BusinessMirror January 15, 2015

6 MILLION FILIPINOS TO WELCOME POPE ➜ See story on A8

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INSIDE

fruit flush diet

‘PHL underinvesting by ₧1T’ T

By Cai U. Ordinario

health&fitness

more destinations for travelers to set their sights on in 2015 The gift of our family

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HANK You, Lord, for the gift of our family. We know that ours is not perfect and that it could be better if You will always reign in every member of our family.

Please help us make our family united and peaceful always.

Make us instruments of Your healing and life-giving love. Make us more eager to give than to receive and ready to help, share and give comfort. Make us more concerned about the good of other families for we are all members of Your great family here on earth. Amen.

WORD AND LIFE, FR. SAL PUTZU, SDB AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

GOLDEN GLOBES 2015: WHAT YOU DIDN’T SEE ON TV »D2

BusinessMirror

Thursday, January 15, 2015

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More destinations for travelers to set their sights on in 2015

B C R Los Angeles Times Editor’s note: As 2014 further fades into memory, here are the other destinations the author has listed down as among the top 15 possibilities for your vacation time this year.

CHOQUEQUIRAO ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK, PERU AS Machu Picchu gets busier and the tourist economy surrounding it gets bigger, people will consider visiting this Inca ruin, about 30 miles away.

To reach Choquequirao, a mountaintop stone complex that dates to the 15th century, travelers drive five hours from Cuzco to the village of Cachora, then trek two days. (If you like, you can continue the trek to Machu Picchu.)

In 2013 authorities tallied just 3,000 visitors to Choquequirao. But solitude-seekers should get there soon because the Apurimac regional government has proposed construction of a 3-mile-long aerial tram that could bring in 3,000 tourists a day, with completion possible by the end of 2015.

The project has been delayed by a court decision, but once regional leaders in Cuzco and Apurimac agree on plans, the construction could be rapid.

■ Info: Among the tour operators that go to Choquequirao: Crooked Trails (www.crookedtrails.org), a US-based nonprofit organization; SAS Travel Peru (www.sastravelperu.com) and Choquequirao Trek (www. choquequiraotrail.com) BRITAIN THIS month, mark the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death by going to his family’s Blenheim Palace just outside Oxford.

In March queue up at Leicester Cathedral to see the reburial of the remains of Richard III, which were found in 2012 beneat2h a parking lot.

In June stop by the British Library to glimpse a copy of the Magna Carta, the foundation of Britain’s common law, signed by King John at Runnymede 800 years ago.

(The library will mount a Magna Carta exhibition from March 13 to September 1.)

On September 9 nod in the direction of Balmoral

Castle in Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth II is expected to become the longest-reigning monarch in British history—more than 63 years on the throne. The current record-holder is Queen Victoria, Elizabeth II’s greatgreat-grandmother.

■ Info: www.visitbritain.com MILAN, ITALY THIS capital of design and art history has been a fetching destination for years. Besides its vital fashion industry and many iconic buildings (including the 14th century Milan Duomo, the Sforza Castle and the skylighted hall of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II), it is home to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

In 2015 it gains an additional charm: Expo Milano, set to open on May 1 and close on October 31. Granted, world’s fairs aren’t the world-shaking spectacles they used to be. But it can’t hurt to see a cosmopolitan city dolled up for the rest of the world.

Some 147 countries are readying exhibits for the occasion. Even if organizers fall short of the 20 million visitors they’re seeking, newcomers to Milan and the north of Italy have fun ahead.

■ Info: www.expo2015.org, www.bit.ly/1zvR9sj SINGAPORE FOR years, the city-state of Singapore has been one of the easiest places in Asia to visit—great street food, sparkling streets, dozens of high-end shops and hotels along Orchard Road.

But 2015 will be especially festive, because it’s Singapore’s golden jubilee.

On August 9, 1965, Singapore (which at about 270 square miles is bigger than Guam but smaller than Hong Kong) split from Malaysia and became an independent republic.

Also in 2015 the National Gallery Singapore is due to open, occupying the country’s reconfigured city hall and Supreme Court buildings, focusing on Southeast Asian art from the 19th century to now.

■ Info: www.yoursingapore.com, www.orchardroad. org, www.nationalgallery.sg COACHELLA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA A LOT has happened in the last year, including the openings of the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage in May

and the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center (www.psmuseum.org) and the Triada Palm Springs hotel (www.triadapalmsprings.com) in November. Several more restaurants and hotels are due in 2015, along with the 25th Dinah Shore Weekend (a lesbian-centric celebration that’s now officially the Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend) from April 1 to 5.

Meanwhile, Modernism Week from (February 12 to 22) draws more mavens of Midcentury design every year, and the long-anticipated revitalization of downtown Palm Springs inches ahead.

A new Palomar Hotel (part of the Kimpton chain and central to the redevelopment) is due to open in 2016.

■ Info: www.visitgreaterpalmsprings.com LOWER MANHATTAN, NEW YORK ON May 1 the Whitney Museum of American Art opens on Gansevoort Street in the old meatpacking district between the High Line (more on that in a minute) and the Hudson River.

The new Whitney building, designed by Renzo Piano, replaces the museum’s longtime home (now closed) on Madison Avenue near East 75th Street, which will be taken over by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As for the High Line, it’s a former elevated rail route born in 2009 as a much-celebrated linear park. In September it added a new northern section at West 34th Street near 11th Avenue, making it one-and-a-half miles long. With luck, a spur featuring a leafy amphitheater will open by the end of 2015 near 10th Avenue and West 30th Street.

■ Info: www.whitney.org, www.thehighline.org. www. thehighline.org ICELAND NO important anniversaries in Iceland in 2015, no new major museums, no revolutionary tours. But wild, remote, cool Iceland is beckoning.

It would be good to get in and out before the next unpronounceable volcano erupts, and this year is as good as any to confront the glaciers and fiords, the expanses of Vatnajokull National Park (which covers 13 percent of the country), the sleek urban design of Reykjavik, the northern lights and that steaming blue lagoon you’ve seen in ads (www.bluelagoon.com).

■ Info: www.visiticeland.com, www.iceland.is

PATAGONIA NEITHER a nation nor a state, Patagonia is the southernmost stretch of South America—a 386,000-square-mile outback of wind-scrubbed mountains, glaciers, lakes and coastline, shared by Chile and Argentina.

On the Argentine side: Los Glaciares National Park and, farther north, San Carlos de Bariloche, the foremost ski resort in South America.

On the Chilean side, there’s Torres del Paine National Park (which includes a 52-mile trekking circuit with breathtaking views). There’s also the Patagonia National Park project, led by American activists Doug and Kristine Tompkins, which covers nearly 200,000 acres in rugged Chacabuco Valley, including the Lodge at Valle Chacabuco (www.conservacionpatagonica.org).

The park (which closes for the South American winter) had its soft opening in October, with a grand opening planned sometime in 2015.

■ Info: REI Adventures (www.lat.ms/1sHPc5F) offers four different tours of Torres del Paine.

Vancouver-based Bikehike Adventures (www.bikehike. com) has Argentina and Chile itineraries.

NAMIBIA FORMERLY colonized by Germany and ruled by South Africa, this southern African country celebrates 25 years of independence in 2015.

Though its population is just 2.2 million, its territory is epic, with remarkable landscapes, including the Kalahari Desert and the Skeleton Coast.

The coast is renowned and feared for its remote, wind-raked shipwrecks, dunes and whale bones. At one edge is Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, opened in 2013 and affiliated with Wilderness Safaris (www.lat. ms/1sQsyOp).

It has just eight tents (with concrete foundations and private baths; inclusive rates about $500 per person per day) and is reached only by air from Windhoek, the capital. Guests, keep an eye out for elephants, lions and giraffes. If weather permits, there are flights over the coastline. Meanwhile at Sossusvlei (in Namib-Naukluft National Park), visitors can climb some of the planet’s tallest known sand dunes or just admire their orange hues.

■ Info: www.namibiatourism.com.na ■

life

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suns foil lebron’s comeback B J L

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Akron Beacon Journal

HOENIX—The Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from a 19-point thirdquarter deficit in LeBron James’s return to briefly take the lead, but still fell to the Phoenix Suns, 107100, on Tuesday to fall below 0.500 for the first time since late November.

James scored 33 in his return, JR Smith had 29 points and the Cavs rallied to tie the game at 88 midway through the fourth quarter before taking the lead with 7:20 to play.

But Markieff Morris scored 35 points, including 11 in the fourth, and the Cavaliers lost for the 10th time in their last 12 games, including six in a row.

“It’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever been through,” James said before the game, referring to sitting amid the losing. “I hated the fact we were playing some pretty decent ball when I went out and we’ve just dropped a lot of games when I was out.

“Guys are hanging their heads low at times.

We’ve just got to continue to work the habits and things we’ve built over the season. We’ve played some really good basketball, we’ve played some not good basketball. Obviously of late we haven’t played really good basketball so hopefully we get back to it.”

The Suns shot 57 percent in the first half and scored 59 points, a recurring trend for Cavs opponents. The defense improved significantly late in the third quarter and into the fourth (the Suns shot 38 percent in the fourth), but it wasn’t enough to pull a slumping team out of this dive.

Shawn Marion also returned after missing the last two games with a strained hip, making this the healthiest the Cavs have been in weeks with more help on the way soon in Iman Shumpert.

The Cavs fell to 19-20, under 0.500 for the first time since November 24. They have 44 games left to rediscover their rhythm.

Mo Williams scored a career-high 52 points, most in the National Basketball Association (NBA) this season, and Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a 15-game losing streak by beating the Indiana Pacers, 110-101.

Williams made six three-pointers, including one that gave Minnesota a 102-96 lead. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points and Gorgui Dieng had 10 for the Timberwolves (631), who won for the first time since beating Portland, 90-82, on December 10.

CJ Miles had 22 points and CJ Watson added 17 for the Pacers (15-25), who have lost three of four.

Williams surpassed the 46 points scored this season by both Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol, which had been tops in the NBA. In Washington, John Wall broke yet another personal 0-for-forever streak, this one against an entire team, scoring 25 points with eight assists in Washington’s 101-93 win over San Antonio that gave him his first taste of success against the reigning NBA champs.

Wall had been 0-7 against the Spurs since he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2010, and the Wizards as a whole had not beaten San Antonio since November 12, 2005—a streak of 17 games.

Tim Duncan had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Tony Parker scored 14 points for the Spurs.

Al Horford had his first career triple-double, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and 10 AZARENKA misses out »on VICTORIA a seeding at the Australian Open as Juan Martin his streak going. AP

del Potro keeps

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| THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Sports BusinessMirror

LEBRON JAMES grabs his head after being fouled in the first half during his return on Tuesday. AP

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NBA RESULTS Washington 101, San Antonio 93 Minnesota 110, Indiana 101 Phoenix 107, Cleveland 100 Golden State 116, Utah 105 Dallas 108, Sacramento 104, OT Miami 78, LA Lakers 75

The Mavericks rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to avoid their first four-game losing streak of the season.

Dallas was coming off two humbling losses to Detroit (118-105) and the Clippers (120-100).

DeMarcus Cousins, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter, had 32 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists for the Kings. Darren Collison had 18 points and seven rebounds, Rajon Rondo broke out of a scoring slump with 21 points and seven assists for Dallas, which rallied from a 24-point deficit to beat the Kings on November 11. Tyson Chandler had 16 points and 17 rebounds, Dirk Nowitzki scored 15 points and Chandler Parsons finished with 13. With AP

SUNS FOIL LEBRON’S COMEBACK

VICTORIA’S WOES M

ELBOURNE, Australia—Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka faces the prospect of drawing a top player in the first round at the Australian Open after missing out on a seeding on Wednesday.

Last year was one to forget for Azarenka—injuries to her left foot, then right knee and right foot restricted her to just 24 matches last year and her Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking has dropped to 41. The top 32 players are seeded, and tournament officials went strictly by the rankings released on Monday to determine the seedings list this year on both the men’s and women’s side.

No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Maria Sharapova will be on opposite sides of the draw after their world rankings were reflected in the seedings for the first major of the year.

Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013 and reached two Grand Slam quarterfinals in 2014 during an injury-interrupted year, dropped from a No. 32 year-end ranking.

Azarenka’s first-round loss last week at the Brisbane International to Karolina Pliskova, after wasting two match points in the second set, cost her any chance of climbing back into the top 32.

China’s Li Na has retired and won’t be defending her Australian title. Dominika Cibulkova, the losing finalist last year at Melbourne Park, is seeded No. 11. Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Canadian who last year reached the semifinals at the Australian and French Opens before making the Wimbledon final, is seeded No. 7.

On the men’s side, Nos. 1 to 3 Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are all seeded ahead of defending men’s champion Stan Wawrinka, who is No. 4.

US Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan was seeded fifth, one spot ahead of threetime Australian Open finalist Andy Murray.

In Sydney Juan Martin del Potro continued his promising return from an 11-month injury layoff by beating top seed Fabio Fognini, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Sydney International.

The second-round triumph over Fognini further demonstrated the Argentine’s return to top form ahead of next week’s Australian Open.

The former No. 4 needed a wildcard to gain entry to the main draw as his world ranking had dropped to 338 during his lengthy absence. He showed the benefit of concerted preparation by beating Fognini in one hour and 48 minutes.

Second seed David Goffin of Belgium also suffered a second-round loss, going down 6-3, 6-3 to Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

The Argentine’s quarterfinal opponent will be Kazakhstan qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, who upset sixth seed Pablo Cuevas ,7-5, 7-5. AP

sports

In a briefing on Wednesday, World Bank senior country economist Karl Kendrick Chua said the country’s investment deficit has reached P950 billion, or 6.8 percent of the country’s current gross domestic product (GDP).

“Historically, the Philippines underinvested in physical capital and even more so in the last 10 years.

Comparing the Philippines with our fast-growing Asean neighbors, the country also underinvested,

especially in infrastructure and education,” Chua said. The World Bank estimates showed that the country’s infrastructure deficit has reached 2.5 percent of GDP, or P350 billion, while the underinvestment in social services amounts to 4.3 percent of GDP, or P600 billion.

The investment deficit has resulted in “monstrous traffic, flight delays and delays in importation,” as well as the decline in the Continued on A2

2015 GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH SEEN TO HIT 3%

Atlanta 105, Philadelphia 87

assists to lead Atlanta to its ninth straight win at the expense of Philadelphia, 105-87.

The Hawks easily thumped the Sixers even while resting 60 percent of their starting lineup.

Leading scorer Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll all sat out with the team in a stretch of four games in five nights.

The Hawks have won 23 of 25 and also won their ninth straight road game. They are in first place this late in the season for the first time since they won the East in 1993-1994.

Michael Carter-Williams scored 20 points for the Sixers.

In Sacramento, Monta Ellis scored six of his 28 points in overtime and added 10 assists, and Dallas beat Sacramento, 108-104.

he Philippines needs to increase investments in infrastructure and social services by about P1 trillion in the next five years to sustain a growth of 6 percent and improve its chances of eradicating poverty in one generation, according to the World Bank.

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he World Bank, citing stagnation in Europe and Japan and a slowdown in China, downgraded its forecast for the global economy this year. It also reported that world economic growth came in below expectations in 2014.

The bank predicts the world economy will expand 3 percent this year, up from 2.6 percent in 2014. Last June World Bank

PESO exchange rates n US 44.8320

economists had forecast 3.4-percent global economic growth this year and 2.8 percent last year.

“The recovery has been sputtering in the euro area and Japan, as legacies of the financial crisis linger.... China, meanwhile, is undergoing a carefully managed slowdown,” the bank said on Tuesday in the first of its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects reports for Continued on A2

World Bank Group senior country economist Karl Kendrick Chua (left) briefs the media regarding the Philippine Economic Update January 2015 edition during a news conference held in Taguig City. Also present during the briefing is World Bank Group lead economist Rogier van den Brink. ALYSA SALEN

Remittance growth in Nov slowest in 5 years

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By Bianca Cuaresma

ash remittances slowed steeply in November last year amid the expected uptick of remittances nearing the holiday season.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Wednesday the money sent by millions of migrant Filipino workers aggregated $2.12 billion in November last year, representing growth of 2 percent compared to the same month the year before.

The surprise 2-percent uptick was the slowest in five years, or

since January 2009, when remittances grew by just 0.1 percent.

This was also the steepest slowdown to date.

BSP Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo said volatility in the foreign exchange is partly to blame for the deceleration.

“In the past, when the dollar appreciates against the peso, the tendency is for overseas workers to adjust so that the peso value of their remittance will more or less be the same. So if the peso depreciates against the dollar, then they can afford to send a lower amount

of dollar remittances, while the peso equivalent will be broadly the same,” Guinigundo told reporters at the sidelines of the Papal Commemorative Coin launch.

The peso traded at 44 to 45 against the US dollar in November last year, weaker compared to the 43 to 44 to a dollar band in November 2013.

“But if you look at the cumulative, it is still in excess of our target,” Guinigundo quickly added. The month’s actual remittance volume was also slower than the $2.22 billion reported in October 2014.

Continued on A2

n japan 0.3804 n UK 68.0101 n HK 5.7827 n CHINA 7.2330 n singapore 33.6324 n australia 36.5826 n EU 52.8031 n SAUDI arabia 11.9453 Source: BSP (14 January 2015)

News BusinessMirror

Thursday, January 15, 2015

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‘PHL underinvesting by ₧1T’ Continued from A1

country’s competitiveness in sectors such as electronics.

Chua said to address this investment deficit, the Philippines needs to generate 3.8 percent of GDP, or P530 billion, from improved tax administration and 3 percent of GDP, or P420 billion, from increased tax revenues.

He added that the country can also opt to borrow some of these funds but would burden the future generations of Filipinos with this debt.

“The current system cannot raise that revenue because the system is quite complex, inequitable and inefficient. So there needs to be a lot of thinking about how we can make our tax system simpler, more equitable and more efficient,” Chua said.

If the Philippines fails to address its investment deficit, the country will not be able to sustain a growth of 5 percent to 6 percent over a longer period of time, which is needed to reduce

and subsequently eradicate poverty.

Chua said based on the World Bank’s estimates, the Philippines will reach its potential GDP by 2017.

This potential GDP takes into consideration the current state of the economy, which is largely consumption driven.

The World Bank economist said 80 percent of the economy is consumption based. This means 70 percent of this consumption comes from household spending and the remaining 10 percent is government spending.

He said there is also a need to increase investments because of the gains achieved by the country in the past few years. These gains placed the Philippines on track to achieving its target of bringing down poverty to 18 percent to 20 percent by 2016 from the current 24.9 percent.

World Bank lead economist Rogier van den Brink explained that this brought down the country’s poverty elasticity in such a way that for every 1-percent increase in GDP per capita,

the rate of poverty incidence declines by more than 2 percent.

“Over the long term, if we are able to sustain 6-percent growth at this level of elasticity, we can double percapita income in one decade, raise it five times in two decades and multiply it by 11 times in three decades,” van den Brink explained.

“This means it is very possible to eradicate poverty and boost shared prosperity within one generation,” he added.

Meanwhile, van den Brink explained that the bank revised its growth estimates for 2014 downward to 6 percent from 6.4 percent on the back of weak growth in the first three quarters of last year.

However, van den Brink said the Philippines’s economic growth would rebound to 6.5 percent in 2015 and 2016. The Washington-based lender forecast lower GDP growth in 2017 at 6.3 percent.

Van den Brink said these estimates are based on the government’s efforts to implement the Yolanda

master plan and increase spending in the near term.

He said this growth will also be supported by strong consumption in the near term. Consumption will be fueled by the positive consumer outlook, stronger foreign direct investment flows and low oil prices.

“Much lower oil prices can boost manufacturing and consumption. In fact, the Philippines is one of the biggest beneficiaries of falling oil prices in the world,” van den Brink said.

While the World Bank estimates that global economic growth will increase to 3 percent this year and 3.3 percent in 2016 and 2017, risks remain.

These risks include the weak recovery in the United States and the euro zone, as well as the Japanese and Chinese economies in the near term.

The open economies in the East Asia and the Pacific region make countries like the Philippines vulnerable to these external shocks through weaker trade and investment flows.

Remittance growth in Nov slowest in 5 years Continued from A1

The remittances brought the 11month aggregate to about $23 billion.

While the remittance growth in the January-to-November period last year slowed to 5.7 percent from 6.2 percent in the January-to-October period, this was still within the government’s assumed rate of a 5.5-percent growth for 2014.

The BSP reported cash remittances from land-based workers hitting $16.9 billion, while remittances from sea-based workers hit $5.1 billion.

“The continued deployment of skilled manpower remained a key driver of the sustained growth of remittance flows,” the central bank said.

The top country remitters were

from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Canada.

The central bank also cited the job orders data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration howing 855,357 approved job orders in Januaryto-November 2014, 38.3 percent of which were processed job or-

ders intended for service, production and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Taiwan and Qatar.

Guinigundo also said they expect to see a recovery in December as migrant workers historically send more in the final month of the year for the holiday expenses for beneficiary families.

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST JANUARY 15, 2015 | THURSDAY

TODAY’S WEATHER

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.

JAN 17 SATURDAY

METRO MANILA

21 – 30°C

21– 31°C

TUGUEGARAO

19 – 29°C

18 – 29°C

2015. Plunging oil prices and stronger growth in the United States are expected to help boost global growth in 2015. The bank expects the US economy to grow 3.2 percent this year, up from 2.4 percent in 2014.

Growth among the 19 countries that use the euro currency is expected to pick up modestly—to 1.1 percent in 2015 from 0.8 percent last year. Likewise, the Japanese economy is expected to rebound to a 1.2-percent growth this year from 0.2 percent in 2014.

The bank expects China’s economy to expand 7.1 percent this year, down from 7.4 percent in 2014. The slowdown reflects in part the Chinese government’s effort to rein in excessive lending and wasteful investment.

Overall, the bank expects highincome countries to grow 2.2 per-

US forecast. . . Continued from A8 The Energy Information Administration forecasts that gasoline prices are going to average $2.33 a gallon this year and $2.72 next year. “With lower gasoline prices, the average US household is expected to spend $750 less in motor-fuel costs in 2015 than in 2014,” said Adam Sieminski, head of the agency.

A major question, though, is what the price crash will do to the renaissance in American drilling, which has skyrocketed through fracking for oil and gas within shale rock.

Some oi l compa n ies h ave

JAN 18 SUNDAY

BAGUIO TUGUEGARAO CITY 20 – 29°C

SBMA/ CLARK

BAGUIO CITY 12 – 22°C SBMA/CLARK 21 – 29°C

JAN 16 FRIDAY

JAN 17 SATURDAY

JAN 18 SUNDAY

22 – 31°C

METRO CEBU

24 – 30°C

23 – 29°C

22 – 29°C

19 – 29°C

TACLOBAN

22 – 28°C

21 – 28°C

21 – 28°C

19 – 29°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

TAGAYTAY CITY 18 – 29°C

TAGAYTAY

19 – 29°C

11 – 23°C

22 – 30°C

19 – 29°C

19 – 30°C

23 – 29°C

22 – 29°C

21 – 29°C

METRO DAVAO

11 – 22°C

22 – 30°C

22 – 29°C

22 – 31°C

23 – 32°C

23 – 33°C

19 – 29°C

11 – 22°C

22 – 32°C

LEGAZPI ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 30°C METRO CEBU 24 – 30°C

TACLOBAN CITY 23 – 28°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 23 – 29°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY 23 – 32°C

PUERTO PRINCESA

ILOILO/ BACOLOD

23 – 30°C

22 – 30°C

ZAMBOANGA

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

6:25 AM

5:46 PM

12:58 PM

1:04 AM

21 – 30°C

HALF MOON NEW MOON

23 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

24 – 32°C

22 – 29°C

JAN 20

9:14 PM

Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers

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

SABAH CELEBES SEA

9:36 AM

0.19 METER

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

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

METRO DAVAO 23 – 30°C

LOW TIDEMANILA HIGH TIDE SOUTH HARBOR

JAN 13

25 – 31°C

23 – 33°C

SUNRISE

5:46 PM

24 – 31°C

23 – 30°C

18 – 30°C

LEGAZPI CITY 24 – 29°C

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

reduced spending, and producers are cutting the number of drilling rigs. The federal forecasters believe the low prices will slow, but not stop, the growth in American oil production that has transformed global energy markets.

Major oil companies are expected to follow through on the investments they’ve made in highly productive areas like the Bakken in North Dakota and Eagle Ford in Texas, even as companies start “redirecting investment away from marginal exploration and research drilling.” MCT

(AS OF JANUARY 14, 5:00 PM)

LAOAG CITY 19 – 30°C

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 30°C

cent this year, up from 1.8 percent in 2014. Developing countries will grow 4.8 percent, an improvement from 4.4 percent in 2014.

The bank sees risks that could spoil its forecast. There’s potential for a financial crisis if investors pull money out of emerging markets to take advantage of rising interest rates and improving economic prospects in the United States. That could cause emergingmarket currencies to plummet and squeeze companies that borrowed in US dollars—a partial replay of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998.

Conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East could disrupt economic growth.

The Chinese economy could tumble into a “disorderly slowdown.” SubSaharan African economies, expected to grow a healthy 4.6 percent in 2015, could be devastated instead if the Ebola outbreak isn’t contained. AP

Continued from A1

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING LUZON.

LAOAG

METRO MANILA 20 – 30°C

JAN 16 FRIDAY

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Economy

A4 Thursday, January 15, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

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No shutdown of Manila ports during papal visit–Palace

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By Butch Fernandez & Lorenz S. Marasigan

T is business as usual at the ports in Manila on Thursday, and for the rest of the five-day visit of the Roman pontiff to the Philippines, as shutting down the operations at the already congested terminals would cause a massive bottleneck that could result in a spike in prices of commodities.

Truck operations at the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor (MSH) are expected to be slower than usual, as certain roads around the capital were closed to give way to the festivities of the papal visit.

Already, the ports in Manila are bursting at their seams, posting a combined utilization level of 97 percent as of Wednesday, and with the closure of roads, port operators were advised to take additional measures “to reduce the commercial impact of the slowdown in operations.”

Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Juan C. Sta. Ana said the operations at the ports will have “calibrated procedures” due to the need to align their operations to the security measures being implemented.

“While it is expected to crowd our ports, particularly all the Manila ports and the Tacloban Base Port, during those days, we have to strike

a balance between the pope’s safety and the uninterrupted flow to travel and trade to and from the country,” he added. “We encourage our stakeholders to also adjust their work flow according to the said arrangements.”

The program released by International Container Terminal Services Inc. and Asian Terminal Inc. showed that both ports will be fully operational and open to all transactions in the entirety of the pope’s visit.

However, MSH will be closed on the afternoon of Sunday.

Users of both terminals, hence, are encouraged to pull out their import containers on specific periods so as not to disrupt operations. They are also encouraged to use the northern truck routes to ensure smooth flow of land travel to their destinations.

As an added measure, the Philippine Coast Guard is now limiting the ingress and eggress of vessels only to the south entrance or exit of Manila Bay. It has also entirely banned op-

Photo shows a congested container yard at the Port of Manila. Palace and port authorities said there will be no closure of operations at the ports within the duration of the five-day papal visit. Kevin de la Cruz

erations along other gates including those along the Pasig River.

In Tacloban, all berths will commercially operational except for Berth 8, which will be used as an emergency hub on Saturday.

The operations inside the Tacloban Base Port are now being calibrated, as well. These include passenger-assistance facilities to ensure safety, security and convenience as the roads leading to and from the ports are expected to be closed while the pope is in the city.

The port chief earlier warned that congestion levels at the ports in Manila are expected to spike during the papal visit, as operations at the terminals will be limited due to blanket truck bans.

The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) even sees the

heightened congestion as a threat that could lead to a higher inflation print this month.

The congestion at the ports is caused by “a series of long holidays and weekends, dating back to last month where businesses and cargo owners tend to slow down their overall operations.”

“If it is not resolved moving forward and public and private sectors don’t work together, it could lead to another round of price increases,” MAP’s National Security Division Chief Martin O. Peña said in an interview last week.

The ports in Manila have been in a state of congestion since the first semester last year. The bottleneck, which had an effect in the inflation prints in some of the months in 2013, was initially blamed on the

truck ban in the city of Manila. The regulation was lifted in September, making way for the partial decongestion of the terminals.

No total truck ban

Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras affirmed on Wednesday that “there is no such thing as total truck ban for the five-day holiday” declared by the Aquino administration during the January 15 to 19 visit of Pope Francis in Manila and Tacloban.

Almendras, President Aquino’s pointman in trying to solve the port-congestion problem, clarified at the outset “that the ports of Manila will not be closed for five days as rumored.”

“There were meetings and discussions on coming up with an effective plan on how to handle port opera-

tions during the time of the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis,” he added.

The Palace official explained that during the extended holidays, the city’s main ports will still be operating but would not accept outbound cargoes “as they will continue to unload ships and will load and move out empties to alleviate the extent of empty containers already in the country.”

Almendras added that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority had also “confirmed there is no such thing as total truck ban for the five-day holiday.”

The Cabinet secretary assured that movement of cargoes and trucks will be allowed in the regular truck routes during the allowed hours, except routes that will be affected by the events of the pope’s visit.

BRT project in Cebu seen to usher transport modernization down south PHL to receive biz delegation

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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BOUT 200 bus rapid transit (BRT) units will be deployed in Cebu once the P10.6-billion, 23-kilometer facility has been completed in 2017.

This was learned from Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Winston M. Ginez, who said his agency will now focus on improving the land transportation industry down south.

“Isang malaking proyekto ang BRT na magkakaron ng significant na impact sa mga mananakay sa Cebu kaya kailangan nating mapakinggan ang opinion ng iba’t ibang sector para maging smooth ang implementation ng programa,” he said, upon ordering regional offices to hold dialogues with transport groups and drivers to discuss the multibillion-peso project.

The bus line, which is expected to carry 330,000 passengers daily, will span from Bulacao to Talamban. It will include transit ways, stations, terminals, a depot and other facilities.

Aside from its efficiency, as proven by the existing systems around the globe, the BRT in Cebu is also expected to reduce pollution and increase travel safety.

Like trains, BRT runs on its own dedicated lanes, carrying large

numbers of travelers through buses, which makes the system simpler and cheaper to construct, operate and maintain.

The project will also install a state-of-the-art computerized traffic-management system in the entire city to ensure smoother overall traffic flow and will provide other improvements to integrate the BRT with other modes of transport.

Cebu Mayor Michael L. Rama said the line can be easily expanded and upgraded over time as land use in the city evolves, demand grows, and more funding becomes available.

Initially, the system will have 33 stations and will run with 176 highquality buses.

With a population of 2.5 million, Metro Cebu serves as the regional, financial and administrative center of the Central Visayas region. The metropolitan area is home to an increasing number of high-technology firms and supports a thriving tourism industry in the region.

With rising incomes, Cebuanos are buying more motor vehicles, resulting in traffic congestion, rising number of traffic accidents, increasing air and noise pollution, and more emissions of harmful gases that contribute to climate change.

The new BRT system will help Metro Cebu address these challenges. To wit, the line is projected to re-

from Bangladesh this month

A

duce greenhouse-gas emissions by 115,000 metric tons per year by 2020 and 192,000 tons by 2025.

In the third quarter last year, the World Bank approved the $141-million loan, which consists of loans from the World Bank and Clean Technology Fund to help bankroll the construction of the 23-km BRT line along a major transport corridor in Cebu City.

The government will shoulder the remaining cost to complete the funding for the line, which promises to provide the city’s residents with a more efficient, reliable, fast, safe and climate-friendly transport system.

Bidding for the project is ex-

pected to start in the second quarter of 2015. The new transportation system will be commercially launched in 2017.

Aside from Cebu, the government is also pursuing the creation of BRT lines in Metro Manila and Davao.

Transportation Undersecretary Rene K. Limcaoco said the Department of Transporation and Communications intends to construct a P4.9-billion line along Edsa that runs from Commonwealth in Quezon City to Manila City Hall passing through España Boulevard.

The DOTC is also studying the possibility of setting up a line along C-5 in Quezon City, and in Davao.

business delegation from a South Asian country will be visiting the Philippines this month to explore business opportunities in the country.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday that the country will be receiving a 10-member business mission from Bangladesh to hasten trade and investment relations between Bangladesh and the Philippines.

“As we welcome a 10-member business delegation this month from Bangladesh and develop our business relations with them through DTI’s Philippine Trade and Investment Center in New Delhi, we enhance cooperation between the Philippines and Bangladesh that is seen to expand bilateral trade in the coming years,” DTI Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. said.

The Bangladesh-Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was launched in May 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, will lead the business mission here.

The Bangladeshi businessmen will explore opportunities in the country particularly in sectors of: ceramic tableware and raw materials, minerals, electronic equipment, solar panels, fertilizer, shipping, healthcare and hospitality service

industries, hotels and textile industries, jute products, telecommunications, garment and textile including accessories, stocks and finance, information technology, agriculture, bicycle parts and tire, equipment and machinery supplies, power plant, energy conservation, gas and oil, environment and safety measures, shipping, and transportation.

Bangladeshi firms that will join the delegation are from Bengal Fine Ceramics Ltd., Engineering Resources International (ERI) Ltd., MAKS Renewable Energy, MKR Group of Industry, A.K. Khan Group of Industries, Newage Group of Industries, Rancom Trading (Pvt.) Ltd., ETBL Holdings Ltd., North Bengal Cycle Industry, M/s. Engineering Resources International (ERI) Ltd., Barlaw Commercial Complex (Pvt.) Ltd., Barlaw Commercial Complex (Pvt.) Ltd. and M/s. Novo Cargo Ltd. The business delegates from the South Asian nation are set to meet large business organizations in the country including Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. for business forums, networking receptions, and business-tobusiness sessions.

Cebu Pacific to seek ‘clarification’ from CAB on P52.2-million fine

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he decision of the airline regulator to impose a multimillion-peso fine against Cebu Pacific might be marred with “facts requiring clarification,” a company official said, even as it reviews its options to resolve the matter that could make a “dent” in the bottom line of the Gokongwei-led carrier.

Cebu Pacific Spokesman Jorenz T. Tanada said on Wednesday after receiving the resolution issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) that ordered the carrier to pay P52.21 million in fines for its “botched” operations during the holiday rush in December.

“We are currently in the process of reviewing the document, and its

attendant legal ramifications. We note that there may be some matters of fact requiring clarification, and are evaluating all our options accordingly,” he said in a brief media statement.

On Monday the air-services regulator slapped the budget carrier with a measly fine after the threeagency panel that investigated the “mayhem” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 concluded that Cebu Pacific breached its franchise.

The fine, CAB Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla noted, is “based on a finding by the board that Cebu Pacific’s operational lapses and passenger mishandling constitutes a

breach of the basic condition of its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, i.e., to provide proper, suitable, convenient, safe, adequate and reliable air-transportation services.”

Cebu Pacific was also required to establish and maintain appropriate service standards for all its personnel, organic and outsourced, especially those manning the checkin counters.

The airline of taipan John L. Gokongwei, data showed, had lackluster operations from December 24 to 26, with a total of 20 canceled flights and 288 delayed flights at the Naia Terminal 3 during the three-day period.

This prompted the government to launch an investigation against the said malpractice.

Cebu Pacific blamed the delays and the dislocation of a large volume of passengers were caused by air-traffic congestion, coupled with the weather condition on the 24th of December, resulting in a spillover of traffic to the next day.

The fiasco, it added, was also fueled by the large number of absentee check-in personnel that resulted in the delayed processing of passengers.

First Grade Holdings Inc. Managing Director Astro C. del Castillo earlier said the decision of the regulator to slap fines and reprimand

the airline might cause a “dent” in the net profit of the Cebu Air Inc. this quarter.

Shares of Cebu Air went up by 0.64 percent on Wednesday to close at P87.15 apiece. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, January 15, 2015 A5

SC to Palace, Congress: Defend 2015 GAA, supplemental budget

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By Joel R. San Juan

HE Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Palace and Congress to comment on another petition filed before it questioning the constitutionality of Republic Act 10651, or the 2015 General Appropriations Act (GAA), and the supplemental budget due to the existence of lump sums and discretionary funds amounting to almost half of the P2.6-trillion national budget.

SC Spokesman Theodore Te said the magistrates issued a resolution during last Tuesday's en banc giving due course to the petition

filed by former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chiong, taxpayer Manuelito Luna, college sophomore student Aristarchus Lamarck Luna and Sama-

hang Magbabasura Inc. “In relation to the 2015 budget and supplemental budget, the Court required respondents to comment within a period of 10 days from receipt of the resolution on a third petition,” the Court said.

Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. In their petition, they argued that the 2015 GAA is unconstitutional as it had been passed with Congress handing over all its power over public funds to the Executive department, citing, among others, the draft national expenditure program The petitioners noted that among those lump-sum appropriations they are questioning are the P2-billion contingent fund; P1 billion allocated for the

rehabilitation and reconstruction program; P31.1-billion allocations to local government units; P7.4-billion international commitment funds; P118.1-billion miscellaneous personnel benefits funds; P140.6-billion pension and gratuity funds; and the P372.9billion debt service fund.

“Due to the innumerable and significant lump sums in the 2015 GAA, a considerable number of which are automatically appropriated, Congress’s vaunted spending power has had become illusory; and that Congress itself had become a surplusage,” the petition stated.

The petition added that “legislators’ “pork barrel” funds were cleverly inserted into the requirements of the Department of Public Works and Highways and other national government agencies by the Department of Budget and Manage-

ment, upon requests of individual congressional representatives and indorsed either by the Committee on Appropriations or by the Office of the Speaker, for the lower house, and with respect to the members of the Senate either by the Committee on Finance or by the Office of the Senate President.

However, Te earlier announced that the Court dismissed two petitions filed by former Rep. Augusto Syjuco of Iloilo seeking to invalidate the Republic Act 10652, a law providing a supplemental budget for the national government.

Te said the magistrates decided to dismiss both petitions during their regular en banc session also on Tuesday for lack of merit.

The Court also dismissed the petition for being premature as it failed to allege any specific expenditure, fund release or any executive act or issuance to the effect.

Girl power: 47.6% of Filipino business execs are women–ILO

By Cai U. Ordinario

A

lmost half of business executives in the Philippines are women, according to the latest report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

In the report “Women in Business and Management: Gaining Momentum,” the ILO said the Philippines ranks fourth worldwide in terms of having the highest percentage of women executives.

The ILO said that around 47.6 percent of executives are women in 2012. The report also said 41 percent of senior- and midlevel managers in the Philippines are women in the same year.

“Our research is showing that women’s ever increasing participation in the labor market has been the biggest engine of global growth and competitiveness,” Deborah France-Massin, director of the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities, said.

“But there is a long way to go before we achieve true gender equality in the workplace, especially when it comes to top management positions,” she added.

The top 3 countries are Jamaica, where women account for 59.3 percent of all managers in 2008; followed by Colombia and Saint Lucia, where women executives accounted for 53.1 percent in 2010 and 52.3 percent in 2004, respectively.

DTI. . . continued from a8

Rounding up the top 10 were Panama with 47.4 percent in 2012; Belarus, 46.2 percent; Latvia, 45.7 percent in 2012; Guatemala, 44.8 percent in 2012; Bahamas, 44.4 percent in 2009; and Moldova, 44.1 percent in 2012.

The Philippines also bested its Asean-5 neighbors, with Singapore

but the EU can remove this any time (with cause), and the failure to comply with any of the 27 international treaties can be a cause,” Cristobal said during the first information session for the EU-GSP+ scheme attended by exporters and industry stakeholders held on Wednesday.

The 27 international treaties cover areas of environmental protection, labor rights, human rights and governance.

Compliance to these treaties gave merit to the Philippines’s application in the first place.

“The interagency task force will be composed of the same agencies that were involved in the Philippines’s qualification since there are reportorial requirements. Those agencies in charge of monitoring human rights and labor standards are part of the task force—practically the agencies in the Cabinet and the likes of the Commission on Human Rights,” Cristobal added.

He said the prominent areas that would be monitored are the environmental protection and labor standards.

Moreover, ensuring that the country keeps the preferential treatment and maximizes the benefits is significant, Cristobal said, as the country is only seen to avail of the trade scheme for five to six years. The EU allows a maximum availment period of 10 years for countries qualified for the GSP+, but is dependent on the country’s status as a lower middle-income country, estimated by its per-capita gross national product (GNP).

Lower-middle income and upper-middle income economies are classified as having GNP per capita of $4,000. Considering the Philippines is now under $3,000 and with the pace of economic growth seen to pick up in the next couple of years, Cristobal said

ranking 53rd; Thailand, 64th; Vietnam, 76th; Malaysia, 79th; and Indonesia, 81st.

“Only 5 percent or less of the CEOs [chief executive officers] of the world’s largest corporations are women. The larger the company, the less likely the head will be a woman,” the ILO said.

The ILO said male-led company boards are still common but are decreasing in number, with women attaining 20 percent or more of all board seats in a handful of countries.

A global survey quoted in the study showed that Norway has the highest global proportion of companies (13.3 percent) with a woman as

the country may “achieve the $4,000 per-capita GNP sooner than we think.” “That 10-year window, we believe, is going to be shorter because of stronger growth,” Cristobal said.

However, the bigger question of whether or not the Philippines will be able to secure a more permanent preferential trade relationship with the EU in the form of a free-trade agreement (FTA) by the time it graduates from the GSP+ is yet to be answered.

Cristobal said the proposed EU-Philippines FTA is still in the scoping stage. The scoping stage establishes the framework that will define the content of the FTA, essentially the benefits and the challenges that will be threshed out before formal negotiations could begin. Basic areas that have been discussed in scoping talks were goods, services, investments, intellectual property rights and trade facilitation, Cristobal said.

The EU-GSP+ scheme covers 6,274 product lines that will enjoy the duty-free privilege. The regular GSP scheme, on the other hand, covers 6,209 products, of which only 2,442 products are accorded the duty-free privilege.

The preferential scheme is seen to add 200,000 new jobs in certain sectors in the first year of implementation, Cristobal said.

The country began implementing the said scheme on December 25, 2014. It is seen to increase Philippine exports to the EU by 10.77 percent in the first year, or €491.4 million in terms of value. Exports of the Philippines to the EU grew by 10 percent in 2014, estimates Walter van Hattum, head of the economic and trade section at the EU Delegation in Manila, while EU-Philippines trade was estimated to have reached as much as €12 billion in 2014. Catherine N. Pillas

company board chairman, followed

by Turkey (11.1 percent).

The ILO said women own and manage over 30 percent of all businesses globally but they are more likely to be found in micro and small enterprises.

It said that it is critical for equality and national development that women own their business.

“It is critical for more women to reach senior management positions in strategic areas to build a pool of potential candidates for top jobs such as CEO or company presidents,” explained France-Massin. “However, ‘glass walls’ still exist with the concentration of women in certain types of management functions like HR, communications and administration,” France-Massin added.

The report also provides statistics on women in management and in business for most countries from all regions and at all levels of development.

It also contains data on the gender-pay gap at management and lower levels, as well as statistics on women’s achievements in education.

The report presents the findings of a 2013 ILO survey of over 1,200 companies in Africa, Asia and Pacific, Eastern and Central Europe and Latin American and the Caribbean, focusing on measures and initiatives to advance women in management.

The survey was carried out with the assistance of national employers’ organizations in 39 countries.

Pope. . . continued from a8

as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The show revolves around Francis’s life and a visit to a fictional Philippine parish. Another priest will play the older Francis.

Reading up on Pope Francis’s life and playing him in the musical “has been life-changing for me,” Luzung said, praising the pope’s humility and compassion for the poor, the sinner and the lost. “Through him we see the presence of God.” Pope Francis, the Musical has been playing to full-house audiences in Angeles city, north of Manila, since November. The mostly young crowd goes wild at the show when the elder Francis, wearing a headset, dances and sings briefly to One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” which director Andy Alviz said is among the pope’s favorite English songs.

Around 150 Filipino and Asian bishops will be in the audience when the musical opens in the capital. The pope is not likely to attend—he is scheduled to spend most of Saturday in Leyte province—but when he returns that night, the cast plans to serenade him after walking from the theater to the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in Manila, where Francis is staying.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) said its volunteers and staff are all set to provide assistance to the public with life-saving services during the much anticipated papal visit to the Philippines in Manila and Leyte.

To ensure the health and safety of those who will participate to the papal events in Manila, PRC said it will put up 29 first-aid stations in identified strategic locations. Ambulance units and welfare desks will be assigned and established in all first-aid stations and other selected areas, while roving teams and squads composed of volunteers who will monitor the situation are available. With AP

briefs belmonte presses for senate passage of national land use act

Lawmakers led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. expressed confidence that the proposed National Land Use and Management Act, designed to attract investments and “unleash” land productivity in the country, would finally be enacted during the current Congress.

“We have to end the current degradation of the country’s land resource through a clear land-use policy which would rationalize the use of lands and make land markets work and attract more direct foreign and local investments,” Belmonte said.

As early as June 2 last year, the House of Representatives approved on final reading House Bill (HB) 4382 and transmitted the same to the Senate two days later for its consideration and action.

HB 4382 is entitled An Act instituting a National Land Use and Management Policy, providing the implementing mechanisms therefore, and for other purposes.

“We are confident that our colleagues in the Senate would allow this important legislative reform measure to see the light of day before the end of the 16th Congress,” the authors said.

Principal authors of the reform measure, a consolidation of several similar bills, among others, include: Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, Rep. Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo, Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Rep. Winston Castelo, Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Rep. Walden Bello, and Chairman Kaka Bag-ao of the sponsorSpecial Committee on Land Use. “We should also take advantage of the growing international confidence in the country as an investment haven in Asia,” the authors said, noting that since the 8th Congress the proposed Land Administration Reform Act and related measures have been filed and refiled without much legislative success. PNA

probe into luzon expressway-toll collection system pushed A House leader is seeking a congressional inquiry into the establishment of a unified electronic toll-collection system in the tollways and expressways in Luzon, saying the system has been causing traffic problems.

Rep. Alfredo “Albee” B. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental sought the inquiry through House Resolution 1702, adding that the objective of building the expressways, which is to ease traffic in national roads, is negated by the traffic at the toll gates.

“The objective of constructing the expressways is to ease the traffic in national roads and thus facilitate faster travel from the Metro to various provinces in Luzon. But this is somehow negated by the traffic, which heavily occurs near the toll gates, because cars need to make a brief stop for payment of toll fees,” Benitez said.

Benitez, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, also said electronic toll systems have been put in place in some of the expressways like the E-Pass in the South Luzon Expressway (Slex) and EC-Tag in the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) to lessen the manual transaction of paying toll fees that causes bottlenecks in the Slex and Nlex.

He said some commuters traverse different expressways, but since each of the expressways has a different operator, those who have availed themselves of the E-Pass in Slex, for instance, cannot use this at Nlex.

“It behooves the Department of Transportation and Communications to come up with a mechanism for efficient tolling system to include, among others, requiring a unified electronic tagging or ticketing system among all of the expressways in the region in order to promote convenience for the commuting public, eliminate heavy traffic and reduce travel time especially during the holidays,” Benitez said. PNA

Opinion BusinessMirror

A6 Thursday, January 15, 2015

editorial

The pope and the economics of human dignity

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ETTING the best of all possible worlds is not, in the opinion of Pope Francis, a necessity in economic development.

In a recent interview with the Vatican Insider, the pope spoke at length of the necessities of ethical standards in humanity’s quest for wealth.

“First of all,” he said, “we need to remember that we need ethics in the economy, and we also need ethics in politics.”

Quite a tall order to impose on a system dogged by the principle of a dog-eat-dog world.

Economics, as we are all aware, is pockmarked for the most part by shady deals, revved by equally shady characters.

Where wealth is often the subject of obsession, nothing short of a steal is worth the effort.

It takes gumption to pull off a business endeavor as a straight shooter these days. How does one accomplish that when everyone else expects you to be otherwise?

But the pope expects no less and makes no excuses for it. The businessman’s role in the bigger scheme of being the conduit of wealth for the poor is immeasurably important in building a just and decent society.

He said: “The Gospel’s message is for everyone, the Gospel does not condemn the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people indifferent to the call of the poor.”

He mourns the wastage that is often the result of economic gain. Our blatant disregard for whatever is not useful, like those who cannot work by reason of old age or illness, contradicts the nature of things as all things have its uses.

He went on to explain: “But I would also like to highlight an aspect of the culture of waste; that which leads people to discard babies through abortion. I am shocked by the low birth rates here in Italy; this is how we lose our link to the future. The culture of waste also leads to a hidden euthanasia of older people, who are abandoned. Instead of being considered as our memory, our link to our own past and a source of wisdom for the present. Sometimes I ask myself what the next waste will be. We need to stop before it is too late. Let us stop, please!

Therefore, in an attempt to answer your question, I would say that we should not consider this state of things as irreversible. Let us not resign ourselves to it. Let us try and build a society and an economy where man and his welfare are at the center, instead of money.”

In short, Pope Francis advocates the sort of economy that secures the perpetuation of human dignity and survival, not its destruction. Profit, for what it’s worth, must have humanity as its goal. We cannot rue the day we first traded with each other all because we choose to be greedy.

Although it would take more than words to reform a system built on the jagged rocks of greed, Pope Francis’s arrival today in the Philippines might be our chance for a miracle.

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Jun B. Vallecera

Associate Editor News Editor City & Assignments Editor Special Projects Editor

Jennifer A. Ng Dionisio L. Pelayo Vittorio V. Vitug Max V. de Leon

Online Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Research Bureau Head Creative Director Chief Photographer Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP-Corporate Affairs VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Circulation Manager

Dennis D. Estopace Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Frederick M. Alegre Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

Move to make more money John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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HERE are a limited number of asset classes in which you can store your wealth. Traditionally, gold has been a storehouse of wealth. You can own real property, either undeveloped land or a constructed building. Consumable commodities from industrial metals, like copper, to rice are a place to store wealth.

Business ownership, either direct or indirect, through the stock market, is another choice. Finally, you can keep your wealth stored in currency or cash.

These are not investment classes.

The “investment” part comes with how you use the asset class to increase you wealth. Buying raw land to eventually sell for profit in the future is one investment vehicle based on the asset class of real property.

Buying a building and renting out the space is another type of investment.

If you are holding cash, you may loan it to the government, a corporation, a bank, or an individual and gain from the interest paid for the loan.

In investing, we switch from holding one asset class to another in hopes that particular vehicle will increase in value in relation to the others.

Near the end of July 2014, $100 could be exchanged for one barrel of West Texas Intermediate grade

Why isn’t Japan Inc. helping Japan?

William Pesek

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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crude oil. Currently those $100 can be exchanged for more than two barrels of the same oil. Therefore, cash has appreciated against crude oil by more than 50 percent.

Gold also has appreciated against crude oil. Back then, in exchange for one ounce of gold, you would have received 10.6 barrels of Brent light crude oil. Today your gold would get 27.3 barrels of Brent crude oil.

In a similar way, at the end of last July, $1 could have been exchanged for P44. Now that dollar receives P44.75. That is a small amount appreciation.

We say that the cash price of oil has gone higher but what we actually mean is that the exchange rate between those two asset classes has

increased in favor of cash. Last July, to buy the stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index of the New York stock market, you would have needed to exchange $16,493.

Since then, the exchange rate has moved in favor of the stock market, now requiring $17,613 to buy all the 30 issues (on a weighted basis) of the Dow Jones.

In one sense, cash is a medium of transfer between the asset classes, as we would not take an ounce of gold or a barrel of crude oil to our stock broker and asked for it to be exchanged for shares of San Miguel Corp. Likewise, we usually would not deliver shares of San Miguel Corp. to the property-development company in exchange for a condominium. But that is actually what we are doing when we move from one asset class to another, using cash for convenience.

However, cash is a storehouse of wealth and the exchange rate of cash between each of the asset classes is constantly changing.

The “financial wizards” tell you to keep part of your wealth stored in cash because it is safe. But if the exchange rate between your cash and the commodity of electricity, as reflected in your monthly bill, moved in favor of electricity, you lost a portion of your wealth holding cash.

Last July, had you exchanged your cash for shares of Ayala Corp., you would have gained 9 percent more

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HERE’S something very familiar about Shinzo Abe’s plans for reviving the Japanese economy. For decades, the government could rely on Japan’s biggest companies to serve the national good. Bureaucrats and executives worked hand in hand to promote key sectors. In the 1980s, with state help and guidance, Japanese corporations scoured the globe for market share, pouring the spoils back into the economy at home.

Now, Abe seems to expect Japan Inc. to follow a similar script. By driving down the yen 30 percent with an ultraloose monetary policy—the so-called first arrow of Abenomics—and greasing the economy with huge fiscal stimulus, the prime minister has boosted the stock market and filled corporate coffers. Executives were meant to return the favor by hiking wages and boosting capital investments.

Twenty years ago that strategy might have worked. But something new is at play. Japan’s corporate champions aren’t playing ball—in part because they’re no longer very Japanese.

Take Honda, the subject of a recent New York Times piece making waves in Nagatacho, Tokyo’s Capitol Hill. The story explored the rather odd way Honda

headquarters in Tokyo has dealt with a record $70-million fine levied on its US subsidiary: as a strictly American problem beyond the purview of CEO Takanobu Ito. Of course, this reflects a bit of the old duck-and-cover routine Japan Inc. performs whenever bad news hits (recent examples include Sony’s hacking case and Takata’s air-bag recall).

At the same time, Honda’s attitude makes sense. In 1979 the automaker became the first Japanese giant to open a production base in the US (initially focusing on motorcycles). Soon, others emulated its decision to build products closer to the customer. This mass migration of jobs, involving Toyota, Nissan, Sony, Panasonic and others, accelerated in the 2000s as deflation deepened and Japan’s work force aged. Later, offshoring

expanded because of high labor costs at home, with Japanese companies opening factories in China, Thailand and elsewhere.

Many of Japan’s biggest companies, including Honda, now derive most of their revenues and profits from their overseas affiliates. Rather than imagining themselves as national assets, they’re thinking like other transnationals and putting profits and efficiency over government priorities. Abenomics, in effect, is premised on an outdated social contract.

The more Honda resembles a foreign company—North America now generates more than half its revenues—the fewer incentives it has to invest in Japan and Japanese workers. That money, one could argue, would be better spent building factories in the US and lobbying Congress for tax breaks and other perks. Until demand picks up at home, the company’s calculus won’t change.

Optimists might point to Panasonic’s recent decision to return some manufacturing (home appliances, mostly) to Japan. In fact, the company is simply adjusting to the reality of a weaker yen, which has made it more expensive to reimport goods from Southeast Asia than to make them at home. For ill or good, the Japanese system is simply no longer as responsive to government intervention.

As former Economist editor Bill Emmott noted in a Financial Times op-ed, Abe is foolish to rely on this year’s “shunto”—

cash by today. Further, the exchange rate of your Ayala shares also gained against electricity and the price of pork, for example.

What we have witnessed in the last months is a general appreciation of cash against most all consumable commodities. We have also seen a general appreciation of global stock markets against cash. Certainly, some stock markets have shown significantly greater appreciation and some, significant depreciation.

The exchange rate between asset classes is really a zero-sum game in that they move against each other in opposite directions. If oil goes down by 50 percent against cash (denominated in US dollars), that means cash has gone up by 50 percent against oil.

Therefore you can always consistently increase your wealth by moving between asset classes to the one that is moving more favorably against the other.

If the Philippine Stock Exchange index moves to 8,500, that simply means it has appreciated against the Philippine peso.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com.

Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

the spring round of wage-bargaining—to produce higher salaries. Those negotiations now cover less than a fifth of the work force. The whole thing, Emmott rightly decrees, is a “sideshow.”

All this has implications for Abe’s “third arrow” structural reforms. Two years on, powerful vested interests continue to block changes to labor, agriculture, energy, tax and corporate regulations. Aside from faster implementation, though, the third arrow needs retooling.

For starters, Tokyo must shift the focus from giants like Honda to small- to midsize companies. For many of them, the yen’s plunge has been a nightmare as import costs rise and a deflationary mind-set among households precludes retail price hikes. The government should formulate a package of tax cuts and reductions in red tape to support this end of the labor market. Any such effort should include tax holidays and a government safety net to encourage entrepreneurs and kick off the start-up boom Japan needs so badly. Also, lower trade barriers would help companies of all sizes. Abe should move ahead on the stalled Trans-Pacific Partnership and reduce tariffs now.

Japan’s secular stagnation has lasted so long that it’s easy to forget how much its companies have changed in response to globalization. If Abenomics is going to succeed, Japanese leaders need to harness the strengths of the private sector they have, not the one they remember.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

The proper party to be served in assessments

Embraced with mercy and compassion Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

Atty. Pierre Martin D. Reyes

Tax law for business

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HIS article is meant to supplement my previous article entitled “Modes of Service in Tax Assessments.” In the said article, I discussed the different modes of service of assessment notices as provided under Revenue Regulations (RR) 12-99, as amended by RR 18-2013. In this article, I will discuss to whom service must be made in assessments.

In Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) v Pascor Realty and Development Corp., G.R. 128315, June 29, 1999, the Supreme Court stated that, aside from being a computation of tax liabilities, an assessment is a demand for payment within a prescribed period. It signals the time when penalties and interests begin to accrue against the taxpayer. Thus, to enable the taxpayer to determine his remedies thereon, due process requires that it must be served on and received by the taxpayer. This was reiterated in Estate of the Late Juliana Diez Vda. De Gabriel v CIR, G.R. 155541, January 27, 2004, where the Court stressed that assessment notices must be served on and received by the taxpayer, and not merely to and by a disinterested party.

If no Preliminary Assessment Notice (PAN) or Final Assessment Notice (FAN) was actually received by the taxpayer, the assessment is void for denial of due process.

Most of time, the service of the assessment notice is not made to the taxpayer himself, but instead upon the taxpayer’s employees or authorized agents. The Courts have deemed this as service to the taxpayer. It must be noted, however, that there are instances where the assessment notices were served to and received by persons who are not employees or who are not authorized to do so. This brings us to the case of Manuel Palaganas v CIR, CTA Case 8394, September 17, 2014, where the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) held that if there is a denial from the taxpayer that the person who received the assessment notices was its employee or authorized agent, it is incumbent upon the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to present controverting documentary or testimonial evidence thereto.

In the said case, the BIR argued that the taxpayer received the PAN, Amended PAN and the FAN and that the taxpayer failed to file a protest within 30 days from receipt of the FAN, thus, the assessment has become final, executory and demandable. The taxpayer alleged that he came to know of the said assessments only when he received the collection letter and saw the BIR records. The taxpayer countered that the PAN was served to a person who is neither known to him, nor his employee or his authorized representative. As to the Amended PAN and FAN, which were allegedly sent by registered mail, the taxpayer

contended that the person who received them was neither petitioner nor his authorized representative.

The CTA held that laws, regulations, and jurisprudence require the service of the PAN upon the taxpayer or at least, upon its agent, and not upon any other person. The CTA went on to say that to consider the receipt of the PAN by another person as deemed receipt by the taxpayer itself, despite the lack of prior verification of the former’s authority or agency, would put taxpayers in a disadvantageous position and at the mercy of revenue officers. During trial, the CTA found that the BIR merely assumed that the recipient was an employee and was authorized to receive the PAN as said person was the only person in the office at the time. No further effort was exerted by the BIR to determine if the recipient of the PAN was definitely an employee of the taxpayer or its authorized agent.

As to the Amended PAN and FAN allegedly sent by registered mail, the CTA held if there is a denial that the person who received the mail is an employee or authorized agent, the BIR must prove that the person who signed the Registry Return Receipt is the taxpayer, his employee, or his authorized agent. In the said case, the CTA found, during trial, that the signatures in the Registry Return Receipts were unauthenticated and that the BIR failed to convincingly show that the signatures belong to the taxpayer or at least his authorized representative. As the BIR failed to prove proper service of the PAN, Amended PAN, and FAN, the CTA ruled that the assessment is void.

This should serve as a guide to taxpayers in cases where the BIR alleges their receipt of assessment notices especially for those coursed through alleged employees or authorized agents.

The author is a junior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices, a member firm of World Tax Services Alliance.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter.

Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. For comments or questions concerning the article, e-mail the author at pierremartin.reyes@bdblaw. com.ph or call 403-2001 local 311.

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ing joyfully to the Lord for His wondrous deeds and His saving kindness and faithfulness (Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4). The kingdom of God welcomes children, and one does not enter it except like a child (Mark 10:13-16).

Sing to the Lord a new song PSALM 98 celebrates the reign of God as king over all. It begins with a summons to sing a new song of praise to God because of the marvellous things God has done. Like a triumphant warrior, He had brought victory with His right hand and outstretched arm, a sweeping victory that demonstrates the Lord’s universal and undisputed preeminence.

Such was the case of Israel’s salvation and restoration. “Break out together in song, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord comforts His people, He redeems Jerusalem. The Lord has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall behold the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:9-10).

Because of His faithful love for Israel, the Lord has revealed to all His justice. His just and universal rule was challenged and His victory has vindicated His righteousness.

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HE horrors that unfolded in Paris and its outskirts last week captivated Israel no less than any other Western country, but they have played differently in the Jewish State, which knows well what it is like to have cities turned into war zones. In Israel, chilling scenes like the bloodsoaked floor of the Charlie Hebdo offices unfold far too often, as they did most recently in a Jerusalem synagogue.

The Charlie Hebdo attack and the hostage scene in the kosher market did more than evoke recent Israeli memories. Far more poignantly, they brought images of the Holocaust to Israelis’ minds. The image of frightened European Jews hiding in a freezer was, for many Israelis, a haunting

reminder of Jews hiding from Nazis, as were images of parents holding young children and fleeing for their lives. (Israel’s press also went to great lengths to praise the young Muslim man who protected some of the patrons of the Hyper Cacher supermarket; Israeli newspapers plastered his photograph across their front pages.)

The massacre in the Charlie Hebdo offices had Holocaust echoes, too.

Georges Wolinski, the 80-year-old Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, was born to a Polish Jewish f ather who had fled to Tunisia to escape the Nazis. In 1936 Siegfried Wolinski was killed in Tunisia, and his family left for Paris.

Georges, Siegfried’s son, was killed by Muslim extremists in Paris last week.

Such moments afford an ironic sense of confirmation for the Jewish

And this saving action of God was out of His loving kindness (hesed) and faithfulness (emuna): it was because of the covenant promises He made to the house of Israel. “I will remember in their favor the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God” (Leviticus 26:45). God’s triumphant love for Israel, seen by all the world, is the reason for the call to sing a new song of praise to Him.

The kingdom of God belongs to children

THE disciples were still thinking in the way of conventional wisdom then: Children are not important since they are not capable yet of pleasing God with their own acts of fidelity to the law; they should not bother Jesus who is an important teacher.

Earlier, Jesus noted how His disciples were arguing with one another as to

who is the greatest among them, and He told them that, “‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all….’

Taking a child He placed it in their midst, and putting His arms around it He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me’” (Mark 9:35-37).

The child, the symbol of the least in society, is for Jesus, the symbol precisely of what it takes to belong to the kingdom of God. Children know they are not independent; they are most aware of their unequal relationship with others. They can only receive what they need—with innocence and openness and trust. That is why God is partial to them: they are the least and the last, the bottom of the heap, the marginalized, the ignorant, the lost sheep, the poor, the exploited— who have only God and those who think the way God thinks of the little ones. To be like a child is to receive the kingdom of God as pure gift and not something earned or deserved.

Jesus embraced the children

TO receive a child is to receive Jesus; it is to receive the Father who sent us Jesus. If the kingdom of God is God’s unconditional love for us sinful humanity, a tremendous gift that we can only accept with open hands and grateful hearts, then to receive such divine goodness becomes a task for us in turn. We need to “let the children

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come” to Jesus; we need to become extensions through whom God reaches the poor, the sick, the unimportant to the world, the marginalized, the little ones, the suffering. The coming of the kingdom of God is truly what we pray for, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer, but it is, at the same time, a mission we should be engaged in.

The story is told of a person aspiring for a more Christian life and asking, “How can I repay God for all His goodness to me? How can I give back to God worthy glory and praise for all of His compassion, mercy and loving kindness?” And a wise teacher answered, “It won’t do you good to do more penances. It won’t do you much good to build a grand church. It won’t do you much good to add more time to prayer. But you can do something that will really pay God back for His divine goodness to you. Find someone who is unloved or unlovable and give that person the kind of mercy and compassion God has given you.”

Alálaongbagá, to embrace the little ones, the children of this world, the poor, the suffering is to embrace Jesus; to receive them is to receive Jesus. Pope Francis comes to us to remind us of this by example—embracing us in mercy and compassion.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio-streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

Technology’s role in the increased violence against journalists

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By Joel Simon | Los Angeles Times/TNS

Journalists were safer because they collectively exercised an information monopoly and this made them useful to the warring parties who needed the media to communicate with the world.

But today many violent groups, such as the Islamic State militants in Syria and the drug cartels in Mexico, rely on the Internet and social media to achieve the same ends and, of course, they are better able to control the message. Journalists are seen as dispensable–more useful as hostages or props in elaborately staged execution videos. In this context, identifying yourself as a journalist merely makes you a target.

Moreover, because of new enabling technology and cutbacks in the news industry, a growing portion of frontline news gathering today is accomplished by local journalists and freelancers, who inform their own countries and the world. These journalists are more vulnerable because they often work without institutional support.

In fact, the vast majority of journalists killed around the world do not die covering combat. They are deliberately targeted in their own countries because of the stories

they cover or the ideas they express.

In this context, the attack on Charlie Hebdo is typical of the risk that journalists face everywhere. What made it shocking was that it took place not in Mexico or Pakistan, but in France.

Technology has also changed the global media environment by allowing ideas and information to more easily cross borders, and this too has consequences.

In 1948 when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations, it guaranteed the right to seek and receive information “regardless of frontiers.” That phrase—regardless of frontiers—is unique in international human-rights law because it makes freedom of expression explicitly transnational. When the language was ratified, the concept was purely notional. Today, the Internet has made it real.

In other words, the Internet has brought liberal, Western ideas of freedom of expression into direct conflict with 19th-century notions of sovereignty and more traditional societies that place enormous value on personal honor and the sanctity of religious symbols.

For example, the Chinese leadership, while embracing connectivity for its citizens, views the Internet as a Trojan horse that can be used to channel dangerous ideas from outside the country, ideas that erode the power of the Communist Party. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently told a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists that “he is

increasingly against the Internet every day.” Russia also has been cracking down on online speech.

All these governments distrust the Internet and are seeking to exercise greater control over electronic communication within their borders.

Leaders of some Muslim countries have a different but related argument. They are deeply concerned by images they deem to be blasphemous or shocking to religious sensibilities, and which are being imposed on them by a global information system that serves the interests of Western governments and international technology companies.

The attack on Charlie Hebdo responds to this dynamic. While the magazine seeks to shock and offend in a French context, its cartoons traveled around the world, angering religious Muslims in many more conservative societies and providing a rallying cry for al-Qaeda, which put the paper’s editors at the top of its hit list.

One can acknowledge the anger and upset of those who see their fundamental religious beliefs mocked while also affirming that we must redouble our efforts to defend freedom of expression around the world.

Freedom of expression is not only a fundamental human right; in the Internet era, information is a shared global resource that must be available equally to all.

A global battle for freedom of expression is upon us, and the casualties are mounting. The attack on the journalists of Charlie Hebdo shows us there is no safe haven.

math of the attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called for French Jews to come to Israel en masse, while France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls—apparently taking seriously the possibility of mass Jewish emigration—said if 100,000 French Jews were to depart, France would no longer be France. The burial of the four Jewish victims of the supermarket attack in Israel, and not in France, held symbolism that was lost on no one; in moments of crisis, Israel goes to great pains to remind the world that Jews have only one true home.

Whatever validation Israelis might have gleaned from the horrors, however, was short-lived. Although the image of Netanyahu walking arm-inarm with other world leaders in Paris suggested an easing of Israel’s pariah

status in France, a darker backstory soon emerged. The French had asked Netanyahu not to come because they did not wish to highlight the IsraeliPalestinian conflict during the march.

When he insisted on attending, Netanyahu was told that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (who is not technically a head of a state) would be invited and would also be in the front row. Netanyahu and President François Hollande of France attended a ceremony in Paris’s Grand Synagogue after the march, but when Israel’s prime minister got up to speak, the French president walked out.

And even as hundreds of people were attending the funeral of one of the supermarket victims, Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a report predicting

that Israel’s international standing would plummet further in 2015. Europe would extend its boycotts of Israeli products, the Foreign Ministry said, and after Israel’s elections, the US might not use its veto in the UN’s General Assembly on Israel’s behalf.

A week that began with horrific images of Jewish vulnerability allowed Israelis to believe, however fleetingly, that the necessity of a Jewish State was obvious to all. By the end of the week, though, the press was calling Netanyahu’s visit to Paris a public-relations disaster, and even Israel’s government was predicting that Israel’s standing would only worsen. It was a week, some Israelis muttered, that demonstrated with regard to both Netanyahu and Europe that plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

HE murderous attack on the office of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris last week can be seen in the context of modern French society: its challenges assimilating immigrants, its ongoing efforts to preserve its liberal and secular political culture, and even its national affinity for a kind of scathing and irreverent cartooning rooted in a deep distrust of institutions.

But the attack has a global dimension as it also can be seen as the latest skirmish in a war over freedom of expression. This war has led to a record number of journalists being killed and imprisoned around the world. The last three years have been the most deadly and dangerous ever documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has been keeping detailed data since 1992.

What is the cause of this unprecedented increase in violence against the global media? In a word: technology.

The advent of the Internet has completely transformed the way news is gathered and disseminated to the global audience. This new system has tremendous positive advantages, allowing news to flow more easily across borders and making it more difficult for repressive governments to censor and control it. But there are also profound implications for the safety of journalists on the front lines of these information battles.

One way to think about the change is to consider that not that long ago journalists venturing into conflict zones often chose to identify themselves, painting the word “press” on their cars or flak jackets.

Paris attacks revive Israelis’ fears

By Daniel Gordis

Thursday, January 15, 2015

State; modern political Zionism was born of a Jewish consensus that Europe was a bloodbath just waiting to happen.

Even bitter political rivals such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky (father of Revisionist Zionism and mentor to Menachem Begin) and David Ben-Gurion (Israel’s first prime minster and a leader of Labor Zionism), who detested each other and disagreed about most everything, agreed that Jewish life in Europe was doomed and that the only answer was a state.

The events in Paris seemed to confirm again their prediction. The rate of Jewish immigration from France to Israel had already doubled to 7,000 in 2014, making France Israel’s largest source of immigrants. That rate is expected to rise to about 10,000 immigrants in 2015. In the after-

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

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US forecast: Expect cheap oil to stay a while longer

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he federal government forecasts that low oil prices will continue through the year as a result of the global petroleum glut.

Oil prices have plummeted by more than half since a high of $106 a barrel last June, giving motorists the gift of cheap gasoline but wreaking havoc on energy markets and states that rely on oil-tax revenue.

The US Energy Information Administration forecast on Tuesday that the situation is going to continue, as producers in America and around the world keep pumping more oil despite the glut.

US benchmark crude prices have plummeted to $45 a barrel. The federal forecasters expect little recovery, estimating an average $55-a-barrel price this year.

The agency said on Tuesday that it “expects global oil inventories to continue to build in 2015, keeping downward pressure on oil prices.”

The price forecast, released as part of the agency’s short-term energy report, expects a rise to an average of $71 a barrel in 2016, as drilling growth eventually slows in response to the low oil prices, especially in America, and petroleum demand increases in China and the US. That’s still far lower than in the past few years, though, when prices around $100 a barrel started to seem normal.

Motorists are a big winner in the oil-price crash. Gasoline prices are averaging $2.18 a gallon nationally, according to the AAA motor club, more than $1 a gallon lower than this time last year.

See “U.S. forecast,” A2

6M Filipinos to personally greet Pope Francis–Paynor

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

t least 6 million Filipinos are expected to welcome Pope Francis during his five-day trip in the Philippines, the organizing committee on the papal visit said on Wednesday.

Marciano Paynor, executive director of the organizing committee, said in an interview with the Church-run Radio Veritas that more Filipinos are expected to gather in the streets of Metro Manila, Tacloban and Palo in Leyte.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, meanwhile, urged Filipinos to pray for good weather in Leyte.

“Our beloved Pope Francis will be with us soon. On Saturday he will be in Tacloban, Leyte, on a very special mission of mercy and compassion. Unfortunately, during the past days heavy rains have poured over the island because of a low pressure area in the seas near it,” Tagle said.

“Let us turn to prayer for good weather for the visit of the Holy Father. Let us implore the God of creation to clear the skies when Pope Francis arrives and stays in

Tacloban so that all who are there will experience comfort as they welcome and listen to his message,” he added.

Well before Pope Francis’s plane touches down in this Asian bastion of the Roman Catholic faith, Filipinos have been snapping their selfies beside his lifesize cutout image in churches and malls. His face beams from welcome posters, shirts, cookies, coins, stamps, coffee mugs and all imaginable mementos.

There’s even Pope Francis, the Musical, in which the pontiff is portrayed singing a little One Direction.

Filipinos have welcomed popes with rock-star intensity since 1970; the late John Paul II visited twice. Pope Francis’s January 15 to 19 trip, following his ongoing Sri Lanka visit, promises to be as big or bigger, in part because the country has many painful reasons

to look for hope.

The leader of the 1.2 billionstrong Catholic world will visit eastern Leyte province, where Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) killed thousands and leveled entire villages in November 2013. In addition, the pontiff’s focus on poverty, inequality and such social ills has resonated in this poor country of 100 million, where a tenth of the population work abroad to support their families back home.

“Filipinos are excited about the visit because people have a lot of problems and have been through a lot of calamities,” retired government employee Josephine Graza told the Associated Press after Mass at a Catholic church in Manila. “They want to see the pope so their heavy hearts can be relieved, so their problems can be bearable.”

Pope mania has hit the road, cyberspace and the airwaves.

In Manila a company sells 12inch bespectacled Pope Francis dolls. T-shirts, button pins, posters, key chains and mugs with pictures of the pontiff smiling and waving are sold by Catholic charities, street vendors and online-shopping sites. In northern Benguet province an artist created pontiff bobblehead dolls, with one hand waving.

An official web site runs a

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countdown to Francis’s arrival and offers meticulous details of his visit and life, including the fact that he once worked as a nightclub bouncer.

Tarpaulins with Francis’s smiling image line the sprucedup streets of Manila, where preparations for the visit have peaked.

Three work days falling within his visit have been declared holidays. In churches, nine days of prayers for the pope’s safety commenced on January 6.

In a country where singing is a passion, local artists have recorded at least two papal visit souvenir albums of mostly original songs. Tagle, known for his baritone, is one of the crooners.

With excitement building up, President Aquino appealed on national television on Monday for Filipinos to strictly follow security guidelines. He said that while there are no direct threats to the pontiff, even an admirer trying to pass through barricades for a “selfie” or to touch the pope’s frock could trigger a stampede.

On Saturday, at Manila’s prestigious Cultural Center of the Philippines, Rev. Enrique Luzung will play a dream role: the young Francis.

The 39-year-old theologian stars in the musical about the Argentinian pope’s life, portraying him back when he was known

ith the Philippines hurdling the application for the European Union’s (EU) upgraded preferential-tariff scheme, or the EU-Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), the challenge now is for the country to remain compliant to the scheme’s requirements.

This is what the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing to be handled by an interagency task force.

Trade Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Adrian S. Cristobal said part of the trade office’s strategy in maximizing gains from the GSP+ is the creation of a group that will ensure the country’s compliance to the scheme.

“We will have an interagency task force to make sure we get these reports from various agencies in a timely manner, because if we fail to do that, this preference can be suspended or removed. This is a unilateral arrangement;

See “Pope,” A5

See “DTI,” A5

CRISTOBAL: “We will have an interagency task force to make sure we get these reports from various agencies in a timely manner, because if we fail to do that, this preference can be suspended or removed.”

By Catherine N. Pillas

W