Businessmirror february 01, 2015

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

U.N. Media Award 2008

BusinessMirror

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week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Foreign exchange n PREVIOUS week: the local currency traded further at the lower band of the 44 territory, indicating continuous strength against the US dollar. The peso started trading at 44.115 against the greenback at the start of the trading week, which further appreciated to 44.06 to a dollar on Tuesday. Tuesday’s peso value is the strongest that the peso has been against the dollar since mid-September last year. On Wednesday, however, the peso snapped its 10-day appreciating trend to slightly depreciate back to 44.085 to a dollar. The peso further corrected on Thursday to 44.11 to a dollar, and ended the week with a 3-centavo appreciation at 44.08. The total traded volume for the week is at about $3.519 billion, larger than the $3.2 billion seen in the previous week. n Week ahead: Traders say the peso is still likely to sustain its low 44 territory trading against the dollar on the back of the central bank’s intervention. Markets will also look for fresh leads on trading in the next week, including the country’s inflation and economic data releases in the US.

Inflation

n December inflation: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported last month that inflation See “Outlook,” A2

A broader look at today’s business

n Sunday, February 1, 2015 Vol. 10 No. 115

D

P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week

BSP eases deflation fears Where Did All This T Oil Come From?

By Bianca Cuaresma

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) shrugged off fears of deflation owing to the sharply decreasing oil prices in the international market, saying that the risk in the country is “not significant.”

Tetangco: “As for deflation materializing in the Philippines, the risk is not significant.” STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

In a forum in Makati City, BSP Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. expressed confidence that the country’s inflation will remain positive owing to strong demand conditions.

“I have been asked whether we are worried about deflation [due to the substantial decline in oil prices]. Well, deflation effects in the advance economies can spill over to our economy through lower trade.

However, trade, as a percentage of GDP [gross domestic product], is still relatively lower than those of our peers in the region. So the risk here is probably only of a relatively small magnitude,” Tetangco said in his speech at the Security Bank’s 2015 economic forum on Friday.

“As for deflation materializing

in the Philippines, the risk is not significant,” Tetangco added.

The governor further explained that strong demand conditions, as well as consumption, continue to anchor prices in the country.

He also noted that the government is expected to ramp up its investments to avoid further underspending, and that there are upside risks to inflation, such as pending petition for utility rates, wage rigidities and the potential power shortages.

“There are other factors that lead us to say that deflation is remote—or that inflation would remain positive,” Tetangco said.

Deflation is the overall decline Continued on A2

PHL 2015 GDP outlook back to bullish–Deutsche Bank

EUTSCHE Bank expects a rebound in the growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 6.5 percent this year on strong double-digit government spending and very low oil prices.

Deutsche Bank Managing Director for Research Rafael Garchitorena said the Philippines is back in the sweet spot and back to bullish. He said government’s low spending is a drag in 2014, and he sees it to rebound this year.

“We’re looking at 20-percent to

30-percent growth in government expenditures and with the falling oil price globally, the Philippines is a major beneficiary,” he said during the Security Bank economic forum on Friday.

Garchitorena said the country’s 2013-2014 oil imports amounted to $13 billion, equivalent to 4.5 percent of the GDP in 2013 and 2014 forecast.

He said the falling oil prices, trade, higher consumption and low inflation were major boost to GDP growth.

With the low inflation, he sees

PESO exchange rates n US 44.1320

policy interest rates on hold until May or later.

After years of anemic earnings growth of single-digit from 2011 to 2014, Garchitorena said earnings are to accelerate +19 percent in 2015.

Garchitorena sees risks, such as government spending faltering again this year, the power outages and port congestion, put off manufacturing investments.

Other risks were uncertainty heading into presidential elections in May 2016, as investment sentiments were tied to governance.

We burn 2.7 million gallons a minute, so why’s oil so cheap?

N

EW YORK—The world burns enough oil-derived fuels to drain an Olympic-sized swimming pool four times every minute. Global consumption has never been higher‚ and is rising. Yet, the price of a barrel of oil has fallen by more than half over the past six months, because the globe, experts say, is awash in oil. So, where did all this oil come from?

The Earth has been accumulating oil and natural gas for about a billion years or so. Humans have been drilling and burning crude and gas in significant amounts for only the last 156 years, since the 1859 birth of the oil industry in Pennsylvania.

So, even when oil prices spiked earlier this decade amid worries that oil supplies would soon run low, scientists and oil companies knew there was plenty available.

It was not so much a question of how much oil and gas was left in the Earth’s crust, but whether we could figure out how to squeeze it out and make money doing so.

“How much oil we have is an economic and technical question, not a geologic one,” says Doug Duncan of the US Geological Survey. “There’s far more than we can extract economically using today’s technology.”

More than enough, for now at least, to sustain record-high consumption of 91.4 million barrels per day. There are 42 gallons in a barrel, so that is 3.8 billion gallons per day. Looked at another way, it is as if every human on the planet went through a gallon of oil every two days. AP

n japan 0.3729 n UK 66.4849 n HK 5.6930 n CHINA 7.0646 n singapore 32.6058 n australia 35.2127 n EU 49.9574 n SAUDI arabia 11.7419 Source: BSP (30 January 2015)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, February 1, 2015

BSP eases deflation fears largely to the sharp decline in oil prices.

Several local economists also see inflation significantly decelerating in December, parallel with the BSP’s view due to the prices of crude in the international market.

In an e-mailed response to the BusinessMirror, Bank of the Philippine Islands associate economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said inflation would likely hit 1.9 percent in January.

“I share the view of the governor. Inflation should be subdued for now, given better agriculture-sector performance [main driver for inflation spike in 2014] and benign oilprice movements,” Mapa said.

ING Bank Manila economist

Continued from A1

of price levels in an annual basis so that inflation becomes negative. Deflation usually is avoided by central banks as persisting decline of the overall price levels of general consumer goods in the country may cause falling profits, closure of companies and shrinking incomes and employments depending on its cause.

Inflation in the country has been continuously decelerating since September last year, after it hit a peak of 4.9 percent in July and August during the year.

At the start of this year, Tetangco said inflation could fall between 1.8 percent and 2.7 percent, owing

Outlook...

Sobriety... continued from A8

Joey Cuyegkeng, meanwhile, said inflation will likely hit 2.4 percent, owing to softer oil prices and easing food inflation. These downward pressures are seen to be offset by the MRT-LRT fare increases.

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. economist Trinh Nguyen, meanwhile, said inflation will likely hit 2.3 percent and will likely push the BSP to keep its rates on hold next meeting.

The median forecast of the three economists is at 2.2 percent, lower than the 2.7 percent inflation in December 2014.

The Philippine Statistics Authority is expected to release the January 2015 results on Thursday, February 5.

continued from A1

in December hit 2.7 percent— the lowest inflation for the country in 15 months, or since September 2013, when inflation also hit 2.7 percent. It is also the fourth consecutive month in the downward trend of inflation in the country. The lower inflation in the last month of 2014 was

attributed to the annual decreases in the indices of housing, water, electricity, and other fuels and transport.

percent and 2.7 percent in January this year. The largest contributing factor to the deceleration of inflation is the steep decline in oil prices. Several economists also forecasted lower inflation for the month, ranging from 1.9 percent to 2.4 percent.

n January inflation: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. forecast inflation to fall between 1.8

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Bianca Cuaresma

He said that, as of now, what is important is to ascertain what really happened, and, after that, to correct whatever mistakes that resulted in the massacre.

“I feel sorry for the men who were killed. They died with their boots on,” said Ebdane, who commanded the SAF from 1989 to early 1991.

“But that’s how it is with any operation: You start with intelligence, come up with a plan and execute it.

But sometimes the operation doesn’t succeed 100 percent,” he added.

Ebdane also defended Director General Alan Purisima, the suspended Philippine National Police chief, who is blamed for the fiasco.

“Those people are barking up the wrong tree. That is uncalled for,” Ebdane said.

“If you read the plan for the operation [to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan], you’d know that it was initiated by Purisima. That’s true. But he had been suspended [prior to the operation],” Ebdane said.

“An operation doesn’t get suspended because its main planner has been suspended. So it has to be carried out [by somebody else],” he added.

Ebdane said that it was very unfortunate that the SAF members ventured into a territory controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is also a known haven for the MILF’s lost command, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

“In the service, it is always the command to get your target at all cost, but this is not something that we could have expected,” he added.

With Henry Empeño

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST FEBRUARY 1, 2015 | SUNDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER

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Energy...

first government institution to participate in the ILP to help mitigate an anticipated possibility of a power crisis this year.

“Lead by example,” Belmonte said as he urged other government agencies to subscribe to the ILP, during the recent ceremonial signing of the ILP agreement between the House of Representatives and the Manila Electric Co. at the Batasan Pambansa Complex.

“The HRep will participate in the ILP by registering its 1.7-MW SGF in the main building, as recommended by the engineering department. The deloading is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to cover the main building, including the south and north wings buildings,” the Speaker said.

Belmonte said that, while the

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Bilibid Prison... is of the essence,” de Lima said, pointing out that it would take three years to build a new facility.

She explained that the project will be undertaken under a buildtransfer-maintain scheme, with the builder turning it over to the Bureau of Corrections after the three-year construction period, but continuing to maintain the facility for the next 20 years.

This way, the government is not unnecessarily saddled with the task of maintaining the facility and could concentrate on its core function, she added.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, meanwhile, informed the body that he has initiated consultations with stakeholders regarding the transfer of the NBP to their province, and that residents have

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continued from A8

agreed to the project.

“We know that there are pros and cons [to this project], but we are now in a position to support the transfer,” Umali said.

“Nueva Ecija is willing, for as long as we are included in the drafting of the terms of reference for the proposed project,” he added.

Pampanga Gov. Lilia G. Pineda, meanwhile, urged that the new prison complex provide adequate facilities to ensure the rehabilitation of female inmates, and proposed that the women’s cells be placed far from the men’s correctional facility.

To this, de Lima replied that there would be proper segregation in the proposed 500-hectare prison complex, especially for highrisk inmates.

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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

www.panahon.tv

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

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PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

ILP was mainly directed to large businesses and private establishments, the program does not preclude government institutions from participating and contributing to this noble cause of helping address the precarious power supply facing the country.

“I strongly urge other government agencies to join us by subscribing to the ILP. As we work together with the private sector, your support and sacrifice in this initiative will go a long way in helping sustain the country’s growth momentum,” he added.

The Speaker also took the opportunity to call on the Senate for the speedy approval of HJR 21, so that achieving power-supply stability, especially during the critical summer period, will be within reach.

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING LUZON. (AS OF JANUARY 31, 5:00 AM)

Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”. It affects the eastern portions of the country. It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rain showers.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 23 – 30°C

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@PanahonTV

EconomySunday

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

Maybank ATR bares top pick banks for 2015

M

By Genivi Factao

AYBANK ATR Kim Eng has recommend to investors the purchase of stocks of banks that have aggressive loan growth, strong capital and have plotted expansion plans this year.

Maybank analysts Katherine Tan and Arabelle Maghirang in their research note on the Philippine banks said their top picks were BDO Unibank, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), Security Bank Corp., EastWest Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

BDO Unibank was upgraded to buy, as the bank’s aggressive growth strategy has resulted in better earnings performance. BDO has the largest branch network in the country.

“With return-on-equity [ROE] estimated to reach 14.1 percent this year from an estimated 13.6 percent in 2014, and with operating metrics narrowing versus those of Bank of the Philippine Islands [BPI], we valued it at the latter’s mean multiple of 2.3 times price to book value,” the report said.

Maybank recently upgraded Metrobank to “buy” as valuations are undemanding. It said the widely anticipated stock-rights issuance of Metrobank should eventually remove the overhang on MBT’s share price.

Maybank has reiterated its recommendation on Security Bank Corp., RCBC and EastWest Bank.

Maybank said Security Bank continues “to have the best asset quality in its universe.”

“Its stronghold in corporate lending could get further support from the venture into the consumer market,” Maybank said, adding that Security Bank plans to increase the consumer loans to a third of its loan book from the current 6 percent.

Its capital ratio is more than adequate to support this strategy with 2015 forecast common equity Tier 1 of 13 percent. Security Bank targets to increase fee income, helped by its joint venture with Hong Kong’s FWD Life for bancassurance business.

The year 2015, would be a better year for RCBC, after the strategic investment of Cathay Financial Group into the bank. “With fresh capital of P7.96 billion, this should enable RCBC to expand its risk assets and boost its loan and investment portfolio,” it said.

Despite the small asset size, EastWest was able to capitalize on consumer-loan growth with double-digit net-interest margins. EastWest took advantage of the boom in car sales, helped by its various tie-ups with car dealerships.

Auto loans jumped 47 percent last year, outpacing the industry’s 14-percent rise.

EastWest continues to be the fifth largest bank in credit-card receivables, after BDO, BPI, Metrobank and Citibank.

BusinessMirror

BSP grants relief to banks in areas hit by Seniang

L

By Bianca Cuaresma

ENDERS affected by Typhoon Seniang (international name Jangmi) will be subject to less strict regulatory measures on loans and will be allowed to extend financial assistance to their employees as part of the regulatory aid granted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The Monetary Board approved recently the granting of a regulatory and rediscounting relief mea-

sures to banks whose head offices or branches were devastated by the typhoon.

T

HE House of Representatives recently endorsed to the Senate the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act that defines the country’s territorial waters.

House Bill (HB) 4889, or “An Act to define the Maritime Zones of the Republic of the Philippines,” authored by Nacionalista Party Rep. Al Francis Bichara of Albay, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, seeks to provide for the necessary flexibility in the enactment of subsequent laws pertinent to the rights and obligations to which the Philippines is entitled and may exercise over its maritime zones in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

HB 4889 also provides for the sovereign rights or jurisdiction over these maritime zones, acquiring for the country the exclusive rights to explore and exploit living and nonliving, organic or non-organic resources found in these zones, in accordance with Unclos and other existing laws and treaties.

The bill, which is coauthored by Party-list Rep. Francisco L. Acedillo of Magdalo, Liberal Party Rep. Rodolfo Biazon of Muntinlupa and Paglaum Rep. Jose Zubiri III of Bukidnon, states that “the mari-

Among the areas covered by the relief measures from the BSP were the areas severely affected by the recent typhoon as declared by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The areas include Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Siquijor, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Western Samar, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. The temporary relief measures will allow all banks to provide

financial assistance to their officers and employees who were affected by the calamity. This includes those assistance that may not be within the scope of the existing BSP-approved fringe benefit program.

For all thrift, rural and cooperative banks in the areas affected, the BSP will exclude existing loans of borrowers from the computation of past due loan ratios as long as these are restructures or given relies.

The BSP will also lift the imposition of penalties on legal reserves deficiencies and delays of submission of supervisory reports of smaller banks in affected areas.

A moratorium will also be given on monthly payments due to the BSP for banks with ongoing rehabilita-

tion programs.

T he book ing of a llowance for probable losses on a staggered basis over maximum of five years for all types of loans extended to borrowers will also be allowed subject to BSP approval.

For all rediscounting banks in the area, the regulatory relief package includes the granting of a 60-day grace period to settle the outstanding rediscounting obligations as of mid-July. The central bank also allowed banks to restructure the outstanding rediscounted loans if borrowers affected by the calamity.

Similar relied measures were extended previously by the BSP to banks in cities and provinces affected by the previous natural calamities.

Denmark-based company NGCP opens power-training center in Pampanga opens IT office in Pasig

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

T

HE Denmark-based Grundfos IS recently opened a satellite office at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City to house its information technology (IT) support services.

Grundfos is the world’s leading manufacturers of pumps.

The expansion in Manila was marked by the inauguration of its new office. The rite was led by Denmark Minister for Trade and Development Morgens Jensen.

The opening of the company’s new office for IT support is part of its globalization drive, which targets to improve presence in various countries “by using the whole world as a working place to grow the business.”

The Grundfos IT center will initially employ 90 people, but the company expects to increase its personnel to 200 in the coming years, buoyed by the company’s impressive global growth since 2000.

“Grundfos has pursued global optimization since the year 2000 when we moved the first production lines from Denmark to Hungary,” Grundfos Chairman Jens Hartmann said in a statement.

“This process has been continued to maintain our business and

increase competitiveness. We have more than doubled our employees globally in that period and more than doubled our turnover.”

Grundfos has been operating a sales office in the Philippines for almost 20 years.

Hans Ole Steensig, general manager, said Grundfos chose the Philippines as the base for its IT services owing to the potential of hiring “talented and English-speaking workforce, stable economy and government support.”

He said the Filipinos’ “very good command” of the English language is their first consideration for employing local talents. “That’s aside from their being service-minded and hospitable.”

The strong local business-process outsourcing industry and government support and incentives, particularly those extended by the Philippine Export Zone Authority, were also important in their choice of the Philippines.

Grundfos produces more than 16 million pump units annually.

Among its products are circulator and centrifugal pumps for heating and air conditioning.

The company also manufactures submersible pumps and electric motors.

House sends bill on territorial waters to Senate

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Sunday, February 1, 2015 A3

time zones of the country shall be comprised of the internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone [EEZ] and continental shelf. All territories of the Philippines shall generate their respective maritime zones in accordance with international law.”

Archipelagic baselines, as used in the bill, shall refer to the baselines as defined under Republic Act (RA) 9522 titled, “An Act to amend certain provisions of RA 3046, as amended by RA 5446, to define the Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippines and for other purposes.”

Archipelagic waters shall refer to the waters on the landward side of the archipelagic baselines, except as provided for under the provisions defining the internal waters of the country, the bill said.

The territorial sea shall refer “to the belt of sea measured 12 nautical miles from the baselines or from the low-water line, as the case may be.” The contiguous zone shall refer to the “waters beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea and up to the extent of 24 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.”

On the other hand, EEZ of the country shall refer to “the waters beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea and up to the extent of 200

nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.”

Moreover, the bill states that the continental shelf of the Philippines shall be “comprised of the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.”

It provides that other rights not stipulated in this Act shall be exercised by the country in accordance with internal law and the law of the country.

The authored said the country, being a signatory to the Unclos, recognizes the establishment of various maritime zones and jurisdictions of coastal states, including its own, over which sovereignty and appurtenant sovereign rights can be exercised.

“If the maritime zones of the Philippines overlap with the maritime zones claimed by other countries, the Philippines shall delimit these zones and endeavor to resolve the overlaps according to the recognized means under international law,” the lawmakers added.

NATIONAL Grid Corp. President and CEO Henry Sy Jr., CFO Nanette Bugnosen and Chief Technical Officer Wen Bo inaugurate the NGCP Power Training Center in Mexico, Pampanga, on Wednesday.

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

T

HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) inaugurated its Power Training Center in Mexico, Pampanga, on Wednesday, as the power-transmission company seeks to increase the capability of its maintenance and testing crew, in line with its vision to become a world-class transmissionservice provider.

The facility, the NGCP said in a statement, “fully supports the enhancement of the technical skills and proficiency of newly hired and regular substation and maintenance and testing division [MTD] engineers and technicians.”

The NGCP added that the training center will allow “regular hands-

on, firsthand practice and not just tabletop simulation” for its technical personnel.

The privately owned operator of the country’s power-transmission network launched the training center in time for the opening of a three-day MTD and substation personnel skills competition at its Mexico Substation.

NGCP President and CEO Henry Sy Jr., and CFO Nanette Bugnosen, and Chief Technical Officer Wen Bo led the inauguration for the center, which is a complete replica of a typical substation.

Sy said the facility is a real operating substation, complete with all the equipment, control and monitoring devices from a highvoltage substation.

“The only difference is that the

facility is not energized at high voltage,” he added.

The 438-square-meter training center, which also boasts of a lecture room and the district command center for disaster monitoring, is on a lot vacated by the company’s Central Luzon Area Control Center and the old Mexico substation control room.

Sy said most of the equipment used in the construction of the Mexico training center were taken from spare materials and decommissioned equipment from the substation, “making it more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable.”

“With the new training facility, NGCP may also provide future jointtechnical trainings for electric utilities, technical schools, colleges and universities,” Sy added.

EastWest Bank to raise P8 billion through stock rights

E

AST West Banking Corp. will conduct a stock-rights offer to raise additional common equity Tier-1 capital by P8 billion for its medium-term expansion.

In a disclosure, the bank said its board of directors approved its capital raising program through a rights offering of common shares to certain eligible shareholders of the bank.

EastWest CFO Rene K. de Borja Jr. said they remain bullish on the economic prospects of the country and intend to ride on the country’s growth momentum.

“We want to be in a good position to respond to the increasing banking needs of our customers. We need this additional capital to make this happen,” he said.

The new capital will provide sufficient cushion on top of the capital

levels required under Basel 3.

Filinvest Development Corp.

(FDC), the majority shareholder of EastWest, has expressed their support for the bank’s expansion plans and the rights offer.

“FDC has committed to subscribe to its proportionate share and will consider underwriting the shares not taken up by the minority shareholders,” the bank said.

EastWest said growth would be driven mainly by the consumer and middle-market corporate sectors.

“We have completed Phase 1 of our

expansion with the completion of the 405 consolidated branch stores from 123 in 2012. We now proceed to Phase 2 that will focus in serving more customers, booking more business and expanding our balance sheet. This capital-raising exercise is the fuel for this next expansion,” EastWest President Antonio C. Moncupa Jr. said.

EastWest Bank board of directors also approved the establishment of a wholly owned insurance brokerage subsidiary for nonlife products subject to regulatory approvals.

Genivi Factao

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, February 1, 2015

editorial

The Chinese yuan and the US dollar

A

RECENT report is saying that the Chinese yuan is rapidly coming up as a currency for international trade. If this is true, then we can anticipate that before long, the Chinese yuan will also come as a favored international reserve currency, to surge ahead of the euro, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar.

This development should be of more than passing interest to the two countries concerned and to the rest of the world.

The use of any currency for an international reserve confers upon the issuing country advantages not given to ordinary trading countries: liberation from the penalties arising from persistent current-account deficits and the power to influence interest rates in international financial markets.

On the first point. The desire of countries to hold a currency as an international reserve cannot be satisfied, unless the issuing country agrees to incur an equivalent amount of deficit in its current account. One can even say that such deficit in the issuing country’s current account is made necessary and unavoidable by the desire of the other countries for international reserves.

This is an advantage because, in the normal scheme of things, persistent current account deficits will give rise to a crushing, unserviceable, foreign debt, a shut-off of external sources of finance, a nonconvertible currency, a deterioration of domestic industries, extreme hardships to the population. These, the issuing country can avoid. So long as the rest of the world accepts the currency as payment for real commodities and services, why should the issuing country bother?

On the second point. Domestic interest rates are determined in the main by domestic considerations, but interest rates on international debts are influenced mainly by the interest rate commanded by the reserve currency.

The emergence of the Chinese yuan as a “rival” to the US dollar as an international reserve currency will likely shake up US complacency in dealing with its current-account deficits and put up a brake to its unrelenting issuance of debt to finance imperialist incursions. This development might just trigger a resurgence of US industries that had practically gone in hibernation as the US market saw itself flooded by Chinese-made products, to the good of the American people.

This emerging scenario will also be beneficial to China. China will benefit from a sea of prospective imports from the developing countries, even as it expands its own exports to them.

Most important, this development will be good to the rest of the world’s peoples. Instead of just one principal market for their products, now there will be two. Instead of only one currency imparting stability—the ability to abide by one’s obligations to the international community—now there will be two.

Whether the yuan will replace the dollar as the premier reserve currency will hinge on whether China can serve as the “ultimate consumer” for other countries’ exports as the US has been in the post-World War II period. As we see it, it is not coming anytime soon but it is coming. The Chinese per-capita income of $6,000 as against the American $50,000 may be as distant as Sitio Payong’s per-capita income of P10,000 to Barangay Dasmariñas’s P1 million, but as a totality, the Chinese gross domestic product, whether measured through the “simple” way or through the Atlas method, or by purchasing-power parity, will be able to absorb, sooner than later, all supplies from the developing world, with the yuan serving as the transactions currency, as well as the reserve currency.

Children suffer and die in Gaza. Who notices?

By Najla Shawa Chicago Tribune/TNS

I

N the Gaza Strip, the main daily activity of every family is to try to secure and maximize the use of energy. Even the lives of “privileged” families—those whose houses weren’t damaged or destroyed in the recent war and who have some money to pay inflated prices and middlemen—are affected.

Power is cut up to 18 hours per day. When there is electricity, we rush to recharge all our batteries, heat water, operate the water filters, check the fuel level in the electrical generator, check the fuel level in the car and so on. Most lack these basics.

When the power is out, we need to find other ways to stay warm, to cook, to work, to live.

My husband and I have been waiting for several weeks to refill our cooking-gas cylinders. Given the insecurity of life in Gaza, we’d like to have some reserves, but distributors aren’t able to respond to the demand. Israel limits the quantity of cooking gas that enters the Gaza Strip, and it’s simply not enough. We have to get on a list and wait for our turn. Even before the recent, historic winter storm hit, we couldn’t find any to refill more than one cylinder for cooking. It took effort and connections to get another one refilled so that we could keep our newborn daughter warm during the storm.

As parents and as human beings, our hearts ache for the Palestinian children who have minimum shelter and are hardly ever warm and dry.

Five months after the cease-fire that ended Israel’s 50-day assault, there are still 100,000 people sheltering at designated United Nations schools or making do in their ruined homes.

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Gospel

Sunday, February 1, 2015

A

During the war, we thought things couldn’t get worse. Now we realize they can.

Thousands of families suffered from cold caused by Huda, a storm that brought historic low temperatures. In a region known for its moderate climate, the bad weather hit while thousands were displaced in the Gaza Strip, Syria and elsewhere.

On the second day of the storm, we heard the terrible news. Two-monthold Rahaf Abu Assi from Khan Younis had been in the warmest room of the family’s war-damaged home.

Her mother came to check on her while the family sat in a part of the house that hardly had a roof.

The baby started to turn blue and showed trouble breathing. The family rushed Rahaf to the hospital, but it was too late. The cold had blocked her bronchial tubes. At least three more infants died of cold that week.

Adel Al Lahham, one month old, had been living in a makeshift, tinsheet-covered home in Khan Younis.

Salma Al-Massri, three months old, had been living in a school used as a shelter in Beit Hanoun. The last tiny victim was 18 months old. Fadi Qudeih was in temporary caravan housing provided as humanitarian assistance, but it wasn’t warm enough to sustain his life.

Israel would surely blame Hamas for these deaths. Here in Gaza, however, we blame Israel and, increasingly, governments around the world that have successfully achieved their own independence and then disregarded those still struggling for freedom.

The Gaza Strip has 1.8 million people locked into one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Israel controls the economy, natural resources and communications. It

ND they went into Caper’na-um; and immediately on the Sabbath, He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, “What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God.”

also prohibits the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza from traveling, permitting only a small number to enter. Egypt controls the other side of the Gaza Strip, also imposing restrictions due to political tensions with Hamas.

Largely a refugee population expelled from homes and private property in what is now Israel, people here have endured three Israeli aggressions in six short years. In 2008 and 2009, 1,391 Palestinians were killed and 5,300 were injured. In 2012 Israeli attacks resulted in the death of 167 Palestinians. The latest assault in the summer of 2014 wrought the most damage to essential infrastructure, schools and hospitals. At least 2,139 Palestinians were killed and more than 11,000 were injured.

More than 500 children were killed.

The greatest damage was to our sense of hope.

The word “reconstruction” has earned a bad reputation since the International Conference on Reconstruction in Cairo back in October.

For us, “reconstruction” is like a broken promise. The UN-brokered agreement has not changed or eased any bit of Israel’s strangulating siege on the Gaza Strip. Some people even accuse the UN of managing this siege rather than challenging it.

At least during the war, the international community was paying attention. Now, even though we’re a “protected” population under international humanitarian law, the Gaza Strip seems to be forgotten, and the senseless deaths of our babies scarcely register with the international community.

Najla Shawa is a humanitarian worker from Gaza who wrote this for the Chicago Tribune.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”

And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And at once is fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.— Mark 1:21-28

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, February 1, 2015 A5

Gardens of stone watered by tears M

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

OR E t han 40 police Action Forces walked into an ambush from which none emerged but as corpses.

Made complacent by all the blather in media fawning over peace talks, police special forces—the best of the best—went out looking for a US-listed Malaysian terrorist by the name of Zulkifli bin Hir. Now critics of the dead observe that the police did not notify the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is hiding Zulkifli. If they had notified the MILF, the MILF would have said, “Zulkifli’s been here, but he’s gone now,” laughing behind their hands.

So it’s partly the fault of the dead for walking into an ambush, prepared well ahead, by a part of the 11,000strong MILF army.

It was like shooting fish in a bar-

rel; but some of our fish fired back and took out four of them.

The government reaction has been limited to a disclaimer that it broke the truce by sending in the regular army. Nope, these were just police, the government stressed; never mind that they were all dead.

This was to save a one-sided agreement hammered out by the weaker side on the backside of the stronger.

The peace agreement aims to give an 11,000-man army a baby state of its own with a barely noticeable link to the Republic.

Two female negotiators call it “layered sovereignty,” which is to say you can peel off one or two or three layers of sovereignty without the cake ceasing to be a cake, and the repeatedly skinned sovereignty ceasing to be sovereign—though to a much

slimmer extent. (This is a notion that occurs only to the uneducated.)

Well, if this is still the same cake, then this notion of sovereignty is exactly the pastry the Chinese will have. To put it piquantly, the agreement gives terrorism a homeland in the south from which to strike at the north.

The peace agreement also memorializes as law the rebel version of the 40-year Muslim insurgency by declaring that the Republic has always been in the wrong, and that its soldiers are the aggressors. That means that, row upon row, for miles all around, here and in the provinces, the gardens of stone irrigated by the tears of widows and orphans only commemorate the uniformed scoundrels buried there: they who died to keep our country whole. And that, my

friends, tears our hearts to pieces.

The Muslim homeland idea has been warmly endorsed by Western governments, which have denied Palestinians the homeland taken from them, so that the West can tell oil-rich Arabs that another homeland has been prepared for Muslims on the other side of the world. In our country.

Meanwhile, to save time, let me tell you already how the MILF will explain this massacre. “Oh, those?

They are not our people. They are renegades out to derail the government’s formal surrender by act of Congress.” Then, maybe, we should be talking to those people since they have real fire power, instead of wasting our time with that part of the MILF that has none and seeks to obtain any kind of power by an act of legislation rather than, as is

right, by elections or by war.

Ours is a poor country; badly governed since independence; misled by allies time and again; traduced by lackeys in media; robbed by the worse of the worst that we yet repeatedly elect; but we are rich in the courage of our soldiers; our land is fertile with the blood they shed; our spirits are humbled by their ill-rewarded sacrifices; yet, our spirits soar with pride at our soldiers’ unfailing sense of duty: Duty to one nation indivisible, holding fast to the unfulfilled dream of a peace won by arms and protected by arms, with liberty and justice for all regardless of creed.

Sleep well, our soldiers, take a well-deserved rest—and awaken at the sound of the marching tread of your brothers in arms come to avenge your betrayal.

Devaluation is Putin’s best friend R

Bloomberg View

Leonid Bershidsky

USSIA’S central bank lowered its key interest rate from 17 percent to 15 percent last October 30 in a move few had predicted, causing the ruble to dip. This sequence of events shows the Kremlin still sees devaluation as its best friend, and is eager to help banks and companies weather the crisis.

As for the Russian people, who face double-digit inflation as a result, they are just expected to be patient while their government does its best to deal with a Western attack on Mother Russia.

The central bank had hiked the rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent on December 16, as the ruble more or less tracked the free-falling price of oil. The move failed to stabilize the exchange rate, however, because banks and businesses saw investing in ruble assets as too risky almost regardless of offered yields and the independence of the central bank itself from Kremlin influence was increasingly in question.

The central bank and the government then had to stabilize the exchange rate by other means, such as dipping into international reserves—$33.4 billion in December alone—and asking large companies to sell foreign currency. This worked until the end of December, calming Russians a little before the 10-day New Year holiday break that invariably paralyzes the country. Then, the ruble resumed its slide, dropping even lower against the US dollar by the end of January than it had been at the time of the December rate hike (see graph 1).

Meanwhile, the central bank’s 17-percent policy rate remained, and it made no one happy. Banks and companies said it was stifling all lending

activity. On January 13, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, one of the most respected figures among Russian conservatives, particularly the military-industrial lobby, delivered a major speech in which he sharply criticized the central bank.

“Financial stability should serve economic growth, but in practice, this is not happening because lending to the real sector of the economy is not assured,” Primakov said. “The rise of the central bank’s key rate to 17 percent can be described as a surgical measure. But such surgery must fall within a strictly limited time frame.”

after a short-term burst caused by the ruble devaluation, while lending was slowing down. In this case, lower rates would make sense. Currency traders didn’t exactly buy the argument, though, which is why the ruble sank against the dollar immediately after the rate announcement (see graph 2).

Perhaps, however, the central bank doesn’t care too much about that. It said in the statement that it estimated 2014 economic growth at 0.6 percent. Chris Weafer, founding partner of Macro-Advisory, a consulting firm for investors into

GRAPH 1

This was just the visible manifestation of the ferocious lobbying

by Russian business to have the rate lowered. It was only a matter of time before the central bank would react; the bank’s high lending rate wasn’t serving a useful purpose anyway because the ruble kept falling. This month it is the world’s second worstperforming currency after the Belarussian ruble.

The tricky part was lowering the rate without triggering panic. In its statement justifying the rate cut today, the central bank said it was less worried about inflation than hampering economic growth. Inflation, it said, was almost played out

post-Soviet economies, wrote in a recent post that Russia avoided a contraction “because of the positive impact on domestic demand due to the ruble collapse and the block on a lot of imported food. High defense

sector spending also contributed to manufacturing-sector growth.”

In the first six months of 2015, the central bank expects the devaluation to be insufficient to avoid a negative growth of 3.2 percent. That may be because it’s underestimating the ruble’s downside potential. There is no political will in the Kremlin to prop up the currency.

As Weafer points out: The fact that the rouble has been allowed to free-float, despite regular interventions to prevent a complete collapse and uncontrolled crisis with the falling oil price, appears to have a short-term political element, as well as a positive effect on import substitution. In ruble terms, the surplus for 2014 and the more manageable deficit expected in 2015 means that pensions and most public-sector salaries can be indexed to protect President Putin’s core support group from the ravages of double-digit inflation.

Even at the current oil price, Russia will still have a healthy currentaccount surplus, which—so long as reserves aren’t used up trying to defend the ruble—will enable Russia to handle the $105 billion in foreign debt payments due this year. With that and the ruble-based needs of Putin’s relatively poor electorate taken

GRAPH 2

care of, all the government has to worry about is preventing a banking crisis and keeping industrial investment from falling too steeply, after a 2.9-percent contraction in 2014.

Société Générale predicts a 6.5percent year-on-year investment decrease for this year, but lowering the central bank rate should theoretically ameliorate that. So expect more interest-rate cuts in the coming months.

The continuing devaluation will only hurt the Russian middle class, which regularly travels overseas and buys a lot of imported goods. These people will just have to lump it as far as the government is concerned.

In a recent speech in Davos, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said: If a Russian feels any outside pressure at all, he will never give up his leader. Never. And (he’ll take) any privations he might face inside the country—consuming less food, less electricity, I don’t know—some things that we are all used to. If we feel that someone on the outside wants to change our leader and that is not our will, that this is an attempt to influence our will, we will simply be more united than ever.

There are enough people who subscribe to this kind of thinking for Putin to be confident that things will work out fine for him. According to the latest poll by the independent researchers at Levada Center, taken from January 23 to 26, 55 percent of Russians believe the country is on the right path. It’s a drop from the August high of 66 percent, but still a comfortable enough majority.

As for Putin’s personal support, it has been frozen at 85 percent for the last three months. Russia’s president is surviving sanctions and a decimated oil price just fine.

Following the road map to prosperity

By Stephen Moore & Joel Griffith The Heritage Foundation/TNS

H

OW does a nation or state create economic growth and rising living standards for its citizens?

Once upon a time superstitious economists believed that growth resulted from how the stars aligned.

Using astrology to predict growth is no more misguided than certain fad economic theories being peddled today by charlatan economists. Many Europeans and several South American nations advocate more government intervention to create jobs and higher incomes—when these policies are often what have created the weak growth and stagnant incomes in the first place.

Too many political leaders–including some in the US—have learned the wrong lessons from the Great Recession and its aftermath.

In Europe today, the standard belief

is that stimulus plans—with more government spending and debt—will jumpstart flat-lined economies in places such as Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

Many insist that printing ever more money—as the US Federal Reserve Board has done with some $3 trillion of infusions into the economy—will provide juice to the engine of growth. If only it were that easy.

In the recent Greek elections, voters opted for a left-wing leader with former communist ties who calls for an end to “austerity”. Unfortunately, austerity is defined as too much government spending cuts—a strange idea, because in Greece the government already spends roughly half of the national output. So instead of cutting welfare programs, inflated pension benefits, unemployment payments, Athens will evidently spend and borrow even more. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, here in the US President Obama takes a victory lap for the economic recovery of the last five years de-

spite it being the slowest since the Great Depression. Median household incomes have collapsed by $1,500 in real terms during the Obama recovery. That’s some rebound. Obama’s stimulus plans have created fewer jobs than would have been created by doing nothing—and that is according to his own analysis.

In sum, confusion reigns on how to regenerate growth.

But there is simple and time-tested formula for unleashing economic prosperity—here at home and abroad. It’s not complicated. The Heritage Foundation’s 2015 Index of Economic Freedom—which ranks 186 nations—shows conclusively that growth is a byproduct of free enterprise policies and limited government interference.

Adjusted for purchasing power, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is more than six times higher in “free” vs “repressed” economies. So for example, the per-capita income is more than $50,000 in a free nation such as the US. It’s $11,610

in a repressed nation such as Cuba. Israel has a per capita income of $34,770 versus $14,845 in Lebanon. Israel is far more economically free than Lebanon.

Take two nations that start at the same place economically. After two decades, the citizens in the nation with economic freedom will enjoy a standard of living one-third greater than their counterparts in the less free zone. Poverty rates will also fall in the free nations much faster than the command-andcontrol economies.

Economic freedom isn’t hard to achieve: it means low taxes, free trade, limited government spending, a sound currency, the rule of law and a light hand of regulation. Cronyism, which is too often regarded as a partner of capitalism, is exposed as a deterrent to growth. Russia is a nation not of free-market capitalists, but of cronyism—and its economy has floundered.

In other words, countries that grow reward citizens for how hard they work

and what they know, not who they know.

The US is ranked by Heritage as only the 12th economically freest nation in the world today, behind places such as Hong Kong, Switzerland and even Canada. Only a decade ago, the US consistently ranked in the top 10 or higher—but that all predated stimulus plans, bailouts, tax hikes on the rich, and Obamacare.

While many nations tragically flirt with big-government strategies and cheap money, the US has an opportunity to win the global competition for jobs, businesses and capital investment. The low hanging fruit in Washington is to chop our highest in the world corporate income tax, reform our welfare system to reward work over handouts, approve free-trade deals and drill for our domestic energy resources.

That would be a good start to raising worker incomes. And it may even move America, the Land of the Free, back into the economic freedom top 10—where we belong.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Regions BusinessMirror

Tagum City Hall, suppliers gird for court battle on P200-M terminated contracts

T

By Cha Monforte | Correspondent

AGUM City Mayor Allan Rellon and suppliers affected by the termination of supply contracts amounting to more than P200 million are both girding for court battle in what one city councilor described as “troubling, difficult and long-drawn.”

City legal counsel Arman Seras said in an interview to “let’s just wait. We’ll see then as Mayor Rellon is ready for the expected legal issue” that would arise following the final termination of contracts of the questioned deliveries.

He said the affected suppliers had already received the final termination letters of the city government two weeks ago.

Seras said Rellon’s decision of finally terminating the contracts has the “full support” of the advisory committee created for the comple-

tion of the new city hall.

The advisory committee is composed of the mayor, City Vice Mayor Geterito Gementiza, city council’s infrastructure committee chairman, Commission on Audit and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) representatives.

The affected suppliers are reportedly aghast at the mayor’s decision even as they earlier notified him that he might be facing several court cases should he terminate their contracts.

The mayor was said to have read-

ied his battery of lawyers for their legal defense when the lawsuits come.

In earlier interview, Rellon said he will not be paying the “slightly over P200 million” worth of materials delivered by four suppliers who claimed to have already been used for the construction of the still-unfinished new city hall during the time of former Mayor Rey T. Uy. Rellon said he would fight in courts for the validity of the termination of contracts for the deliveries he considered questionable and even questioned if they have in fact been for use by the new city hall at Apokon, Tagum City.

“There were purchase orders [POs], but there were no deliveries as certified by the city engineers and general services offices,” he said in an interview.

Four POs for various construction materials claimed to have been procured were dated between 2011 and May 2013, all not within his incumbency, he said.

There were four suppliers that would affected by the contract termination but only three responded

to the letters of termination sent late last year.

These were the Ashlee General Merchandise Wansee Co. Inc., Durian Center and Robins Home Depot. Each including the unnamed one has varying claims for payables.

Their supposed payment would be sourced from the P231-million loan the city government through Uy got from the DBP, intended for the new city hall.

Expenses and cost, including the P231 million for the new city hall totaled over P800 million already.

The mayor said the concerned contractors had responded to his letters of termination and warned him they would file several cases against him.

The BusinessMirror tried but failed to contact Uy for comments.

But Councilor Dr. Oscar Bermudez in separate inter v iew said, defending former Uy, that Rellon and other executive officials should “prove beyond reasonable doubt” in court that the deliveries were non-existent, "or he must be prepared to face the consequences."

‘Tinapa,’ anyone?

A smoked-fish or tinapa vendor entices motorists with her trays of freshly cooked smoked milkfish and other fish on a road side in Caloocan, Santiago City, Isabela. The long distance from the nearest fish port compels many enterprising traders to process their catch into a breakfast favorite. LEONARDO PERANTE II

Bataan town to give hero’s welcome to SAF commando

M

ORONG, Bataan— This municipality has prepared a hero’s welcome to one of the 44 members of the Philippine National PoliceSpecial Action Force (PNP-SAF) killed in action on Sunday in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

The subject of the tribute is PO3 John Llyod Sumbilla, 33, of Barangay Poblacion here.

Sumbilla, reportedly a native of Samar, trained at the SAF camp here and married 26-year-old Rochelle Vizmanos, a public-school teacher at the Ayta elementary school in the mountain town of Kanawan.

Mayor Jorge Estanislao said the municipality has prepared a hero’s welcome for Sumbilla and issued this message: “A warm hero’s welcome to PO3 John Llyod Sumbilla for your bravery and courage. We, in Morong, will always show our respect to your bravery.

We honor you as our town hero.

Thank you for saving many more lives in the future. We salute you!

To all your family, especially your wife, may our Lord God comfort you during this difficult time.”

The Philippine flag in front of the Morong municipal hall was placed at half-mast.

Rochelle and John Llyod got married in a civil ceremony on September 1, 2014, and exchanged vows in a church wedding in Morong on December 23 of the same year, relatives said.

The wife is five months pregnant with their first child.

An aunt said her niece called and told her husband that their baby is a girl based on an ultrasound test made.

Rochelle reportedly informed the husband of the good news on Saturday evening, the night before the 44 SAF commandos were slain by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Sumbilla’s remains are expected to arrive here on Saturday. PNA

PHL, US navies plan to conduct medical mission in Pangasinan

L

INGAYEN, Pangasinan—The Philippine and US navies will team up with the provincial government to conduct a medical mission and disaster-preparedness seminar in Pangasinan in July and August this year.

The project dubbed “Pacific Partnership” 2015, which deals on health, direct community and disaster response, was discussed during a courtesy call to Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. early in the week by foreign and local naval teams involved.

The US naval command representatives, headed by Navy commander Natalie Wells, said their visit was to arrange partnerships in working with the province especially in areas which concern disaster-risk reduction, medical

and veterinary services.

This was the second visit of the US and Philippine naval forces to the province. They first came in November 2014 where naval contingents from the two countries initially consulted with provincial doctors and other officials.

Lt. Cmdr. Elmer Jimenez, a native of Calasiao, Pangasinan, who was with the US Navy contingents, expressed excitement over the forthcoming project and is looking forward to sharing his abilities with his fellow Pangasinenses by helping them through the trainings they will provide.

He was so excited that after 25 years since he left his province, he now gets the opportunity to help his provincemates. PNA

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • Sunday, February 1, 2015 A7

Manila Water to form joint venture with Zamboanga City Water District

By Roderick L. Abad

T

HE Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWCI) has formalized its alliance with Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) for a joint-venture (JV) initiative, with the end goal of “cutting its systems loss in the form of water leaks in the city province in Mindanao.”

A month after the project was awarded to the East Zone water concessionaire, the company said over the weekend that it recently signed and executed a JV agreement to govern their relationship as partners in nonrevenue water-reduction activities.

The JV Co. (JVC), which shall implement the 10-year project, will

be incorporated by both parties.

As per the agreement, MWCI will own 70 percent of JVC’s outstanding capital stock, while ZCWD shall own the remaining 30 percent.

The latter serves over 55,000 water concessionaires of the city province. Its water supply is sourced from the Tumaga River.

The former is the lone provider of water and wastewater services to more than 6 million people in its concession area.

Manila Water reported an increase of 6 percent in consolidated net income to P4.55 billion in the first nine months ended September 30, 2014, from P4.29 billion in the same period in 2014.

Meet Ina, a contemporary Muslim mother and leader

By Ayunan G. Gunting

Special to the BusinessMirror

L

IKE herheroine, Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister of Pakistan, a Muslim nation, Nariman Ambolodto has become a charismatic leader in male-dominated local politics.

“We should disabuse others from this notion that we do not have able Muslim women leaders, and that they are not empowered,” said the assistant secretary of Muslim Affairs and Special Concerns at the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Before joining the national government, Ina, as she is fondly called, replaced Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. in 2009, after he was arrested for “complicit” in the murder of 58 people, most of them women and members of the press.

Her assumption of a top position in the province during those very trying times was compared to Corazon Aquino’s supplanting deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

With her gentle but firm approach, Ina was able to restore and resume the operation of the provincial government after martial law was lifted.

Ina humbly attributes her foray in politics to destiny. She did not come from a political family and she did not have any political ambitions.

In 2006, a new province, Sharif Kabunsuan, was borne out of Maguindanao. One of its new municipalities was Northern Kabuntalan where Ina was asked to be its founding vice mayor in 2007.

She was also invited to be the only female candidate in the slate of then-officer in charge Gov. Datu Bimbo Q. Sinsuat for the provincial legislative council.

Ina got the highest number of votes for the lone district of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in Shariff Kabunsuan. It used to be the First District of Maguindanao prior to the division of the province. Ina, then a first termer, a Muslim, a woman, from the conflict-affected areas, was also elected as the first Muslim woman vice president of the provincial board member’s League of the Philippines.

W hen no c a nd id ate w a s proclaimed governor of Sharif Kabunsuan due to election disputes, the elected vice governor Ibrahim Ibay became acting governor, and Ina rose to be acting vice governor.

When Shariff Kabunsuan was dissolved by the Supreme Court and reunited with Maguindanao, Ina continued to represent the constituency of the First District of Maguindanao as a provincial board member.

After her tenure in Maguindanao, the late Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo asked her to join the DILG as assistant secretary.

“I take strength from my brief but colorful experience in local governance, especially after being exposed to the various conditions in Muslim communities,” she said.

Ambolodto

Ina hopes to help restore peace, stability and prosperity in the wartorn areas.

She knows whereof she speaks.

During the hostilities between the government troops and Moros in the 1970s, Ina’s family lost their home and was uprooted from their province. Still, her parents were resilient, provided support and found means to provide education for her and her siblings.

Ina is also interested in the protection of women and their rights, and their participation in the reconstruction, development and governance of Muslim communities.

She looks up to Bhutto as an example who founded an underground movement to resist militar y dictatorship and restored democracy in Pakistan at the young age of 35.

“Prime Minister Bhutto ably illustrated that women can always rise to the occasion when the situation requires,” she said.

“Poverty and conflict also compelled women, even married women, to assume less traditional roles such as earning a living for the family.”

Ina said with the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and the enactment of the Bangsamoro basic law, the Muslim provinces will be formed into an autonomous political entity.

Bangsamoro is the collective identity of the Muslim ethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, Ina said.

“We now have a chance to establish another political entity which we hope will preserve, protect and promote the collective and ethnic cultures, rights, welfare and aspirations of the Moro people. As the Bangsamoro moves forward, there will be more prospects and opportunities for women in governance and development,” she said.

Ina credits her husband for being the proverbial “wind beneath her wings.” He supported her when Ina decided to pursue a graduate course in Islamic Studies at the University of the Philippines and become an associate professor at the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City.

Despite her busy schedule, she manages to cook favorite dishes for her family: pasta for their only daughter Bai, and steamed crab, roast beef, and grilled fish for her husband.

At the end of the day, she considers herself a simple Muslim Mag ind anaw woman f rom Kabuntalan. “We are a product of our society and the expression of our culture,” she said.

NewsSunday

A6 Sunday, February 1, 2015 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

MPIC set to take over SCTEx

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

HE tollways arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. will soon take over the operations of SubicClark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), after the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) failed to muster bids for the price challenge of the highway’s multibillion-peso operations contract.

“No one challenged the existing offer during the auction on Friday. This means we could move on with the contract, and award it soon,” BCDA President Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said in a telephone interview.

San Miguel Corp., which operates the South Luzon Expressway, earlier expressed interest to bid for the deal. It, however, backed out of Friday’s auction.

Since no one challenged the P3.5-billion offer of the tollroad business of tycoon Manuel V.

CASANOVA: “No one challenged the existing offer during the auction on Friday.

This means we could move on with the contract, and award it soon.”

Pangilinan, the contract will be awarded to it soon.

“We expect that by February 4, we could submit to the BCDA board the finalized contract,” Casanova said.

Manila North Tollways Corp.

(MNTC) President Rodrigo E. Franco separately said his office expects the deal’s awarding to take place this week.

“After [receipt of the] notice of award, we will negotiate the amendments to the business and operating agreement. Then we execute the revised agreement and the supplemental toll-operations agreement. Hopefully, we will be able to take over by end of February or March at the latest,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Franco ex plained that the amendments involve “some updating of technical aspects—for example, the maintenance—since it is a 2011 program.”

“We need to update to current conditions,” he said.

President Aquino late last year directed the state-run company to subject the offer of MNTC to a price challenge “in the interest of transparency and for competition.”

The tollroad operator won the contract in 2011, proposing a 50-

percent revenue-sharing scheme, which the Department of Finance endorsed to President Aquino for approval last year.

In November 2012 MNTC raised the BCDA’s revenue share to P90 billion, from the original proposal of P64 billion.

MNTC also provided a longer period—from the earlier endpoint of 2016 to the new schedule of 2019—within which the company would subsidize payment of the BCDA’s existing P31-billion debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency. The loan, which was used to build the SCTEx, will mature in 2041.

The 94-kilometer expressway allows for the merging of Clark and Subic Bay free-port zones into a single facility, resulting in the convergence of land-, air- and seabased transport.

As of end-November 2014, the number of vehicles that used the tollroad is at 10,305,688, a 12.93percent increase compared to the 9,125,480 vehicles that used the toll road for the same period in 2013. It booked P1.07 billion in revenues during the period under review.

Baldoz orders fast release of SAF 44’s benefits

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ABOR Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has ordered the speedy release of employees’ compensation, insurance and funeral benefits to families of the 44 National Police-Special Action Force troopers who died in a clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao.

She said the families of the 44 police commandos are entitled to receive benefits from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which will process and pay the police officers’ employment-compensation (EC) claims and benefits.

“We know that these EC claims and benefits cannot bring back to life those who sacrificed their lives for the country, but in a way, somehow, these might ease the emotional and material burden of the widows and children, as well as the relatives, of our uniformed personnel who perished or were injured in this unfortunate event,” Baldoz said in a statement.

Baldoz said the families of the SAF troopers who were killed should not have difficulty in preparing documents for claiming the EC and other benefits.

The Employees Compensation Program provides dependents of the slain officers death benefits or the monthly pension, still to be determined. Beneficiaries include surviving spouse until she remarries, and 10 percent of the surviving spouse’s pension for up to five children until they reach the age of 21—and funeral benefits of P20,000.

Baldoz said the police commandos who sustained work-related injury are entitled to loss of income benefits—a cash benefit to compensate for loss of income owing to inability to work.

She said there are three types of loss of income benefits: temporary total disability, permanent total disability and permanent partial disability.

Meanwhile, for medical bene-

fits, they are entitled to reimbursement for the cost of medicines for the illness or injury; payment to providers of medical care; hospital care; surgical expenses; and the costs of appliances and supplies they availed themselves of from accredited hospitals.

At the same time, those who will suffer permanent total disability arising from an injury they suffer from the encounter can also receive carer’s allowance.

Families of the fatalities can also avail themselves of assistance from the Employees’ Compensation Commission under its Katulong at Gabay sa Manggagawang may Kapansanan (KaGabay).

The compensation program aims to assist people with work-related diseases and the heirs of those who died in the line of duty. The program aims to facilitate their integration into the economic mainstream through physical restoration, training for re-employment, or self-en-

trepreneurship.

The KaGabay program offers physical restoration, or the provision of physical or occupational therapy services, including assistive devices, such as prosthesis, hearing aid, braces and wheelchair.

“These benefits are purely employment compensation and do not include other benefits due to the police officers as government workers,” Baldoz said.

The National Police, meanwhile, announced that it has opened an account with the Land Bank of the Philippines for cash donations intended to aid surviving family members of police officers who recently died in Maguindanao.

This is in line with the government efforts to honor the 44 SAF troopers who died after a pitch battle with joint Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao on January 25.

Estrella Torres with PNA

Navy expects to get first SSV in 2016

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ONSTRUCTION of the two strategic sealift vessels (SSVs) that the Navy ordered from an Indonesian company has started.

Vice Adm. Jesus Millan, Navy flag officer in command, led a Navy delegation to Indonesia last week for the ceremonial “steel-cutting ceremony” that formally starts the construction of the two ships.

Other officials, including Rear Adm. Romeo Santiago Nebres, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command; Commo. Narciso Vingson Jr., commander of the Sealift Amphibious Force; and Capt. Alberto Carlos, assistant chief of Naval Staff for Logistics (N-4), accompanied Millan during the trip.

Cmdr. Lued Lincuna, chief of the Navy’s Public Affairs Office, said the first and second SSVs should be delivered to the Navy not later than May next year and May 2017, respectively.

The acquisition of the two SSVs, with a total budgeted cost of P4 billion and sourced out from the military’s modernization budget, started in October 2013 through an acquisition memorandum that was issued by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

On November 18, 2014, the bidding was bagged by PT Pal Indonesia, the single calculated responsive bidder with a bid price of P3.870 billion.

Lincuna said the SSVs are programmed to be the Navy’s floating command center, carrying out their main purpose as military sealift and transport vessels, and also for humanitarian assistance and disaster-response operations.

The vessels are also critical assets for civil-military operations owing to their capability to transport large number of soldiers, logistics and supplies.

Each of SSVs has the capacity to house three helicopters. “The Navy’s Augusta Westland 109s are programmed to be onboard components of these vessels,” Lincuna said.

The helicopters, which were recently acquired, were multipurpose rotary wing vehicles. Rene Acosta

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Red Cross pushes community level DRR, CCA practices

PHILIPPINE Red Cross Chairman Richard J. Gordon presents the Red Cross 143 program to the local government officials and other delegates who attended the conference on mainstreaming disaster risk-reduction and climate-change adaptation in local development plans.

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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N a disaster-prone country like the Philippines, disaster-risk reduction (DRR) and climatechange adaptation (CCA) practices should start at the community level.

Such is the objective of a national conference initiated by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), in partnership with the Finnish Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross and the German Red Cross, through a fund from the European Union.

The conference brought together representatives from national government agencies, local governments units (LGUs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil-society organizations, academe and other key stakeholders to formulate strategies that will mainstream DRR and CCA good practices in local development plans.

The conference, titled “Listening to Local Leaders in Mainstreaming DRR/CCA in the Local Development Plans,” which was held late last week, became a venue for showcasing successful DRR mainstreaming approaches and outcomes of the PRC, NGOs and local governments.

Whereas before, DRR and CCA plans are simply cascaded from government agencies or in the national level to the community level, the conference gave representatives from various municipalities fresh inputs and recommendations that could help them formulate their own DRR and CCA approaches that are in agreement with the government’s comprehensive development plan.

“This gathering brings together people who can effect change to help communities that were affected by disasters to get back on their feet,” said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the PRC. “We, at the Philippine Red Cross, have incorporated preparedness into the DNA of our organization. We see disasters as a learning opportunity, and we are constantly learning from our past experiences,” Pang added.

An important aim of the conference is for LGU leaders to learn from the success of other LGUs in mainstreaming DRR and CCA approaches in the community level.

Colin Fernandes, DRR delegate from the Netherlands Red Cross, addressed the challenge of mainstreaming in the community level for many LGUs. “Mainstreaming is difficult, especially in the community level. But there have been many successful mainstreaming in the Philippines. The objective of the conference is to identify those who have been successful in mainstreaming in local communities and learn from them,” he said.

Fernandes added that an important output of the conference would be to identify and increase the role of the Red Cross in terms of mainstreaming DRR and CCA in local development planning.

“Let us demystify or simplify mainstreaming, so everyone in the community level can do it,” Fernandes said.

Red Cross’s approach

THE PRC, which is very active in disaster response and relief in the country, plays a big role in the mainstreaming of DRR and CCA initiatives in local communities. One major accomplishment of the PRC in this regard is the

Red Cross 143 Program, which empowers communities to respond to any disaster.

“Red Cross 143 means one leader plus 43 members in every organization or community to mobilize the power of humanity,” PRC Chairman Richard Gordon said.

“In the Philippine Red Cross, we have devised the four Ps: predict, plan, prepare and practice. The 44 volunteers of Red Cross 143 were trained to perform the four Ps in case of disasters or mass casualty incidents,” Gordon said.

Red Cross 143 aims to create a network of volunteers that can provide important information and can be mobilized for immediate response to any disasters or incidents. These volunteers were trained in three aspects— disaster preparedness and response; health and welfare; and voluntary blood donation.

Red Cross volunteers were trained to predict hazards in the community; plan to lessen vulnerability; prepare the community and their needs in case a disaster arises; practice the community for disaster response; like first aid and emergency evacuation drill; report to the PRC important information regarding the emergency or disaster; and respond to possible needs, such as administration of first aid, health and hygiene promotion, voluntary blood donation, psychological support, tracing and relief operation.

Stakeholders’ role

THE government, in the past decade has given much importance to disaster risk-reduction management, which gave way to the creation of Republic Act (RA)10121, or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management [DRRM] Act of 2010.

Edgar Ollet, head of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Operations Center, presented salient features of RA 10121, which include an “integrated, coordinated, multisectoral, interagency and community-based approach to disaster risk reduction.” The DRRM Act empowers LGUs and CSOs as key partners in disaster risk reduction.

Ollet said the government provides the impetus for the implementation of in the LGUs, but the NDRRM and the LGUs are in charge of the execution. “NDRRM is executed at the local level, not at the national level,” Ollet said. He, likewise, revealed that, this year, the NDRRMC will be reviewing the NDRRM framework in view of the recent natural disasters that besieged the country.

Climate Change Commission (CCC) Vice Chairman Mary Anne Lucile Sering assured everyone of the national government’s support in terms of climate-change projects. “Climate appropriations have been increasing, relative to overall government budget.

From 2003 to 2013, we have seen an increase in government budget for climate-change projects, which are mostly for rehabilitation initiatives,” Sering said.

Sering presented the CCC’s climate-change initiatives, which, she revealed, was heavily grounded on science-based initiatives, like the Project Noah. “We recommend the use of science-based approaches in the planning process. There are local governments, which have already been successful in this,” Sering said.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Governor, congressman call for sobriety over SAF 44 killings

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CONGRESSMAN on Saturday cautioned against calls to declare an all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), following the separatist group’s encounter with members of the National Police’s Special Action Force (SAF), “as this could just be an attempt to incite more violence in Mindanao.”

Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Jerry P. Treñas of Iloilo City said that, while the nation is hurting because of the treacherous massacre of 44 SAF troopers, an all-out war against the MILF is exactly what Islamic extremist groups, like alQaeda, Jema’ah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf, would want to happen.

“This is falling into the trap of these Islamic terrorists. Our rage and our yearning for vengeance should not cloud our sense of reason. Waging an all-our war

against the MILF will only aggravate the situation in Mindanao,” Treñas said.

The lawmaker added that people and groups who are calling for an all-out war against the MILF are only providing Islamic extremists the right excuse to convince the MILF to withdraw from the negotiating table and take part in its terror campaign.

Treñas said he supports the Aquino administration’s continued commitment to pursue the

finalization of its peace talks with the MILF, while making sure that those responsible for the debacle would be held accountable for the death of the “Fallen 44.”

After the encounter in Maguindanao, lawmakers’ support for the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) in the House of Representatives “eroded,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. admitted.

Belmonte, however, said that, despite the bloody clash between the SAF commandos and the MILF guerrillas, he is confident that the Bangsamoro bill will still be passed by members of Congress.

Retaliatory attacks

LP Rep. Karlo B. Nograles of Davao, who is a member of the House special ad hoc committee on the BBL, warned that security forces should prepare for retaliatory attacks by Islamic extremists in Mindanao, following reports that Malaysian terrorist and bomb-making expert Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Abu Marwan, was killed in the police raid that tragically ended into an encounter between operatives of the SAF and the combined elements of the MILF and the Bangsomoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

According to Nograles, Islamic terrorist groups, such as the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Sayyaf Group, could take advantage of the volatile situation in Mindanao, and possibly launch attacks to incite further armed violence in the region.

“With the announcement by the MILF that Marwan is dead and the pronouncement by the President of an all-out campaign to get Basit Usman, I hope our security forces are doing everything possible to protect the Filipino public against retaliation by terrorist groups. With all Filipinos mourning for the 44 fallen SAF troops and due to the low morale being suffered by our police personnel, there is well-founded fear that terrorists might take advantage of the situation to sow destruction across the nation,” Nograles said.

“Our law-enforcement agencies must rise above emotions and all the more keep tight watch of the situation, and all citizens must remain vigilant and watchful,” he added.

Ebdane appeals for sobriety

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. of Zambales, a former National Police chief who also once commanded the SAF, appealed for sobriety amid the rag-

T Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. speaks on the Mamasapano issue. henry empeño

ing issue on the Mamasapano debacle, where at least 44 police officers perished in a clash with Muslim separatists on Sunday.

Weighing in on the issue at the sidelines of the Central Luzon Regional Development Council (RDC3) meeting here on Friday, Ebdane said nothing would be solved by putting the blame on anybody at this point of the investigation.

“Let the investigators do their job,” Ebdane stressed during an interview with newsmen here.

“If we want to solve the problem, let us allow resolutions to come forth,” he added.

See “Sobriety,” A2

JUSTICE Secretary Leila M. de Lima (fifth from left) shares a light moment with Central Luzon Regional Development Council members, after successfully lobbying for the approval of the transfer of the New Bilibid Prison to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija. With de Lima are (from left) Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan. henry empeño

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Correspondent

ITY OF SAN FERNANDO— The Central Luzon Regional Development Council (RDC-3) has approved the relocation of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

The RDC approval is needed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to push through with its big-ticket project to build a state-of-the-art facility for inmates.

The transfer was approved unanimously by members of the council, after Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima spoke before the RDC-3’s full council meeting here at the regional office of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and appealed for the passage of a favorable resolution.

RDC-3, headed by Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, sets the direction for the socioeconomic development of Central Luzon.

Its members include governors and city mayors from the seven provinces of Central Luzon, as well as officials of government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the region.

De Lima, who discussed the proposal in a closed-door meeting with RDC-3 members before the council meeting formally began, said she came over to make

House energy panel chief: 920 MW committed under ILP

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Central Luzon RDC approves transfer of New Bilibid Prison to N. Ecija

By Henry Empeño

www.businessmirror.com.ph

a personal appeal to the RDC-3 to allow the transfer of the NBP from its present site in Muntinlupa City to Fort Magsaysay.

To set the council’s approval, Zambales Gov. Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr., chairman of the Subcommittee on Infrastructure Development, formally endorsed the project for inclusion on the council’s agenda, noting that the conceptual plan for the project “has been found to be in order.”

According to de Lima, the DOJ wants to build a modern, state-ofthe-art facility to be located in a 500-hectare complex within Fort Magsaysay, the largest military reservation in the Philippines and a key training area for the Army.

Inmates at the NBP in Muntinlupa City will, thus, be moved to the proposed P50-billion facility with modern security and correctional features, she said.

“This is the first big-ticket PPP [private-public partnership] project of the DOJ, and the first of its kind in the country,” de Lima said, adding that the project has already been approved by the Neda Board, headed by President Aquino.

She said the proposed facility will be the long-term solution to congestion in the NBP that has also resulted in what she described as “prison-based criminality.”

“We are in a hurry, and time See “Bilibid Prison,” A2

HE chairman of the House Committee on Energy has said that 920 megawatts have been committed under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to address the projected power shortage from March to July tis year.

Liberal Party Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mindoro, who is also the cochairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission, in a recent interview with the BusinessMirror said that these 920 MW are enough to solve the projected power shortfall this year.

House Joint Resolution (HJR) 21, which grants President Aquino emergency powers, wants the government to mainly use ILP in generating additional power capacity.

“As of January 28, there are about 920 MW available,” Umali said.

Based on established protocols, ILP is implemented during a red-alert status (minimal power reserve) upon the notice of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the power utilities informing ILP participants to deload from the grid.

The ILP is a voluntary program whereby businesses, such as malls and factories that have their own generators, can be disconnected from the power grid in times of short supply, and can sell any excess power they generate to distributors.

Through the ILP, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the summer season.

The approved HJR 21 said the projected power shortfall next year is 782 MW.

The resolution said the government shall reimburse the owners of self-generating facilities (SGFs) or backup generators, for fuel expenses and reasonable recovery for their use in accordance with the Energy Regulatory Commission rules, including the value-added tax.

It added that any entity with SGFs which is not registered under the ILP may be manually deloaded from the grid without compensation.

Earlier, Umali said that the government would need at least P200 million for the implementation of the ILP.

On September 12, 2014, President Aquino requested Congress for authority to establish additional power-generating capacity to ensure the energy requirements of the country during periods of very tight energy supply, as a strategic response to the need for specific, focused and targeted acquisition of additional energy capacities to meet the imminent power shortage in the Luzon grid due to the Malampaya turnaround, increased levels of forced outages of power plants, and delays in the commissioning of committed power projects.

Pursuant to Section 71 of Republic Act 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, 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.

Besides the ILP, the resolution said that additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the fast-tracking of new committed projects; plants for interconnection and rehabilitation; and adoption and execution of energy-efficiency and conservation measures shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors.

Earlier, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that the House of Representatives enlisted as the See “Energy,” A2