months to deliver the 1,200, and then the remaining within six months,” said Marcos, who added that awarding is expected to taker place within the first half of the year.

The DOE is offering its e-trike program to a wider audience. Marcos said the new e-trike package would now include local government units, academe, tourism-growth areas, subdivisions and villages, and industrial, commercial and residential enclaves.

Key stakeholders are supporting the DOE’s e-trike program. These include the ADB, Land Bank of the Philippines, Board of Investments and the Land Transportation Office. ”LandBank is [the] main financial conduit. The ADB will pay directly to the manufacturer, while LandBank will release the amount to end-users,” Marcos said. Lenie Lectura

Truck ban on roxas boulevard starts wed.

Starting Wednesday, cargo trucks and other heavy vehicles with a gross weight of 4,500 kilograms are not allowed to use Roxas Boulevard for six months, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said on Tuesday.

At news conference at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said that except in the 7.6-kilometer-long Roxas Boulevard from Ermita in Manila to Parañaque City, truckers are advised to resume plying their old routes to go in or out of the port areas in Manila with the routes approved by the Metro Manila Council’s Special Traffic Committee.

Tolentino said the resolution was approved due to the upcoming events, like Pope Francis’s visit, the Feast of the Black Nazarene and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on top of ongoing road projects, like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Elevated Expressway.

He said this will “result in the dramatic increase of vehicles that will further congest the streets of Metro Manila, particularly Roxas Boulevard.”

“The truck ban regulation will be implemented again, and trucks can still use the previous truck routes, minus the Roxas Boulevard,” Tolentino said.

The new directive will be in effect for a period of six months, and truckers who will violate the rule will be fined P2,000 for every offense. The license of the driver who will be apprehended may be suspended for one year.

Tolentino said trucks used to be banned from using Roxas Boulevard, but it was designated as an “express trade lane” to provide truckers additional routes to help solve congestion at Manila’s ports since June this year.

Starting December 3, heavy vehicles would be allowed to ply their old routes (South Superhighway-Port Area and vice-versa; North Diversion Road-Port Area and vice-versa; Marcos Highway-Port Area) to and from Manila ports 24/7, except on December 24, 25 and 31, and January 1, 2015.

Truckers can take also routes like Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Shaw Boulevard, C.P. Garcia Avenue, Gregorio Araneta Avenue, Congressional Avenue and Mindanao Avenue, but still, they will be covered by the MMDA truck ban, which takes effect from 6 to 10 a.m. and between 5 and 10 p.m. daily, except every Sunday and holidays. PNA

Wednesday, December 3, 2014 A5

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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PRICEY CLOTH

A woman in Las Piñas City weaves cloths using special fibers for couturiers. Weaving cloths in traditional looms is a major source of livelihood for the weavers because of the special price that their products carry. NONIE REYES

Comelec may proceed with P2-B bidding for new PCOS machines

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By Joel R. San Juan

HE bidding for the supply, lease or purchase of Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) voting machines scheduled on December 4 may proceed, after the Supreme Court (SC) did not act on the plea seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from conducting the proceedings.

During Tuesday’s regular en banc session, the SC magistrates instead opted to direct the respondents Comelec and Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. to comment on the petition filed by former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza.

Smartmatic-TIM may also participate in the bidding process for the P2-billion contract, as the Court also did not act on Adaza’s prayer to disqualify the firm for alleged violation of elections.

The Court gave the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM to comment on Adaza’s petition within 10 days.

Smartmatic Philippines President Cesar Flores said there is no reason for his firm not to participate in the bidding.

“Absolutely, there is nothing that can stop us from joining these bidding.… We are the largest service provider, and these scares the other companies. We won’t be discouraged.

We have [a] good product. We have a good price. Competitors are afraid of that,” Flores added.

“If there will be bidding, if it continues, [we] will be there. If the bid will be stopped, then we will wait,” Flores said.

He also indicated that there is no legal impediment for Smartmatic to

join the bidding process considering that the SC had already ruled with finality in two occasions that the contracts and the bids that it has won previously were “fair, legal and advantageous to the country.”

Flores also assailed what he called a “barrage of propaganda and publicity stunts being thrown against Smartmatic by some groups that are interested to bag the lucrative contract for PCOS machines from the Comelec.”

“It’s just a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Flores said, while insisting that its system has been proven to be accurate.

In the last two elections, Flores said, the results have been audited and recounted several times and proven to be accurate.

He noted that the PCOS contract with the Comelec is very important, considering that it is the largest in the world. “The Comelec is the largest PCOS user in the world. No other election commission that has a larger PCOS expertise than the Comelec.

This is probably the largest contract for PCOS there is all over the world. This is why this is no surprise that competitors are scared. They are desperate and they want us out,” Flores said.

He also asked the Comelec to look into the legitimacy of so-

called advocates of clean and honest elections, who are obviously positioning for the upcoming Comelec bidding of a P2-billion contract to supply additional voting machines for the 2016 elections.

“We believe that these are fronts for rival firms or groups who are desperately seeking to corner the P2-billion contract while posing as crusaders for clean and honest elections,” Flores said.

In his petition, Adaza argued that the appropriation of billions of pesos to procure additional PCOS machines, without first conducting an inventory and technical and forensic tests of the more than 80,000 PCOS machines, constitutes grave abuse of discretion and violate the provisions of the Constitution.

“Without making the inventory desired tests, it is absolutely a grave abuse of power for respondent Comelec to disburse billions of pesos and conduct public bidding for acquisition of voting machines, which may not be necessary and will involve wastage of billions of pesos,” he added.

Adaza added that the Comelec should also exclude Smartmatic from participating in the bidding process for its “glaring” violations of election laws.

Smartmatic, however, dismissed claims that it does not have the required ISO 9001 certification, saying that its subsidiary Jarltech International Corp., which manufactures the PCOS, has such certification.

Earlier the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (CE) asked the Comelec to blacklist Smartmatic from participating in all electionrelated projects for misrepresentation, having claimed that it owned the automated-election technology and numerous violations of the country’s election laws.

The group alleged that Smartmatic also failed to meet several provisions in the 2010 Automated Election System Project Contract, including its failure to deliver the required services in a specified period.

he House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a measure seeking to exempt persons with disabilities (PWDs) from paying the value-added tax (VAT) on certain goods and services.

With 201 votes, the Lower Chamber approved on Monday night House Bill (HB) 1039, filed by House independent bloc leader and Lakas Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez of Leyte and Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Imelda Calixto-Rubiano of Pasay City, which aims to bring PWDs into the mainstream of society so that they become productive members of society.

“I appeal to our honorable senators to prioritize my proposal so that we can extend additional genuine assistance to PWDs. This is very important to help their plight,” Romualdez said.

HB 1039 seeks to amend Section 32 of Republic Act (RA) 7277, or the Magna Carta for Persons with Disability, as amended by RA 9442, by providing that PWDs shall be exempted from VAT in addition to the 20-percent discount they are already enjoying for the classes of goods and services.

The proposed VAT exemption shall apply on the following: medical and dental services; purchase of medicines in all drugstores; public railways, skyways and bus fare; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses, concert halls, circuses, carnivals and other places of culture, leisure and amusement; and all services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers.

For her part, Calixto said the bill is in response to the universal challenge to protect the rights and the welfare of PWDs. Romualdez said his proposal is an equalizing measure, because this will accord PWDs exactly the same privilege enjoyed by senior citizens, who are exempted from the VAT by virtue of RA 9994.

“Persons with disability effectively enjoy only P12 for every P100 worth of good or service, because the law does not exempt them from VAT, which is imposed on the net value of the good or service, or 10 percent of the P80 after deducting P20, representing the 20-percent discount granted in RA 9442 for every P100 worth of good or service purchased,” Romualdez said.

Earlier the Department of Finance opposed the proposed tax exemption for PWDs, saying tax exemption for PWDs will affect the government revenue.

SK elections

Also on Monday night, the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading a measure that seeks to postpone the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections to October 31, 2016, synchronous with the barangay elections.

At least 193 lawmakers voted in favor of HB 5209, authored by LP Rep. Nicasio M. Aliping Jr. of Baguio City and Party-list Reps. Mariano U. Piamonte Jr. of A Teacher and Eulogio R. Magsaysay Jr., while eight voted against it.

The bill is a proposed amendment to RA 9164, or the Act Providing for Synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan, as amended.

Legislator files bill lowering individual, corporate tax rates

A

fter the passage of a measure seeking to increase the tax-exemption ceiling of 13th-month pay and other bonuses from P30,000 to P82,000 in Congress, the House of Representatives is eyeing to pass several tax measures, which include the bill lowering income-tax rate for individuals.

Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina City, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said the Lower Chamber had already started working for the passage of the bills imposing specific tax on sodas and other sweetened beverages, a bill lowering income tax rate for individuals, bills on the rationalization of fiscal incentive and Customs modernization and reform.

Quimbo said these tax measures will be prioritized in the lower chamber and will be passed before the second regular session ends in June 2015.

He said that the bill lowering income tax rate for individuals will be out in his committee by March next year. “[After the passage of the taxexemption ceiling of 13th-month pay and other bonuses] our next battle is lowering income tax for individuals,” he said.

“Thecurrentincometaxesimposedonindividuals have become uncompetitive and unresponsive.

Our tax system’s failure to keep in step with global corporate trends and to adapt with rising inflation rates must be resolved,” Quimbo said.

Quimbo’s House Bill (HB) 4829, is among the 14 pending bills, which seek to restructure the income taxes imposed on individuals.

He said that, since the effectivity on January 1, 1998 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, or for 16 long years, the levels of taxable income brackets have been pegged at the 1998 Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 67.8 percent, which is starkly less than half of the present CPI of 137.7 percent.

As income of salaried individuals is increased

to keep it at par with rising inflation, they are pushed into higher income brackets, and thus, are compelled to pay more taxes than they should.

His bill proposes a flat rate of 25-percent income tax on self-employed individuals and professionals; a 5-percent minimum income tax rate on self-employed individuals and professionals; reduction of the corporate income tax rate from 30 percent to 25 percent; and increase of the minimum corporate income tax rate from 2 percent to 5 percent.

Meanwhile, Quimbo said the tax on sodas and other sweetened beverages will help government recover from the revenue impact of the recently approved hike in the tax exemption cap for bonuses.

“This will be a specific tax base on the sugar content [on sodas and other sweetened beverages] because it is a health measure,” he said.

“Sugar-sweetened beverages cause heart diseases, obesity, diabetes and other public health problems,” Quimbo said. Filed by Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, the HB 3365 seeks to increase tax on soft drinks and carbonated beverages sold in bottles and other tight containers.

Quimbo’s panel has created a technical working group to study the bill of Suansing.

The proposed tax will be imposed on the volume of beverage sold or manufactured but will be based on the sugar content, he said.

The lawmaker added that proceeds of the proposed tax on soft drinks will partly finance government’s program for public health.

In the same news conference, he said a measure on Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives will also be passed at the lower chamber in June next year.

This measure seeks to institute structural reforms and policy to enhance transparency and accountability in the grant and administration of tax incentives. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

DOTC, PNR open Manila-Calamba commuter railway line

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TATE-OWNEDPhilippineNational Railways(PNR)inaugurateditsnew station in Calamba, Laguna, on Tuesday as part of its program of reviving the old dilapidated railway system.

“This is another step toward serving the increasing number of people from Laguna coming into Manila on a daily basis, reviving the railway’s iconic Bicol Express, and restoring the PNR to its former glory as a vehicle for

economic prosperity and progress,” Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said.

He added: “This expansion of PNR’s commuter rail service provides affordable and convenient access to jobs and schools to more stakeholders south of Metro Manila. It will shorten travelling time for those who currently take the bus, and allow those who bring their

own cars to bypass traffic.”

The train is now expanded to a 56-kilometer stretch from 53-kilometer before. Roughly 3,000 to 5,000 daily passengers are expected to add up to the current 70,000 passengers.

Two trains are assigned to operate the regular Manila-Calamba route that will depart from Tutuban at seven in the evening, starting on December 2 with an end-to-end fare of P45.

The Calamba route will begin with two daily trips and will add up two more trips by early 2015 to assure the passengers of enough capacity. “This is the seventh station that the PNR has opened in the past 12 months. Clearly, we are on the right track rehabilitating the railway system and soon reviving the service to Naga and Legazpi,” Abaya said.

In December last year, the PNR began to operate four new stations, namely,

Muntinlupa, San Pedro, Biñan and Santa Rosa. It was followed by Cabuyao and Mamatid that was opened in March this year.

Congress has allocated roughly P2.2 billion for the railway company's capital expenditures next year. This is the first time that lawmakers allocated such a high amount for the annual budget of the railway company whose infrastructure has been dilapidated for years now. Lorenz S. Marasigan with Jae Denise Adolfo

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Restore Philippines-China relations to normal ASAP

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HE economics of the Philippines’s relations with China is simple: these ties will be unambiguously beneficial to us. It is politics that makes them seem nebulous, or even harmful, to the Philippines. China occupying islets within our exclusive economic zone? No way.

Ignore the nationalistic jingoism and consider these facts: In 2013 China had a population of 1.357 billion, more than twice Southeast Asia’s 625 million; a gross domestic product of $9.240 trillion, making it the second-largest economy in the world; and a per-capita income of $6,560, compared with the Philippines’s $3,270. Though China’s economy has slowed in the last two years, mainly because of the global recession, its current annual expansion of 7 percent is still one of the highest in the world.

What do these numbers mean to us? It simply means that China, by its size alone, has the capacity to absorb “all” we can export to it and provide the financial resources necessary to industrialize the Philippine economy. The annual average of our exports to China from 2010 to 2013 was $6 billion. This average can be easily doubled in three years, and decisively contribute to the doubling of our exports in six years.

Let us not forget that the growth of the countries earlier known as the “tigers”—South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore—was “export-led”—that is, led by the export of “tiger-made” products to the markets of industrially advanced countries. China’s own rapid expansion after Deng Xiaoping took over was fueled not only by the conversion of state-ownedenterprises into efficient profit-maximizing firms, but also by the rapid growth of exports, induced by what Washington has labeled an artificially undervalued yuan.

Doubling our exports to China within three years will mean, in that period, a marked growth in employment, an effective tool in eradicating our “favorite” problem, poverty. On the import side, the fact that China is as close to Manila as Davao City should make a difference, and reduce the insurance and freight costs of our imports.

On capital account, we can expect an increase in Chinese investments in the Philippines, which are currently nominal. Chinese capital entering the Philippine economy can only provide a stimulus to the expansion of the Philippine industrial sector and the deepening of the country’s capital market.

We can also expect improved access to the resources of the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). With a seed fund of $50 billion from China, the AIIB will provide development loans to countries in need of them on internationally competitive terms. This institution can only be beneficial to the Philippines.

These foreign-sector impulses can be expected to generate some of the forces that can propel the Philippine economy toward a growth path that’s decisively higher than the one on which it is currently treading.

In the meantime, what should we do with the politics hounding Philippine-Chinese relations? Being neither diplomats nor political scientists, we are calling on the Chinese and Philippine sides to show flexibility and restore their relations to what they were in 2009.

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Supporting documents for death-benefit claim Susie G. Bugante

All About Social Security Last part

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OMETIMES the filing of a death-benefit claim with the Social Security System (SSS) may be hampered by the circumstances of the member’s death. If a member dies under unusual conditions, certain documents may be required to support the death-benefit claim, and securing them could be a tedious process.

Still, it has to be done. Last week I outlined the documents needed to file a death-benefit claim for a member who died in a sea mishap.

Today I will discuss the documents needed for a member who is missing and believed to have died during a disaster or has been missing for four or seven years, as well as the procedure to follow if a member dies abroad.

If a member is missing and believed to have died during a calamity, a certificate of missing person from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) shall serve as the death certificate for the purpose of claim-

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member’s death was not reported to the Philippine embassy or consulate office, the death certificate issued by the host country’s Vital Statistics Office/County will also be accepted.

The supporting documents must be attached to the death-claim application form, along with the filer’s affidavit (form supplied by the SSS); accident report/report of death (SS Form BPN-105), if the cause of death is work-related; single savings-account passbook, automated teller machine or cash-card enrolment form; and two valid identification cards of the claimant.

Getting these documents ready might be tiresome, but they help ensure that the rightful beneficiaries get the benefits.

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

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

The good, bad and ugly of lower oil prices Mohamed A. El-Erian

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ing benefits. This is in accordance with the national policy on the management of dead and missing persons during emergencies and disasters that the Department of Health issued through Administrative Order 2007-0018. In the wake of Superty-

phoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) and other typhoons, the NDRRMC issued certificates that served as the death certificates of missing members.

If a member is missing and his or her disappearance has been reported to the police, the police investigation report that was conducted immediately after the disappearance and a confirmation report from the police or other government agency after four years from the date of disappearance should be submitted when making a death-benefit claim with the SSS. If there is no police investigation report, the claim may be made after seven years.

If a member died abroad and his or her death was reported to the Philippine embassy or consulate office, the death certificate issued by the Vital Statistics Office/County of the host country and certified by the embassy or consulate office is the acceptable supporting document of death. If this death certificate was transmitted to the National Statistics Office (NSO) by the Philippine embassy or consulate office, then the NSO-issued death certificate is also acceptable. If the

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BLOOMBERG VIEW

HE net overall impact of this year’s 28-percent plunge in oil prices is positive for the global economy. But it isn’t universal, and it comes with negative dimensions that need to be understood well, lest they end up reversing the benefits.

The good comes from the boost that lower oil prices provide to consumers and manufacturers in oil-importing economies. It is the equivalent of a significant tax cut at an opportune time, especially for Western consumers. And while part of this benefit may go to governments because of the way oil taxes are imposed in certain countries, particularly in Europe, the overall global effect will be to boost consumption and lower manufacturing costs in countries that have been struggling to overcome the prolonged malaise in growth and jobs.

There is also a positive distributional effect within these economies, although it is marginal, rather than decisive. Because energy spending

constitutes a bigger part of the budget for lower-income families, lower oil prices help counter some forces that have worsened the inequality of income, wealth and opportunities.

Yet, it would be foolish to ignore the risks of lower oil prices. For one thing, they lead to immediate cuts in energy companies’ investment budgets, both in the traditional sector and among promising alternative technologies. As a result, longerterm energy potential will be undermined, both overall and in its more environment-friendly components.

In addition, the lower oil prices, which would normally be seen as producing “good” disinflation in oil-importing countries, could accentuate the general deflationary tendency

in Europe—one that could be quite detrimental to the continent’s immediate and longer-term economic well-being. While I believe the favorable income effects help offset this threat, it would be wrong to ignore it, given that Europe is already in an uncharted economic terrain.

A third risk relates to certain segments of the financial markets.

Look for the plunge in oil prices to be disruptive for the commodities markets as a whole, and for securities issued by energy companies and oil-exporting countries. Given the weight of investments in these securities in certain emerging-market and high-yield indexes, the result could mean generalized pressure to sell in these asset classes.

Besides these three bad outcomes, there is also the ugly: The possible reaction of certain oil-producing countries that are particularly hardhit by the price declines. Nowhere could this prove more consequential than in Russia.

Roiled by sanctions, a collapsing currency and large capital flight, Russia now faces the effects of a sharp fall in oil revenue. Companies pushed to the brink may be looking for government support at a time when the authorities’ ability to respond

is curtailed by the decrease in their own revenues. The effect will be to strengthen the winds of recession, inflation and financial instability in Russia.

How this affects the global economy depends, in great part, on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Up to now, Putin has been able to resort to regional geopolitical adventures, most notably in Ukraine, to counter and divert popular dissatisfaction in Russia over the domestic economy.

And he has done so, notwithstanding the resulting imposition of Western sanctions on his country.

Will the additional domestic downturn lead Putin to change course on Ukraine as a way of lifting Western sanctions and alleviating overall pressures on the economy? Or will the internal pressure push him to extend his regional adventures?

Should Putin take the second course, the West may impose more economic sanctions, including on the energy and financial sectors, and Russia would probably follow with counter-sanctions on energy supplies to Europe. This could push Europe into recession, which would negate much of the good impact that lower oil prices have had on the global economy.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Valuation of investments Healthy competition engenders growth of insurance companies

is a necessary component of pumppriming. It also shows that the government needs to review its procedures for the easy way of releasing funds that have been earmarked for the various projects that are meant to boost the country’s growth.

It is a good thing that the MVP and RSA groups have shown their enthusiasm to pursue many governmentinfrastructure activities, including public-private partnership projects.

For instance, the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway connector roads provide the kind of healthy competition that the two frenemies have resorted to. These two connector roads have common roadway berths before they go their separate ways.

By opening an avenue for goods from Region 5 (Bicol) and from even as far as Mindanao that will be sold in northern Luzon and vice versa, the engines of business would continue to hum and ensure growth, even in the countryside. This is what the government should aspire for, given the

need of imperial Manila to be relieved of the congestion of business enterprises. To see to it that this thrust of the government succeeds, the delays that marked the big decline in government infrastructure spending should be properly addressed.

It is not enough that the government identifies the key hurdles to its successful pursuit of infrastructure projects. It should ensure that whatever caused the delays in government spending should not happen again.

The failure of the government on this key aspect, such as the lack of documents for the implementation of projects, should not be repeated in the next quarter and beyond.

While the government can always turn to private-sector players, such as MVP and RSA, to take up the slack in government spending due to red tape, it would still do well for the government to really take to heart why the proposed infrastructure spending did not happen. Imagine the government’s resources being wasted because of something simple like failing to submit the required documents. As a result, the funds were “sterilized” and did not cause the much-needed bump in growth.

After all, the reason for the lack of inclusive growth is the low economic growth. For the poor to really benefit from the growth, gross domestic product should be 9 percent or 10 percent, at least. That could have been achieved for the first time in the third quarter if the government was not hamstrung by the absence of the needed documents. Truly, red tape—one instance of which is the fact that it would take more than 20 signatures to have power-plant

project clear administrative requirements—is what bedevils the country’s march to attaining a higher growth rate.

Somehow, the Philippines is on the cusp of a new growth phenomenon, headlined by the bullish prospects for the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Privatesector developers have, in fact, projected BPO revenues to reach $48 billion by 2020. This is the reason for the acceleration in private construction, which grew by 15.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with only 1.6 percent last year.

Private-sector developers have remained bullish due to strong BPO take-ups. Many of the property giants are building up their office inventory for the expected growth in this area. Some have even set up provincial BPO hubs and populated them with employees who used to work in Metro Manila. This has resulted in increases in the provinces’ income. One added advantage of this is that BPO employees can absorb pay cuts, since they are within the municipality.

So the government should be acutely aware of the problems that caused growth to slow down in the third quarter. While government agencies are at it, they should let healthy competition thrive in order to take out the sting of economic bummers, such as Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), which not only fell 30 million coconut trees, but also caused the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sector to record a huge -2.7-percent drop.

was more to Dad’s outburst.

We had a quiet moment alone in 2008 on the 55th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, and I asked him if he could tell me of his worst experience during that war. He said it would be too difficult to describe the worst, but there was one incident that continued to haunt him.

Shortly after his company had set up a defensive perimeter around their base in South Korea, two frightened and dirty Chinese prisoners were brought before a company sergeant. This sergeant was a World War II veteran, someone my father and the other young soldiers in his company looked up to. “We were very young, and often scared,” Dad told me. “But he helped us get through some of the toughest times during the war.”

The sergeant needed to understand how the two Chinese soldiers had gotten through the US lines, so he could strengthen the perimeter. If they escaped and revealed the weakness to the enemy, the lives of his men could be at risk.

“Ask them how they got through!” he barked to the interpreter. The prisoners replied that they didn’t “get through,” but were separated from their outfit, and simply hid in covered foxholes when the Americans moved into the area. The American soldiers unknowingly piled the dirt and barbed wire right on top of them, and the prisoners simply climbed out later and surrendered.

“I don’t believe them. Ask them again!” the sergeant shouted as he raised his rifle and pointed it at one prisoner’s head. My father believed the prisoners and he was shaken by the scenario being played out in front of him and his fellow soldiers. Again, the frightened prisoners told the same story. The sharp sounds of gunshots echoed across the Korean sky, and two lifeless bodies crumpled to the ground.

“It wasn’t right,” my Dad said softly, as he remembered the incident and vacantly stared ahead. I noticed that his hands were slightly trembling.

I first wrote this story down in 2008, and sent a copy to Dad to ensure that my facts were correct. After reading it, he immediately called me and told me that he didn’t want it published. One of the soldiers who witnessed the incident in Korea with him was severely traumatized by it. “He was never the same again; he had a lot of issues from it,” Dad said. He told me that, even after they returned home, his friend continued to struggle and the remainder of his life was difficult. Dad worried that his friend would be upset if he saw the story in the newspaper.

Dad passed away earlier this year. Before he died, I asked him if I could ever publish the story. He didn’t mention his friend this time, possibly because the man had passed away. Dad simply said, “When I’m long gone.” That’s when it finally occurred to me that there were actually two soldiers who witnessed that execution in Korea who were never the same again.

Lito U. Gagni

MARKET FILES INSURANCE FORUM By the Technical Services Group of the Insurance Commission

I

NSUR ANCE companies are prominent institutional investors. As mobilizers of savings, insurance companies aim to invest in a broad range of asset classes that will maximize rates of return, both for their policyholders and their shareholders. They also aim to achieve the proper matching of their assets and their liabilities.

The nature of insurance is quite peculiar, in that special accounting standards, better known as regulatory accounting procedures, have been developed. This explains why there are two sets of financial statements—the annual statement and the audited financial statements—that are required to be submitted by insurance companies to the Insurance Commission (IC) on or before April 30 of each year. With these two sets of financial statements are two sets of presentations, according to the types of assets and the applicable valuation methodology.

Although the IC has been open to the adoption of the new Philippine Accounting Standards governing the accounting treatment of invested assets, the New Insurance Code contains provisions on how the investments of insurance companies shall be valued. It may be noted that valuation rules, in general, are anchored on the principle of conservatism, which, to a certain extent, is considered to provide some allowance for safety.

Under Section 214 (c) of the code, the equity investments of an insurance company, if listed, shall be valued at market value and periodically adjusted to reflect market changes through a special valuation account to reflect their realizable value when sold, while unlisted stocks shall be valued at adjusted book value, based on the latest unqualified audited financial statements of the company that issued those stocks. On the other hand, the stocks of a corporation under the control of an insurer shall be valued using the equity method, which is equivalent to the acquisition cost, plus or minus the share of the controlling company in the earnings or losses of that firm after the acquisition of such stocks.

As to the stocks of an insurance company, the same shall be valued at the lesser of its market or book value, as shown by its latest audited financial statements or approved synopsis, whichever is more recent. The book value per share of a common stock of an insurance company shall be obtained by dividing the amount of its paid-up capital and surplus, less the value of all its preferred stocks, if any, by the number of common shares of stocks issued and outstanding.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, an insurer may choose to value its holdings of stocks in a subsidiary insurance company in an amount not less than the acquisition cost.

For the subsidiary of an insurer, the stock is valued on the basis of the greater of the value of the assets of that subsidiary as would constitute lawful investments of an insurer, if acquired or held directly by it; or such other value, as may be determined, pursuant to standards and cumulative limitations promulgated by the insurance commissioner.

The code further states that real estate acquired by foreclosure or by deed shall not be valued at an amount greater than the unpaid principal of the defaulted loan at the date of the said foreclosure or deed, together with any tax and expense paid or incurred by the insurer at such time in connection with such an acquisition, and the cost of additions, improvements or assessments paid thereafter. Once the title of the real-estate property has been already transferred in the name of the insurance company, an adjustment in the valuation may be requested from the insurance commissioner, based on the appraisal of a duly accredited appraiser.

For purchase-money mortgages received on the disposition of real property, the valuation is equivalent to 90 percent of that property’s value that is determined by an appraisal at or about the time of its disposition. A purchase-money mortgage represents the uncollected portion of the consideration of the sale of real estate owned by the insurance company, whereby the title to the property is still in the name of the seller and is the subject of the deed of sale or mortgage.

Valuation based on amortized cost using an effective interest method, less impairment and unreasonable amount, is applied to bonds that are amply secured or other instruments of indebtedness that have a fixed term and rate of interest.

In all cases, if the insurance commissioner finds that the interests of policyholders require it, he may permit or require any class or classes of insurers authorized to do business in this country to value their investments of any class or classes as of any date in accordance with the applicable valuation method that he so chooses.

For insurance companies, the forgoing asset or investment-valuation methods can impact the proper matching of assets with the company’s liabilities. Currently, however, this is being looked into for statutory accounting to be aligned with that of the prevailing new accounting standards.

T

HE healthy competition between “frenemies” Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) and Ramon S. Ang (RSA) has taken part of the slack in government spending that partly caused the Philippines’s economic growth to decline in the third quarter.

This competition, which is an occasional point of interest in the media, was what actually saved the day for the huge decline in the government’s pursuit of infrastructure projects.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) reported recently that government spending in July-to-September period went into negative territory, from 19.21 percent to -6.2 percent.

In short, without the healthy competition among business players, including the MVP and RSA groups, the country’s growth numbers would have been much lower. And to think that, for the last six quarters, the growth rate stood at above 6 percent.

What is disheartening to note in the government’s infrastructure figures is that the decline in government spending was not due to lack of cash, but to bureaucratic delays in approving the release of funds earmarked for infrastructure projects.

“Most of the delays were due to lags in the submission of documentary requirements by the concerned agencies,” Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan explained.

His explanation shows the need for the government to really push infrastructure projects forward, as it

War changes lives on both sides

By Chris Gibbons

The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

M

Y father’s booming voice filled the living room. “That wasn’t right,” he yelled at the television. “You can’t do that to people!”

It was the early 1980s, and Dad was watching a news program that showed an infamous incident from the Vietnam War. The video is chilling. A Viet Cong prisoner stands along a roadside, his hands tied behind his back. A South Vietnamese officer positions himself next to the prisoner, raises his pistol and fires a point-blank shot into the man’s head.

His lifeless body crumples to the ground.

Dad cursed again. “That wasn’t right,” he shouted. His hands were trembling.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the awarding of a Pulitzer Prize for the photo of South Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Viet Cong

officer Nguyen Van Lem. Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams and an NBC cameraman filmed the execution. Adams’s still picture appeared on the front pages of newspapers and evening-news telecasts across the nation, outraging the public.

Adams came to regret the damage that the photograph did to Loan. The Viet Cong prisoner who was shot was reportedly part of a “death squad” that targeted the families of South Vietnamese policemen. According to witnesses, the prisoner was captured near a ditch, where 34 bound and shot bodies of policemen and their families were found.

Adams later said, “I killed the general

with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapons in the world.

People believe them; but photographs do lie, even without manipulation. They are only half-truths.… What the photograph didn’t say was, ‘What would you do if you were the general at that time?’” Adams later apologized to Loan and his family.

Loan eventually escaped Vietnam, and opened a pizza restaurant in northern Virginia. Unfortunately, he couldn’t escape his past. Word got out about who he was, and he had to close the restaurant because of the negative publicity.

He died of cancer in 1998, leaving a wife and five children. Adams sent flowers and a note saying, “I’m sorry. There are tears in my eyes.”

As for Dad’s reaction that day, I assumed that, as for so many Americans then, that execution in Saigon was the final straw. Seeing the video was a reminder of the bitterness and anger that the conflict generated.

Many years later, I found out there

A7

E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.