BusinessMirror January 5, 2015

T

here’s scant reason to hope that the Islamic State will soon be destroyed, Vladimir Putin will see the light, or Kim Jong Un will agree to appear on The Daily Show. However, if one suspends disbelief, it’s possible to imagine how some of the grim conflicts of the past year could ease.

So here are the hopeful signs to watch for (and why they probably won’t materialize) in 2015.

Perspective»E4

Global glimmers of hope

BusinessMirror

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

U.N. Media Award 2008

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business

Tuesday, November 18,2015 2014Vol.Vol.1010No.No.8840 Monday, January 5,

n n

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

TETANGCO SAYS PHL’S ‘PULL FACTORS’ TO SHIELD PESO FROM IMPACT OF STRONGER DOLLAR

PAPAL VISIT 2015

Peso ‘fundamentally supported’

T

he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expressed confidence the economy could withstand the impact of a stronger dollar, which has thus far hit a nine-year high against all major currencies.

9 DAYS INSIDE

YEAR-END YEARNINGS The hallmarks of our life

D

EAR Jesus, You come as a baby because babies are irresistible and adorable. You come as a baby because You want our first impression of God incarnate to be that one who does not judge. How we long to be united with You in every way. May we never be attracted to the allurements and charms of the world. May we love You always, at every moment with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

May the tenderness, the dependency and the mercy that You reveal in Your infancy become the hallmarks of our life. Amen.

THE MAGNIFICAT ADVENT COMPANION AND LOUIE M. LACSON Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

In an e-mailed response to the BusinessMirror, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the peso would remain “fundamentally supported” amid the strengthening of the dollar this year and the volatility that comes with it.

“As the US economic growth gains traction, we may see the US dollar further strengthen. Like other EME [emerging-market economies] currencies, the peso is sensitive to external developments. There will, therefore, likely be bouts of volatility and potentially sharp movements in the peso as the US dollar strengthens,” the governor reiterated.

MAKE ROOM, SKINNY FIT: ’70s-INSPIRED FLARE-LEG STYLE IS NEW DENIM KICK »D2

BusinessMirror

Monday, January 5, 2015

D1

Year-end yearnings HAWK BAGS

HAWK eyes the active and the dynamic as its biggest market, promising to be a durable brand that gives close attention to the bag’s functionality, design and superior features. “We believe in having a passion for excellence, which is reflected in every single bag we produce. Attention is paid from the smallest to the biggest detail. We ensure that we meet the individual needs and lifestyle of our consumers,” declared Victor Ching, CEO of VKC Inc., the manufacturer of Hawk bags.

TOTA PULCHRA MISS CHARLIZE

MCJIM

MCJIM Classic Leather—for the metropolitan, contemporary Filipino men among your friends—is proud of its commitment in creating original leather products, its world-class quality being at par with those of global brands in terms of style and quality. One of its visions is to promote homegrown talents, helping them achieve world-class status. So it tapped rising fashion talent Jeffrey Rogador at the Mercedes-Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and at the Philippine Fashion Week. “I believe McJim Classic Leather products suit the items in my collection with its urban lifestyle concepts. They are functional and of good quality, seamlessly blending with the style I want,” Rogador said.

“I value our roots and heritage. McJim Classic Leather, having been in the industry for 40 years, deserves to be endorsed and embraced by the younger generation.”

“McJim Classic Leather is always proud to support global artists like Jeffrey Rogador. We have a long-standing program that champions and celebrates the best that the Filipino can offer,” affirmed Bernadette Chang, McJim Classic Leather marketing head.

C

HRISTMAS has just passed, but some thoughts haunt you like a bad hangover: Who did I neglect to give a gift to? What covetable item got away? Where can I buy the outfit that I should wear for the first day back at work? The answers, my friend, are just around the shopping corner—department store or digital.

OLIVIERS & CO.

FOR the gourmand in your group, the most unique items can be found at the French-based company Oliviers & Co. at Greenbelt 5 in Ayala Center, Makati City. It carries premium olive oil, vinegars, seasonings and condiments that can transform an ordinary dish into a gourmet piece. The high-end store also offers balsamic condiments and chocolate treats, perfect for culinary players and food enthusiasts.

LAZADA

HAMLEYS

NOTHING brings more guilt feelings than a godchild forgotten. Fortunately, the “finest toy shop in the world” has just opened at Central Square in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. Hamleys is a 250-year-old English shopping emporium that even royals fancy, where “over the squeaking, bleeping, whizzing and chiming of toys, you hear children laughing excitedly as they goggle at the sheer choice...of toys and games.”

WERE you miserable during the Christmas rush, when it was supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year? It used to be that shopping for gifts was a pleasurable activity, but with super malls sprouting on every available space, the ensuing traffic has turned shopping into an intolerable pain.

So, don’t leave the comforts of your home but still get your shopping done. Lazada Philippines (www.lazada.com), the country’s biggest online shopping site, just widened its already considerable array of merchandise.

It recently launched UK brands Bellfield, Motel Rocks, Your Eyes Lie and Religion, while other brands include Free People, Glamorous, Rock and Religion, Neon Rose and Dead Lovers, along with its own fashion

line called LZD. “This is about bridging the distance. No matter how far the brands are from the country, Lazada is there to bridge that gap and provide the best fashion lines for Filipinos,” said Inanc Balci, co-founder and CEO of Lazada Philippines. “We are very careful about selecting the kind of fashion brands we offer to our growing audience. And what made these brands unique is their high-street credibility which is very relevant to the tastes of our shoppers.”

LZD high-street fashion offerings cover various key trends of the season, from global catwalk, vintage fashion and Asian influences, and were designed using Lazada’s three-F concept: Fit, Fabric and Fantastic Value. ■

See “Peso,” A12

Espousing real beauty among young Filipino girls IN December 2013 Dove revealed that only 7 percent of Filipino women see themselves as beautiful. As a brand that has been advocating and encouraging women to fully embrace their #RealBeauty since its inception in 1957, Dove sought to change this figure by launching the #IamBeautiful campaign.

The response to the #IamBeautiful campaign has been staggering. In just a matter of months, beautiful has taken a shift in paradigm hinged on selfacceptance and self-worth.

To date, the movement has reached over 1 million women declaring their beauty, which, in turn, has sparked public interest and brought to light the need to address the issues and anxieties that girls of all ages face.

Now, Dove is ready to take another significant turn in its mission in espousing real beauty to the next level. By reaching out to the next generation of Filipino girls, the perception of beauty will now

be honed and positively influenced at a younger age.

In a locally commissioned study by Dove on Filipino adolescent girls, the results reflected that two out of three girls feel pressured by peers and friends to look beautiful.

Despite this, these same girls are still hopeful about the future. In fact 81 percent of the respondents still consider their mom as their role model, which is much higher than the global average of 55 percent.

Exhorting moms to join the brand in inspiring Filipino girls to believe they are beautiful, is Dove’s newest film Dove Legacy. The touching video features moms who were asked how they felt about their bodies.

The same question was posed to their respective daughters and the results were quite surprising. The insecurities harbored by the mothers were clearly mirrored by their children.

The film emphasizes the integral role that every mother plays in the formation of her daughter. Because daughters often mirror their mothers’ actions, moms

wield the power to mold their children into confident, empowered women.

To that end, Dove has launched the #WeAreBeautiful Campaign, hinged on

the insight that how a daughter sees herself is exactly reflective of how a mom views herself. With this new movement, the brand wants to take the change it already started from the #IamBeautiful campaign to the next level, enlisting celebrity moms Maricel Laxa, Christine Jacob and Tintin Bersola in helping other moms realize that they have the power and the opportunity to change the way their children perceive themselves and their self worth.

Do you believe that what your daughter feels about herself starts with you? What is your beauty legacy? Using the hashtag #WeAreBeautiful, Dove encourages moms to post a mother-anddaughter photo on popular social-media platforms (Instagram: @doveph; Twitter: @DovePH; Facebook: www.facebook. com/DovePH) with a caption that tells the world what makes you both beautiful.

Now that’s a campaign we can all get behind.

LIFE

D1

THE UNDERLYING PSYCHOLOGY OF OFFICE POLITICS BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, January 5, 2015

D

E1

OFFICE POLITICS B T C-P

LL organizations are political—and to some degree, they always will be. The underlying reasons are psychological. First, work involves dealing with people. That means finding a compromise between what they want and what we want.

Second, humans are emotional creatures, biased by unconscious needs and riddled with insecurities.

As a result, office politics tend to eclipse formal organizational roles and hijack critical organizational processes, making simple tasks complex and tedious, and organizations ineffective. Politics also account for a significant portion of work-related stress and burnout.

It’s important to recognize that untrammeled politics have a corrosive impact on an organization.

Because most organizations promote individuals who are politically savvy, managers and senior executives tend to perpetuate office politics. But to most employees, politics signal a discrepancy between what should be done and what is really done, defeating their own efforts.

This leaves most employees demoralized and united only against their bosses or senior leadership...not a good position for a company to be in.

In less toxic companies, leaders manage the tensions within groups to enhance team performance and

organizational effectiveness. The best managers manage the way they themselves behave. People who are perceived as apolitical display high levels of congruence between what they say and what they do. They reward others for what they were required to do, while holding them accountable for what they fail to deliver.

Good leaders focus on social skills, emotional intelligence and intuition. They are driven to come across as competent, transparent, approachable and altruistic.

They avoid pitting employees against one another and instead focus on outperforming the company’s competitors. They do this through articulating a meaningful mission—a vision that resonates and motivates people to achieve a collective goal. This keeps the team focused on beating their competitors, rather than each other.

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the vice president of research and innovation at Hogan Assessment Systems, and author of Confidence.

Making business school research more relevant B J C. W  J E

Five changes would initiate a new era of highly relevant business school research:

N a landmark 2005 Harvard Business Review article, University of Southern California business professors Warren Bennis and James O’Toole argued that the skills imparted by most business schools were not relevant to students and their eventual employers. Ten years later, we believe this problem is even more acute.

The best way for business schools to get serious about making research more relevant to business is to emulate the world of medical research: Conduct research and then put it into practice with real companies.

Business schools have become increasingly disconnected from practice. Members of the faculty are almost exclusively rewarded for the number of scientific papers they write that are published in prestigious journals controlled by other academics. They are also rewarded by the number of times their articles are cited in articles from other professors.

Far too often, the research doesn’t address the real problems of entrepreneurs, managers, investors, marketers and business leaders.

In contrast, academic medical centers use “translational research,” which takes scientific research conducted in the lab and makes it useful to people. Fully integrated translational research faculty are tenured professors who practice medicine and use the latest scientific techniques to answer questions about those techniques from practicing physicians. They often coauthor research papers with basic scientists and collaborate on clinical initiatives with clinical faculty.

■ Create translational business faculty appointments for professors who are trained in scientific research techniques and want to be involved in business practice.

■ Create and treat as prestigious translational business journals. Make sure business school “scientists,” translational scientists and practitioners make publication decisions.

■ Create translational business doctoral programs to build a cadre of future faculty.

■ Actively seek out businesses to fund studies, and reward faculty who obtain corporate-funded research.

■ In evaluating faculty performance, include business consulting activity (that comes out of research) and its impact on businesses.

Like corporate funding of medical research, corporate-funded business school research has the potential for conflicts of interest. The way to resolve them is through full disclosure of funding sources and high research standards. The academic journal referees should look closely at whether a study’s findings and research methodology was biased.

Getting business professors to change their research agenda requires deans who embrace fundamental institutional change.

Business schools need to apply their scientific capability to issues that are much more relevant to the organizations that will employ their graduates.

I

YOUR BIGGEST SOCIALMEDIA FANS MIGHT NOT BE YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS B A S

I

F you think your careful attention to social-media analytics, monitoring and customer relations means you know your customers better than ever before, think again. All that social-media data may actually be misleading you—because it’s only showing you a narrow and atypical slice of your socialmedia audience and customer base.

That’s the big finding in What Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You About Your Customers, which Andrew Reid, the president of Vision Critical, and I recently released. Even if your social-media audience is largely made up of people who are also your customers, the customers you actually hear from on social media are not representative of your customers as a whole.

In fact, almost 90 percent of what you hear on social media comes from fewer than 30 percent of social-media users. That 30 percent—people we call “enthusiasts”—are the vocal social-media users who post five times a week or more. The quieter users who make up the vast majority of your social-media audience (and potentially your customers) include the “dabblers,” who post two to four times per week, and the “lurkers,” who post once a week or less. But don’t mistake quiet for irrelevant: The vast majority of lurkers and dabblers peruse Facebook at least once a day.

Understanding the differences between these three kinds of social-media users is crucial not only to your social-media strategy, but to how you serve, market to or engage your customers.

We worked with three global brands to combine detailed feedback from their customers, along with Facebook profile data

from those same people. This allowed us to develop the first data-driven picture of how vocal and quiet social-media users differ in ways that matter to your business.

Enthusiasts are the people that socialmedia analytics do a good job of capturing because they actively participate on socialmedia sites. They tend to be eager shoppers, likely looking for that next great buy. They are avid users of their mobile devices and likely to comparison shop while inside a store. They’re selective about the TV programs they regularly view.

Data on your dabbler and lurker fans and customers is much less likely to show up in your analytics. Lurkers tend to be more reluctant shoppers, and social media is less likely to have spurred them to make a purchase. They’re less interested in their mobile devices, watch more types of TV programming, and follow fewer topics on Facebook.

Dabblers, like lurkers, account for only 10 percent of what you hear on Facebook, even though they make up almost 20 percent of the Facebook audience.

These differences mean that you can’t use enthusiasts as a proxy for your customers as a whole. You need to fi nd ways to contextualize what you’re hearing on social media with other sources of customer insight, including transactional data, customer feedback, click tracking and conversations with a wide range of customers. It’s only when businesses combine all of these sources of insight that they really will know their customers better than ever.

WORKING TOO HARD MAKES LEADING MORE DIFFICULT

I

B R F

N his 2007 book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith made the case that many of the behaviors that initially propel high-achievers up the corporate ladder are paradoxically the same ones preventing them from reaching the very top. Those habits included “winning too much” (the need to win every workplace disagreement, even when it doesn’t matter) and “ goal obsession” (becoming so wrapped up in achieving short-term goals that you forget the larger mission).

Since Goldsmith’s book, another doubleedged workplace habit has cropped up—“ failing to disconnect.”

While working long hours is often beneficial to early career advancement, as you rise to a position of leadership, maintaining this practice can damage your career prospects. Now, success hinges more on interpersonal skill.

What happens to our interpersonal skills when we work ourselves to exhaustion? Studies indicate that we tend to misread those around us, typically in a more negative fashion. We also find it harder to resist lashing out at perceived slights. So not only to do we incorrectly perceive the world around us more negativity, we’re also more likely to act upon that information.

Impaired judgment is another danger of failing to disconnect. When it comes to navigating uncertainty and negotiating risk, the research is clear: Decision quality plummets when we’re tired. Overwork and the sleep deprivation it fosters prevent you from seeing problems clearly and identifying creative solutions.

MONDAY MORNING

James C. Wetherbe is the Robert G. Stevenson Professor in Information Technology at the Rawls College of Business Administration. Jon Eckhardt, PhD, is the executive director for the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

Alexandra Samuel is vice president of social media at Vision Critical. She is the author of Work Smarter, Rule Your Email.

Ron Friedman, PhD is the founder of ignite80, and the author of the forthcoming book The Best Place to Work.

CHA-CHA STILL A GO EVEN WITHOUT PALACE BACKING

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

THE UNDERLYING PSYCHOLOGY OF

A

By Bianca Cuaresma

E1

espite the lack of support from Malacañang, the leader of the House of Representatives said on Sunday that lawmakers would still approve a measure amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said members of the lower chamber would continue their interpellations on Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) 1, or the economic Charter change, when session resumes on January 18.

In June last year President Aquino said Charter change, or the Cha-cha, is not urgent, because the Philippine economy has managed to post strong growth in recent years, even if lawmakers did not tinker with the Constitution.

Last Friday Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. told the BusinessMirror that he has yet to see the President change his stance on Cha-cha.

PESO exchange rates n US 44.6170

See “Cha-cha,” A2

papal visit Workers spruce up an avenue in Manila on Saturday in preparation for the five-day visit of Pope Francis from January 15 to 19. The pope will visit the Philippines primarily to comfort Filipinos devastated

by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the Visayas. The government has declared January 15, 16 and 19 as special nonworking days in the National Capital Region. AP/Bullit Marquez

‘SMC common-station bid to appease SM, Ayala’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

D

IVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will once again flex its financial muscle, as it seeks to undertake the additional requirements for the P1.4-billion common-station linking the three overhead railway lines in Metro Manila.

It also proposed, according to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, to construct two common hubs, instead of one, in order to appease both property giants battling to host the location of the infrastructure.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Ayala Land

Inc., two of the country’s largest property developers, are contesting the location of the infrastructure, as this would increase the foot traffic at their malls, both located on North Edsa, Quezon City.

The food-to-infrastructure firm, meanwhile, is the proponent of the future Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7, which will run from North Edsa to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

The construction of two common stations, the transport chief said, would entail an increase in the project’s cost.

“There is a need to construct new rail, but it looks solvable. I don’t think it will cost us anything. MRT 7 will shoulder the cost,”

he explained, noting that the estimated cost for the additional investment has yet to be determined.

The common alignment aims to link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 to the MRT Lines 3 and 7.

Earlier, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) entered into an agreement with SM Prime that provided for the common hub to be located in front of SM North Edsa Annex. The Sy-led property giant paid P200 million in naming rights for the said station.

However, the transportation agency conducted a review of the project’s See “SMC,” A12

n japan 0.3706 n UK 69.4062 n HK 5.7489 n CHINA 7.1813 n singapore 33.6961 n australia 36.2063 n EU 54.3390 n SAUDI arabia 11.8899 Source: BSP (29 December 2014)

News BusinessMirror

Monday, January 5, 2015

A2

Airbus training center to boost PHL aviation

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

T

Organization, the center would always be updated with the latest training standards, “thus improving the quality of training that could put the Philippines to become an international site for Airbus training that will serve the ever-increasing Airbus fleet in the region.”

Other Airbus Training Centers are in Toulouse, Miami, Hamburg, Beijing and Bangalore in India, as well its field-service offices around the world.

Data from leading aviation information consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation showed that around 9,160 of the total global airplane orders are destined for the Asia-Pacific region, hence the need for 192,300 pilots and 215,300 technicians until 2030.

As of December 31, 2014 the Caap had issued 24,253 airmen licenses.

OULOUSE-BASED aircraft manufacturer Airbus is setting up a training center in Manila, a move that was recently endorsed to the Board of Investments.

In a statement, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) Director General William K. Hotchkiss lll said the training center, which is seen to further boost the civil-aviation industry in the country, will be “deployed within the year.”

“The setting up of a training center is seen as a major initiative supporting the Caap’s current

efforts to support the type-rating training of the growing aviation industry,” he added.

The center will be the first establishment that will be equipped with a brand-new A330 and A340 Full Flight Simulator, on top of A320 simulators.

Hotchkiss said being part of the Airbus Approved Training

Cha-cha. . . Continued from A1 “[Still], we will continue to debate and approve it [Charter change] in the House,” Belmonte said.

“The lower chamber remains as the main proponent of the measure and Senate would still wait for the House version once it passed the third reading,” he added.

Earlier, Belmonte said most of the interpellations on RBH 1 are over and that they still have enough time to pass the economic Chacha until legislative session ends on June 12. He also expressed hope that President Aquino will not “actively campaign” against the measure.

RBH 1, filed by Belmonte and Sen. Ralph Recto, is seeking to amend economic provisions in the Constitution particularly restrictions on foreign ownershºp of land and businesses.

The resolution calls for the inclusion of the phrase “unless provided by law” in the foreign-ownership provision of the Constitution, particularly land ownership, public utilities, natural resources, media and advertising industries.

Under Article XII of the 1987 Constitution, foreign investors are prohibited to own

more than 40 percent of real properties and businesses while they are totally restricted to exploit natural resources and own any media company.

The amendment to the Charter will be approved through separate voting by the upper and lower chamber. The resolution has to be approved by three-fourths of the members of the House and the Senate.

The so-called Visayan bloc in the House, led

by Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez from the Liberal Party, said the group’s 34 members would vote in favor of Cha-cha.

FIT-All payments to start in January billing–ERC Continued from A12

Moreover, they pointed out that “for a few centavos, it will help improve or, at least, stop the worsening of air quality, which has led to different ailments like asthma, for those living in the metropolis.”

RE power plants, experts stressed, allow the displacement of other more polluting sources of electricity, such as coal and oil. This, in effect, lessens the carbon emissions otherwise emitted by these plants.

For instance, the recently commissioned 150-megawatt (MW) Burgos wind farm of EDC, a unit of First Gen of the Lopez Group, will be able to displace approximately 200,000 tons of carbon emissions annually.

“If the country continues to develop the RE industry, it might eventually become the leader in the region.

To date, we are one of the leaders in Southeast Asia in wind farms. The solar industry is becoming more popular. In geothermal, EDC is already a global leader. If we continue in this direction, a new RE industry will emerge. This means more new jobs created because of this new industry,” the experts said.

The Department of Energy said 2014 was a banner year for RE with the commissioning of large-scale power plants throughout the country for solar (the 22-MW San Carlos Solar Power Project in Negros) and wind power plants (in Ilocos Norte the 33-

JANUARY 5, 2015 | MONDAY

TransCo’s role

TRANSCO was tasked to administer the FIT-All payments to RE developers. It filed before the ERC provisional authority to collect FIT-All payments.

Wind-power developers are entitled to FIT rate of P8.53 per kWh; solar for P9.68 per kWh; hydro at P5.90 per kWh; and biomass at P6.63 per kWh. After collection, the money is placed in a fund administered by TransCo. “For this purpose, all distribution utilities, retail electricity suppliers and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines [NGCP] are hereby directed to adopt the necessary modifications in their respective billing and collection systems, to effect the implementation of the said FIT-All as a separate line item in their bills to end-users starting January 2015 billing and remit the same in accordance with the FIT-All Guidelines,” the regulator said.

The ERC said TransCo should administer the FIT payments in a bid to “resolve the issue that public fund[s] should be

Rosengren said the uncertainty of economic forecasts meant it isn’t possible to be precise on the timing of rate liftoff, and waiting a few more months wouldn’t make much difference.

“While market participants worry about whether liftoff will occur in April, June, or August, in fact most models imply that the macroeconomic implications of such differences are quite small,”

JAN 6 JAN 7 JAN 8 TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

METRO MANILA

21 – 30°C

21 – 30°C

TUGUEGARAO

19 – 26°C

19 – 27°C

(AS OF JANUARY 4, 5:00 PM)

LAOAG

BAGUIO

LAOAG CITY 18 – 29°C

TUGUEGARAO CITY 19 – 26°C

SBMA/ CLARK

BAGUIO CITY 11 – 22°C SBMA/CLARK 22 – 29°C

JAN 6 JAN 7 JAN 8 TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

20 – 30°C

METRO CEBU

24 – 29°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 30°C

19 – 27°C

TACLOBAN

24 – 27°C

24 – 28°C

23 – 28°C

19 – 29°C

CAGAYAN DE ORO

TAGAYTAY CITY 18 – 27°C

TAGAYTAY

18 – 29°C

12 – 22°C

22 – 29°C

19 – 27°C

19 – 29°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

24 – 32°C

METRO DAVAO

12 – 22°C

24 – 30°C

24 – 31°C

23 – 29°C

25 – 33°C

25 – 33°C

19 – 28°C

12 – 23°C

23 – 29°C

LEGAZPI ILOILO/ BACOLOD 24 – 29°C

TACLOBAN CITY 23 – 26°C

METRO CEBU 24 – 29°C

ZAMBOANGA CITY 24 – 33°C

PUERTO PRINCESA

ILOILO/ BACOLOD CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 24 – 30°C METRO DAVAO 24 – 30°C

23 – 28°C

23 – 29°C

ZAMBOANGA

26 – 31°C

SUNSET

MOONSET

MOONRISE

6:22 AM

5:40 PM

6:04 AM

5:50 PM

23 – 30°C

FULL MOON HALF MOON

25 – 32°C

25 – 30°C

25 – 31°C

5:42 AM

JAN 13 -0.21 METER 12:53 PM 5:46 PM Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and/or thunderstorms

Light rains

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

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

LOW TIDEMANILA HIGH TIDE SOUTH HARBOR

Cloudy skies with rain showers and/or thunderstorms.

24 – 30°C

25 – 34°C

SUNRISE

JAN 05

26 – 30°C

24 – 32°C

20 – 28°C

LEGAZPI CITY 23 – 27°C

PHILIPPINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (PAR)

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

he said. He also said headline inflation could be “particularly depressed” in the short run by oil prices, which have halved to less than $53 per barrel since mid-2014. Bloomberg News

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING LUZON.

Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”.

It affects the eastern portions of the country.

It is cold and dry; characterized by widespread cloudiness with rains and showers.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 25 – 30°C

handled by [a] public entity.”

It said the public funds will be managed by a government-owned and -controlled company and not by the private, Sy-controlled NGCP. NGCP manages and operates TransCo’s nationwide power-transmission system, which links power plants with the various utilities across the Philippines. However, according to TransCo on its official web site, ownership of all transmission assets remains with TransCo. Regulators have also approved the template contracts RE developers would have to enter into with TransCo and the distribution utilities or electric cooperatives.

The two types of contracts are the renewable-energy payment agreement (Repa) and the renewable-energy supply agreement (Resa).

The Repa is a contract developers would have to sign with state-run TransCo for the payment of FIT incentives, which the latter will administer.

The Resa is a contract that RE producers would have to ink with electricity distributors if the plants are not connected to the WESM. The approval of the contract templates is expected to speed up the grant of FIT incentives to qualified RE plants. The tariff incentive grants developers guaranteed rates over a 20-year period that will be shouldered by consumers.

TAIL-END OF A COLD FRONT AFFECTING EASTERN VISAYAS.

Tail-end of a cold front is the extended part of the boundary, which happens when the cold air and warm air meet. This may bring rainfall and cloudiness over affected areas. It is felt at the northern hemisphere winter season.

METRO MANILA 20 – 30°C

MW Northwind Power Project, the 150MW Burgos Wind Power Project and the 81-MW Caparispisan Wind Power Project; and the 54-MW San Lorenzo Wind Power Project in Guimaras).

To date, total installed capacity of RE on-grid stood at 5,396.82 MW. At the same time, the DOE also awarded a total of 638 RE projects, with a total potential capacity of 10,068.031MW.

Inflation. . . Continued from A12

3-DAY EXTENDED FORECAST

TODAY’S WEATHER

news@businessmirror.com.ph

@PanahonTV

10:59 PM

1.11 METER

Partly cloudy to at times cloudy with rainshowers

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

De Lima orders probe of NBI, prison execs in cash-for-inmates scandal

By Joel R. San Juan

J

USTICE Secretary Leila de Lima ordered on Sunday a probe against National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and prison personnel, who may be responsible for the illegal entry of cash in the temporary detention cells of 20 highprofile inmates earlier transferred from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) to the NBI headquarters.

NBI Director Virgilio Mendez immediately assigned NBI-Anti Organized Transnational Crime Division (AOTCD) Chief Head Agent Rommel Vallejo to spearhead the investigation on the possible security lapse at the NBI. Authorities believed the money amounting to P0.7 million will be used by the high-profile inmates to bribe their guards so illegal activities can continue inside the prison.

De Lima ordered Mendez to conduct a thorough probe on how the inmates

could have yielded wads of money, despite supposed tight security being implemented by the bureau.

Aside from cash, the NBI were still able to confiscate cell phones from the inmates.

Those transferred to the NBI, following the first raid at NBP last December 15, were Noel Martinez, Michael Ong, Willy Sy, Peter Co, Eugene Chua, Chua Sam Li, Vincent Sy, George Sy, Joel Capones, Herbert Colangco, Amin Imam Boratong, Clarence Dongail, Tom Chua, Rommel Capoines, Jojo Baligad, Jacky King Sy, Willy Chua, Jacky King Sy and Herman Agojo.

“I want to know when—most probably during the long holiday season— and how it could have happened and who are involved, either or both the NBI or the BuCor [Bureau of Corrections] personnel assigned at the NBP Extension Facility at the NBI, and, possibly, even regular detainees at the NBI detention facility itself,” de Lima said in a text message to reporters.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, January 5, 2015 A3

Comelec drops bidding, awards PCOS deal to Smartmatic

T

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has opted to award the contract to refurbish the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that will be reused in the 2016 national and local polls to Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp., instead of bidding it out.

A person privy to the deliberations on the matter said the Comelec en banc voted 5-2 to use the extended warranty offer of Smartmatic–TIM to refurbish the 80,000 PCOS machines and make it ready for next year’s national elections.

“We have promulgated the decision already. And it was decided en banc to give the project to Smartmatic-TIM,” the person said. The source added that the Comelec en banc resolution on the PCOS repair issue is set to be published this week.

A legal opinion earlier issued by the Comelec-Law Department held that the Comelec can exercise the extended warranty provided by Smartmatic-TIM, as long as it can prove the firm is the only one that can efficiently provide such services.

The Smartmatic-TIM also insisted it has exclusive rights over the PCOS machines since they are the manufacturers of the voting technology.

It added that it has also acquired “unlimited and perpetual access” to the technology after its legal dispute with the Dominion Voting Systems over their licensing agreement has already been resolved.

The source said the Comelec’s decision to award the contract to Smartmatic came after the Comelec–Bids and Awards Committee warned that holding public bidding would ham-

Metro rail-fare hike gets lawmakers’ ire

L

AWMAKERS scored the operators of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) for forging ahead with the fare hike on Sunday, even as various groups have threatened to bring the matter before the Supreme Court (SC).

During an interview on radio station dzBB, Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares said she could not understand the need for a fare increase when they just approved railway subsidies amounting to as much as P12 billion in the 2015 budget.

“I symphatize with the passengers because of the fare increase at the MRT and LRT. I can understand the need to hike the fares in the coming years but I am sad that the 2015 budget had just been approved, including their subsidy.”

According to Poe, the government gave a hefty subsidy for the repair, tax payment and fares of the rail system.

Why did they do this when we were not properly informed, she said in the vernacular.

On the other hand, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry L. Ridon also scored the fare hikes as unconscionable, “especially at a time when our nation is recovering from major disasters, and at a time when workers’ wages remain grossly insufficient to even cover for basic needs.”

Fare rates in the three light rail systems have almost doubled, with the fare for the single-journey ticket from North Avenue to Taft Avenue rising from the current P15 to P28, while maximum fares at the LRT 1 has reached P30, according to Ridon.

“The fare hike is simply unacceptable and is a heavy burden for workers and students who are the main patrons of our train lines. It’s

also enraging to ask for an increase at a time when the cost of electricity, fuel and other basic utilities are also rising,” Ridon added.

Ridon explained the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost of the MRT is actually lower than the previous fare rate.

The legislator said that, under the “farebox method” or the proportion of fare revenues to the total operational costs of trains, MRT O&M cost per passenger is only at P9.11, which is P0.89 to P5.89 more than the P10 to P15 fares charged until recently.

In July last year President Aquino explained in length why there is a need to increase train fares in his State of the Nation Address (Sona).

“Each trip that one passenger makes on the LRT is estimated to cost P40. What does each passenger pay? P15. This means the government subsidizes the remaining P25. As for the MRT, the true cost of one trip is P60: P15 paid by the passengers, P45 by the government—in the end, each and every Filipino pays a share of the subsidy.

Whether you live in Mindanao or the Visayas, and not once have you ever stepped onto the LRT or MRT, you help to fund this,” Mr. Aquino explained in his fourth Sona.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Transportation will investigate the train-fare hikes after Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate filed House Resolution 111, which seeks the probe.

Colmenares and Zarate added they would ask the SC to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the fare increase on Monday.

The base fare for the LRT Lines 1

per their timetable in preparing for the 2016 polls.

Election watchdog The Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) earlier branded as “outrageous” Smartmatic’s claim that it is the sole provider capable of refurbishing the PCOS. “There are plenty of more than equally capable and willing companies who could provide the same service, and at a fraction of the cost,” said Dave Diwa, C3E spokesman and president of the National Labor Union.

Diwa also warned that awarding the contract to Smartmatic may cause political turmoil.

“Smartmatic has become very much familiar with the workings of Philippine politics that its system is now vulnerable to political machinations,” Diwa added. Joel R. San Juan

DENR’s Paje asks lawmakers to review firecrackers law

E

Trains at the Light Rail Transit system pass by each other at the Pasay City station on January 4, the day the government imposed higher fares, which, Sen. Grace Poe said, should not have been applied because of the high subsidy given to the rail system in the 2015 national budget. Nonie Reyes

and 2 and the MRT will be P11 and an additional P1 will be charged for every kilometer from the station of origin.

This means a single- journey ticket from Baclaran station to Roosevelt station will cost P30 from the present fare of P20.

Passengers, who use stored-value tickets for end-to-end trips on the LRT 1 and 2, will get a P1 discount.

For MRT 3 single-journey and stored-value tickets from Taft station to North Avenue station, or vice versa, the journey will cost P28 from the current P15.

Earlier, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the fare adjustments would enable the government to save P2 billion in annual subsidies, or 17 percent of the P12 billion that it allots each year to subsidize the

LRT/MRT train system.

According to the DOTC, the government is paying P25 for every LRT passenger and P45 for every MRT passenger.

However, Poe said the fare hike is “inappropriate” because many have complained of poor service and the many instances of mishaps.

“Second, the budget had just been approved, but we never heard of any whisper that they would increase the fare. Third, we know that the price of fuel had gone down.”

She said in Filipino the last hearing or consultation with stakeholders organized by the DOTC was in December 2013.

“But they failed miserably in maintenance. Many things had transpired since the last hearing, but why insist on it only now.”

Poe described the officials

behind the fare increase as having “no heart.”

The public was informed of the fare increase shortly before the Christmas vacation, only to be greeted with the fare increases just as soon as they prepared to get back to work on January 5, according to her.

Poe pointed outthat jeepney fares had just been rolled back, including other modes of transport, because of the low price of crude oil.

“For me, it is also the job of the DOTC to have a feeling for the masses. If they have to hike the fare, why not give a little leeway, instead of saying they have been discussing this, but until now, they have not addressed their maintenance problem,” said Poe, seen as a contender for the Presidential post in 2016.

Recto Mercene and Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

NVIRONMENT Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje asked the country’s lawmakers to review the firecrackers law that he described as inconsistent with the law that promotes clean air.

Paje specifically wants lawmakers to pass stricter laws regulating the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics and to be consistent with Republic Act (RA) 8749 to protect Filipinos from the harmful effects of air pollution.

He issued the call as he received reports from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) that air pollution in Metro Manila reached “dangerous levels” at the height of the celebration to welcome the New Year on December 31.

The sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers are regulated by RA 7183.

Jonas Leones, OIC-director of the DENR-EMB, told the BusinessMirror that from 7 a.m. until 12 p.m. on December 31, at least eight monitoring stations in Metro Manila registered “record highs” air pollution, exceeding more than 500 percent what was normally recorded by the monitoring stations.

“There is really a need to revisit the law regulating the firecrackers law. The law does not effectively regulate the use of firecrackers,” Leones said.

He explained that under the Clean Air Act, the sources of pollution and the regulatory agency in charge of handling cases are specified.

“For industries, it’s the Pollution Adjudication Board. For motor vehicles, it’s the DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications]. When it comes to firecrackers law, LGUs [local government units] are the ones that issue these permits, not the DENR,” Leones said pointing out that the DENR has no control over excessive use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics that cause air pollution.

According to Paje, the air pollution data gathered through the years already beg for a radical solution that lawmakers can provide. He noted that air pollution in Metro Manila gets worse during the New Year revelry mainly due to use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic, citing results obtained from different monitoring stations put up

by DENR-EMB in strategic areas. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Economy

A4 Monday, January 5, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

BusinessMirror

Palace identifies priority bills for 2015

M

By Butch Fernandez

alacañang is lobbying Congress to pass several pending administration bills, including the administration’s priority measures meant to institute economic reforms, when lawmakers return to work after an extended Christmas vacation.

“This year the Executive will continue to work very closely with Congress to pursue and ensure the enactment of reform measures, and programs and projects meant to boost and stabilize the economy and boost commerce,” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said on Sunday.

Coloma added the Palace is also seeking early approval by both the Senate and the House of administration bills aimed at expanding the coverage of social-protection measures in education, health and shelter, as well as boost national security.

He quoted Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) Secre-

tary Manuel Mamba as saying that Malacañang is expecting to see the enactment of “no less than 18 of 29” pending bills in the priority legislative agenda the President endorsed to Congress last year. These bills are expected to be approved this year.

The two chambers of Congress are set to reconvene regular sessions on January 19 and, on top of the list of urgent measures, the Palace wants passed sooner than other pending bills the proposed Bangsamoro basic law, which will pave the way for a new entity to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Also high on the list is Presi-

dent Aquino’s request for special authority to address a looming power-supply shortage anticipated to trigger recurrent brownouts in Luzon this summer.

“One of these bills is the proposed Bangsamoro basic law that will give way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Transitional Assembly before the election of officials of the Bangsamoro Political Entity in 2015,” Coloma said.

Coloma added that, according to Mamba, the important proposed economic measures are the Build-Operate-Transfer and Road Right-of-Way for infrastructure projects and the Cabotage law for shipping industry.

The communications chief said the government also eyes the passage of the Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives, Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime, Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act, Antitrust Act, National Land Use Act and the Strategic Trade Management Act. “Also included in the priority bills are the Customs Modernization Act, to continue the programs under the fiscal reform package, and the PLLO said some issues are

already being scrutinized at the interagency level,” Coloma said.

To further improve the national security and maritime zone, Coloma said the government is also pushing for the passage of the designation of the Philippine maritime zone, designation of archipelagic sea lanes and delineation of specific forest limits of public domain. ”The government also wants to strengthen the justice system through the passage of the Whistle-blowers Protection Act and the Witness Protection Program,” Coloma added.

Also included in the priority list, he said, are the Act Protecting the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Freedom of Information Act, and a proposed proclamation to make alienable and disposable some parts of the Bantayan Island in Cebu province.

“It will be used as resettlement site for housing projects for the victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda [international code name Haiyan],” Coloma added.

Yolanda, the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the Visayas on November 8, 2013, had left over a million families homeless and over 6,000 people dead. With PNA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

‘Nlex upkeep difficult sans hike in toll rates’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

D

EVELOPMENTS at the key thoroughfare to the north could come to a halt should the government fail to quickly implement the long-delayed adjustment in toll rates for the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex).

Manila North Tollways Corp.

(MNTC) President and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco said the failure to raise the toll rates for the thoroughfare would mean depleting revenues for the company.

Hence, the company will have lesser financial capacity to implement the needed expansion of the toll road.

“Eventually, it will negatively affect our ability to properly maintain the expressway and to continue to invest in road-expansion projects,” he said in a text message.

Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) Director Edmundo O. Reyes earlier said the country’s major thoroughfares would burst at their seams by 2018, if no expansion would be implemented.

Currently, the Pangilinan-controlled expressway operator is spending billions of pesos to upgrade its services and expand the toll road to meet the growing demand for connectivity.

Disappointed

FRANCO said his company was dismayed by the slowpoke implementation of the rate increase, despite being provided under the toll-operations agreement signed with the government early on.

“Our regulator has not acted on our two petitions already,” he said, referring to separate petitions filed in 2012 and in 2014 for the implementation of the biannual rate adjustment for the thoroughfare.

The first petition was due on the first of January 2013. The second one, submitted on the 30th of Sep-

tember last year, would bring the cumulative toll-rate adjustment to 15 percent, of which 12 percent is long overdue.

The concession that the Pangilinan-controlled company holds allows for toll adjustments every two years.

Current toll fees at the thoroughfare (from Mindanao Avenue to Santa Ines) amount to P218 for Class 1 Vehicles (cars, jeepneys, pickup trucks and vans); P544 for Class 2 vehicles (two-axle trucks, buses and vans); and P652 for Class 3 vehicles (trucks and trailers with three or more axles).

Nationa l Unit y Part y Rep. Gavino C. Pancho of Bulacan earlier sought a congressional probe on the planned increase in toll rates, warning that it will negatively affect the cost of produce transported through the tollway such as rice, meat and other commodities.

“The MNTC has not yet complied fully with such requirements and similarly presents no justifiable basis at this time to seek an increase in toll rates at the Nlex, thereby rendering such request as inimical to the interest of the riding public and the business community who use the Nlex for their livelihood,” he said in a resolution.

Franco, for his part, defended his company’s petition.

“We diligently followed the terms of our concession when the formula called for reduction of toll rates in 2007 and 2009. As a result of these rate reductions, our toll rates now— exclusive of value-added tax—are lower than the toll rates when we opened the new Nlex in 2005. There are not many infrastructure companies whose tariff has gone down over a 10-year period,” he explained.

“Now that the concession requires an upward adjustment of toll rates, the regulatory approval is hard to secure,” he lamented.

New mining technology to be tested in Cordillera

T

BUSINESS AS USUAL Despite the end of the holiday rush, vendors near Baclaran Church in Parañaque City continue to sell their wares as usual, lining up assorted shoes and slippers—sold at very affordable prices—on a busy street fronting the church. ROY DOMINGO

he Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Cordillera, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, and the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development will test on field the Integrated GoldCopper Mineral Processing Plant.

DOST Cordillera Regional Director Julius Caesar Sicat, in an interview on Saturday, said the department would introduce a mineralprocessing technology that helps the country’s small-scale mining communities to have a better recovery from gold ore and achieve an environment-friendly mining industry.

Sicat said the project, which is the first in the Philippines, aimed to solve the longtime mining problem, which is the use of cyanide and mercury that leads to incident of poisoning.

With the technology developed

by UP Diliman, small-scale miners

can improve the recovery of gold and have a better mining environment, Sicat added.

The technology UP Diliman developed can environmentally optimize the recovery of gold and other metals by using gravity concentration and flotation, refining gold concentrates and application of integrated disposal and treatment of tailing materials.

“This is a simple technology where, by using the physical property of gold, we can improve the recovery of gold by 80 percent to 90 percent.

We can also reduce the hazard as the processing will be without sanitation or amalgamation,” Sicat said.

“Our vision here is to promote a responsible small-scale mining industry that utilizes the country’s mineral resources, while providing economic stability and ensuring environmental sustainability,” Sicat said. PNA

Adding more teeth to Consumer Act priority of DTI–Dimagiba

By Catherine N. Pillas

T

he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be focusing on pushing the enactment of the proposed amendments to the Consumer Act this year, particularly the inclusion of heavier fines and empowerment of the privatepublic National Consumer Affairs Council.

Trade Undersecretary for Consumer Protection Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba assured that changes to Republic Act (RA) 7394, known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines, is a priority this year

and that the Cabinet’s economic cluster has submitted the proposed changes to both houses of Congress for legislative action.

“The economic cluster had submitted to both houses the proposed revised Consumer Act and the House committee held one consultative meeting last November,” Dimagiba said.

Among the revisions pushed

by Dimagiba’s team are the increase in administrative fines for violators of the Act, from the existing minimum penalty of P500 to P50,000, to P300,000 to P1 million.

Aside from monetary

sanctions, the trade bureau also proposed to include online commerce-related practices in the scope of the law.

“We also incorporated e-commerce as subject to all the prohibited practices of the Consumer Act, and includes compliance to sales-promotion provisions and price tag, labeling requirements and all other forms of consumer transactions,” the trade undersecretary said.

Another proposed revision to the Consumer Act is the provision on the regulatory duty of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to cover all financial transactions.

Dimagiba : “The economic cluster had submitted to both houses the proposed revised Consumer Act and the House committee held one consultative meeting last November.”

“We also proposed that all financial transactions on consumer products and services be primarily handled by the BSP as sectoral regulator,” Dimagiba said.

The central bank is among the government agencies currently tasked to enforce the Consumer Act of the Philippines and the E-Commerce Act, and has jurisdiction over credit transactions extended by banks and other financial intermediaries to consumers.

An other changes Dimagiba said, is the expanded membership of the National Consumer Affairs Council to include the Department of Energy, the BSP and additional representatives from consumerprotection groups.

According to RA 7394, the National Consumer Affairs Council, which coordinates and rationalizes programs geared toward strengthening consumer protection, is currently composed of the departments of Trade and Industry, Health, Education and of Agriculture; four representatives from consumer organizations; and two business/ industry representatives.

Part of the empowerment of the said council, Dimagiba said, is to make sure it will have its own budget and personnel, which are also included in the proposed changes.

Economy BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Phasing out of plates with old designs starts–DOTC

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has started the phasing out of the various designs of license plates of motor vehicles and will be rolling out the standardized vehicle registrations today (Monday).

“It’s time to change old license plates with new ones. Tomorrow [Monday], we begin phasing out the nine various designs currently in use with modern, standardized and security featurepacked license plates,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said.

Land Transportation Office (LTO) Assistant Secretary Alfonso V. Tan Jr. added: “We advise the public that their new license plates will be ordered upon renewing their motor-vehicle registrations beginning this year. The new plates will be available 45 days after ordering them.”

Since May 2014 the LTO has been issuing new license plates to brand-new vehicles, which were being registered for the first time.

The new license plates for private motor vehicles sport a black-and-white design, similar to those in mostcountriesaroundtheworld.Theyhavetamperresistantlocksandscrews,whichpermanentlyattach theplatestothevehicle,preventingtheirremovaland transfer. They also feature reflectorized sheeting to make them visible from afar and from any angle.

The permanent “third plate” windshield sticker replaces the current yearly sticker, and will indicate the vehicle’s license plate and other relevant registration information. It cannot be peeled off without leaving these pieces of information on the windshield.

“Thesenewplateswillhelpimproveroadsafety by curbing illegal practices such as tanggal-plaka or plate removal and switching, which is prevalent in carnapping and ‘colorum’ operations. They will help enforcers catch criminals, and enhance safety for the public,” Abaya explained.

“Just to remind those who have old license plates: the new plates will not change your alphanumeric combination. Your existing plate numbers will be retained. Only vehicles registered for the first time will be issued the new three-letter four-number combination,” Tan noted.

The entire standardization, or replacement program, will last until 2017. New plates will cost the same as existing plates, which is P450 for four-wheeled motor vehicles. Once replaced, the old license plates will no longer be valid for any purpose, but may be kept by their owners.

Neda to conclude talks for new ODAs by June

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

he National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is targeting to complete negotiations for new official development assistance (ODA) loans and grants by June.

Neda said it expects to complete negotiations with the government of Australia, the government of Canada and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) no later than the first semester this year.

“I told them that, if you don’t approve anything before June 2015, the election fever will catch up with us; so, [that’s] within the first semester, just like with Canada,” Neda Deputy Director General for Programming Rolando G. Tungpa-

lan told the BusinessMirror.

“As for Ifad, the ball is now in the court of [the Department of] Finance, so they’re negotiating.

My understanding is that they are already in the final stages of processing so it would be in the first quarter,” he added.

Tungpalan said ODA agreements with the Australian and Canadian governments will focus on projects covered by grants, while the Ifad ODA will focus on agriculture loans.

The Neda official said grants

from the Australian government will focus on roads and other physical structures because the Canberra is keen on “coming in a big way” on infrastructure.

Tungpalan, however, said the national government would also like to seek assistance from the Australian government in terms of improving the regulatory environment and the management and maintenance of infrastructure facilities.

He added that this is also what the Philippine government is proposing to the Canadian government, among other projects.

“They just signed [the project] on women because they are very strong in gender, so we said we need to strengthen the economic pillars, not only the gender and social. They are okay with it. They feel they can support [projects] like the LGSPLED [Local Governance Support Program for Local Economic Development], local government sup-

port, local-empowerment projects,” Tungpalan said.

Meanwhile, the Ifad-supported projects are the only ones that have cost estimates as of press time. Tungpalan said both projects were already approved by the Neda Board last year.

Documents obtained from Neda showed that the two projects are the P2.28-billion Convergence on Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment (Project Converge) and the P1.86-billion Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Livelihood Project (FishCoral).

Project Converge will be implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform in 11 agrarian-reform communities in 10 provinces in Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula and Caraga.

The project, which is expected to benefit 38,724 agrarian-reform beneficiaries, aims to increase the quantity and quality of production in the targeted areas; improve the

phasing of production to meet market demands; and add value to farm output by improving post-harvest handling/management.

The project also aims to strengthen/develop farmers’ linkage with select value chains, as well as diversify their income through alternative livelihood projects.

FishCoral, on the other hand, will be implemented by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in 11 bays and gulfs in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Caraga and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The beneficiaries of the project will be fishing households l iv ing in t he 1,098 ta rgeted coastal communities.

The project aims to reduce poverty incidence in fishing households through sustainable management of coastal and fisheries resources and implementation of community-based enterprises in the target areas.

Solon pushes additional P5.5-B funding to beef up faculty of SUCs

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

STILL A THRIVING TRADE

Fortune tellers in Quiapo, Manila, continue to enjoy brisk business, especially with the start of 2015 prompting some people to check out what could be in store for them for the year. Nonie Reyes

Open Skies Policy makes Asean more connected

WWF: PHL still far from desired RE mix

ANILA—The 10 members of the Asean now have greater connectivity as Southeast Asia’s Open Skies Policy took effect on New Year’s Day. The region’s Open Skies Policy, or the Asean-Single Aviation Market (Asean-SAM), allows Southeast Asian airlines to fly freely all over the region to improve domestic and regional connectivity, as well as to enhance regional trade.

Liberalizing the aviation markets in the region is also in line with the Asean integration, which will be implemented by the end of 2015.

The policy is expected to increase airline industry competition in Southeast Asia, which will lead to lower ticket prices and better quality of services.

The Asean-SAM will not also limit flight capacity or frequency across Southeast Asia.

The Asean has emphasized three freedoms of the air in its two multilateral pacts: the multilateral agreement on air services (MAAS) and the multilateral agreement for the full liberalization of passenger air services (MAFLPAS).

These three aviation rights include:

the third freedom of the air, or the right to fly from one’s own country to another (i.e., Philippines’s carrier flying from Manila to Kuala Lumpur);

the fourth freedom of the air, or the right to fly from another country to one’s own (i.e., Philippines’s carrier flying from Kuala Lumpur to Manila); and

the fifth freedom of the air, or the right to fly between two foreign countries on a flight originating or ending in one’s own country (i.e., Philippines’s carrier flying from Manila to Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, or from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Manila).

The Asean-SAM listed six protocols for MAAS including:

Protocol 1—unlimited third and fourth freedom traffic rights within Asean subregion;

Protocol 2—unlimited fifth freedom traffic rights within Asean subregion;

Protocol 3—unlimited third and fourth freedom traffic rights between Asean sub-regions;

Protocol 4—unlimited fifth freedom traffic rights between Asean subregions;

Protocol 5—unlimited third and fourth freedom traffic rights between Asean capital cities; and

Protocol 6—unlimited fifth freedom traffic rights between Asean capital cities.

On the other hand, MAFLPAS include the following protocols:

Protocol 1—unlimited third and fourth freedom traffic rights between any Asean cities; and

Protocol 2—unlimited fifth freedom traffic rights between any Asean cities.

The liberalization of the aviation industry in Asean was not hampered despite three airline incidents involving Southeast Asian firms last year, including the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 in March 2014, shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 in July 2014, and the recent AirAsia QZ8501 crashing over Java Sea. The Asean-SAM, however, will push for higher standards of safety among Asean airlines. PNA

he World Wide Fund for Nature (W WF-Philippines) urged the Aquino administration to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in the country’s energy mix by pushing for the construction of windmills starting this year.

According to the WWF, the Department of Energy (DOE) has an opportunity to generate countrywide climatechange mitigation and adaptation commitments, or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), specifically through wind power that will increase the share of RE in the country’s energy mix.

About 70 percent of electricity in the country is currently generated from fossil fuels, with 90 percent of coal and oil resources imported at varying prices.

The DOE recently supported an increase in the installation targets for solar energy under the feed-in tariff (FIT) regime.

With the increase in solar, an additional increase in wind energy-installation targets is a firm, next step that the DOE can commit to, Philippine Climate Change Commission Vice Chairman Lucille Sering said. Sering stated the country is committed to submit an INDC by June—the first pledge by a developing country.

Clean and renewable sources of energy, such as geothermal, hydro, wind and solar are among the Philippines’s few competitive advantages, especially since the country has no significant deposits of fossil fuels.

Its continued reliance on imported fuel has made Philippine electricity rates among the highest in Asia.

The WWF believes that increasing support for RE will lead to lower rates of electricity in the Philippines.

“Most of our power-rate jumps were

M

Monday, January 5, 2015 A5

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

T

caused by generation-cost hikes. With fossil-fuel prices continually rising due to dwindling supplies and soaring demand, the cost of our electricity shall rise even further,” lawyer Gia Ibay, head of WWFPhilippines Climate Change, said.

“The best solution is to use existing RE resources to shield us from the cost volatility of fossil fuels,” she said.

With the government’s implementation of the FIT system, RE projects are ensured a rate for their produced electricity per kilowatt-hour will be held constant for the next 20 years, with the Energy Regulatory Commission doing periodic reviews to adjust rates for variables, such as foreign exchange and inflation.

This means that the RE-generated electricity price will remain cheaper over time, according to Ibay.

Also, many RE plants can be directly embedded onto certain major sites to reduce further the cost of electricity, eliminating transmission and distribution lines requirement to deliver energy from power plants to households.

What’s more, RE, unlike fossil fuels, has no value-added tax applied to existing cost, thus, making electricity more affordable for Filipinos in the long run.

“What better way to demonstrate leadership before the Paris talks than to show that the Philippines embraces clean and renewable sources of energy?” Ibay said, referring to the recently concluded 20th Conference of Parties that set the stage for strong climate-change agreements in France this year.

The 2015 United Nations Climate Conference is slated from November 30 to December 11, 2015, wherein among the expected outcomes are the INDC. “It’s time for us to divest from fossil fuels and prepare for a windfall of clean and affordable power for all Filipinos,” Ibay said.

he chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education has asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to create more plantilla positions for full-time faculty members of state universities and colleges (SUCs) so they can meet their 17,057 teaching-staff shortage, improve their performance and delivery of quality education and become globally competitive.

In House Resolution 1659, Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Roman T. Romulo of Pasig City said the estimated shortage of 17,057 faculty members in SUCs is based on the 2014 survey of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc).

“Pasuc has estimated that the creation of the much-needed faculty plantilla items will require approximately P5.5 billion in funding,” Romulo added in his resolution, which is now pending at the Committee on Appropriations chaired by LP Rep. Isidro T. Ungab of Davao City.

The Pasuc report, according to Romulo, also cited that no additional plantilla items have been given by the DBM to SUCs for the last 15 years and because of this, the SUCs have utilized the “scrap and build policy” of the DBM. He said Presidential Decree 985, known as the “Budgetary Reform Decree on Compensation and Position Classification of 1976” issued on August 22, 1976, is reportedly still being used as basis for the present plantilla positions at SUCs. “The quality of SUCs is defined mainly by the quality of their faculty.

Most SUCs have a faculty-to-student ratio of 1:42, which is higher than the standard faculty-to-student ratio of 1:25,” Romulo added.

The lawmaker also sought the creation of additional plantilla positions for full-time SUCs faculty.

Romulo, in his resolution, said the shortage of plantilla positions has compelled SUCs teachers to devote most of their time and attention to teaching, to the detriment of research and extension programs of the SUCs. This is another reason these institutions lag behind other higher education institutions in Asia in terms of performance and quality.

“In Region 2 alone, 95.60 percent of the 1,911 college faculty are involved in higher education programs, 28, or 1.47 percent, of which are involved in both advanced higher education and extension, and only less than 1 percent are involved in research and auxiliary services,” the resolution added.

It added that the situation is worsened by the addition of new courses by the SUCs to meet the demands of the education sector because the new

Romulo: “The quality of SUCs is defined mainly by the quality of their faculty. Most SUCs have a facultyto-student ratio of 1:42, which is higher than the standard faculty-tostudent ratio of 1:25.”

course offerings are not supported by the creation of corresponding plantilla positions.

“Faculty members are given administrative positions to govern and manage the university affairs, along with academic, extension, research and production programs of SUCs,” the lawmaker said.

Romulo added that the Region 2 report of presidents of SUCs stated that the faculty members appointed to administrative positions of president, vice presidents, deans, executive officers, campus administrators and department chairmen are given respective teaching loads, ranging from 12 to 21 units, while those faculty members with semestral workload of 21 units and are assigned as coordinators, program leaders and projects in-charge or study leaders, are given additional teaching loads ranging from three to nine units.

“There is a need to revisit the plantilla of SUCs faculty and reduce their workload from 21 to 18 units, or even lower, not only to ensure quality instructional-delivery services, but also to enable them to give the necessary attention to research and extension and keep pace with the demands of the 21st century,” Romulo said.

He said another negative effect of the lack of full-time plantilla positions is that some faculty members of SUCs have been lured to switch to other careers or leave to work abroad, thereby finding it more difficult for the SUCs to meet the standard faculty-to-student ratio.

“The existing plantilla can no longer cater to the increasing trends in enrollment and the SUCs have been compelled to hire additional faculty through contracts, job orders and emergency instructors on part-time status. The Pasuc reported that the number of part-time SUCs faculty handling 255,850 units is now estimated at 184,782,” Romulo said.

Romulo added based on the past year’s National Expenditure Program of the DBM, there are 56,899 filled plantilla positions for SUCs faculty.

Citing news reports, he said that there are 31,739 full-time faculty members as against 16,674 parttime faculty members working in the country.

Tourism

A6 Monday, January 5, 2014 • Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

1

THE Pangulasian Island Resort team, led by Resort Manager Franck Merot (seventh from left), shares the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific Sustainable Hotel Award given to El Nido Resorts with Ayala Land Inc. Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala (sixth from left).

EL NIDO RESORTS’S

GLOBAL AWARDS NOW ALSO BENEFITING TOWN

F

ROM the current 70,000 visitors a year, the majority of whom are foreigners, the number of travelers to El Nido town, Palawan province, is expected to more than double to 150,000 by 2018. They are drawn to the municipality’s diverse and pristine surroundings and the responsible tourism practiced by its biggest business entity, El Nido Resorts.

BACUIT Bay in El Nido town, Palawan province.

The international sustainability awards won by El Nido’s iconic resorts in the past few years have brought unprecedented global attention to this protected area in the Philippines’s westernmost province, according to Laurent Lamasuta, president of the Ten Knots Group, which developed the brand.

In 2014 alone, the resorts won six major awards, led by the Sustainable Hotel prize in the Sustainable Communities category that was awarded by the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (Hicap) in Hong Kong last October.

Hicap is Asia’s largest and longest-running hotel investment conference that is attended by leading industry leaders.

Prior to the Hicap award, the World Tourism Association conferred on El Nido Resorts the Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award. It bested destinations in Indonesia, India and Th ailand for the prize, and was to compete at the end of 2014 with other regional winners for the world’s best title in the same category.

Also in 2014, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)

gave El Nido Resorts’s Pangulasian property the Green Hotel Award in recognition of its compliance with the Asean Green Hotel Standard.

The latter highlights establishments that adopt environmental-friendly and energy-conservation measures.

Lamasuta clarifies that the spate of international awards that El Nido Resorts has been reaping since 2006, when it made it to Condé Nast’s Green List, has catapulted the brand onto the world stage.

“We have been exposed to international markets because of these awards and we are seeing more online reservations from foreign guests and interest from travel agents abroad,” Lamasuta says.

At the same time, he explains that a traveler will not choose a destination on the merits of its sustainable practices alone. The product and location are still the top factors that determine a tourist’s choice of destination. El Nido Resorts’s distinct advantage is that it is situated in a lush landscape of razor-sharp limestone cliffs, pristine coves and beaches populated by close to 900 species of fi sh, over 110 species of birds, and five out of

seven species of known sea turtles.

The company embraced a naturebased, low-impact approach to all its activities as early as the 1980s, according to Lamasuta. The management also realized early on that operating in fragile island ecosystems called for a holistic approach to solid-waste management, water conservation and energy conservation.

Efforts to adopt sustainable practices were matched with a commitment to hire and train locals, who now make up 90 percent of the workforce. “That has helped us keep good relations with the community.

We’ve also established programs to ensure that the community would grow alongside with us, while sharing our commitment to responsible tourism,” Lamasuta says.

He points out that 90 percent of visitors to the municipality just 10 years ago were guests of the resorts.

Today only 30 percent of all visitors head for the island-resorts. The rest stay in bed-and-breakfast establishments and other facilities put up by the municipality’s residents.

Most of the operators of these facilities received their training as employees of the El Nido Resorts or through programs developed by the firm for the community.

But whether they are employed by the resorts or not, the locals tend to exhibit pride of place, the result of many El Nido Resorts employee and community programs that aim to instill in participants a desire to guard and respect the environment while educating others about it.

All these have greatly helped preserve the place’s exceptional beauty and physical features. Pangulasian and Lagen islands, two of the four El Nido island-resorts, took the top two spots on Green Fins’ list of Top 10 Dive Centers in Asia. Established by the United Nations Environmental Program, Green Fins encourages dive centers and snorkel operators, local communities and governments to reduce their environmental impacts.

Pangulasian was also named 2014’s Best New Hotel by Five Star Alliance. Most recently, the Asia CEO Forum named El Nido Resorts as the Hospitality Destination of the Year, noting that it has excelled in promoting Philippine tourism and exhibiting social and environmental commitment, among other qualities.

“By all indicators, it is clear that sustainability is no longer just a trend. Many forces and influential organizations are pushing that it becomes a way of life, which it is in the El Nido Resorts,” Lamasuta says. Fortunately, the collection of four island-resorts has shared the same sustainability mind-set with many local residents and hopes to see it more avidly propagated throughout Palawan and the rest of the Philippines.

m&Entertainment BusinessMirror

tourism@businessmirror.com.ph • Monday, January 5, 2014 A7

2

THIS January 13, 2010, photo shows La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church in Barcelona, Spain. The Barcelona landmark, whose construction began in 1882 and is still continuing, was designed by architect Antoni Gaudi, who died in 1926. AP

FIVE FREE THINGS IN BARCELONA:

GAUDI TO LAS RAMBLAS THIS October 4, 2010, file photo shows people walking along Ramblas Street in Barcelona, Spain. This crowded, tree-lined pedestrian mall is filled with street performers, restaurants, bars and kiosks selling souvenirs, flowers and food. AP

spilling forth mountains of colorful fruits and vegetables, rows of Spain’s famous cured hams and a few things you don’t find in the average supermarket—goat heads, pig feet and the like.

Located in the Ciutat Vella district or old city at one end of Las Ramblas, the market has been operating here in one form or another for centuries.

And while it will cost you to buy what you see, it’s worth a visit just to gawk.

THIS July 17, 2014, file photo shows people relaxing on a beach in Barcelona, Spain. AP

B

ARCELONA, Spain—Barcelona is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s beautiful, the food is fantastic and, while you can drop a lot of money on nightclubs and Michelin-starred restaurants, many of the city’s world-famous attractions are absolutely free to big spenders and backpackers alike.

■ GAUDI—If you leave Barcelona without seeing the work of Antoni Gaudi, then you haven’t really seen the city. The architect’s works include a massive church, La Sagrada Familia, still under construction

nearly 90 years after his death. This living work of art—like all Gaudi creations—is fanciful, quirky, brilliant and complex: a mass of spires, pillars and mosaics. Gaudi’s strange and whimsical park, Parc Guell, is known for its undulating tiled seats and fairy-tale turrets. Barcelona is also home to several Gaudi-designed apartment complexes, like La Pedrera, and you can even find Gaudi lampposts on Plaza Real.

■ LAS RAMBLAS—This is another essential Barcelona experience: strolling Las Ramblas. The crowded, tree-lined pedestrian mall is filled

with street performers, restaurants, bars and kiosks selling souvenirs, flowers and food. You’ll see a street mosaic by Joan Miro, a fountain and several landmarks, including theaters and the baroque Palace of the Virreina. It’s a fun place to peoplewatch, but be sure to also watch for tourist scams, overpriced goods and pickpockets.

■ LA BOQUERIA—Barcelona has dozens of markets, but La Boqueria is the most famous and the most visited by tourists—though locals shop here regularly, too. Dozens of stalls line the large iron-roofed building,

THIS May 7, 2002, file photo shows people walking through La Boqueria fish and vegetable market, off Las Ramblas Boulevard in Barcelona, Spain. AP

■ OLD CITY/GOTHIC QUARTER/JEWISH QUARTER—A Cathedral, squares, narrow streets, old city walls and other remnants of the Middle Ages live on in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter, Barri Gotic, along with Roman ruins.

Much of Barcelona’s thriving Jewish community was persecuted and driven from Spain in the 15th century during the Inquisition, but the city’s Jewish Quarter, El Call, attests to the community’s history.

It offers narrow streets, 500-yearold buildings and a synagogue in Calle Marlet, along with remnants of other traditional Jewish structures.

■ BEACH AND WATERFRONT—Barcelona is a major port city, with a scenic and lively waterfront that includes marinas for recreational vessels from sailboats to yachts. Tourists and locals alike also flock to popular beaches like Barceloneta and Bogatell. The beaches are dotted with distinctive architecture and sculpture, like Frank Gehry’s bronze fish, El Peix, the irregularly stacked blocks of L’Estel Ferit tower and the curved, whale-like silhouette of the W hotel. AP

BusinessMirror

A8

TheElderly

Monday, January 5, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Quizon family wants public to know Dolphy’s lesson

I

By Rizal Raoul Reyes | Correspondent

N his lifetime, Rodolfo Vera Quizon, known in the Philippines as Dolphy, entertained millions of Filipinos through his films that stressed love for family and faith in the individual. When he passed away in 2012, the Philippines’s King of Comedy left the important lesson for his countrymen that health is wealth.

Actor-director Eric Quizon and the rest of the Quizon clan believe they have a big responsibility in promoting a healthy lifestyle among the elderly and other Filipinos.

In a health forum in Makati City, the BS Biology graduate of Ateneo de Manila University said the Quizons want to share their lessons and experiences in dealing with the dangers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

“Dad’s generation loved to smoke.

Back then, it was fashionable and a stature to smoke. I witnessed how Dad and his friends played poker for three straight days in our house and they smoked continuously. It was like having a chimney in our house,” he said.

Quizon said it is important for the family to share the story of their famous father and to inform people of the necessity to kick the smoking habit because it has become a major killer disease in the country.

COPD is ranked as the seventh leading cause of death, with a prevalence rate of 13.8 percent in Manila. Despite the high incidence of COPD in the Philippines, only 2 percent of cases are diagnosed by doctors in contrast with its overall prevalence. The cause of this under-diagnosis and under-treatment is traced to lack of public health aware-

ness of COPD in the country.

Due to his excessive smoking, Quizon said Dolphy at 46 had to consult a doctor on his smoking problem.

“His lungs were black. Back then, he already had emphysema. Smoking did a lot of damage to his body. The problem was exacerbated by his being an asthmatic,” Quizon said.

At that time, the disease was not yet known as emphysema.

When Dolphy became an octogenarian, Quizon recalled he bought an oxygen concentrator for his father to help him in his breathing.

During his tour in the US for a series of concerts, Quizon recalled he had to request the airlines to accommodate the machine whenever they were on a tour overseas. “It was easier on local trips because everyone knew Dad,” Quizon said.

Sensing that his condition was getting worse, the Quizon family decided to get Dolphy treatment.

“It was emotional for the family. We knew there was no cure for his condition, but our father refused to be tied down and he continued to work,” he said.

Dr. Patrick Moral, vice president of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians, said COPD is characterized by persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an en-

ERIC Quizon (left) with officials of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians

hanced chronic inflammatory response in the airways and the lungs. Cigarette smoking continues to be identified as the most commonly encountered risk factor, accounting for 80 percent to 90 percent of the cases.

Other risk factors that should be taken into account include air pollution, exposure to certain dust, chemicals in the workplace, indoor air pollution from biomass cooking (i.e., firewood/charcoal), and heating in poorly ventilated dwellings. Only a few cases of COPD are caused by genetic condition.

Dr. Imelda Mateo, a member of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians, recommended that a person 40 years old and above must undergo clinical diagnosis because of the risk factors, such as exposure to noxious particles or gases.

Further, she said a COPD patient may not feel anything at the start and develop cough and sputum production during the mid-to-late stage of the disease.

Thus, high index of suspicion is needed for any person with risk factors. Spirometry is needed to make a confident diagnosis of COPD. It is one of the diagnostic tools often underutilized in the Philippines.

He said the impact of COPD is not

only confined to its ill effects on the individual’s health, but may also result in an economic and social burden that is both extensive and increasing.

In developing countries like the Philippines, Moral said COPD will certainly force two people to give up their work— the person afflicted with COPD and a family member who must now stay home to care for the sick individual. Given that people are often the most vital asset for developing nations, the indirect costs of COPD potentially pose a serious threat to their economies.

Moral said appropriate pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions are needed to reduce the symptoms, frequency and severity of exacerbations and improve health status and exercise tolerance.

“Smoking cessation is, without doubt, still the single most effective way of reducing the risk of developing COPD and delaying its progression,” she said.

“It is important to remember that for COPD patients, early detection of the disease and appropriate interventions are vital. These can help slow down its advance and facilitate the quality of life for the patient,” Moral said.

SM begins info drive on seniors’ rights

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

D

O you know your rights as a senior citizen?

To help elderly persons know their rights and privileges under the law, retail giant SM Supermalls is embarking on a nationwide information dissemination on the provisions of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act under Republic Act (RA) 9994.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal has been chosen by SM Supermalls to be its senior citizens’ ambassador to disseminate the rights and privileges of senior citizens in all its malls all over the country.

Romulo, who graced the Pamaskong Handog program of SM Supermalls recently, said some 80 percent of senior citizens in the Philippines are not aware of their full rights and benefits under the Senior Citizens Act and its expanded version.

“As a result, many are denied the rights and privileges due them,” Macalintal said, noting that one of the glaring misconceptions is the need to present a senior citizens’ card to avail themselves of the discounts and privileges.

Citing paragraph (c), Art. 5.5, Rule 3 of the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations, Macalintal said the Expanded Senior Citizens Act provides that a senior citizen may use any government-issued identification documents indicating a senior citizen’s birth date and age to avail themselves of the benefits under the law. These include their voter’s, Social Security System or Government Service Insurance System IDs, he said.

He said SM will also hand out the Pilipino version of the senior citizens law to mall tenants and their clients to enable them to better understand the law.

“SM had asked me to translate the law into Filipino for better understanding. It is SM’s way of reaching out to more senior citizens and making sure all its tenants give them according to the full provisions of the law,” he said.

During the Pamaskong Handog event, around 1,000 senior citizens from all over Metro Manila were treated to a show featuring the Tiongco Brothers. Raffle prizes and other giveways were also given to the attendees. Danny Chavez, Program Director for SM Cares Committee on Senior Citizen, said the event is their way of thanking senior citizens for their years of service to the country and their respective families.

“Senior citizens have always occupied a special place in all of SM’s operations. We hold various activities for them in all our malls and this is just one way of feting them this Christmas season,” he said.

QC Osca to try to resolve split of Tatalon elderly group

By Oliver Samson Correspondent

T Grand marshal’s children stand in for father in 126th Rose Parade T

HE late Louis Zamperini wasn’t in this year’s Rose Parade as its grand marshal, but his children represented him and said they were excited to be a part of the event.

“I can’t think of a New Year’s Day that I haven’t watched the parade,” said Luke Zamperini, 61, days before the parade.

He rode in the parade with his sister, Cynthia Zamperini-Garris.

When Zamperini was announced as the 2015 Rose Parade’s grand marshal in May, he donned a USC cap and told reporters how Angelina Jolie was not only a new friend, but a “dedicated girl” to the film Unbroken, which she directed about his life as an Olympic athlete and his harrowing experiences in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. “We met at my house.... She’s a very affectionate girl. I can’t complain too much except that I’m 97,” Louis Zamperini said, jokingly. “She started telling me, ‘Oh, I love you, Louie.’ The next day she said, ‘I love you twice as much,’” he said. “And then she started hugging me, kissing me, and I just stood there like a dummy.”

He went on to say he had heard the book about his life, on which the film is based, had changed people’s outlook on their own lives, from children as young as 10 years old to adults who were sick in hospitals. Several days later, Zamperini would land in the hospital himself, where he would spend the next seven weeks before passing away in July.

But there was no question on the part of the Tournament House, or its president, Rich Chinen, that Zamperini would remain the 2015 grand marshal, an embodiment to the parade’s theme this year—“Inspiring Stories.”

TRAVELER 9 (left), the University of Southern California equine mascot, joined the 126th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on New Year’s Day, riderless with boots reversed in the stirrups. Led by Hector Aguilar, the Tommy The Trojan mascot aboard Traveler 7, honored Rose Parade Grand Marshal Louis Zamperini, who died last year after being named grand marshal. Zamperini’s family rode in the grand marshal’s car in his stead. AP/RINGO H.W. CHIU

Chinen had read the book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption written by Laura Hillenbrand, and he knew that Zamperini was the right choice to be grand marshal.

The book tells the story of Louis Zamperini’s childhood in Torrance, California, his rise to become an Olympic athlete, and the 47 days he spent on a life raft after his plane crashed at sea.

After the Japanese military found him, he’d spend two years in prison camps. Later on, he forgave his captors.

When the elder Zamperini was selected by the Tournament House to be the 2015 grand marshal, Luke Zamperini said his

sister initially declined on behalf of her father, figuring he was occupied with other activities. When she told her father she had turned down the opportunity, he wasn’t pleased.

“He hit the ceiling,” said Luke Zamperini, and their father urged his daughter to call the Tournament House and confirm his participation. “He was so excited about it,” Luke Zamperini said.

In the days leading up to the release of the film on Christmas Day, the siblings have had an “otherworldly” experience, he said.

“We’re having a very strange year, my sister and myself, with our father going

into the hospital and leaving us; this movie coming out. How we’ve just been thrust into representing him when he’s not here,” Luke Zamperini said. “To top it off, there’s the Tournament of Roses.

If you can pinch me, I might wake up.

It’s amazing to be going there and being in the parade.”

The siblings watched the film for the first time about two weeks after their father’s passing, and they’ve attended a few screenings since.

“We’ve both come to the conclusion we are obsessed with the film now—just how beautifully it’s shot, how wonderful the soundtrack is,” he said. “There’s just this series of incredible moments.

There’s something deeper going on when you look in the eyes of those actors.”

Seeing Louis Zamperini’s story reach a wide audience, seeing the film, and talking about his dad’s life, Luke Zamperini said, “I guess it’s been really good for us. We were very close with our dad.

At 97 years old, we were really unprepared for his passing. It’s been cathartic.

It’s helped us to deal with our grieving.”

After his father’s death, Luke Zamperini told Jolie he wished his father had seen the film, and Jolie confirmed his father saw a rough cut of the movie in the hospital, with her by his side.

“She said he liked it,” Luke Zamperini said. “She could see him reflecting over this journey. I think she was really touched by watching him reflect on his life.”

Only days into the release of Unbroken and with Hillenbrand’s book still a major best-seller, Luke Zamperini and his sister are hopeful over the prospect of how far their father’s story can reach.

“We do want our dad’s story to affect as many people as it possibly can,” he said. Tribune Content Agency, LLC

news@businessmirror.com.ph

he Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) in Quezon City will look this month into the issue that split the association of senior citizens in one of its barangays, a senior official of Osca said in a recent interview.

Osca should now intervene in the discord among seniors in Barangay Tatalon, following unsuccessful attempts by barangay officials to piece their association together, after its division into two factions, Osca-Quezon City legal Officer Rene Altuna said.

In October Osca received a letter from a member of the Tatalon barangay council, asking the office to mediate between the two groups, whose gap continues to widen over internal issues, he said.

The issues are not clear yet to Osca, Altuna said. But Osca sees an angle of politics behind the rift among registered seniors in Tatalon, whose current total is over 100.

A certain senior citizen allegedly split up the association of senior citizens in the barangay in the last months, he said.

The group of senior citizens duly recognized by Osca is led by Erlinda Bañega, a former barangay captain of Tatalon, Altuna said.

He noted that the senior, who broke away with other members, did not ask authority from Osca, or at least notify the office, of his purpose prior to organizing another group.

Osca recognizes only one group of senior citizens in every barangay, Altuna said.

While the office recognizes the right of a person or group to organization, it could not allow two groups of senior citizens to co-exist in one barangay, he said.

The same policy applies to Tatalon, he said. Osca is not in favor of the breakaway and will try its best to reconsolidate the seniors.

Altuna said a directive from Mayor Herbert Bautista charges Osca to strengthen barangay senior citizens associations in the city.

Osca could not tolerate its senior citizens from fighting among themselves, while Bautista is keen on unifying them, Altuna said, adding that one could not simply form an organization of senior citizens or impose his personal will without the consent of the office, he said.

If a member, or an officer of a barangay senior citizens’ association has issue over the leadership of the group, he can escalate it to Osca, Altuna said.

The office will ask Bañega and other key persons in January to a meeting to try to look into the issue and resolve it as soon as possible, Altuna said.

The Regions BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Bohol gov wants LGUs to exploit flooding, landslide data, information

T

AGBILARAN CITY—Gov. Edgar Chatto has ordered local government units (LGUs) “to review the data and information provided by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau about flood- and landslide- prone areas,” said Liza Quirog, head of the social economic environmental management cluster.

Chatto earlier said the province of Bohol was placed under a state of calamity in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Seniang that dumped continuous heavy rains, caused flooding in some areas and left scores of damaged infrastructure and agriculture.

Also being pushed for is the “strict implementation of no-build zones to prevent future casualties” in case a typhoon or earthquake comes here, Quirog said.

“In 2015 we have to be more proactive in preparedness and this will be mobilized in the municipal LGUs up to the purok level,”Quirog quoted Chatto as saying during the weekly “Kita u gang Gobernador” news conference at the governor’s mansion on Saturday.

“Governor Chatto has directed the Bemo to monitor the compliance by all LGUs in Bohol of this directive. He asked the Department of National Resources regional office in Central Visayas to impose stricter guidelines when giving permits to applicants for the cutting of trees and other resource utilization to ensure that Bohol island ecology is maintained and has safeguarded its environment from the harsh impacts of calamities like typoon, flooding, landslides, earthquakes and similar incidents,” she said.

The Bohol Environment Management Office (Bemo) of provincial government, through officer in charge Samuel V. Racho, has earlier alerted some areas in the province vulnerable to flooding and landslides in anticipation of the impact of torrential rains brought about by typhoons before the year ends.

Here are some of the MGB’s advisory.

Barangay Sawang Poblacion, Loboc town, is rated “very high” in flood threat advisory issued by the Geohazard Mapping and Assessment teams of the MGB 7 that conducted flood and landslide assessment of areas in the province. Barangay Bonbon and Poblacion Norte Clarin town are the only areas having a “high” in coastal-flooding vulnerability, the MGB said.

Under the “high” rating of flooding susceptibility are the following barangays: Agape, Alegria, Camayaan, Canlasid, Gotozon, Jimilian, Oy, Poblacion Ondol, Ugpong, Bonbon Upper, Villaflor, all in Loboc town; Tubuan (with its newly formed lake after the earthquake), Loon; Guiwanon, Tubigon; Bayongan, Bugang, Kabungahan, San Isidro, all in San Miguel, Bohol. Barangays Bagumbayan, Bahian, Cabadiangan,Calunasan Norte, Candabong, Quinoguitan and Tigbao, all in Loboc are considered “moderate” in flooding occurrence.

Oil companies order 1st 2015 price rollback

T

By Lenie Lectura

HIS year’s first fuel-price rollback takes place today, January 5. Oil firms announced separately that they will implement a price rollback of gasoline products by P0.95 per liter and P0.80 per liter for diesel.

Petron Corp., PTT Philippines and Phoenix Petroleum said in separate advisories that the slash in pump prices reflects movements in the international oil market.

Petron will also implement a P1.25-per-liter cut in kerosene on

the same day. The slash in pump prices happens at 12:01 a.m. for Petron and PTT, while Phoenix will implement at 6 a.m.

Other oil firms are expected to follow suit. The drop in the price of local petroleum products reflects

global oil prices, which have been falling due to the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to maintain current production levels despite a glut in the market. The estimated oversupply is 1.5 million to 2 million barrels daily.

Experts said this is seen as a bid

by Opec to corner market share at a time when US and other non-Opec countries are gaining share with the discovery of new oil fields and shalegas deposits.

Following a period of relative stability above $100 per barrel, oil prices have plunged since mid-2014, falling by more than $40 per barrel to five-year lows.

Global benchmark Brent crude oil stood at $56.42 a barrel.

Opec, which includes Saudi Arabia, declined to restrict oil output in November despite pressure from its member-nations.

Correspondent

L

EGAZPI CITY—About 150 casual employees are expected to lose their jobs at the Department of Public Works (DPWH) and Highways in Albay’s FirstEngineering District beginning this January.

A 55-year-old mother who asked not to be identified said she has a civil-service eligibility but remained on “job order (JO)” for having no connection despite the rationalization program that offered attractive early retirement benefits and massive appointments for permanent positions for civil-service eligibles.

She said that after 30 years in service, she would be terminated for

P

By Joey Pavia Correspondent

C

ITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—Businessman Levy Laus, Pampanga’s pioneer dealer of top car brands, said the total sales of vehicles increased by at least 30 percent last year compared to 2013. In a recent interview with journalists, Laus said that “2014 was a good year for business in the country,” notably in North and Central Luzon where most of his car dealerships are based. Regional government officials said there are some 25 million residents in the regions or a quarter of the reported total population of the Philippines.

Laus, chairman and CEO of the Laus Group of Companies, is expecting a “brighter future” for the vehicle-dealership businesses in the entire country.

He is projecting a 25-percent increase in total sales in 2015. Laus said the “sustained and increased”

sales of vehicles could be attributed to the “improving agricultural and aquaculture businesses, especially on the countryside.”

He said the people’s purchasing power was fueled by the remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Pampanga, host to most of the offices and car dealerships of Laus, is one of the top producers of OFWs compared to other provinces, government reports showed. There are 81 provinces in the country.

From January to October 2014, the personal remittances of overseas Filipinos climbed to $22 billion, 6.7 percent higher than the same period in 2013, according to the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis (Idea) Inc. For the first 10 months of 2014, cash remittances reached $19.9 billion, 6.2 percent higher than a year earlier, IDEA added. Cash remittances are coursed through formal means, such as banks and registered money-transfer outlets.

NHA gives 439 more houses to ComVal typhoon victims Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—A total of 439 more houses were built to replace houses damaged by Typhoon Pablo two years ago in Montevista, Compostela Valley.

The houses were constructed where the damaged houses were in various villages in this highway town. The National Housing Authority (NHA) built the houses on site following the certification by the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau that the areas were away from hazard-prone locations.

The finished housing units were in Barangay Bankerohan Norte (22 units), Barangay Bankerohan Sur (22), Barangay Banglasan (14), Barangay Camansi (22), Barangay New Calape (46), Barangay Tapia (83), Barangay Dauman (109), Barangay Banagbanag (44) and Barangay Poblacion (77).

The construction of the houses was coordinated with the Provincial Engineers’ Office. Earlier the NHA turned over 668 houses in Monkayo, Compostela Valley. The NHA was assigned to finish all the 11,000 houses in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental by March this year.

Pampanga solon: Prospects bright for charters for Clark, 2 other international airports

By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

Baguio artist creates Pope Francis dashboard bust Renowed Baguio-based artist Peter Pinder puts the finishing

touches on his sculptures of Pope Francis, which he calls “Pope Francis, in motion with emotion.” The 6.5-inch fiberglass resin sculpture is a dashboard creation, which sees the pope bowing his head while his right hand makes the blessing gesture. Pinder said he is looking for a plastic factory to have the bust mass-produced for the general public. He said he likes “this pope” and hopes all vehicles, private and public, will display this pope’s sculpture on all their dashboards. The sculpture is also available in cold bronze in limited edition. MAU VICTA

“lack of residency” in the province.

“Who would accept me for employment at this point in time? Like most of my fellow old ‘JOs,’ we don’t expect any retirement or separation benefits, just a continuance in office until we reach our senior-citizen status,” she said. Former Albay First District engineer Teodoro Castillo confirmed the termination of 150 casual employees who stand to lose their job for the simple reason they are not residents of the province’s First District. This is ridiculous,” Castillo said.

He said these employees whom he refused to terminate during his one-year stint at the Albay First Engineering District would finally find themselves jobless starting this month.

He said these soon-to-be-terminated employees would be replaced by residents from the First District as allegedly demanded by Rep. Edcel “Greco” Lagman Jr. The employees were among those retained after the regular Albay Engineering District, which once covered the province’s three congressional districts, was split into three.

The third engineering district with an office in Ligao City was created in 2001 through the efforts of then Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, while the second engineering district was created in 2007 through the efforts of Rep. Al Francis Bichara.

During the separation of the second and third district engineering offices, employees residing in Albay were given the chance to choose

the office where they would be stationed. Castillo said the demand to terminate JOs and emergency hires in his office was made by Lagman infrastructure coordinator Rose Bombales, owner of DSB Construction and Supply. Bombales was a former DPWH JO who resigned and became a successful contractor.

Castillo said he did not heed the pressure to terminate the employees in a meeting with Bombales sometime in October last year.

Last November Castillo was ordered reassigned in Masbate with district engineer Simeon Arias as his replacement. A section chief said many of his JOs of more than 15 years in office are trained and experienced and to replace them with new ones would be a costly undertaking.

Yes for Peace group seeks pope’s help to end armed conflicts in Philippines LARIDEL, Bulacan—A peace advocacy group has turned to a formidable “Ambassador of Peace” for help in their call to Philippine leaders and armed rebel groups to seriously take the collective call of the more than 10 million “KaBayanihans of Yes for Peace” to resolve the conflicts.

In an open letter to Pope Francis, the “Yes for Peace-Bayanihan

Pampanga bizman sees brighter PHL car trade

By Manuel T. Cayon

150 casual DPWH Albay employees expected to lose jobs this year

By Manly M. Ugalde

Monday, January 5, 2015 A9

para sa Kapayapaan, Kaunlaran at Kasaganahan [KKK]” informed the Holy Pontiff that 11 million Filipinos have responded to the peace group’s call for the permanent cessation of hostilities between the government and all armed groups; conduct peace negotiations here in the Philippines instead of abroad; and bayanihan (collective involvement and participation) for the implementation of

programs and projects to be agreed upon in open and participatory peace talks. Ernesto Alcanzare, lead organizer of the Yes for Peace-Bayanihan para sa KKK, also informed Pope Francis that “notably, while we have reached out and convinced a substantial number of our countrymen, most of whom [90 percent] are Catholics, to respond to our call for bayanihan and take initial steps toward an era

of peace, progress and prosperity through leadership and voluntary efforts of thousands of public and private elementary and high-school teachers nationwide, these calls from millions of ordinary citizens still have to be listened to and seriously considered by those engaged in a bitter decades-old internal armed conflicts that they are waging in the name of the Filipino people.” PNA

C

LARK FREEPORT—The prospects are bright for the passage this year of proposed bills that seek to grant separate charters for the international airports in Clark, Aklan and Davao, said Rep. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao of First District of Pampanga. However, Guiao could not say with confidence if President Aquino would sign the legislations once they get enacted into laws considering the infirm position of the Chief Executive on the matter, particularly in the case of the Clark International Airport (CIA), in the last five years of his administration.

The House Committee on Transportation, chaired by Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, is now finalizing the draft measures for submission to the House plenary for deliberation and approval during this year’s first quarter, Guiao said in last Friday’s media forum, “Balitaan,” held at the Bale-Balita (House of News) here organized by the Capampangan in Media Inc. (Cami) in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. and Social Security System.

Over at the Senate, Guiao said Sen. Bam Aquino has committed to champion the passage of the measures that were patterned after the charters governing the operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila and the Mactan International Airport (MIA) in Cebu. The passage of these measures would allow the three airports to gain independence from the Executive Department in so far as charting their financial and operational policies, like the Naia and MIA, except in sourcing funds for capital investments. The neophyte solon said that at present, Clark

and the two other airports have to abide by the policies enunciated and approved by the Executive Department through the Department of Transportation and Communications which oversees their operations. Guiao said a proposal to integrate CIA’s operations with Naia under a “one airport, two systems” program has been derailed by pressures from certain business interests that favor the retention of the Manila-based Naia as the premier gateway in Luzon. He said “Logic dictates that the two airports could operate as one to bolster the country’s quest into becoming a major air-transport hub in the Asia-Pacific region.”

He said that if the CIA is operating as an authority, it could easily forge an operational alliance with Naia or other local airports sans politics and pressures from vested interests.

Meanwhile, the execution of plans for the continued improvement and expansion of CIA’s capacities has been consistently delayed even in the face of pronouncements of support and allocation of funds as in the approved 2015 national budget, where P1.2 billion has been earmarked for the proposed construction of a terminal for budget airlines.

“These problems will definitely cease to confront Clark airport and the two other airports once they get their charters to operate,” Guiao said, adding he is confident that the measures will see passage in the two chambers this year.

But he said while he is upbeat on the approval of the said proposed bills in the legislature he could not say with confidence that President Aquino would sign the approved measures into law. When asked to explain, the lawmaker simply retorted: “Look at what has transpired in the last five years of this administration.”

Opinion BusinessMirror

A10 Monday, January 5, 2015

Editor: Alvin I. Dacanay

editorial

Watch the Philippine peso

W

HILE the Philippines continued to celebrate the New Year last Friday, the rest of the world went back to business. We may have seen the financial and asset markets set the tone for 2015.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) of the New York Stock Exchange ended the session slightly up, gaining about 10 points.

However, as in any game, the final score may not be as important as how the game progressed. The DJIA started last Friday gaining over 100 points, then it went down 200 points. Leaving 2014 behind did not mean that the stock markets left behind the trading volatility that we have seen over the last couple of months.

Brent crude oil was subjected to further selling, as the price continued its fall after breaking a key level—$57 a barrel. The closing price on the first day of trading in 2015 was $56.42, a 1.42-percent drop from the previous close.

However big that story is, a bigger one is found in the currency market.

The US Dollar Index (USDX) is a measure of the value of the American dollar relative to a basket of foreign currencies. The weighting is 57 percent to the euro; 14 percent to the Japanese yen; 12 percent to the British pound; and the balance against the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona.

The USDX closed at 91.47, the highest since November 2005. We may be seeing the beginning of an upside reversal in a downtrend that started in 2000.

The Japanese economy is a disaster area with little chance of recovering. The country has reached a point where it is mathematically impossible for it to pay its government debt. The European Union is facing uncertainty, with the German economy weakening because of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

The key to the Philippine economy in 2015 will be the peso.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. and his team have done an impressive job in the last few years managing the peso exchange rate, but the real test will come in 2015.

Tetangco’s greatest strength is his understanding that using the immense power of the central bank is like riding a tiger. So far, the BSP has ridden the tiger well. The BSP also recognizes the need to let market forces have the strongest voice in determining the exchange rate.

However, a too-weak peso would make us lose the advantage we got from lower oil prices. It may be difficult to keep the peso steady this year against the very strong US dollar.

We must watch the peso, as it will forecast both the movement of our economy and stock market.

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

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

HOM

www.businessmirror.com.ph

REGIONAL OFFICES

n DXQR -93dot5 HOME RADIO CAGAYAN DE ORO STATION MANAGER: JENNIFER B. YTING E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecdo@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Archbishop Hayes corner Velez Street, Cagayan de Oro City CONTACT NOs.: (088) 227-2104/ 857-9350/ 0922-811-3997 n DYQC -106dot7 HOME RADIO CEBU STATION MANAGER: JULIUS A. MANAHAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homecebu@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Ground Floor, Fortune Life Building, Jones Avenue, Cebu City CONTACT NOs.: (032) 253-2973/ 234-4252/ 416-1067/ 0922-811-3994 n DWQT -89dot3 HOME RADIO DAGUPAN STATION MANAGER: RAMIR C. DE GUZMAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiodagupan@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Orchids Hotel Building, Rizal Street, Dagupan City

CONTACT NOs.: (075) 522-8209/ 515-4663/ 0922-811-4001 n DXQM – 98dot7 HOME RADIO DAVAO STATION MANAGER: RYAN C. RODRIGUEZ E-MAIL ADDRESS: home98dot7@gmail.com ADDRESS: 4D 3rd Floor, ATU Plaza, Duterte Street, Davao City CONTACT NOs.: (082) 222-2337/ 221-7537/ 0922-811-3996 n DXQS -98dot3 HOME RADIO GENERAL SANTOS STATION MANAGER: AILYM C. MATANGUIHAN E-MAIL ADDRESS: homegensan@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Ground Floor, Dimalanta Building, Pioneer Avenue, General Santos City CONTACT NOs.: (083) 301-2769/ 553-6137/ 0922-811-3998 n DYQN -89dot5 HOME RADIO ILOILO STATION MANAGER: MARIPAZ U. SONG E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeiloilo@yahoo.com ADDRESS: 3rd Floor, Eternal Plans Building,

Ortiz Street, Iloilo City CONTACT NOs.: (033) 337-2698/ 508-8102/ 0922-811-3995 n DWQA -92dot3 HOME RADIO LEGAZPI STATION MANAGER: CLETO PIO D. ABOGADO E-MAIL ADDRESS: homeradiolegazpi@ yahoo.com ADDRESS: 4th Floor, Fortune Building, Rizal St., Brgy. Pigcale, Legazpi City CONTACT NOs.: (052) 480-4858/ 820-6880/ 0922-811-3992 n DWQJ -95dot1 HOME RADIO NAGA STATION MANAGER: JUSTO MANUEL P. VILLANTE JR. EMAIL ADDRESS: homenaga@yahoo.com ADDRESS: Eternal Garden Compound, Balatas Road, Naga City CONTACT NOs.: (054) 473-3818/ 811-2951/ 0922-811-3993

Printed by BROWN MADONNA Press, Inc.–San Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila

PCSO extends over ₧4B for charity assistance in 2014 Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

I

N line with its mandate to serve the people by providing medical- and health care-related assistance, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) extended over P4 billion to more than 100,000 individuals in 2014.

The PCSO’s flagship service, the Individual Medical Assistance Program (Imap), subsidizes the hospital and other medical-treatment (such as dialysis and chemotherapy) bills of qualified beneficiaries.

After assessing the requests we received last year, we raised the daily nationwide assistance amount from P4.5 million to P18 million. Over P4 billion was released for PCSO programs in 2014.

The PCSO raises funds for its charity programs through the operation of the popular Lotto and other games.

Last year revenues from the PCSO’s games, from January to November, reached P29.614 billion; revenues for the entire year will definitely exceed P30 billion.

The charity agency’s charter prescribes the allocation of revenues: 55 percent to the Prize Fund (which goes back to players as prizes); 30 percent to the Charity Fund (which supports the Imap and other programs); and 15 percent to the Operating Fund (the PCSO, as a self-sustaining government-owned and -controlled corporation, does not receive any funds from the national government for its operations).

Also in 2014, the PCSO opened seven additional branches, bringing its national branch network to 42, from 25 when the current PCSO board of directors assumed office in 2010.

More provincial branches were established starting in 2012, with the help of local government officials

who offered free office space to the PCSO in existing local-governmentunit buildings such as provincialcapitols buildings, sports complexes and others.

This move saves public funds and extends access to the PCSO’s services to our countrymen in remote areas through the synergy between government agencies.

Among the other PCSO projects that started in 2014 were the liver transplant tie-up with the National Kidney Transplant Institute and the Department of Health (the PCSO already has an existing kidney-transplant project with the same agencies).

Under the Imap, qualified indigent patients may receive up to P1.5 million in assistance for liver-transplant surgery, which costs twice as much, if not more, at private hospitals.

Another initiative that the PCSO began developing last year is the “help desk” concept. To facilitate the processing of Imap requests with regard to hospitalization, the PCSO will be establishing help desks in hospitals manned by social workers who will perform request assessment and processing; compute and account for benefits, such as Philippine Health Insur-

Here’s what economics gets right

By Noah Smith Bloomberg

C

RITICIZING economics for not being scientific enough is a crime of which many of us—I’ve done it—are guilty. But there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Alex Rosenberg and Tyler Curtain, writing in the New York Times, have done it the wrong way.

Here are Rosenberg and Curtain: Over time, the question of why economics has not (yet) qualified as a science has become an obsession among theorists, including philosophers of science like us.... The trouble with economics is that it lacks the most important of science’s characteristics—a record of improvement in predictive range and accuracy.... In fact, when it comes to economic theory’s track record, there isn’t much predictive success to speak of at all.

Economics doesn’t have predictive success, eh? This is something a lot of people claim, but once you look beyond the well-publicized fact that economists can’t predict recessions, you can see that the claim just isn’t true. Economics can predict plenty of things.

My favorite example is the story of Daniel McFadden and the BART. In 1972 San Francisco introduced a new train: the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The authorities predicted that 15 percent of area commuters would use the system. But, using money from a grant provided

by the National Science Foundation, University of California, Berkeley, economist McFadden and his team of researchers predicted that usage would be only 6.3 percent.

The actual number? 6.2 percent.

Now call me crazy, but I call that a predictive success. The models McFadden et al. used to make the prediction were clever extensions of simple utility theory—the oldest trick in the economic playbook.

Those models, called “random-utility discrete choice models,” have been applied in a huge number of areas, including product development, pricing decisions, marketing, energy usage and environmentalimpact studies. In 2000 McFadden won a Nobel Prize for his efforts.

Want another example? Look at auction theory. Google may have an excellent search algorithm, but its real money-maker is the system by which it auctions its advertisement space. Those auctions are conducted with a setup known as a generalized second-price auction, developed relatively recently by economists

such as Hal Varian (now employed

by Google). That auction setup, like all others, is based on game theory—another basic element of the economics toolbox. Auction theory is focused on predicting which types of auctions most reliably lead to profitable trades. It is more and more crucial to the profits of online-services companies, which is why many tech start-ups are now hiring economists.

Want yet another example?

So-called gravity models of international trade, do a very good job of predicting how much trade will occur between any two countries, given the size of their economies and the distance between them.

In other words, Rosenberg and Curtain are just plain wrong. Economics theory has plenty of predictive successes.

Why do Rosenberg and Curtain get it wrong? Part of the fault is their own—they just didn’t bother to do their homework. But part is the fault of economists, who don’t do a very good job of trumpeting their predictive successes to the world.

Some economists still defend the idea that economic theory doesn’t need to make predictions in order to be useful, and instead merely has to give people a framework for thinking about the world.

That argument hasn’t carried much water with the general public, and rightly so. Without empirical support, you can’t really be confi-

ance Corp. and senior citizens’ discounts; and pass their recommendations to the PCSO. The charity agency will then verify the assessment made by the hospital and issue the appropriate assistance.

This will save time, effort and money on the part of the beneficiaries and their loved ones, and will also eliminate fixers, improve the screening of fake documents and streamline the entire process.

The PCSO also marked institutional milestones last year. The charity agency celebrated its 80th anniversary last October 2014, and broke ground in September 2014 at its property on Manila’s San Marcelino Street for its permanent headquarters that will be completed hopefully within the next couple of years.

As we enter the new year, we assure the public that the PCSO is committed to continuing its mission to provide and assist according to its mandate, as a beacon of hope to our fellow Filipinos during their time of need.

Happy new year to all!

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

dent that a theory is a good framework for thinking about the world.

It’s likely that economists using bad theories will make bad policy recommendations, no matter how organized or internally consistent those economists’ mental frameworks.

But detractors of economics tend to ignore the waning of the boom in economic-theory-for-theory’ssake. Theory papers peaked as a percentage of the econ literature sometime in the 1980s, and are now down to less than a fifth of all papers published in top journals.

As University of Chicago economist John Cochrane puts it: Empirical economics has become very fact-oriented in the last 20 years…. The stars in their 30s are scraping data off the Internet.

So Rosenberg and Curtain’s characterization of economics looks like a caricature. Connection of theory to reality is becoming more and more important in economics, and predictive success exists in many areas.

The one notable exception, of course, is in the area of macroeconomics. In terms of predicting booms and busts, economics is still looking for its first big success. But if you think that predicting recessions is economists’ only mission in life, think again.

E-mail Noah Smith atnsmith150@ bloomberg.net

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Our unrealistic expectations of public figures

By Christine M. Flowers Philadelphia Daily News (TNS)

A

FEW years ago, Charles Barkley got into a lot of trouble for making the audacious observation that sports figures didn’t need to be role models. Legions of fans and professional journalists (who are simply glorified fans with a byline) were outraged at this attack on the fundamental principle that the person who jumps the highest must aim the highest; the person who tackles the running back must also be able to tackle life’s problems with grace; the person who hits it out of the park must also swing for the cheap seats in real life.

The problem is not that we look to these people for perfection when they take off their uniforms. It’s that we expect anyone to be our proxies for perfection, as if hitching our ordinary wagons to these extraordinary stars will pull us up with them, to heady heights.

That’s stupid, and it’s nonsense, and it makes the rest of us down here at the base of the pedestal lazy.

I get the importance of having heroes, the people who inspire us to cultivate the best potential within us and nurture our better angels. I personally have many heroes—from my mother Lucy to my favorite law professor Howard; from the priest who counseled my father while he was dying to Lynne Abraham. Each of them has presented me with a reason to stand back, quietly, in awe.

But these are personal contacts, people who have actually touched my hand and my heart, and who occupy a pedestal built of my own experiences and aspirations. To look at an athlete or actress who may or may not be pulling down an exorbitant salary and demand that he or she match the contours of our dreams is not only a waste of time, but also dangerous. The danger comes in how this type of hero worship dehumanizes both the object of affection and the person who blindly adores. That was Barkley’s point, not that we should give public figures a pass for being flawed, but that we shouldn’t abandon our own moral compasses and look to them for true north.

The flip side of hero worship is the anger that comes from dashed expectations. When the people we’ve anointed to carry our standards in sports, in the arts, in science, politics, music, the law and all the other fields where excellence is appreciated fall short of the mark, we turn on them with a passion. We do this out of a misplaced sense of betrayal, as if their failures somehow reflect poorly on us. It’s the exact opposite of what we’ve been taught to treasure as Americans: individuality. And when we feel betrayed, we push back.

Recently on a television program I participated in, the discussion turned to Kathleen Kane. Someone suggested that the fact that the first female attorney general in Pennsylvania was really mucking things up could have unfortunate repercussions for women seeking elected office. After digesting that twisted

logic (which all but commanded we in the sisterhood politely ignore her absolute and abject failure), I offered the opinion that Kane was being justifiably criticized and that it was gross incompetence, not misogyny, at the root of the attacks. After the show aired, I had people e-mailing to tell me that I was either (1) a traitor to the ovaries for publicly attacking a fellow female when we needed to stand together behind this “role model”, or (2) an idiot for not going a step further to say this incompetent lawyer had made it harder for all women to move to the next level.

How depressing. Why should the inferior performance of one woman elicit such divergent, but passionate views in people? The answer is obvious: Kane has stopped being an attorney general, but has, instead, become The First Female Attorney General, complete with Wonder Woman bracelets and administrative bustier.

She can’t just make a mistake and pay the normal consequences. She must be protected from the patriarchy by some shallow feminists, or burned at the stake to prevent other uppity women from considering running for office because, like any human, they might make a mess of it.

The same philosophy was at play when Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall as the second black man to sit in the Supreme Court. As a “symbol”, he was supposed to make the right people proud of him. But because he had his own ideas, and these ideas took him out of liberal-icon territory, he became the most reviled US High Court justice in modern history. Blacks had invested in this High Court seat with their hopes and expectations, and this particular man’s conservative views felt like a personal betrayal.

Which leads me to ask: What is the debt he owes, and to whom? It’s the same question I ask about Kane, who should be permitted to be mediocre without being protected by some women (something Thomas never got from the black community) or vilified by some men.

If we stopped trying to live our lives through the accomplishments of public figures, many of whom look and sound like us, we’d learn how to recognize the heroic character of those we might actually know, and the heroic potential within ourselves. Or, perhaps, the honesty to accept our ordinary humanity.

Sir Charles scored a three-pointer on this one.

Da difference Teddy Locsin Jr.

P

Free fire

OPE Francis has made a virtue of necessity. “God is good to me,” he said. “He has bestowed on me a healthy dose of unawareness, and I just do what I have to do.”

Once he sets his mind on something—and that is always after a long and careful consideration of the pros and cons of it; it is never a bit of whimsy or impetuosity; as the leading Jesuit practitioner of Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, which helps one achieve achingly clear discernment—yes, once he sets his mind on something, he just goes and does it. And, of course, he expects everyone else to join him and do it as well as he does.

This made him deeply unpopular with the Jesuits. At the same time, it earned him their deep admiration.

So much so that, after his election as pope, the Jesuits who had studied and, worse, labored under him (e.g., stepping into pigsties and feeding the pigs, among other disgusting chores the Argentine provincial loved doing himself) said among themselves, “Now why didn’t we think of that?”— that is, why didn’t they work to get their provincial elected pope so as to get him out of their hair?

That outcome would combine their profound admiration and deep love for him, and their utter dislike for his get-down-andliterally dirty approach to mission work among the poor and their fervent wish that he would go away and give them some rest.

“From the start,” Francis said, “I said to myself, ‘Jorge, don’t change; just [continue] being yourself. To change at your age would be to make a fool of yourself.”

I agree. It is smarter to go on being yourself, since you got elected— or famous or rich—on that basis: being yourself. That way, there will be no surprises with a complete personality change.

Plus, staying yourself takes less effort. It spares you the awkwardness of suddenly acting differently. Indeed, Francis has remained “Jorge”, the cardinal who had the ear of the Argentine junta because his antiMarxist credentials were impeccable, but who nagged the generals to release every abducted person they wanted to torture and kill who was brought to his attention. He would plead, yell and quarrel with the junta generals. One time he threw up after a general left. The man had made a sickening impression of pure evil on him. Jorge got quite a few people out of the vulpine clutches of the military, but if the disappeared stayed unaccounted for longer than a week, they were as good as dead, probably drugged and thrown out of helicopters after a series of unspeakable tortures, usually with acetylene torches.

Mario Cuomo’s airborne lesson in tolerance

By Albert R. Hunt Bloomberg

I

T was 1983, and the newly elected governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, was flying on a small state plane from upstate down to the New York City. Tim Russert, his brilliant young press secretary, and I, a political journalist, were with him.

He was speaking that evening to a gay-lesbian dinner in New York City, and cracked that he and Bella Abzug—the bombastic, leftwing former member of the United States Congress—would be the only straight people in the room.

This was 1983. As the conversation proceeded, I acknowledged that, while liberal on racial matters and women’s rights, I sometimes

felt uncomfortable on gay issues.

Cuomo, who died last Thursday at 82, could be an overpowering presence. At 30,000 feet over New York state, he got a very serious look, put one of his giant hands on my arm and noted that my wife and I had just had our first child, a boy.

“Every time you think about this, ask the questions: Should that boy be able to teach school? Should he

Monday, January 5, 2015 A11

be denied a job because of his sexual orientation? Should he be able to join the Army? Should he enjoy the same education and housing opportunities that you enjoy? Should he be an automatic delegate to the Democratic or Republican conventions?”

The issue then became pretty clear, even the one negative: No, he shouldn’t be an automatic convention delegate.

Cuomo went on for about 15 minutes about the virtues of diversity, God’s creations and our responsibilities here on earth. It was powerful.

Of the thousands of politicians I’ve talked to over the years, there are only few who are capable of leaving that mark.

Cuomo was the most dynamic

and charismatic Democratic politician of the 1980s and early 1990s.

His speech at the 1984 San Francisco convention was a clarion call for Democrats to fight what he called the political Darwinism of Republican policies that left many behind. When Cuomo, a devout Catholic, spoke at the University of Notre Dame, he set the model for progressive Democrats who championed assistance for the poor and might oppose the death penalty, but rejected the Catholic Church’s rigid position against abortion.

He liked to say politicians campaigned in poetry and governed in prose. His poetry is better remembered than his prose.

In contemporary America there

One Jesuit suggested that Jorge had turned him in by calling him an entregador, which English speakers translate as “traitor”. But anyone with a smattering of Spanish knows that it perfectly describes the future pope: someone who played one side against another in order to do what good he could in the process. That Jesuit resented how Jorge got him and so many other liberation theologians out of torture cells and into European exile—never American, for some reason; maybe the United States’s support of the junta?—without once making a public statement against the cruelties from which he had rescued so many people. But you see, if he spoke out, he could not have rescued them.

So, indeed, Jorge stayed the way he was: a guy who never took “no” for an answer and gave as good as he took, so that when he repeatedly encountered a tiresome poor woman who kept coming back for help to feed and clothe her ragged family, he was about to drive her away when he thought better of it, ran up to his room, snatched the blanket from his bed, went to the kitchen, put together a food package and gave both items to her. Charity, like hunger, he concluded, just can’t wait. He told her first to come back the next day so he would have time to prepare something suitable for her needs. She responded, “But I am hungry now.”

Jorge almost got elected pope instead of Joseph Ratzinger in April 2005. There had been talk in the Curia of electing an Argentine pope because the Argentines seemed to have carried out the official Church dogma ignored by the popular

Western media: to go all-out for the poor not like Marxists for the sake of philosophical vindication, but like Catholics, since Pope Leo XIII declared religious war on capitalism—one that was carried out by succeeding popes, each in his own style—though none so boldly as the quiet Blessed Paul VI, who laid down the framework for liberation theology minus Marx, since Christ said it all well before him. Fighting a war on wealth was a Christian duty; for the sake of the poor and not for anything else; certainly not to prove Marxist theory, or any other theory. Fighting a war against poverty was as much for one’s own salvation as for that of the poor because Christ, who forgave every sin—including murder, treachery, adultery and collecting taxes—said there is no salvation without acts of charity toward the poor.

At Benedict XVI’s election Jorge reportedly came in a close second, so his ultimate election following the early resignation of Benedict was no conspiracy to install and entrench what has been Catholic teaching since the 19th century: that the poor, being last, shall come first; and the rich, formerly first, shall now take the rear. Jorge was next in line and top of mind with the Curia, whose composition had not changed when Benedict resigned.

But note, however, that Francis thanked God for a healthy dose of unawareness. Unawareness.

Not cluelessness. Unawareness and cluelessness are two different things. What happened to the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 was not a failure of awareness, but the triumph of cluelessness as to how trains work.

hasn’t been such a powerful national politician who never ran for president. Twice he probably could have won the Democratic nomination, in 1988 and 1992, but chose not to run.

He also turned down a chance to sit on the US Supreme Court.

Cuomo was such a quintessential New Yorker that he never would have been comfortable elsewhere. He waged titanic races against Ed Koch, who died last year, losing for mayor of New York City and then winning for governor, where he served three terms.

Even after he was defeated for a fourth term, he always seemed a bit larger than life. He was a pretty good baseball player in college (at Saint John’s) and in the semipros,

and could regale with those stories.

He was fiercely proud of his Italian heritage and, for many years, refused to watch The Godfather movies, charging that they were an insult to the Italian-American community. He later relented.

He lived to see his children achieve success, including his son, Andrew, who was sworn in for a second term as governor of New York last Thursday. Andrew possesses his father’s forcefulness and toughness, but little of Mario’s charm.

That night more than 30 years ago, Russert and I went out and had more than a few drinks and told political stories, but I never forget the lesson on tolerance in that plane that day.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, January 5, 2015

GOVT TO RELAX NEGATIVE LIST FURTHER–ESGUERRA

By Cai U. Ordinario

ESGUERRA: “Some of the professions that have reciprocity arrangements [will be allowed]. There are professions which actually have reciprocity provisions that are included in the ninth [negative list]. ”

T

he national government is again in the process of revising the foreign investment negative list to allow more foreigners to practice their professions in the Philippines.

The Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL) restricts the professional practice and investments of foreign individuals and companies in the country.

“Some of the professions that have reciprocity arrangements [will be allowed]. There are professions which actually have reciprocity provisions that are included in the ninth [RFINL]. In the 10th [RFINL], this was relegated to a footnote,” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Deputy Director General for Planning Emmanuel Esguerra told the BusinessMirror.

Esguerra explained that these reciprocity provisions involve bilateral and regional arrangements that the Philippines have entered into.

Under these agreements, Esguerra said, Filipino and foreign nationals can practice their professions in the countries where the agreements are in force.

Esguerra said there are about 33 professions listed in the RFINL, but some of these professions are already covered mostly by bilateral agreements that have reciprocity provisions. “Of course, you might say that from a long-term point of view [this change is] merely cosmetic; but it matters to the potential [professionals] who come in,” the Neda official said.

This change will be made in the 10th RFINL, which is up for discussion and approval at the next Neda Board meeting.

Socioeconomic Planning Sec-

retar y A rsenio M. Ba lisacan earlier said the next meeting of the Neda Board is scheduled in the third week of January, after the pope’s official visit to the Philippines.

A few years ago former World Bank Philippines Country Director Bert Hofman said the country’s RFINL was “too long” and that the government should work toward shortening the list to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI).

The length of the RFINL points to the number of restrictions on foreign professional practice and investment to uphold the provisions on the 1987 Constitution and protect local professionals and businesses.

The 1987 Constitution limits foreign ownership of certain activities to only 40 percent. It is touted as one of the major reasons for the country’s low level of FDI. In a study released by state-owned think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies last year, the Philippines’s FDI increased to only $2.8 billion in 2012, while that of other Asean five countries were significantly higher.

The Philippines’s highest FDI level was recorded in 2006, when FDI reached $2.921 billion, and in 2007 at $2.916 billion. The lowest FDI level was recorded in 2001, at $195 million; and in 2003, at $491 million.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

FIT-All payments to start in January billing–ERC

C

By Lenie Lectura

onsumers are to pay, starting this month, an additional P0.406 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in electricity rates, representing so-called feed-in tariff allowance (FIT-All).

The rate will be collected from electricity end-users and will be reflected in their electricity bills as a separate item, as mandated by the Renewable Energy Act of

2008 (RA 9513).

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issued an order in October last year provisionally approving the application of the National Trans-

mission Corp. (Transco) to collect FIT-All payments.

“The commission hereby provisionally approves the FIT-All of P0.0406/kWh, effective in the January 2015 billing of all on-grid electricity consumers,” the ERC said in its 27page decision released on Thursday.

The FIT-All serves as an incentive for renewable-energy (RE) developers, such as those operating wind, run-of-river hydro, solar and biomass facilities. ÍThe mechanism was established pursuant to the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, which aims to spur the development of green power sources, which have been hampered by high investment

costs and limited markets compared with conventional generating plants.

Benefits of FIT

While the FIT system effectively asks consumers to pay a few extra centavos for the electricity they consume, the scheme does encourage the construction of more RE plants down the line.

Industry experts pointed out that RE plants help temper prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) as it pushes out the more expensive plants, like diesel, since RE prices are not subject to the volatility of the market.

Continued on A2

LOW INFLATION REASON FOR FED TO KEEP RATES

L

ow inflation and the lack of clear signals that prices will head higher are compelling reasons for the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) to exercise patience on raising interest rates, a United States central banker said.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren, in the text of a speech at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association on Sunday in Boston, also said low inflation warrants allowing the labor market to tighten further.

“I believe the continued very low core inflation and wage growth numbers provide ample justification for patience,” said Rosengren, who next votes on the Federal Open Market Committee

(FOMC) in 2016. “A patient approach to policy is prudent until we can more confidently expect that inflation will return to the Fed’s 2-percent target over the next several years.” The policysetting FOMC last month dropped its pledge to hold rates low for a “considerable time” and replaced it with an assurance that it would be “patient” before lifting borrowing costs for the first time since 2006.

Fed Chairman Janet Yellen told reporters this means no move for at least the next two meetings, focusing investor attention on the April 28 and 29 FOMC as the first gathering at which it might raise rates held near zero since December 2008.

Peso. . . Continued from A1 “Nevertheless, we expect the peso to remain fundamentally supported. As we have seen in the past, investors will revert to the idiosyncratic characteristics of the economy,” Tetangco said.

Among the factors seen to offset the negative effect of a stronger dollar this year include the continued robust economy, strong remittances and the recent investment grades awarded the country by all three major ratings agencies.

“Our ‘pull’ factors include our strong macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained structural foreign-exchange inflows from overseas Filipino remittances, BPO [business-process outsourcing] revenues, tourism receipts, and foreign portfolio and direct investments,” Tetangco said.

“The credit-rating upgrades awarded to the Philippines should also keep the Philippines in the investor radar screen,” he added.

See “Inflation,” A2

Earlier, Fitch Ratings released an economic analysis warning Asia about the possible effects of a stronger dollar expected this year—which could either amplify shocks or support growth depending on the different fundamentals of the country.

The US dollar ended 2014 on a strong note, buoyed, in part, by stronger-than-forecast economic data and the likelihood of an interest-rate hike around midyear.

While Taiwan and South Korea are expected to benefit the most from a stronger dollar, and India and Indonesia are seen to be mostly affected adversely, Fitch maintained its strong outlook for the Philippines as it anticipates “no major implications” coming from the stronger dollar.

At the last trading day of 2014, the local currency the peso closed at a rate of P44.72 per dollar on transactions worth $403 million on December 29, 2014.

‘LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME’ A child attending Mass at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene—colloquially known as the Quiapo Church—touches an image of the Black Nazarene,

an iconic statue of Jesus Christ carrying the cross to Calvary. On January 9 the Traslación (“passage” or “transfer” for public veneration) of the Black Nazarene will make its way along the streets of the Quiapo district, with devotees reaching up to 12 million. NONIE REYES

Ship with 19 Filipino crew members sinks off Vietnam

A

Norwegian cargo ship with 19 Filipino crew members sank off the coast of southern Vietnam with only one man known to have survived, officials said on Sunday.

Two bodies have been recovered since the Bulk Jupiter sank on Friday en route from Malaysia to China, and Vietnamese rescuers aided by commercial ships passing through

the area continued to search for the others, according to Vietnamese authorities and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The lone survivor was the chief cook on the ship, but he is refusing to cooperate with rescuers, making the search more difficult, a Vietnamese rescue official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to

SMC. . . Continued from A1 technical and financial components, concluding later that constructing the common station in front of TriNoma Mall of the Ayala family would be more economically and environmentally viable.

SM Prime then brought its battle to the Supreme Court, which issued a stay order against the DOTC and the Light Rail Transit Authority in 2014, enjoining them to stop the transfer of the common alignment’s location.

Hence, Abaya said, constructing two common stations would make both parties happy, and allow Uni-

versal LRT Corp. (ULC) to move on with its railway project.

He said he expects the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the proponent for the P65-billion LRT 1 Cavite Extension, and SMC-backed ULC to agree with the terms of the two common stations.

“It seems that they will both agree to the proposal to build two common stations, although LRMC has some modifications to the proposal. I hope that we could sign this soon; hopefully this January,” the transport chief said.

talk to the media.

The man refused to say what happened with the ship, the official said.

It wasn’t clear why he wasn’t talking.

The ship owner, Bergen-based Gearbulk, said the vessel was 155 nautical miles (287 kilometers) off Vietnam with a cargo of bauxite when it sent a distress signal that was picked up by the Japanese coast guard.

The DFA said the 190-meter

(623-foot)-long, 56,000-ton ship sank off the coast of Vung Tau, which is about 96 km (59 miles) from the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

The rescue operation was hampered on Saturday by hazy weather and high waves.

Vessels from Liberia, Oman, Singapore and China were helping in the search, the DFA said. AP

“Once the MRT 7 concessionaire and the LRT 1 concessionaire will sign off, then the proposal will be presented to SM Prime,” he added.

Currently, the most-diversified conglomerate in the Philippines is negotiating with contractors and suppliers for the construction requirements of the MRT Line 7.

The rail component of the MRT 7 project involves the construction of a 22.8-kilometer rail-transit system that is envisioned to operate 108 rail cars in a three-car train configuration with a daily passen-

ger capacity ranging from 448,000 to 850,000.

It will have 14 stations, starting with North Avenue in Edsa passing through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway up to the proposed Intermodal Transport Terminal in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

The road component of the project, meanwhile, involves the construction of a six-lane access road from San Jose del Monte to Balagtas, Bulacan North Luzon Expressway Exit.

It is seen to be completed by 2018.