BusinessMirror March 2, 2015

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TfridayNovember 2014Vol. Vol.1010No. No.144 40 Monday, March18, 2, 2015

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MVP: 2 common stations inefficient

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By VG Cabuag

PANGILINAN said it will make more sense for the government to pursue a single station that would link the competing shopping malls.

usinessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said building two common stations linking the elevated railways in Metro Manila will prove to be an inefficient exercise.

Pangilinan, chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., told reporters that having two stations just a few meters apart to linking the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, and possibly even the MRT 7, will defeat the purpose of a common station.

He said it will make more sense for the government to pursue a single station that would link the compet-

ing shopping malls.

“They can have one exit to TriNoma, one exit to SM. So it’s settled,” Pangilinan said, citing the design of Hong Kong’s MTR Corp., among the most successful railway operators in the world.

He added that the government can ask the two developers to shoulder the cost of the common station, since both would benefit from the foot traffic coming from the facility.

The MRT 3 and the LRT 1 serve some 900,000 commuters daily.

That number is expected to increase once the MRT 7, which has yet to begin construction, starts its operations some two or three years from now. The MRT 7 will be operated by San Miguel Corp.

No formal proposal has been made by the government, but earlier talks involved creating two Continued on A2

ART IMMERSION Visitors pose beside

artworks inside the Art in Island Museum in Cubao, Quezon City. The sprawling twostory interactive art museum holds more than 200 paintings, including reproduction of works of masters, animals, Egyptian ruins and others, most of them rendered to create an optical illusion. AP/Aaron Favila

CHINA FACTORY GAUGE More British retail brands SIGNALS CONTRACTION set to enter PHL this year

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Chinese factory gauge signaled contraction again in February, a day after the central bank’s decision to step up support for the economy with its second cut to benchmark interest rates in three months.

The government’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 49.9 last month, from 49.8 in January, according to the statistics bureau and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing. Numbers below 50 signal contraction. An interest-rate reduction announced late on Saturday comes days before an annual gathering of China’s lawmakers, who will approve the budget and announce a 2015 growth goal that most economists expect will be lowered to about 7 percent.

The move to join global counterparts with more easing reflects

deepening concern over an economy squeezed by a property slump, tighter controls over local government debt and capital outflows.

“With the property markets deflating and the economy in desperate need of interest-rate relief because of the high stock of debt, the PBOC [People’s Bank of China] has been forced to take the recent actions,” said Stephen Jen, cofounder of SLJ Macro Partners Llp. in London and a former International Monetary Fund economist. “China continues to decelerate.”

Nonmanufacturing PMI, a gauge for services and construction, rose to 53.9 in February, from January’s 53.7. China’s economic data in the first two months of the year are often distorted by the Lunar New Year holidays, which stall manufacturing and affect spending patterns.

See “China,” A16

PESO exchange rates n US 44.0870

By Catherine N. Pillas

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irms from the United Kingdom are committed to continue investing in the Philippines, according to the British ambassador to the Philippines, who also disclosed plans of foreign retail brands to enter the country this year.

Speaking to members of the media during the GREAT British Festival at the Bonifacio High Street on Friday, British envoy Asif Ahmad expressed optimism that two-way trade between the Philippines and the UK would remain robust.

“We’re seeing more brands and franchises in the Philippines. Two [from the UK] would enter the country—one in homeware and another in food and beverage,” Ahmad said.

While he declined to identify the supermarket brand, he said that the British firm will partner with a local company to distribute the

AHMAD: “We’re seeing more brands and franchises in the Philippines. Two [from the UK] would enter the country— one in homeware and another in food and beverage.”

products. Ahmad said the entry of one of two retail brands would be announced in May. In the energy sector, Ahmad said oil giant Shell is willing to invest in a liquefied natural-gas (LNG) terminal, but is in the process of determining reception of the market to LNG as a power source.

“What the country desperately needs, and this is the opportunity now, is gas. It’s a good time for the Philippines to go into the market, as

the prices have gone soft. The country will lose the opportunity when the market tightens up again because you have countries like [South] Korea who are massive importers and China,” he said.

LNG is a natural gas that has been converted into liquid for easier storage and transportation. Upon reaching its destination, LNG is gassified, so it can be distributed through pipelines as natural gas.

Shell is now talking to the government and power generators to see if conditions are right in the Philippines to pursue the LNG import terminal as such an undertaking will require a long-term investment.

The interest of Shell to build an LNG facility near its refinery in Tabangao, Batangas, has been floated as early as 2012, following a memorandum of agreement it signed with the Department of Energy (DOE).

See “Retail brands,” A2

SM Prime to expand at pace set by market

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roperty giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. said it will open up to five new shopping malls this year, while expanding its convenience-store venture under Alfamart brand, but at a pace determined by the market.

Hans T. Sy, company president, said the new malls would include its SM Megacenter branch in Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija, the mall it had acquired sometime late last year.

Sy said the expansion activities also involve buying existing malls, such as the Megacenter the Mall, but quickly rebrand them.

The said mall, a five-story commercial building, was previously owned and operated by CHAS Realty and Development Corp., and started operating in 1998.

See “SM Prime,” A16

n japan 0.3691 n UK 67.9425 n HK 5.6840 n CHINA 7.0439 n singapore 32.4575 n australia 34.7881 n EU 49.3686 n SAUDI arabia 11.7559 Source: BSP (27 February 2015)

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MVP: 2 common stations inefficient Continued from A1

common stations, one of which will be constructed on the side of SM City North Edsa, and another at the TriNoma Mall where the current MRT 3 has its depot.

Metro Pacific has a vast infrastructure portfolio, from tollroads to power and water supply distribution, but has no property interest in the area. The company, however, won the P65-billion contract to operate LRT 1 and extend the Monumanto-to-Baclaran line all the way to Bacoor, Cavite.

Metro Pacific President Jose Ma. Lim said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has yet to approach them with a proposal on the configuration of the common station, but said they were aware of these discussions.

“We heard that there are two stations, which we think is not very efficient. There should be [only] one station for all three lines,” Lim said.

T he two common stations

configuration was meant to appease the SM group and drop the complaint it filed against the government before the Supreme Court.

“Our position is still the same. We know our rights and we will insist that the common station is with us. So it’s up to them [government] if they still want to do it,” Hans Sy, president of SM Prime Holdings Inc., said.

“Our position is that we never worked on it, it just fell onto our laps.

In fact, we felt we were forced into the situation. Now, they will just adjust it? That shouldn’t be. I will not allow it. I will insist on my right. But if they still want to do it on the other side, then it’s their call,” Sy said.

SM Prime took the DOTC to the court last year for locating the proposed common station away from its SM City North Edsa shopping mall and on to an area near Ayala Land Inc.’s TriNoma mall.

SM Prime said the decision to locate the station near TriNoma violated their 2009 agreement which the DOTC allegedly favored.

Under the terms of the proposed TriNoma station, the DOTC will shoulder the project’s P1.4-billion construction cost.

Last week, however, Teresita T. Sy-Coson, an adviser to the board of SM Prime Holdings Inc., said her company is now willing to find a compromise deal with Ayala Land Inc. for the location of the common station, which is expected to bring additional foot traffic to the malls near the train systems in North Edsa, Quezon City.

Sy-Coson, the eldest child of the country’s top billionaire, said the key to the compromise is for her mall, SM North Edsa, to have its own common station, not minding if Ayala Land’s TriNoma Mall gets its own.

“As long as we have our own station, then we are okay with it,” she said in a brief interview.

It has been several years now since the P1.4-billion facility has been planned, but the location of the transportation infrastructure has yet to be agreed upon.

The common alignment, which aims to link the LRT 1 to the MRT 3 and 7, has been in limbo since the DOTC reviewed the project’s technical and financial components years back.

This led to the change of the station’s location, which was initially set to be near SM North Edsa, earning the ire of the group of the country’s largest mall operator, which paid an initial P200 million for the naming rights of the station.

Transportation officials have repeatedly said building the station near TriNoma is both economically and environmentally viable, as this would result in a lower cost and less urban blight.

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.

Finally deciding on the station’s location would allow Universal LRT Corp., a unit of San Miguel Corp., to

move on with the future MRT 7.

Currently, the most-diversified conglomerate in the Philippines is negotiating with contractors and suppliers for the construction requirements of the MRT 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 dailypassenger capacity, ranging from 448,000 to 850,000.

It will have 14 stations, starting with the North Avenue Station 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.

UN: Iraq violence killed at least 1,100 in February

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he United Nations mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed the lives of at least 1,100 Iraqis in February, including more than 600 civilians. In a statement on Sunday, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (Unami) said 611 civilians were among 1,103 people killed last month.

The rest were members of the security forces. It said at least 2,280 people were wounded, including 1,353 civilians.

January’s death toll was at least 1,375.

It said the most violent city was the capital Baghdad, with 329 civilians killed and 875 wounded.

The UN numbers do not include the third of the country held by the Islamic State extremist group.

According to Unami, last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2006-2007, with a total of 12,282 people killed and 23,126 wounded. AP

Retail brands. . .

Continued from A1

General Motors to overhaul operations in Southeast Asian markets

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eneral Motors (GM) will stop making cars in Indonesia on its own, ending production of the Chevrolet Sonic in Thailand, and is withdrawing from a low-emission vehicle program launched by the Thai government.

But GM and two of its Chinese partners, Shanghai Automobile Industry Corp. and Wuling, are building a new plant in Jakarta to make Wuling brand cars for export

to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets. The moves are part of a broader assessment of the company’s business in Southeast Asia, where China is the primary source of profits.

“Today’s actions are part of our larger global strategy to ensure longterm sustainability and maximize shareholder value,” said Stefan Jacoby, president of GM international operations. While GM has been

making cars in Indonesia since 1938, Toyota, which entered that market in 1973, has 35 percent of the market compared with GM’s 2 percent, according to IHS Automotive.

The latest decision comes after GM decided in late 2013 to end production of Holden brand vehicles in Australia.

GM said on Friday it would withdraw from Thailand’s “Eco Car 2” plan to encourage automakers to

increase production of a low-emission vehicle. It will continue to produce the Chevrolet Colorado pickup, Trailblazer and Captiva sport-utility vehicle, and Cruze sedan. Together, those models account for 75 percent of Chevrolet’s sales in Thailand.

But sales of all vehicles in Thailand fell more than 30 percent last year to 881,800, according to the Asean Automotive Federation.

“We must accelerate the trans-

MAR 3 3-DAY TUESDAY EXTENDED FORECAST

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formation of our operations in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand given the sluggish domestic market demand,” said Tim Zimmerman, president of GM Southeast Asia Operations.

Indonesia also has encouraged automakers in that country to make more low-cost green cars, but they are requiring participating companies to buy nearly all the parts from local suppliers. MCT

MAR 5 THURSDAY

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WEAK NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING EXTREME NORTHERN LUZON. (AS OF MARCH 1, 5:00 PM)

Northeast Monsoon locally known as “Amihan”.

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

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY 24 – 31°C

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Ahmad said the British oil giant needs to be assured that no move or regulation at the local government level would impede development of the project in the middle of construction.

As Shell’s project would require millions of dollars in investments, Ahmad said the “right environment and conditions”need to be in place before the company decides to push through with its plans.

“It’s a lot of things, there’s the certainty of contracts and the pricing regime, and of course, the certainty of power producer to accept gas as a choice, these are all part of discussions,” he said. Earlier, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. urged the government to craft policies that will encourage investments in the LNG sector.

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

METRO DAVAO 25 – 33°C

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

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3:55 AM

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Lawmakers postpone anew BBL hearing

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HE chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) said they decided to postpone anew the resumption of discussions on the BBL, which had a hearing schedule on March 3.

Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City said it was the Philippine National Police-Board of Inquiry (PNPBOI), who asked for the postponement, citing investigations on the Mamasapano incident has been extended.

“When I announced that [resumption of the BBL hearing], that was presuming the BOI—as promised they were only given one month [to finish its probe] and that one month ended February 27— if it was submitted last week, we could have resumed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week,” Rodriguez, chairman of the panel, said in a radio interview on Sunday.

“Unfortunately, the PNP-BOI report will be submitted to the DILG [Department of Interior and Local Government] on March 6. So, therefore, the entire week next week, we’re not able to resume.”

Rodriguez said the resumption of the BBL hearing will focus on the BOI report and what the panel will do to the defense, security and public-order provisions of the BBL. He explained these provisions are still “up for questions” after several lawmakers expressed dismay and may fail to support the measure following the encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, between the PNP-Special

Action Force (SAF) and alleged members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter and Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The SAF members were on a mission to get Afghanistan-trained bomb-makers Zulkipli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his cohort Abdul Basit Usman when one of the units were ambushed, leading to 44 deaths.

“Without the [BOI] overall and comprehensive report, we’re in the dark. So we have to wait for this. However, the hearing will still be an executive session since we ended all public hearings.

So it will be an executive session where we are going to ask some other personalities that are mentioned in the report to come and shed light on this. Probably one or two days of executive session. When that’s clarified, then we will proceed with the discussions of the BBL,” he said.

Rodriguez, however, said the lower chamber have still enough time—“We have until June 11”—to work on the proposed BBL, which seeks to stop the conflict in Mindanao.

“We might be able to have a vote on the [BBL] committee report by March 18 and then it will be sent to the committee on rules. And when we open on May 4, it will be in the plenary for debates.”

He added: “Our target date to approve BBL is on June 11 or before the start of third regular session on July 27. That’s the new timetable we have.”

The BBL aims to create the new Bangsamoro juridical entity replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Armed Forces downgrades target against extremists

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The order was issued by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, who wanted the capabilities of the two groups to carry out criminal activities, including terrorism, clipped before he leaves the service next year.

“I want to significantly lessen the bandits’ ability to carry out violent

C3E co-convener Melchor Magdamo said Smartmatic-TIM “made a mockery of the High Tribunal” when it claimed it was the manufacturer of the counting machines used in the 2010 elections and bought by the Comelec for reuse in the 2013 polls.

Magdamo said their “newly found evidence” would show that Smartmatic deliberately misrepresented itself before the SC when the tribunal ruled in favor of the foreign company in 2012.

“The belated discovery will no doubt convince the SC to bar Smartmatic from doing electionrelated business in the country,” Magdamo said.

He added his C3E will submit to the SC a certification from Jarltech International to the Argentinean government on Smartmatic’s financial capacity when the latter was bidding to supply automated election systems in Argentina over a year ago.

The C3E said the certification clearly indicated that Smartmatic did not in any way manufacture the PCOS machines when it bidded in 2009 for the country’s automated election as required by law. Magdamo said the certification also showed manufacturer Jarltech International was not Smartmatic’s subsidiary.

Written in Spanish and dated August 20, 2013, the document states: “Hereby, we state that Smartmatic Deployment Corp. is our client since 2008. During the last five years we have extended credits to them amounting $50 million, which have been successfully managed by us.”

“Very obvious is the fact that Jarltech is a distinct and separate company from Smartmatic contrary to the representations it made with the SC that the Taiwan manufacturer was a subsidiary that produced the PCOS machines for Smartmatic,” Magdamo said. Joel R. San Juan

Palace vows to cut red tape to hasten aid for families of 44 slain SAF police

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ALACAÑANG vowed to cut “red tape” to speed up processing government assistance President Aquino promised to the grieving families of the slain 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos killed while serving warrants last month to wanted terrorists in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

The government is undertaking all steps to help the families of the slain SAF commandos, Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said in Tagalog on Sunday over a state-run radio program.

Asked to confirm if the President’s commitment to help the SAF 44 families is being attended to so as to avoid being mired in red tape, Coloma said Mr. Aquino gave separate instructions to the Presidential Management Staff and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to “coordinate with all the agencies concerned.”

Coloma said Mr. Aquino also assigned PNP officials to focus on every SAF family in order to facilitate delivery of the requested government assistance to the widows, orphaned children and other dependents of the slain commandos.

By Rene Acosta

OLDIERS fighting the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and more than 300 Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu have been ordered to pursue the two groups in order to at least degrade their capabilities to carry out future atrocities.

Group to submit evidence in move to blacklist Smartmatic UBLIC interest group Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) said they would submit “newly discovered” evidence before the Supreme Court (SC) to boost its petition seeking to blacklist technology provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) from participating in any election-related process in the country and to void any contract it has signed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in connection with the 2016 elections.

This developed as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the repair and refurbishment of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines to be undertaken by the Smartmatic is set to begin this month.

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez said they have already set the date for the refurbishing of the 82,000 PCOS machines, which were used in the 2010 and 2013 national and local elections.

“We are looking to start the project on March 16 and it will run for five months,” Jimenez said.

The Comelec en banc decided on December 23 to forego public bidding and instead directly contract the multinational company Smartmatic-TIM for the refurbishing project.

Prior to his retirement, former Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes had signed the P268.8-million contract with Smartmatic-TIM covering the diagnostics, the minor and major repairs of the voting machines, as well as replacement of units, if needed.

The C3E, Automated Elections System (AES) Watch and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines have filed separate petitions before the Supreme Court seeking to declare null and void the contract for violating the Government Procurement Act, which mandates the conduct competitive public bidding for all government procurement.

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo • Monday, March 2, 2015 A3

He added the government also assigned PNP officials focused only on the families and who serve as “single coordination point” to make efficient the delivery of government aid.

Coloma gave the assurances after lawyer Lorna Kapunan, who is related to one of the slain policemen, said the families are complaining of red tape in securing the aid promised them by the government, specifically Mr. Aquino himself.

Kapunan said the families were told to write to the concerned agency after Mr. Aquino and his key aides asked what type of assistance they needed.

Kapunan was quoted in news reports as saying that simply instructing the families to “write the relevant agencies” just isn’t enough.

Most of the families are still grieving or have to care for the orphaned children and are attending to so many other forms of paperwork, Kapunan said.

Besides, most of them came from the provinces, and if they write the local offices of the concerned agencies, the referrals will certainly take longer, she added. Butch Fernandez

attacks against civilians before I retire in July 2015.”

He said the soldiers must also ensure that collateral damage is minimized.

Members of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division attacked the positions of BIFF fighters at Barangay Kabasalan, Pikit, North Cotabato, last week following the latter’s

clashes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that have forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.

While the soldiers pounded the BIFF with artilleries and howitzers in North Cotabato, Scout Rangers and Special Action Force (SAF) also assaulted more than 300 ASG members in Patikul, Sulu, triggering running skirmishes for days.

The soldiers reported to have killed 24 ASG bandits as of Saturday, while two of their colleagues have also died. A total of 30 from both sides have also been wounded in the fighting.

Military Spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla said the fighting “seemed to have ebbed” on two fronts on Sunday, with the soldiers pursuing three Malaysian terrorists and ASG Cmdr. Radullan Sahiron.

The number of ASG members in Sulu has swelled over the past days after ASG members from Basi-

lan traveled to the island province purportedly to escape military operations ordered earlier by Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin.

The military said Sahiron was apparently wounded in one of the skirmishes with the Rangers scouring the hinterland villages of Patikul.

The Rangers reported spotting three Malaysians with the ASG and accusing them to be members of the regional terror group Jema’ah Islamiyah.

In Maguindanao soldiers said they have cleared after the clashes in Datu Unsay on Friday the TacurongCotabato highway earlier occupied by the BIFF. Three soldiers were wounded during the three-hour firefight, while reports indicated that three lieutenants of Abdul Basit Usman were also killed.

More soldiers were also deployed to the Liguasan marsh on Sunday, the AFP reported.

Economy

A4 Monday, March 2, 2015 • Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

briefs bill creating d.i.c.t. to pass senate by june

THE chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology said a consolidated version of five bills creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be reported out for floor debates before Holy Week.

“Our timetable in the Senate is to pass it before it ends its second session-year in June,” said Sen. Ralph Recto, concurrent Senate President Pro Tempore.

“Insofar as the Senate is concerned, it will pass the DICT bill,” Recto added.

He believes the measure will also hurdle the House as the “leadership of both chambers, led by the Speaker and the Senate President, in several meetings, has deemed it a priority measure.”

“The marching order given to me by the leadership is to consolidate in the Senate the five bills—authored

by Senators Antonio Trillanes, Teofisto Guingona III, Loren Legarda, JV Ejercito, Sonny Angara—into one,” Recto said. Recto Mercene

dry run shows benefits of i.l.p.

Not all who signed up for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) participated in the dry run that was conducted last week, an official of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said.

However, Meralco Vice President Alfredo Panlilio was quick to point out that ILP trial conducted last February 18 would have already spared half a million Meralco customers from rotational brownout.

“What’s important to note in this dry run, we would have been able to spare approximately over 500,000 customers from manual load dropping,” he said in a text message.

Through ILP, power supply from the grid that will not be consumed by participating customers will be available for use by other customers within the franchise area. Through this, the aggregate demand for power from the system will be reduced to a more manageable level, helping ensure the availability of supply during the anticipated power crisis this summer.

“The ILP participants were called based on their preferred deloading schedules. Their participation during the dry run was based on megawatts (MW). So, it was the actual versus the committed. The result was 65 percent.

But the total deloaded capacity for the day was 457 MW. This much capacity would have spared over half a million customers from brownouts,” Panlilio said. Lenie Lectura

solons seek probe on implementation of senior citizens act Amid reports that some business establishments refuse to extend the full 20-percent discount to the elderly, two lawmakers have recently filed a resolution urging the House Committee on Trade and Industry to investigate the implementation of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act, or the Republic Act (RA) 9994.

In House Resolution 1892, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Party-list Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr. of Abamin said some restaurants are just giving a flatrate discount for deliveries and takeouts, while others refuse to give the discount if the senior citizen is a privilege-card holder.

The resolution said that on top of these unfair practices is the strict policy of establishments of not granting the 20-percent discount if the customer cannot produce his or her senior citizen’s identification cards, although they have other IDs or documents stating their date of birth.

The resolution added that there are many other reported incidents, where establishments try to come up with so-called policies just to evade the mandated benefits for senior citizens provided under RA 9994. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

BusinessMirror

Cargo, passenger flow through ports up in 2014

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

he volume of goods that flowed through the ports in the Philippines rose modestly in 2014, despite setbacks brought about by the lethargic performance of the main gateways in Manila.

Data from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) showed that traffic in ports around the country increased by 5 percent last year, with cargo volume reaching 211.20 million metric tons (MMT) as of end-December.

The rise in volume was driven by the large export of river sand, magnetite sand, crude minerals, nickel ore, limestone ore, clinker and slag and coconut oil and copra, fruits and fish, as well as the importation of fuel, coal, grains and fertilizers.

This is relatively faster than the 2.97-percent growth posted in the same period in 2013.

In the same period under review, foreign cargo throughput grew by 7.45 percent to 133.29 MMT, wherein imports rose by 11.29 percent to 67.56 MMT, while exports inched up by 3.77 percent to 65.73 MMT. Domestic cargo volume was almost flat at 77.91 MMT in the fullyear period of 2014.

Container volume also increased

by 3.95 percent to 5.43 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2014, from 5.23 million TEUs the year prior. All aspects of containerized operations went up modestly for 2014, despite the Manila port congestion and the slowdown in some areas of operations like Davao.

Foreign container traffic went up 3.42 percent to 3.29 million TEUs. Import boxes grew by 4.52 percent to 1.69 million TEUs, while export boxes inched up by 2.27 percent to 1.59 million TEUs. Domestic boxes also increased by 4.78 percent to 2.14 million TEUs from 2.05 million TEUs in 2013.

“Coordinated efforts from various government agencies and the private sector cushioned the adverse effect of the truck ban imposed in Manila starting February 2014,” PPA General Manager Juan C. Sta. Ana explained.

The year 2014 saw the ports in Manila barging past their utilization levels due to the rapid eco-

nomic expansion and the imposition of a truck ban in Manila. The regulation was lifted in September, making way for the partial decongestion of the terminals.

He added: “Despite the ban, the volume of containers in the Manila ports, composed of the Manila South Harbor and the Manila International Container Terminal, still managed to post a modest increase.”

To avoid a repeat of the monstrous congestion at the ports in the capital, the government is mulling over the prospect of constructing a mega port outside Metro Manila.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said this plan is currently being discussed by the government’s planning body that is chaired by President Aquino.

Sea travel rose despite popularity of budget airlines

Meanwhile, passenger traffic for 2014 reached 55.87 million, a favorable improvement of 4.39 percent over the previous year’s 53.52 million, driven by the government’s domestic tourism programs that encourage travelers to patronize the interisland roll-on, roll-off services.

Shipcalls, on the other hand, improved by 1.89 percent to 361,431 vessels in 2014, from 354,715 vessels in 2013. Domestic shipcalls also increased by 2.35 percent to 352,278 from 344,141 in 2013.

However, foreign shipcalls declined 13.44 percent, to 9,153 ships, from 10,574 vessels.

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Asean integration presents new opportunities to Pinoy lawyers

By Recto Mercene

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here is a need to liberalize the Philippine legal profession to permit foreign lawyers to practice in the country and help Filipino law practitioners keep pace with the market and policy shifts as a result of the Asean integration, Senate President Franklin Drilon said.

Drilon, in his address at the Asean Law Association Assembly on February 27, noted that the creation of the Asean Economic Community poses a challenge to members of the legal profession, necessitating a policy shift for the country.

However, the integration also presents an opportunity for the local legal professionals to expand their market and have collaborative works with their peers in the region, he said.

“As the integration calls for a free exchange of resources, we must ask ourselves: What does integration mean to the legal profession? What is its impact to the practice of law?

In this era of integration, the Asean lawyer must learn to navigate multiple legal jurisdictions,” Drilon said.

“At current growth rates, it is predicted that the Asean would become the fourth-largest market, after the EU, the US and China, by 2030.”

“However, full Asean integration poses a challenge to every member-country. The existing legal framework may not be sufficient for the region to achieve a completely free exchange of goods and services,” Drilon added.

He underscored that a stronger and more efficient legal apparatus will help the Philippines capitalize on all the economic and development opportunities provided by the Asean integration.

“Currently, the practice of law is restricted only to Filipino lawyers. This proposal for liberalization allows for collaborative work between Filipino and foreign lawyers, where the matter or transaction involves both domestic and foreign law,” he explained.

He said it is time to establish a procedure in which foreign lawyers and firms may be able to assist their clients in cross-border transactions where the Philippines is involved.

“The liberalization of law practice will help strengthen the country’s legal profession, and will help the country face the many challenges in the political and business sector being created due to the Asean integration starting this year,” Drilon stressed.

He, however, said the proposed liberalization of law practice must ensure that foreign lawyers will live up to the standards and principles of lawyering in the Philippines, a practice that requires loyalty to the rule of law and fidelity to the cause of the client.

The Senate leader then said he hopes that the country’s legal sector and policy-makers will realize early the importance of adapting and liberalizing the country’s legal profession, and hoped that the Philippines will be a leader among Asean members in reforming and improving its practice of law.

“While the practice of law in the Asean region may be a challenge, the liberalization of the legal profession will ultimately benefit the region as a whole. The long-term effect of a legal profession that recognizes no territorial boundaries goes into the success of the Asean integration, itself,” Drilon said.

Lim: 24/7 retail arcades new area for growth

By Catherine N. Pillas

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ith about 1 million workers in the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry presenting immense opportunities, industry stalwart Samie Lim said 24/7 retail arcades and food trucks catering to “nightshifters” will be the new growth area for Philippine retailing.

In an interview at the sidelines of the 18th Outstanding Filipino Retailers and Shopping Centers of the Year (OFR-SCY) Awards, organized by the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), PRA Chairman Emeritus Samie Lim said the growing number of BPO employees is a ripe market to tap.

“We’re thinking of ways to tap the almost 1 million workers in the business-process outsource sector.

We’re talking about the nightshifters, those who get off at 7 a.m. and may want to shop around before going home. We want to create little arcades for them,” said Lim, also the chairman emeritus and acknowledge “Father of Philippine Franchising.”

The concept, though, still to be ironed out, is being pitched already to mall developers and may run on a 24/7 basis.

Food and fashion brands have yet to commit, Lim added, but the plan is in the pipeline.

Another innovation that may be welcomed by the 1 million-strong work force of the BPO sector is the introduction of roaming food trucks, a food-and-beverage trend popularized in San Francisco.

“I visited San Francisco to really see the food trucks, and they have big parking lots, where all these trucks are organized. The BPO workers don’t want to keep eating at the same 24/7 convenience stores, fast-food places and cafeterias, allyear round; they want variety. We want to organize these food trucks

‘FLOAT’ FOR NATURE SM Baguio’s float design showcases Ifugao and care for the environment in the 2015 Baguio Float Parade participated in by 13 companies. mau victa LIM: “We’re thinking of ways to tap the almost 1 million workers in the business-process outsource sector. We’re talking about the nightshifters, those who get off at 7 a.m. and may want to shop around before going home.

We want to create little arcades for them.”

that will go around the BPO centers,” Lim said.

Lim, likewise, said he is contributing to the effort of organizing interested food brands for the food-truck concept, as he sees merit in the idea.

Meanwhile, with the Asean integration in the horizon and the entry of foreign retail brands now the norm, Lim emphasized that learning from the foregn players will be key

for local brands to survive.

“Everyone’s attention will be onus this year; a lot more retailers are coming in so there will be tough competition. I hope the foreign ones that will be coming in will teach us and set a new benchmark for competition,” he said.

The tighter race in the retailing industry, however, will not be without its setback.

Lim said sales of retailers, across the different subsectors, may see a decrease of 10 percent to 20 percent, but for a temporary period only.

“Everywhere with intense competition there will be a slight decline.

But after a few months, maybe two to three months, it will recover.

Those who have put value in their products and services will definitely survive,” Lim added.

Golden ABC Inc., owner of apparel brand Penshoppe, bested other homegrown retailers for this year’s

Global Retailer of the Year Award.

The award seeks to recognize and honor a homegrown retailer “who has successfully expanded their business internationally and was able to establish their brand on a global scale.”

The OFR/SCY Awards is considered as the Oscars of the retail industry and honors the cream of the crop of Philippine retailing.

Jointly organized by the PRA and the Department of Trade and Industry since 1997, the awards seek to honor retailers and shopping centers that epitomize the model of success and good ethical practices.

Another highlight of this year’s gala night was the handing out of the President’s Award to Megaworld Chairman Dr. Andrew Tan, who earned the title “Pillar of MixedUse Developments.”

Previous recipients of the President’s Award include Samie Lim

(Pioneering Pillar of Franchising); Henry Sy (Father of Philippine Retailing); Fernando Zobel de Ayala (Pillar of Philippine Retail Development); Jorge Araneta (Pioneer of Philippine Retail Entertainment); Socorro Ramos (Matriarch of Philippine Retailing); John Gokongwei Jr. (Champion of Retail Entrepreneurship); Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr.( Father of Luxury Retailing); Mariano Que (Father of Health and Wellness Retailing); and Teresita Sy-Coson (Philippine Retailing’s Woman Visionary Leader.)

Also recognized during the event were this year’s winners in the following categories: Full–Line Department Store/Hypermart, Food Retailer, Fashion, Services, Home Improvement Center, Most Promising Retailer, Regional Retailer, Specialty Retailer, Shopping Center of the Year and Regional Shopping Center of the Year.

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PHL nickel-ore exports to China cut by rains

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hina’s import of nickel ore fell to the lowest since February 2010, as seasonal rains slowed shipments from the Philippines, its largest supplier.

Imports in January slid 84 percent to 1.15 million metric tons, down 53 percent from December and below the 7.3 million tons during the same month last year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs in Beijing showed.

The Philippines accounted for 94 percent of last month’s shipments and has been China’s largest supplier since Indonesia banned ore exports last year.

Nickel will rally to average $19,350 a ton this year, as Indonesia’s ban erodes China’s ore stockpiles, which have fallen to the lowest since 2012, Morgan Stanley said in a report on February 9.

The raw material is used in the country to make nickel pig iron, a cheaper alternative to refined metal needed for stainless, steel production. Monsoon rains in the Philippines have reduced mine output and hindered seaborne transport.

“Rain cut shipments from the Philippines,” said Celia Wang, an

analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co. “I expect the February amount will be around the January level, as exports from the Philippines start recovering gradually from March.”

The global nickel surplus shrank to 94,300 tons last year from 178,000 tons in 2013, according to the International Nickel Study Group.

The market will be in deficit for the first time in five years, amid a drop of as much as 15 percent in China’s NPI production this year, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. said on February 2.

Nickel for delivery in three months fell 0.3 percent to $14,335 a ton on the London Metal Exchange at 2:36 p.m. in Hong Kong. The metal has dropped 5.4 percent since the start of the year.

“The key thing is that Indonesian ore,” Ian Roper, a commodity strategist at CLSA Ltd. in Singapore, said before the data was released. “The port inventory of Indonesian ore dropped from 17 million tons at the start of last year to 6 million at the end of the year. Once that runs out in the middle of this year, then there will only be Filipino ore left.”

Bloomberg News

Habitat for Humanity building 800,000 more units by 2020

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Habitat for Humanity Philippines CEO and Managing Director Charlito S. Ayco told the BusinessMirror that this is in line with their 2020 goal to help address at least 20 percent of the housing backlog, which is currently pegged at 4 million.

He pointed out that four of 10 Filipino families today do not own their house and do not enjoy security of land tenure. The same ratio applies to those who live in urban slum areas, he added.

“Every year, on average, new housing needs reach 300,000 plus. The annual output is only like 200,000 and less. So the backlog piles up,” Ayco said.

Citing the government-accepted Housing Road Map of the Philippines proposal from the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association Inc., he noted that around 1 million hous-

the Taboan Market in Cebu City. KEVIN DE LA CRUZ

SSS reminds members on period of reevaluation of various benefits

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he Social Security System (SSS) is reminding its members that the prescriptive period for the readjudication or reevaluation of retirement, death or disability benefits that have already been settled by the SSS is only 10 years.

The 10-year prescriptive period is reckoned from March 1, 2006 for claims settled before that date—or from the initial settlement date of the retirement, death or disability claim—if such settlement was made on or after March 1, 2006.

The SSS issued the new SSS Office Order 2015-005, which sets the 10-year prescriptive period on the application for readjudication or reevaluation of retirement, death or disability benefits that have already been settled.

The new order was issued to “eliminate problems in the validation of submitted documents.” The SSS said since the prescription period for actions arising from an obligation created by law is only 10 years, the SSS’s retention period of claim records

By Roderick L. Abad

OMEBUILDER Habitat for Humanity continues to help curb the housing backlog in the country, as it aims to build around 800,000 dwelling units in the next five years.

CEBU’S FAMOUS A vendor aranges the assorted dried fish, among the goods that Cebu is known for, at

By David Cagahastian

Monday, March 2, 2015 A5

is limited also to 10 years only.

The new order outlined the exceptions to the 10-year prescriptive period for applying for readjudication or reevaluation of retirement, death or disability benefits.

These exceptions include cases, wherein the reason for the application for benefit adjustment is not due to the fault of the member or claimant, such as cases of unposted contributions and additional credited years of service, payment for additional dependents (if the SSS failed to include the dependents in the initial payment of benefits), change in the date of the contingency and other cases not attributable to the member.

The prescriptive period will also not apply for claims needing readjudication due to a change of guardian of the member or dependent, emancipation or death of dependents, remarriage of spouse but with dependents under his custody, resumption of monthly pension that was suspended due to noncompliance with the Annual Confirmation of Pensioners and payment of withheld shares for coclaimants in the death benefit.

ing units must be built between 2014 and 2016, and the next 2 million should be done by 2020.

Given such, however, he raised concern on the market’s buying capability based on the University of Asia and the Pacific’s survey, showing that over 800,000 families cannot afford to buy a house even if it is priced at P365,000.

“Our vision for the Philippines is total eradication of lack of housing, and that all Filipinos must live in a decent house,” he said.

“So, for Habitat, what we do is we bring people together to build homes and communities. The home is just an entry point. What we would like to do is that the people living in that community will really have a very active community, and, ultimately, as a Christian organization, we want to bring hope to the

people,” he added.

To date, the nonprofit housing organization has mobilized over 130,000 volunteers. It, likewise, has reached out to around 102,000 families.

Ayco urged the public to continue supporting their cause of helping achieve the national goal of reducing the total dwelling deficit in the country by 20 percent in the year 2020.

Approximately, he said that they need around P320 billion if each of the 800,000 dwelling units they seek to build costs P400,000.

“That falls at the range of socialized house and lot costing P450,000 and below,” he said.

“Practically, the socialized sector is an abandoned sector. Why is that? Because the market is not supplying it now. And that is where we want to be engaged with.”

Seeing that the housing backlog could increase to 6.5 million by 2030 without drastic changes achieved to address such a perennial problem, Ayco also called for cooperation among other similar organizations.

“I think what Habitat, and other organizations like us, can do is to try to influence policy on housing provision in the country,” he stressed.

“We have to increase the awareness of people that this housing is really a societal problem, and that it can be solved.”

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Monday, March 2, 2015

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PHL reduces reliance on rice imports–PSA

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By Cai U. Ordinario

he Philippines has reduced its reliance on rice imports but its dependency on other imported commodities is increasing, according to a report published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on a report, titled “Agricultural Indicators System Report on Food Sufficiency and Security,” the PSA said the import dependency ratio (IDR) for rice dropped to 3.2 percent in 2013 from 7.87 percent in 2012. “[The IDR] indicates the extent of the country’s dependency on importation in relation to domestic consumption. A high ratio implies greater dependency on importation,” the PSA said. The IDRs of other commodities also increased in 2013 compared to 2012. This includes mongo, cassava, sweet potato, beef, pork, chevon, milkfish, roundscad (galunggong), tilapia, shrimp and prawns, and crabs.

The highest increases were noted in shrimp and prawns, whose IDR grew to 7.99 percent in 2013 from 4.36 percent in 2012, followed by pork, whose IDR increased to 8.31

percent in 2013 from 6.71 percent in 2012.

However, the IDR of coffee was the highest in all commodities, at 53.31 percent in 2013, lower than the 55.49 percent recorded in 2012.

This was followed by mongo at 50.96 percent; peanut, 43.71 percent; garlic, 28.34 percent; and cabaret, 21.79 percent in 2013.

In 2013 Philippine Institute for Development Studies senior fellow Roehlano Briones said the government’s agriculture spending was biased toward rice.

One of the reasons is the rice selfsufficiency target of the government, which led the Department of Agriculture to spend as much as P37.44 billion in 2012, almost half of its total agriculture spending for that year.

“Spending on rice had already dwarfed the other major commodities even in 2005; the allocation

increased over time, rising to 11 percent of rice output [by value] in 2010.

Spending on corn and coconut also rose over time, but very erratically, compared to the steep and sustained ascent of public funding for rice,” Briones said.

Briones’s data showed that the government spent a total of P62.64 billion for agriculture-related programs and projects. This was significantly higher than the P14.38 billion spent in 2005. He added that the government spending for other crops, like corn, only amounted to P951 million in 2012; high-value crops, P1.63 billion; coconut, P2.08 billion; livestock, P2.72 billion; and P3.308 billion for fisheries.

The government aims to be rice self-sufficient through the Food Staples Sufficiency Program. Rice provides 45 percent of Filipino’s calorie intake and its production is considered the main source of livelihood in rural areas.

The average rice consumption spending of Filipino households accounts for 20 percent of their budget. This is higher at 30 percent for the bottom 30 percent of Filipino families. The government also said more than 2 million households are engaged in rice-based farming; millions more of farm laborers, and thousands are merchants, depend on rice farming and trading for a living.

Workers unload sacks of rice from a truck at the National Food Authority warehouse in Manila. Bloomberg

Travel industry group, Gawad Kalinga eye six-hectare ‘enchanted farm’ project in Cebu

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EBU CITY—The Network of Independent Travel Agencies (Nitas) is eyeing a 6-hectare property in Cebu as location for its planned enchanted farm project.

Nitas Chairman Bobby Lim Joseph said his group is currently working with Gawad Kalinga (GK) to set up a total of 28 enchanted farm facilities across the country, with Cebu as one of the priority locations.

Joseph said Nitas and GK will be coordinating closely with the Cebu provincial government through Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, to pursue this project.

The province may either donate the land or enter into a partnership deal

with GK. The establishment of an enchanted farm throughout the Philippines is expected to boost the promotion of social tourism, wherein a community will be trained to capitalize on tourism and becoming entrepreneurs.

Enchanted farms serve as incubation facility for farmers to create and market their own product, and eventually become part of social entrepreneurism. GK has already one such farm operating in Angat, Bulacan.

The GK Enchanted Farm is Gawad Kalinga’s platform to raise social entrepreneurs, help local farmers and create wealth in the countryside.

‘PHL has low carbon emission but bears high cost of climate change’

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The farm accepts walk-in or stayin visitors. While in the farm, visitors can have a walking tour, attend social enterprise demos and hands-on trial, or engage in farming activities.

The farm enchants visitors with stories not only of successful enterprise but also of concrete acts of caring and sharing.

Joseph and the rest of the membership of Nitas have decided to join hands with GK in establishing more enchanted farms and promote these to the international market.

Joseph’s other group, the SKAL International, will also help in promoting the enchanted farms. PNA Joseph

Cardinal Health moving some Dublin jobs to Philippines

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ome collection departments at Cardinal Health in Dublin are being shut down and the jobs outsourced to the Philippines, the company has confirmed.

Cardinal said about 100 employees are affected, and other jobs within the company were found for many of them.

“Almost all of the employees found a new position elsewhere in the organization,” Cardinal Spokesman Debbie Mitchell GM to overhaul Asean operations said.

“We are continuously looking for ways to improve process and operations, and reduce the cost to serve our customers with efficiency and qual-

ity,” she said.

In a December 2014 e-mail to employees that was obtained by The Dispatch, a Cardinal executive wrote that the company was “making final preparations” to transfer many collectiondepartment jobs and duties to overseas centers operated by Xerox.

“We have a long-term relationship with Xerox that allows us to accelerate improvements in process and technology with a best-in-class company,” Mitchell said.

In 2012 Cardinal eliminated 150 finance jobs in its Albuquerque, New Mexico, office, sending 20 of the positions to Dublin. The remaining work

was contracted out to Xerox.

Cardinal recently reported quarterly revenue of $25 billion and net income of $289 million.

The company provides drugs and medical supplies to more than 100,000 hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and doctor’s offices.

Cardinal also manufactures medical and surgical products, and in recent years has expanded into home health care and begun operating in China.

The company has about 34,000 employees worldwide, about 4,500 of them in central Ohio —“up by several hundred people from last year,” Mitchell said. TNS

EGAZPI CITY—The carbon being emitted in the Philippines is low, perhaps one of the lowest in the world, but the country is the third most affected by natural calamities due to climate change.

This was disclosed by Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda in the Climate Change Forum held last Thursday at the National Museum in Manila attended by French President François Hollande as guest.

Salceda revealed during the forum that the aggregate carbon emission of the Philippines is only 0.31 percent, but it loses 0.52 percent of government resources due to natural calamities brought about by climate change.

Citing a report of the World Humanitarian Trends and Trajectories up to 2030, he said the Philippines ranks first on this aspect.

Southeast Asian countries like Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, India, Myanmar and the Philippines are always hit by natural calamities due to climate change, according to studies.

Salceda said every community in the country has a role or contribution in the protection of the environment, like mangrove forest plantation and protection, which, he claimed, could help a

lot in lessening carbon emission and serving as protection from strong typhoons.

For the past seven years, he said the forest cover of Albay has grown to 88 percent. From 700 hectares planted to mangroves, the area has increased to 2,400 hectares.

Meanwhile, he said, palay production grew from 147,900 metric tons (MT) in 2008 to 228,080 MT in 2014.

Salceda said that in the case of the Philippines, green economy can be achieved by focusing on energy efficiency.

“There is a need to accelerate plans for energy efficiency, clean energy, forest protection and reforestation alongside investments in disaster-risk reduction and climatechange adaptation,” he said.

Salceda also thanked France for being the first big contributor to the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF), whose board he co-chaired last year.

He told Hollande that under his term as co-chairman of the GCF board, the fund was able to raise an initial amount of $300 million to finance projects on climate-change adaptation by countries heavily affected by negatives effects of the phenomenon like the Philippines. PNA

225 pregnant moms attend first Buntis Congress in Coron, Palawan

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HANGING RICE A vendor in Cebu City makes puso, or rice that is wrapped in coconut leaves and boiled. Puso is usually shaped into a triangle or diamond before it is hung in bunches using the long ends of the coconut leaves. KEVIN DE LA CRUZ

ORON, Palawan—The first-ever Buntis Congress held in this picturesque island town last Friday was attended by 225 pregnant mothers, according to the Municipal Health Office (MHO).

“We were surprised there are many pregnant mothers in Coron. We were caught unaware, but this is a challenge to us and the municipal leadership to push forward their and their babies’ welfare,” said Dr. Marvin Masalunga of the MHO and the activity director.

Masalunga said the MHO and the municipal government are “happy” that pregnant mothers in Coron are taking time to take care of themselves.

The attendees were given lectures and health talk, and participated in an open forum with Coron ob-gynecologist Dr. Faith Crisostomo. Most questions were about prenatal health on what contributes to blighted cognitive, motor and behavioral development.

Crisostomo said when pregnant women are not in their best health during the time they are expectant, their babies can be exposed to problems that would affect their health and development.

Being healthy, she reminded, is important for the well-being of unborn babies, and also after birth.

The use of prohibited drugs can also seriously affect the baby’s health, includ-

ing the consumption of alcohol since the mother is doing everything for two.

Meanwhile, Mayor Clara Reyes lauded barangay officials who encouraged pregnant mothers in their areas to attend.

Reyes said this only shows their great support to the program of the municipal government to protect the welfare of pregnant women.

The MHO, she added, also has a lyingin clinic, where pregnant mothers can be accommodated during delivery, and offers prenatal checkup and consultation to ensure that maternal health care is delivered. There is already a laboratory test unit, too, which has a regular medical technician. PNA

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No plane but many discoveries in yearlong search for Flight MH370

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ELLINGTON, New Zealand—The yearlong search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has turned up no sign of the plane, but that doesn’t mean it’s been unproductive.

It has yielded lessons and discoveries that could benefit millions, including coastal Australians, air and sea travelers and scientists trying to understand ancient changes to the earth’s crust.

The knowledge gained, so far, is of little comfort to family and friends of the 239 people still missing from the plane, which vanished last March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. While finding the plane remains the top priority for searchers and investigators, what they’re learning along the way may prove valuable long after the search ends.

Benefits of the work so far include:

New underwater maps

In the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where experts believe the plane crashed, scientists have been mapping the sea floor to aid in the search for wreckage.

Previous maps relied on satellite data, which gave only rough estimates of the ocean’s depth. Now, using sonar readings from ships, scientists have mapped an area the size of Nebraska and have discovered previously unknown trenches and underwater mountains that rival the height of any on Australia’s surface.

Searchers are getting even more detailed sonar readings using small underwater vehicles called “towfish” that are towed just above the sea floor. Scientists from around the world are eagerly anticipating the release of the three-dimensional maps and data once the search is completed.

tswitched off. Because investigators still don’t know what happened to Flight MH370, airlines have no information to help them update their mechanical systems or flighttraining techniques.

Improved multinational searches

Capt. Chris Budde, maritime operations director for the US Navy 7th Fleet, said that when it helped out on a multinational search for another missing plane last December, things went more smoothly thanks to lessons learned from the hunt for Flight MH370.

The latter search was for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, which plunged into the Java Sea near Indonesia, killing all 162 people aboard.

Budde said tasks like establishing common radio frequencies between nations, and determining who to contact onshore for search assignments were completed more efficiently after Indonesia studied and learned from Malaysia’s experience.

“These events are tragic, but they do help build cooperation and regional stability as militaries work together,” he said.

He said the US Navy fleet also managed to modify its technology on the fly in the search for Flight MH370, by tweaking its sonar equipment to detect, at short range, pings from an airplane’s black boxes. It was able to use that tweak a second time in the search for the AirAsia plane, he said, albeit without success in either instance.

Possible satellite improvements

Knowing the topography of the ocean floor also helps scientists predict ocean currents, Minchin said. That can help with everything from predicting where a disabled boat might drift in a search-and-rescue mission to understanding how marine species spread to new areas.

He said it can even help scientists understand how heat is distributed through the ocean, which could be used by meteorologists to help fine-tune weather forecasts.

The search exposed some of the limitations of satellite images, said Joseph Bermudez Jr., the cofounder of Longmont, Colorado-based AllSource Analysis.

Over the long term, he said, it may prompt companies to improve the technical capabilities of their satellites—for instance, by having them detect different and enhanced light wavelengths. Many people assumed that, like in the movies, they could scour satellite images to see the plane veering off course or spot its wreckage.

In reality, Bermudez said, commercial satellites aren’t generally aimed to take images over remote stretches of ocean and when they do, the images are often unclear and need experts to decipher them.

He said there was such high interest in the plane’s disappearance that amateurs around the world studied satellite images on crowdsourcing web sites to identify between 2 million and 3 million possible sightings of the plane or its debris.

“Not one of them was correct,” he said. He added that people need to be better trained in reading such images before they are turned loose on the task. Improved image quality, he added, could also help.

Better plane tracking

A window into history

Better tsunami prediction

Stuart Minchin, a divisional chief at Geoscience Australia, said that when the maps are released and further analyzed, they will give scientists a better understanding of areas that during earthquakes are susceptible to underwater landslides, which can create or exacerbate tsunamis.

He said the information will help scientists pinpoint areas along Australia’s west coast that are particularly vulnerable to tsunamis and enable better warnings and predictions for coastal residents.

Improved search and rescue

One thing the airline industry learned from Flight MH370 is that more tracking is needed, even for planes expected to fly over land for their entire journeys.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, which is part of the United Nations, has proposed that airlines be required to get position updates from each of their planes every 15 minutes. That requirement is expected to be in place by November 2016.

A more stringent requirement would seek updates every minute if a fire is detected or the plane makes an unusual move, such as suddenly dropping or climbing in elevation. That would apply only to jets manufactured after 2020. Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said on Sunday that his government’s airspace agency will work with Malaysia and Indonesia to test a new method, which would enable planes to be tracked every 15 minutes, rather than the previous rate of 30 to 40 minutes.

However, even if such a system had been in place for Flight MH370, it would not have made it possible to track the plane because transponder and other equipment were

Robin Beaman, a marine geologist at Australia’s James Cook University, said the underwater maps will help show scientists how Earth’s crust stretched and pulled apart millions of years ago, a process that is continuing today and is slowly pushing Australia away from Antarctica.

“It’s fitting the pieces of the puzzle back together. And it’s not just an academic exercise,” Beaman said. “The great gas resources for Australia are in the west, and if you fit that jigsaw back, you get more of a picture of how those gas resources were created.”

Dave Gallo, the director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said less than 8 percent of the underwater world has been explored.

“It’s more daunting than looking on Mars because there’s no light,” he said. “So we’re in a completely unknown world in mountains that are the most rugged on earth. There’s no maps, so it’s all basic, pure exploration with a mission that not only are we exploring, but we’re also looking for an aircraft.” Minchin said that everybody involved in the search continues to hope the plane will be found. AP

An unidentified Chinese family member of a passenger onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 stands behind a placard outside of the Malaysia Airlines office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on February 12. Chinese relatives of passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight protested on Thursday outside the carrier’s office, urging Malaysia to rescind a declaration that all those on board have perished. Flight MH370, which disappeared last March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, off western Australia. A search is ongoing but no debris has been found. AP/Joshua Paul

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Monday, March 2, 2015

A9

Personal branding builds reputation for career success

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ersonal branding is considered the most powerful leverage individuals have in the corporate world.

When individuals take an active approach to building their personal brand, the impression that is created goes a long way to determine others’ perception of them and their business.

Individuals with a strong personal brand are considered competent and credible due to their ability to deliver value through their actions and be recognized for it. In fact, those who market themselves with distinguishing skills and talents are much more likely to exceed workplace expectations and demonstrate executive presence, which helps them advance more quickly in their career and ensures job security.

According to Forbes, personal branding is a leadership requirement and those who know how to live and manage it will earn their respect in any situation. However, less than 15 percent of people have truly defined their personal brand and less than 5 percent are living it consistently

at work. So how can individuals start to effectively build a personal brand that makes them stand out from their competition and appeal to hiring managers when it comes to reference checks?

In today’s competitive corporate world, a candidate’s professional achievements, rather than his job duties, are widely used as a measured indication for success. According to Forbes, accomplishments are the best way to showcase a picture of an individual’s abilities and how well they have done at their past jobs.

In many multinational firms and local companies, key performance indicators are specifically used as a measurement of an individual’s performance in an organization. A

sales manager, for example, could sell his achievements by stating the percentage of customer base that he grew and sales quota reached within a certain period of time. For an operations director, his accomplishment should be associated with profit and loss, such as the percentage of return on investment increased and profit margin improved. By quantifying accomplishments, hiring managers will have a clear understanding of an individual’s work ethics, as well as his attitude and passion to contribute to the company.

In addition to professional achievement, having a high emotional intelligence quotient while achieving solid results will make your career advance faster and more financially successful. According to Forbes, emotional intelligence is an individual’s ability to manage his emotions and understand, empathize and build strong relationships with those around them. In a study conducted by TalentSmart, emotional intelligence was found to be the strongest predictor of performance in the workplace, explaining 58 percent of success in all types of jobs. Of all the subjects that were studied, 90 percent of the top performers (in terms of earnings) were high in emotional intelligence.

Whether a job involves working in a team or interacting with the client, these findings suggest the direct impact that emotional intelligence has on performance and pay, which is critical for enhanced cooperation and teamwork, and ultimately determines an individual’s rate of success at an organization.

Consider Dave Jackson, who is currently the CEO of 328 Group, a key player in the aviation industry consisting of companies that provide services for the refurbishment and manufacturing of private jets. Jackson began his career as a graduate trainee with mining and engineering firm Rio Tinto Zinc Plc., where he helped to contribute a 45-percent growth in sales in his second year. His solid management skills and motivation to succeed allowed him to continue his success in his role with his next employer, Hunting Plc., which saw him successfully help develop the business and build strong relationships with key clients such as British Aerospace and Saab aircraft programs.

Thereafter, Jackson worked with global manufacturer Lucas Aerospace, where he was responsible for the European customer support activities with a turnover of £100 million and over 2,000 customers,

as well as implementing an integration program that provided clients with a single point of contact while opening new customer support offices. Jackson’s strong interpersonal and communication skills radically inspired a culture change with an emphasis on customer service, leading to improved relationships with key accounts, such as Airbus, GE and British Airways. Jackson’s reputation within the industry later attracted the attention of Aviall Caledonian, where he joined the company as sales and marketing manager and secured new business worth over £40 million and developed new customers.

While individuals who have made extraordinary achievements in their respective roles and exhibit high emotional intelligence are highly valued, another important aspect of personal branding that is often overlooked is taking personal social responsibility to contribute to society. Regardless of the industry they are in, individuals can apply their talents to social and environmental causes, such as youth and homeless charities, recycling, reducing carbon footprint and mentoring others to succeed, to name a few. Julie Zolfo, for example, is a highly regarded talent-development coach that mentors clients on how to establish emotional

and behavioral patterns that result in rewarding success and deeper fulfillment. In her spare time, Zolfo volunteers in the schools of New Delhi, India, where she is given opportunities to work with new challenges and people. Another example is Cynthia Jenkins of Creative Leadership Excellence, who volunteers with various professional development organizations to develop training workshops.

Through these experiences, Jenkins was able to grow her network by meeting with fellow executives, as well as learn about different leadership styles. When individuals take part in social change, they are aligning their personal brand with those causes, as well as building their visibility, credibility and trustworthiness.

As the war for talent heightens, individuals should take a conscious approach toward building their personal brand as it is essential as a basis for career success. While there is no “one size fits all” method, a personal brand can be effectively developed when individuals actively build a list of achievements throughout their career, manage themselves and build rapport with others through emotional intelligence, and take social responsibility to give back to the community. Bó Lè Associates

TheElderly

A10

Monday, March 2, 2015 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

BusinessMirror

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Kanlungan ni Maria rolls out ‘Aba Muna Bago Ako’

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By Oliver Samson | Correspondent

OME for the aged Kanlungan ni Maria rolled out a newbrand outreach program in three hospitals in Metro Manila on February 21, benefiting over 200 indigent senior and child patients.

This time, the home for the aged gifted its beneficiaries with a grocery package each, its way of sharing the blessings its residents receive from benefactors.

Known as “Aba Muna Bago Ako (Amba),” the outreach gave gift packs to patients in Quirino Memorial Medical Center Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, and the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center, said Victoria Baterina-Solis, Kanlungan ni Maria special projects director.

No less than 100 gift packs were given to kids and 150 to elderly patients, she said.

Each package for seniors contained adult diapers, tissue papers, soaps, toothpastes, biscuits, milk and powdered chocolate drink, said Fr. Dari Dioquino, Kanlungan ni Maria director.

Except for adult diapers, the children also received the same grocery items, he said.

Kanlungan ni Maria will also take to its home in Antipolo an elderly woman who has been staying as a patient at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center for over a year now, Dioquino said.

No one was picking up the woman from the hospital, said Mary Jean Netario Cruz, Kanlungan ni Maria wellness director.

The woman was clinging to Baterina-Solis as if she knew she was coming to her new home in Antipolo already, she said.

She might be taken to Kanlungan ni Maria on Tuesday after proper documentation, Netario Cruz said.

Amba conducted the visit and gift-giving to the patients in the three hospitals duly coordinated with their respective social services

Kanlungan ni Maria Aba Muna Bago Ako gift packs at Amang Rodriquez Memorial Medical Center in Marikina.

departments, she said.

The Amba rollout also visited and gave gifts to Franciscan priests and nuns at a Dominican monastery, both in Rizal province, BaterinaSolis said.

The outreach program will also visit hospitals in Manila and

a home for the aged in Carmona, Cavite, she said.

Dioquino, Netario Cruz, Baterina-Solis, Maria Kristen I. Domingo, Karima Dimzon, John Robert I. Gascon, and Mark Andrew Tumpang composed Kanlungan ni Maria’s Amba rollout team.

Kanlungan ni Maria’s over 20 resident elderly in Antipolo have been well-provided for during the past 10 years.

Amba is a project seeking to share with other less fortunate senior citizens and children the blessings its occupants receive,

Dioquino said.

Aside from the Amba outreach program, Kanlungan ni Maria conducts magnesium pain-healing missions for indigent seniors and other age groups across the country, so far benefitting over 600 people.

Filemon T. Berba Jr.: Promoting science and patience among the young Older worker

By Rizal Raoul Reyes Correspondent

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ROMOTING science and technology continues to be the passion of Filemon T. Berba Jr. even though he has retired from corporate life.

Berba, 75, is currently the president of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST), which operates the Philippine Science Centrum (PSC) and Traveling Interactive Science Modules that go around the country to introduce elementary pupils and high-school students to hands-on interactive science exhibits.

He is one of the founders of the Philippine Quality and Productivity Movement and has been very active in organizations and foundations involved in science and technology, and in industry-academe linkages. He is president emeritus of the Philippine Quality Award Foundation, the Philippine version of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award of the USA. “I have been a big fan of science and technology since I was young.

By promoting science and engineering, I believe I am helping the country achieve progress. When I finished my MBA in Wharton, I was offered high-paying jobs in the US but I declined them because I wanted to serve the country. The Philippine is my only country,” Berba said in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

He is proud of the PFST and the PSC for educating people, especially students about the advantages and benefits of science. The PFST, which has recently turned 35 years old this February has been mounting

PHOTO shows Elvie Galvez (from left), education consultant of Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST) conducting an experiment, while Meneleo J. Carlos Jr., Chairman of PFST (center) and Filemon T. Berba Jr., President of PFST observe the procedure.

150 exhibits per year. It has also been attracting around 60,000 to 70,000 students a year to its exhibits. The traveling exhibits have also been visited by approximately 450,000 participants from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Since it is a foundation, Berba said the PFST needs to harness the support of the private sector for funding and other assistance for their projects. The good thing is Berba has a wide network in the corporate sector. For instance, he was able to tap DMCI and United Laboratories to provide them modules on energy, and health and

wellness, respectively.

Things are going great for PFST and the PSC. By the end of 2015, it will move to its new home at the Antipolo Education Center. Antipolo City Mayor Casimiro Ynares Jr. offered “permanent hosting” for free within a 10-hectare facility.

In achieving success in life, Berba said the keys are strong focus, warm interpersonal relationship, good communication and love for work.

Born to a working-class family, Berba had to study in public schools for his education. After

finishing high school in V. Mapa High School, he studied electrical engineering at the University of the Philippines as a scholar, graduating magna cum laude in 1959 at the top of the graduating class, and finished first in the board examination. He obtained his MBA through scholarships.

After graduation, Berba was offered high-paying jobs by other companies. Being always a technical guy, he chose the lowest offer of P150 a month. “My salary was slightly higher than the P4 minimum daily wage.”

With his competence and

managerial skills, Berba has been offered to head major companies during his working years. However, he politely turned them down because he preferred to work in the trenches. so to speak.

Berba is acknowledged in the Philippine business community as a good project implementer and has been responsible for setting up several pioneering projects. He is also known for turning around distressed companies, including the Philippine Electric Corp., or Philec. He said effective communication was a key in making the company healthy again by telling the members of the union that they were all in the rehabilitation effort together.

After his stint with Philec, Berba was recruited by Ayala Corp. He worked as a senior managing director of Ayala Corp. He sat on the board of directors of Manila Water Co., Globe Telecom and Integrated Microelectronics Inc., companies in the Ayala Group. He was president and CEO of these companies until his retirement in 2003.

Berba was one of the “100 Outstanding Alumni Engineers of the Century” by the UP College of Engineering and the UP Alumni Engineers in 2010 on the Centennial Year of the UP College of Engineering.

For all his success in life, Berba advises young people to have patience in pursuing their goals, especially when seeking financial gains.

“The financial rewards will come later. They are just a result of how well you have done your work.

It is something you don’t have to chase because it will come,” he said.

DSWD: Only qualified indigent senior citizens 65 and older are entitled to receive social pension

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HE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clarified on Friday that only indigent senior citizens, who are 65 years old and above, sickly, frail, with disabilities, not recipient of pension from any agency or do not have a permanent income and support of relatives are qualified to receive the social pension of P500 a month.

“We want to clarify that not all

senior citizens will be receiving the social pension. Only the senior citizens, who are under the ‘indigents’ category, are qualified,” Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Javier R. Jimenez said in a news briefing at the DSWD Central Office in Batasan Hills, Quezon City.

Jimenez said that, in the distribution of the social pension, they have coordinated with the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca)

of local government units (LGUs) to provide them with the list of qualified pensioners.

“The first-quarterly release for the pension will be in April of this year and will be provided in cash,” he said. The P500 monthly social pension is provided under Republic Act 9494, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

Until 2014, only indigent senior citizens aged 77 and above were

qualified to receive the social pension from the DSWD since the implementation of the law.

For this year, DSWD’s proposal to lower the age of qualification to 65 was approved by Congress and the corresponding fund was included in the General Appropriations Act of 2015.

The government has allocated P5.962 billion to benefit a total of 939,609 indigent senior citizens,

who are 65 years old and above nationwide, including those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The budget was P2.853 billion higher than last year’s allocation of P3.108 billion as a recognition of the need to give elder citizens a chance to receive such pension in their old age, aside from the free Philippine Health Insurance Corp. lifetime coverage. PNA

claims US county fired her because of her age

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FORMER supervisor for Butler County’s Area Agency on Aging claims in a lawsuit moved to federal court on Friday that the county fired her because of her age.

Jo Donaldson, 58, of Center said in the lawsuit that the county used an incident involving an elderly woman as a pretext to fire her so it could hire someone younger.

“Ms. Donaldson’s termination occurred at a time when Butler County was actively working to create a younger workforce,” her lawyer, Edward Olds, said in the lawsuit.

“Older employees were being forced out and replaced by younger individuals.” Olds couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

Michael English, the county’s solicitor, referred questions to Marie Jones, the lawyer representing the county in the lawsuit. Jones said the county plans to file its answer next week.

Donaldson originally filed the lawsuit in Butler County Common Pleas. The county had it moved to federal court because Donaldson’s lawsuit claims the county violated the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Donaldson supervised three units, including Adult Protective Services, the lawsuit said. As part of her duties, she went to an elderly woman’s house in April 2013 with an order providing her with an emergency guardian. The woman attacked Donaldson and was involuntarily committed to the psychiatric unit of the Butler Memorial Hospital, the lawsuit said.

While the woman was confined at the hospital, she fell and was injured, the lawsuit said. The woman’s adult son threatened to sue the county, the lawsuit said.

Her supervisors responded by suspending Donaldson on April 26, 2013, and firing her on May 7, 2013, for misconduct, the lawsuit said. The county’s stated reason for firing her is meritless and is contradicted by repeated court orders that have found the woman needed a guardian, the lawsuit said. Tribune Content Agency Llc.

BusinessMirror

Tourism & Entertainment tourism@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard Ramos • Monday, March 2, 2015 A11

VISIT THE PHILIPPINES, THROUGH

FUN CARAVANS

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HE fun is far from over as the country gears up its tourism sector with the “Visit the Philippines 2015” campaign.

Launched by the Department of Tourism (DOT) last September, the department clarified that the battle cry is not a replacement for the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” movement. Instead, all the efforts affixed to Visit the Philippines 2015 will sustain what they started in the preceding endeavors.

In line with this, the Philippines Tour Operators Association (Philtoa), one of the DOT’s most active partners in strengthening the country’s tourism sector, is bringing in “Islands Philippines Fun Caravans.”

This event will be featuring five major caravan programs and three minor caravans that are all designed to promote, reestablish, and reinforce tourism activities across the region.

To date, Philtoa is the largest association of registered tour operators, with allied members from various tourism sectors such as airlines, ho-

tels, resorts, tourist transportation, and more. Actively contributing to national economic growth, Philtoa forges national and global affiliations and alliance with tourism-related associations and organizations to enhance and promote domestic and inbound Philippine tourism.

The five major caravans are as follows: the Cordillera Heritage Warrior Caravan which will encompass San Jose, Santa Fe, Lagawe, Banaue, Bontoc, Sagada and Baguio provinces; the Southern Luzon Kulinarya that will involve Alaminos, San Pablo, Nagcarlan, Liliw, Majayjay, Lucban, Tayabas, Sariaya and San Juan provinces; the Visayas Charm Caravan that will underscore Bohol, Cebu and Boracay; the Bicol Express for Naga, Legazpi, Sorsogon and Misibis; and The Plains and Heights of Central Luzon Caravan which will put the spotlight on

Pinatubo, Tarlac, Baguio, Pangasinan and Subic. Meanwhile, the minor caravans are as follows: Rediscover Batanes for the grandness of Batanes’s plateaus; the Northern Palawan Eco Adventure Discovery for the lush islands, pristine coastlines, and cobalt waters of the Calamianes Group of Island; and Hola, Zamboanga for the vibrant culture and diverse landscape of the province.

Each caravan is calendared in different months throughout 2015, lasting from three to seven days, depending on the number of municipalities included. Philtoa President Cesar Cruz also adds that the project is designed to provide flexibility in the choices of activities and accommodation in each destination based on the interest and affordability of the participants.

“The Island Philippines Fun Caravans will accommodate both foreign and local markets, where they can choose to bring their own vehicles or avail themselves the caravan vehicle, of course, only if the destinations can be accessed via land transportation. The participants also have the option to avail themselves of the accommodations that will be announced prior to the trip—campsite, lodging houses, hostels, or star-rated properties,” Cruz explained.

Cruz also shares that the caravans are meant to become interactive and participative, thus, there will be programs that will encourage them to interact and immerse themselves in the local communities.

Other facets that are expected to be entailed during each course are a dummy passport that will be stamped by the participating local government unit, mini-trade fairs, a festive welcome reception, and other community-based activities that will highlight the best spots and emerging lifestyle and travel trends in the municipalities included in the itinerary.

“As our tourism industry further shapes up through the Visit the Philippines 2015, Philtoa wants to contribute through this caravan project that aims to provide an effective platform for the promotion of different tourist destinations across the country,” Cruz said.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

A12 Monday, March 2, 2015

Editor: Gerard Ramos

THRILLS AND SPILLS AT MT. PULAG

DENR Mount Pulag park office

BEAUTIFUL mountain scenery at Camp

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THE forest ranger station

B B L

VERY big item in my travel bucket list is to climb the three highest mountains in the Philippines—the 2,956-meter-high Mount Apo and the 2,938-meterhigh Mount Dulang-Dulang, both in Mindanao, and the 2,922-meter-high Mount Pulag, the highest mountain in Luzon. Of course, it made sense to first climb the latter, the nearest to home of the three.

THE grassy summit of Mount Pulag

A TENT at rainy, muddy and winswept Camp

I booked my climb to Mount Pulag, with my son Jandy, through good friend Violeta Imperial, executive director of Nature Awareness and Conservation Club Inc. All in all, we were 13 in our group and we were going to climb the mountain via the easy Bokod Route, which has the mildest grade. We all met up at the Victory Liner Terminal in Pasay City and left on the 9 pm bus for Baguio City, the jump-off point for our climb. After running the gauntlet of traffic along Edsa and two stopovers

GIANT ferns

at Tarlac City and Sison (Pangasinan), we arrived at the city by 3:45 p.m., then boarded a chartered passenger jeepney that would take us on a twohour 80-kilometer drive, through winding zigzag roads, to Kabayan town where we had breakfast at Country Road Café and Restaurant.

That done, we returned to our jeepney for the short drive to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Mount Pulag Park Office, where DENR Supt. Emerita

Albas gave our group a short briefing on the dos and don’ts while trekking Mount Pulag National Park. From the DENR office, it was another two-hour drive, this time along mostly unpaved roads, to the forest ranger station at Camp Babadak, Bashoy, Kabayan.

Along the way are breathtaking views of narrow valleys and vegetable and rice terraces.

The ranger station, a place where mountaineers make final preparations, cook, rest and make last-minute supply acquisition before the trek, sits near a small village at the base of the trail. It being a Chinese New Year holiday, it was filled with trekkers. Here, we met our two guides and hired porters to help carry our backpacks to our designated camping ground at Camp 2. It was a 7.5-km hike to Mount Pulag’s summit but we were to do it in stages.

We started our climb at 10 a.m. and there were already worrying gray

THE narrow trail

clouds ahead that brought about a slight drizzle, necessitating our wearing raincoats. Sure enough, it began to rain, making the quite steep trail wet, muddy and slippery. We arrived at Camp 1 by noontime. Here, we rested briefly and ate our packed lunch of rice, chicken adobo and canned tuna.

As the altitude increased, we made frequent stops to catch our breath, hearing the rapid beats of our own hearts amid the weird silence. Continuing on, I began to question myself and my sanity in being here. It was already raining profusely when we reached Camp 2 by 3 p.m., and we had to slog through the mud just to make it to our tents. There were thoughts in my mind of continuing on to the summit in the remaining daylight but decided against it. Big mistake.

That night, it rained heavily and the wind picked up, allowing condensation to seep through our tents and drench our sleeping bags, socks, gloves

and shoes as we ate our supper. I didn’t sleep a wink as I shivered all throughout the night, with temperature dipping to almost zero. Waking up at 3 am to trek the remaining distance to the summit where, on a clear day, mountaineers usually await the sunrise above a sea of clouds, was out of the question.

Daylight and a warm breakfast was a welcome relief. It was still drizzling when we broke camp and made our way back down the trail. As we descended, the weather started to improve and the sun soon shone when we reached Camp 1. The camp was filled with trekkers and tents when we arrived. Here, on a hill above the camp, we had a clear and beautiful panoramic view of Mount Pulag’s so-far unattainable grassy summit, as well as surrounding pine-cladded mountains.

THE mossy forest

As our descent was easy and more leisurely, I had more time to appreciate the mountain’s high plant diversity (home to 528 plant species, 42 percent of which are endemic to the area). I was also struck by the variation in flora, from tall pine trees that clad the mountain’s hillsides, wild orchids thriving on its slopes up to the 7,000 foot level; a 5,877-hectare elfin forest with small stunted oak trees heavily overgrown with ferns, moss and lichen found at the 1,500 meter to 2,600 meter (4,900 foot to 8,500 foot) level; and a natural, windswept, 804-hectare montane grassland at the summit.

The beauty of it all more than mitigated my frustration of not making it to the summit.

Mount Pulag has not seen the last of me.

news@businessmirror.com.ph

The Regions BusinessMirror

DPWH seeks ₧13.12 billion for infra projects in Cebu

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EBU CITY—The regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is asking for an allocation of P13.12 billion to construct roads and other infrastructure in Cebu next year, including preparatory works for a third bridge to Mactan Island. The proposed budget was submitted by six district engineers in Cebu to the Cebu Provincial Development Council (PDC) and Gov. Hilario Davide III. The DPWH is proposing P3.04 billion worth of projects, including roads, bridges and drainage systems, for the first district engineering office (DEO) in 2016.

The proposed amounts for the other districts are P1.81 billion for the second DEO; P2.08 billion for the third; P3.09 billion for the fourth; P1.08 billion for the fifth; and P2 billion for the sixth DEO. The proposed budgets for 2016 were presented by Engr. Ornopia-Aroa, chief of planning and design of the first DEO; District Engr.

Nicomedes Leonor Jr. of the second DEO; District Engr. Daisy Toledo of the third DEO; District Engr. James Dellosa of the fourth DEO;

District Engr. Yosoph Rasuman of the fifth DEO; and Engr. Nwanaka of the sixth district.

Dellosa said the P3.096 billion for the fourth district will fund 95 projects, including the construction, rehabilitation, concreting and maintenance of roads, bridges and drainage systems. Nwanaka said the sixth DEO is proposing a budget of P2 billion for 2016, with around P500 million for Consolacion and P1.5 billion for Cordova.

The plans for Cordova include the widening of roads and construction of drainage systems that would complement the proposed third bridge between mainland Cebu and Mactan Island. For the first DEO, which covers the fourth congressional district, about P322.97 million was proposed for national secondary roads; P21.92 million for the Bogo-Polambato Wharf Road; P56.45 million for the SogodTabuelan Road; and P129.9 million for network development. For the second DEO, which covers the first congressional district, P1.35 billion was proposed for the widening and construction of roads, repair and retrofitting of bridges and drainage protection.

Pampanga’s Caragan festival wows spectators

Monday, March 2, 2015 A13

ComVal to get ₧614 million for road, bridge projects

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B M T. C | Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—Compostela Valley province would get P614 million of the public works allocation of the Davao region for its 87 national and local projects this year, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said. DPWH Director Mariano Arquiza said P389 million was allocated for national projects, while P225 million was allocated for local projects.

Compostela Valley District Engr. Joselito Caballero said 76 projects were already completed and 11 projects are currently being implemented and are expected to be finished this year.

Provincial Tourism Officer Christine Dompor said five tourism road projects also received separate allocation and due for completion this year. The five projects were identified under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Project of the Department of Tourism. The tourism road projects were allocated P330 million and would benefit “hard-to-reach tourism desti-

nations,” Dompor said. “Even if the road is a provincial or barangay road, the DPWH can still improve on it,” she said.

The tourism projects include the concreting of Nabunturan Public Market Road, the Barangay Pindasan, Mabini Circumferential Road leading to Kopiat Island, Lunod Island and Mabini beach resorts.

Also included were tourism road projects that connect to the province’s major waterfalls, such as the Tagbibinta and Maranging falls in Maragusan and Tadja Falls in New Bataan. Another road project would lead to the White Peak Mountain in New Bataan.

Soldier killed, three hurt in Kalinga encounter

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COLORFUL costumes and lively dances highlighted the recent Caragan Festival in Mabalacat City. JOEY PAVIA B J P Correspondent

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ABALACAT CITY—Caragan, an annual festival in honor of the Ayta chieftain, who founded Pampanga’s newest city, wowed thousands of residents and guests during the climax of the four-day event here last week.

Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and municipal official Dionisio “June” Magbalot, who is responsible for reviving arts and culture here, joined the grandest festival in the Central Luzon as the performers amazed the crowd with elaborate costumes, head dresses and performances The festival is in honor of chieftain Caragan, an Ayta who is said to have founded the town named after Balacat trees, which were endemic in the area.

With 53 participating tribes from the junior (elementary) and main (high school/ college) division, Caragan became the most watched and most attended festive event in the region. The parade and street dance filled at least 3 kilometers of the MacArthur Highway from Poblacion to Xevera in Tabun to highlight the Ayta ancestry of this town, which was founded in 1712. Another record set by the event was the simultaneous mass dance of 53 participating tribes which converged at Xevera after the threehour parade. The dance was documented in aerial photo and video shots.

The parade also featured winners of

Miss Mabalacat City and Haring Caragan pageants, with guest celebrity Rodjun Cruz.

The most awaited part is the announcement and awarding of certificates and plaques of recognition to Marcos Village Elementary School (Tribung Malig) and Mabalacat National High School (Tribung Nacional), which were hailed as grand winners. Judges included renowned artists, like dance guru Douglas Nierras with Powerdance dancers Marimar Obita, Erick Juanerio Frolan Dabalus and Julius Quitalig, hairstylist James Cooper, National Commission for Culture and Arts Director for Cultural Education Program Joseph Cristobal, songwriter-arranger Ato del Rosario, theater visual and Writer Armado Sta. Ana, tourism planning and development consultant Nilo Agustin, Cultural Center of the Philippines Department Manager for Cultural Exchange Carmencita “Chinggay” Bernardo, Artistic Director Gener Caringal, The judges hailed the staging of Caragan, citing its importance not only to the arts but in preserving this city’s rich heritage.

“What you have brought to the people of Mabalacat through this festival is not only entertainment and pleasure, but a connection to a culture most young people tend to forget.

Their participation in the parade brings back to them a first-hand experience of the hardship that brought about the culture that is as rich as they have in Mabalacat,” Nierras said.

Mayor creates team to wipe out red tape in Baguio City

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AGUIO CITY—Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan has issued Administrative Order 014, series of 2015, creating a monitoring team for the implementation of the “Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.” The monitoring team will be headed by the mayor with Dr. Estrella Bisquera as the vice chairman and action officer.

Domogan said Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, provides that all government agencies, including departments, bureaus, offices, instrumentalities, or government-owned and

-controlled corporations, or local government, or district units should set up their respective standards to be known as the Citizen’s Charter within one year after the effectivity of the law.

The law aims to promote efficiency and transparency in government regarding the manner of transacting with the public by requiring each agency to simplify frontline service procedures, formulate service standards to observe in every transaction and make known these standards to the clients/citizens. PNA

AMP Melchor de la Cruz, Gamu, Isabela—An Army soldier was killed and three others were wounded when they engaged a 10-member New People’s Army rebels in a firefight in Barangay Limos, Pinukpuk, Kalinga on Saturday morning, the military said.

Killed was Private First Class Vick Pario and wounded were Private First Class Edward Boagkat, Pfc. Ronald Medrano and Pfc. Jun Abok.

Army Capt. Randy Santamaria, 5th Infantry Division spokesman, said the three wounded soldiers are now “out of danger.”

The Army soldiers from the 51st Infantry Battalion were conducting security Bayanihan operations in Sitio Banlao in Barangay Limos, Pinukpuk town when they chanced upon the rebels. PNA

SWEET CORN An agronomy technician shows a sample of organic sweet corn grown at a farm in Santiago City, Isabela. Boiled corn is a favorite snack of residents in the city. LEONARDO PERANTE II

Miner dies of poison chemical inhalation inside pit in CamNorte town

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EGAZPI CITY—A 45-yearold miner died after inhaling a poisonous chemical inside a mining pit from where he was trying to retrieve a water pump and a blower at Sitio Ligwa, Barangay

Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte on Saturday.

A police report identified the victim as Julie Lancion, a resident of Purok 4, Barangay Bayan-Bayan, Labo, Camarines Norte.

The report said the incident happened at about 7:30 a.m. when Lancion and his companions entered the pit to get the water pump and blower that they left behind inside the mining

pit when he suddenly felt dizzy while inside.

His companions tried to bring him out of the pit but it took them almost one hour before they retrieved is lifeless body. PNA

Opinion BusinessMirror

A14 Monday, March 2, 2015

editorial Is short-term confidence important?

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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released its Business Confidence Survey for the first quarter of 2015. The index fell to 45.2 percent from 48.3 percent.

The BSP in their media release uses the term ‘business optimism’ to distinguish from those respondents that are ‘pessimistic’ in their quarter-to-quarter outlook.

The index results indicate that the number of optimists declined but continued to be greater than the number of pessimists during the quarter.

The BSP said that part of the reason for the decline is ‘seasonal’ in that there tends to be a drop after the increased business activity during the Christmas season. Further, the BSP highlighted concerns about the port congestion, effects of past typhoon damage, and Indonesia’s new and stricter limits on fishing in their territorial waters.

However, results in this Business Expectations Survey for the second quarter of 2015 are more positive with the index moving from 58.2 percent from 43.1 percent in the last survey.

Some of the internals showed that businesses believe that inflation will remain low and that commodity price increases will also stay in the 2 percent to 4 percent range. Overall, the responding firms expect better financial conditions and easy access to credit and that their own fanatical condition will improve.

The headline print of the index is what gains the attention but we wonder if ‘optimism’ versus ‘pessimism’ is actually of much value. The pessimists tend to be looking at what has happened in the past while the optimists seem to be looking at the future. Further, by its own admission, the BSP survey shows ‘mixed results’ across industry sectors which seems reasonable.

The normal business cycle, when not interfered with by external forces, would be inclined to favor one sector over another at any given time. But in the longer term, this should balance out again without interference. Unfortunately, government is usually the interferer as with the mining industry.

Yet we wonder of how much value this survey actually is to bit the businesses and policy makers.

The problem with the delays in delivery cargo to and from the Manila ports had been a problem for much of 2014 but appears to be coming to an end. While there will be other logistics problem as the World Bank pointed out with the truck ban during the preparations for the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, this probably not a long term systematic issue.

Bad weather causing financial damage is always going to be part of the Philippines business environment.

We would be more interested as to the overall business confidence a year from now.

However, every business owner and operator knows, that confidence or the lack thereof in what happens in the outside world is not as important as the confidence he or she has in the their own confidence to adjust to the externals.

That is what creates success.

Since 2005

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French president calls for climate change Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

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rench President Francois Hollande’s trip to the Philippines last week on a historic two-day state visit was marked by his vibrant call to action on the global climate-change issue.

This is the first visit to the Philippines by an incumbent French president.

He was feted at a simple and elegant state dinner held last Thursday at Malacañan Palace’s Rizal Ceremonial Hall where he was greeted by President Benigno Aquino III. Among those in attendance were high-ranking government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, and French businessmen eager to invest in the Philippines.

It was my privilege to be present on that occasion, where both presidents launched the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change. “We call for action,” they said, “…and not simply watch history unfold.”

They asked the international community “to conclude a universal, equitable, and ambitious climate deal, in line with the scientific recommendations set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to

preserve our planet as a livable place for future generations.”

The Philippines is one of the countries hardest-hit by the negative effects of climate change, such as outof-season typhoons. As President Aquino pointed out in his speech at the state dinner, the usual seasonal schedules have changed over the past years.

“The rainy season in the Philippines,” he said, “typically lasts from June to November. However, tropical storm Washi in 2011, Typhoon Bopha in 2012 and Typhoon Hagupit in 2014 all made landfall in December.”

Typhoons that hit during the regular season, such as Nari and Haiyan in 2013, he said, were of “increasing magnitude.”

Both heads of state also made a joint declaration, agreeing “to expand and strengthen bilateral relations and elevate the bilateral relationship to an enhanced partnership between

the Philippines and France,” with regard to issues related to “the maintenance of peace and international security and to common objectives to promote inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.”

Also among the areas of cooperation are health, higher education and research, tourism, renewable energy, urban transportation and infrastructure, and natural resources management.

France and the Philippines will be urging other nations to adopt a workable climate change agreement at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) to be held in Paris at the end of this year.

The Manila Call to Action on Climate Change, Presidents Aquino and Hollande said, take into account “the needs and concerns of the most vulnerable countries.”

The French government will therefore extend to the Philippines, through the French Development Agency, a loan of at least 50 million euros “to contribute to the implementation of prevention and reconstruction action in response to natural disasters resulting from the effects of climate change or from other causes.”

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1947. France was the first country to recognize the late President Corazon Aquino upon her election to that position.

We thank President Hollande for his visit to the country and the various initiatives he launched for bilateral cooperation, and congratulate President Aquino on the harmonious and smooth relations he has consistently conducted with other countries to place the Philippines on a firm footing internationally.

We also congratulate them both for their advocacy on climate change, a pressing concern that not only affects certain areas but the entire planet, and not only our generation, but future ones as well. nnn

PAINTER Rosscapili honors nature in an upcoming exhibit entitled “A Painting Lovely as a Tree” with works inspired by Joyce Kilmers’ famous poem “Trees.”

His recent art retreats in Langkawi and Ubud inspired him to continue a series on trees that he worked on from 1993 to 2006. His new collection comprises abstract trees executed with his signature bold calligraphic strokes.

In his show on March 5 to 27 at ArtPrints Alley, LRI Design Plaza, Bel-Air, Makati City, Rosscapili will be showing 15 canvases of unexhibited works from 2003 to 2006.

For details call 836-8799 or email: theartprintsalley@oneworkshop.ph.

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

A weak America in a dangerous world: A recipe for disaster

By Dakota L. Wood

The Heritage Foundation/TNS

T

HE world seems to be becoming more dangerous these days.

Not so coincidentally, America’s military power continues to decline rapidly.

Before considering how and why, here’s a snapshot of what’s happening around the globe: • Russia has annexed Crimea, is dismembering Ukraine, is probing the defenses of Northern Europe, and is again casting a covetous eye on the Baltic and South Caucasus states.

Vladimir Putin is exploiting not only Europe’s dependence on Russia’s energy resources and markets but also its anemic military condition, getting all he can while the getting is good.

• The Islamic State, homicidally focused on dragging the world back to the seventh century, has carved a caliphate out of the dysfunctional states of Syria and Iraq. It’s fomenting instability across the region through its surrogates and franchises and other like-minded violent Islamists in Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Nigeria.

• Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, betting on the desperation of the US to secure a “deal” that would make it impossible for us to stop them from succeeding.

• China is entrenching itself in disputed waters, fortifying atolls, muscling away the fishing and commercial fleets of competitor claimants, and contesting international airspace. Meanwhile, it’s exploiting vulnerabilities in America’s cyber shields to steal intellectual property worth billions of dollars and millions of man-hours, penetrate government and financial sector systems, and conduct deep cyber reconnaissance of America’s national critical infrastructure.

In times past, the United States would have risen to such challenges to its security interests and to the existing global order, as it did when the Soviet Union or China sought to export their brands of communism.

America’s confident strength steadied friends and allies and pushed back against belligerent opportunism.

But those days appear to be receding. The US has elevated other interests to higher priority (as a look at the federal budget readily shows), and the US military’s ability to protect

America’s global interests is in freefall.

In fact, the US military now finds itself in a state where it would be unable to successfully handle two major conflicts in different parts of the world, a long-held objective of national security policy.

America’s Navy, at 285 ships, is approaching pre-World War I levels; its Air Force flies planes more than a quarter-of-a-century old (some more than a half-century); the Army is approaching half the size deemed necessary just a few years ago; and the Marines, with demand for their shrinking force at record highs, have committed indefinitely to near-continuous rotational deployments of their operating forces.

This problem did not suddenly emerge. It has slowly, but relentlessly evolved as funding for the base-budget has declined in constant dollars, and the cost for manpower, equipment, and weapons has steadily risen.

Extended production timelines for expensive, high-end platforms, sustained use of the force for the past decade or more, and lack of funding to replace items that are retired or lost in combat, have combined to result in a force that is older, smaller and more worn out.

All the details can be found in The Heritage Foundation’s inaugu-

ral Index of US Military Strength, an annual publication that assesses the condition of America’s military forces and their ability to meet national security requirements. It also evaluates the condition of key allies and their regions as they affect the ability of US forces to conduct operations abroad, as well as who poses direct, high-level challenges to US national security interests.

Some may suggest looking to America’s allies. Though reasonably stable and steadfast, though, they are less capable due to their own neglect of their military forces. We can’t assume they’ll be able to contribute much. Further, competitors that pose serious challenges to America are investing heavily in military capabilities carefully matched to their own circumstances and objectives, increasing the challenges our forces would face.

These trends are ominous, to say the least, especially because it’s far easier to decline still further than to make rapid improvements that take substantial time, money and attention–all of which seem to be in short supply.

The 2015 Index of US Military Strength makes it clear that unless we take a greater interest in the state of our security–now–we may be in for some serious trouble.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, March 2, 2015 A15

Breast cancer is not one disease; Thank you America for being there there is no one ‘cure’

By Laurie Becklund

Teddy Locsin Jr.

Los Angeles Times/TNS

I

am dying, literally, at my home in Hollywood, of metastatic breast cancer, the only kind of breast cancer that kills. For six years I’ve known I was going to die. I just didn’t know when.

Then, a couple of weeks before Christmas, a new, deadly diagnosis gave me a deadline. No doctor would promise me I’d make it to 2015.

Promise me, I told my friends and family, that you’ll never say that I died after “fighting a courageous battle with breast cancer.”

This tired, trite line dishonors the dead and the dying by suggesting that we, the victims, are responsible for our deaths or that the fight we were in was ever fair.

Promise me you’ll never wear a pink ribbon in my name or drop a dollar into a bucket that goes to breast cancer “awareness” for “early detection for a cure,” the mantra of fund-raising juggernaut Susan G. Komen, which has propagated a distorted message about breast cancer and how to “cure” it.

I’m living proof that early detection doesn’t cure cancer. I had more than 20 mammograms, and none of them caught my disease.

In fact, we now have significant studies showing that routine mammogram screening, which may result in misdiagnoses, unnecessary treatment and radiation overexposure, can harm more people than it helps.

In 1996, during a self-exam, I found a peanut-sized lump in one breast that turned out to be stage one breast cancer. I had the “best,” most common, kind of breast cancer, found it early, got a lumpectomy and short dose of radiation.

Five years out, my doctor told me there was little chance of recurrence and said, “Have a great life!”

You can imagine my shock when, 13 years after my initial diagnosis, I was in gridlock on the Harbor Freeway and got a call from my doctor with the results of a PET scan ordered after routine blood labs. “Maybe you should pull over,” he said.

Half an hour later, in an elementary school parking lot, I learned the scans revealed stage four breast cancer in my bones, liver, lungs and brain: a death sentence with an average life expectancy of three years.

I demanded the truth, always, from my doctors. I was a reporter who needed facts to plan whatever life I had left. I would not live in denial. But I was too scared, too private to tell anyone except my husband, my daughter and three friends. My very cells suddenly became my most intimate secrets.

Who would ever sign another book contract with a dying woman? Or remember Laurie Becklund, valedictorian, Fulbright scholar, former Times staff writer who exposed the Salvadoran death squads and helped The Times win a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots? More important, and more honest, who would ever again look at me just as Laurie?

It took me more than two years to summon the courage to meet others like me, at a Metastatic Breast Cancer Network conference. When I arrived there were no pink ribbons in sight, except for a single lapel pin that had been turned upside down like a noose.

I introduced myself to the group’s president and vice president, who were comparing their hands, red and shiny from the side effects of various chemo treatments. Metaphorically, I had been both hiding my identity and fearing I’d lose it. It wasn’t until that day that I learned some people literally lose theirs, via their fingerprints.

The women at the conference greeted me with questions. They were shocked to meet someone whose cancer had metastasized to all four possible sites breast can-

cer can go. How was I even alive?

They had set up lunch tables labeled “Brain,” “Bones,” “Lungs” and “Liver.” I told myself, at least I could table-hop.

Later that day, in one of the most powerful rituals I have ever seen, the group’s president asked all of us to stand, then sit back down when she reached the number of years since our diagnosis. At two years, most had to sit down.

When she reached seven, no one I could see was still standing.

Looking back, I realize that I’ve been trying to report my way out of this disease. I’ve read so many books; researched hundreds of clinical trials; done my best to learn the complicated language of cancer and microbiology; attended conferences in Indiana, Florida, Mexico and Portugal. I joined online forums. I signed on with the user name “WontDieofIgnorance.”

Despite it all, I fear that is exactly what is going to happen. I might as well have been playing Chutes and Ladders, a childhood board game whose outcome is based on rolls of the dice.

The medical establishment tells me I have “failed” a number of therapies. That’s not right: The establishment and its therapies have failed me. The system we live in as metastatic breast cancer patients is simply not designed to deal with the cycle we are living and dying in.

The estimated 40,000 women (and a few men) who die annually can’t wait years for FDA-approved, “gold standard” clinical trials. We’re dying now.

Another quarter-million Americans are estimated to be waiting in the wings. I say “estimated” because no one is required to report a metastatic diagnosis. Death certificates normally report symptoms such as “respiratory failure,” not the actual disease. We are literally uncounted.

We now know that breast cancer is not one disease. What works for one person might not for another: There is no one “cure.” We are each, in effect, one-person clinical trials.

Yet the knowledge generated from those trials will die with us because there is no comprehensive database of metastatic breast cancer patients, their characteristics and what treatments did and didn’t help them.

In the Big Data-era, this void is criminal. Consider what Wall Street does. Even the tiniest companies can see how much stock they sell, compare themselves to cohorts, review history, predict trends. Why can’t we create such a database for cancer patients, so we can all learn from patient experiences and make more educated decisions on what treatments will extend and improve lives?

The most powerful organization in the breast cancer universe, Susan G. Komen, has raised $2.5 billion over the last 20 years, much more than many corporations will ever earn. Yet Komen channels only a fraction of those funds into research or systems to help those who are already seriously sick. Most of that money continues to go to a breast cancer “awareness” campaign that is now painfully out of date.

We need people–patients, doctors, scientists, politicians, investors, families–to make a fresh start.

We must create a new system of data collection and an open, online, broad-range database about patient histories that will provide information invaluable to those who’ve been given a death sentence. Patients as well as doctors must contribute.

It will come too late for me. But it is possible to end the game: Patients shouldn’t have to climb up ladders and fall down chutes.

Free fire

W

E know of course that you cannot come out and say it but the facts are indisputable; you were there, part of the operation, but in our view not enough of a part.

Next time, let’s have some air support at least to wipe those ragheads off the face of the earth.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs was NOT lying when it declared that the US had nothing to do with the Mamasapano mission. The DFA was just expressing its customary IGNORANCE on a subject the DFA cannot know anything about. THE Mamasapano mission or Exodus— the weird label of the successful but bloody mission—was secret.

But pressed by Sen. Ralph Recto, SAF commander Napeñas confirmed that the US provided the intelligence packet on the basis of which the mission was planned,

launched and conducted. Events were watched in real time via US aircraft, which beamed an aerial view to the Command Center.

American operatives were among the spectators at the Command Center. No doubt they were waiting to be given the finger.

SAF troops used maps provided by the US either because local bookstores are still waiting for China to decide which cartographic version to sell or the US maps were current satellite photos.

Napeñas confirmed that the US sent aircraft the day after the

carnage to evacuate the wounded not yet executed by or given the coup d’grace by Iqbal’s superiors.

“We have a US counterpart at Seaborne working with SAF in terms of training and equipment,” said Napeñas. But American operatives did not, repeat did not play a combat role. What a pity. If they had, the tears would be falling on the other side.

Well, we’re shore glad that’s all cleared up. We were worried the US had withheld help because the US has been the most insistent sponsor of the Bangsamoro deal to carve out of our country a pound of flesh on which radical Islam can feast, a la Merchant of Venice.

Would the US turn a blind eye to anything just to carry out this territorial amputation? Clearly the US has limits on how much damage on its only putative Southeast Asian ally is acceptable to please Islam.

For the U.S.-brokered Bangsamoro deal is intended to placate Muslims in the Middle East for the loss of Palestine—the historic name since the Roman Empire for that entire area by the way—by showing them

How jihad came to Brooklyn

T

By Leonid Bershidsky | Bloomberg News

HE two Uzbeks and one Kazakh who were arrested this week in Brooklyn for allegedly making plans to join Islamic State found their way to the extremist group only after they immigrated to the United States. You have to wonder whether there’s something about their experience in the US–rather than the Central Asian countries they left–that inspired them to radicalize. Were these two mobile phone repairmen and gyro seller inspired by a sense of betrayal or disgust at the American way of life?

Probably not. In the US, Abdurasul Juraboev and Abror Habibov of Uzbekistan, and Akhror Saidakhmetov of Kazakhstan, simply had more freedom to imbibe and express radical Islamist beliefs than they ever had at home. The autocratic secular regimes that rule Central Asia have done their best to eradicate extremist threads of their dominant religion, recognizing Islamism as the biggest threat to their rule. By contrast, the West, because of its relative openness, inevitably allows Islamists some space to flourish.

In the early 1990’s, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan shed their Communist ideology, but not their Soviet-era leaders. “It was anticipated for the Central Asian societies to revive their Islamic heritage that has been suppressed under the

Soviet regime, and combine religion with nationalist sentiments as a catalyst in the nation-building process,” Eren Tatari and Renat Shaykhutdinov wrote in a 2010 paper on state responses to religious revivalism in the region. “While this process did take place to some degree, the suppressive state response to this religious revivalism and the rigorous push for secularization was both more general and unpredicted, thus leading to prolonged conflict between state and society.”

President Islam Karimov, who was Uzbekistan’s Communist leader during Soviet times, did his best after independence to justify his first name by following Islamic ritual and even making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Still, he set up a secular Committee for Religious Affairs to oversee the country’s practice

of Islam, and has cracked down every time he’s seen signs of dissent or even unsanctioned initiative from religious leaders. After a terrorist attack in the capital, Tashkent, in 1999, the government jailed 7,000 members of Islamist organizations. Most members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, responsible for the car bombings, have since fled Uzbekistan, first for the mountains of Pakistan and now for Syria, where they have joined Islamic State.

Uzbekistan is now one of the worst places in the world where a radical Muslim could live. “Everyone whom law enforcement organs have ever suspected of ties to a religious of political organization that is considered extremist here is being tracked,” Latip Khojayev of the Uzbek Interior Ministry told Central Asia Online last November. “In Tashkent alone, more than 1,000 of them are registered, and local government committee activists are attached to every one of them.” That means more or less permanent surveillance and often harassment.

Kazakhstan was never a land of particularly devout Muslims, but it, too, has sought to control Islamic groups. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s response to the news that some Kazakhs have found their way to Islamic State’s front lines has been particularly harsh.

Last November, he signed a law that bans Kazakhs and

that the US has provided a homeland for Muslims on the other side of the world; though why not out of Wisconsin? But the US has made it vaguely clear by its clandestine participation in the Mamasapano thing that the terrorist homeland it envisions at the expense of the Philippines cannot give refuge to those who hurt Westerners in the Bali bombing.

Thanks to Senator Ralph’s rectal probing so to speak, we have taken another step forward, and a giant leap toward the truth about the BBL and the fate that awaits Filipinos be they Christians or freedom-loving Muslims in Mindanao. It will be a caliphate but, finally, a pro-American one even if fatal to Filipinos of either religion, especially women and gays. Well, on that score maybe it isn’t such a bad idea so far as conservatives are concerned. We suggest that gays in the future Bangsamoro wear parachutes as a daily accessory. How odd then that this government should favor the scheme.

Given its bent, it is almost suicidal for it, don’t you think?

foreigners suspected of “extremism and terrorism” from entering the country. Extremist literature is banned and treated as terrorist paraphernalia. One might think that secularist crackdowns of this sort would produce extremist backlashes. But the Central Asian example suggests that unrestrained police states can effectively prevent those backlashes from even taking place.

In the West, migrant workers from Central Asian nations find more than work and a better income: They also enjoy more freedom to practice the forms of religion that are suppressed where they come from. That may explain why, according to data compiled by Radio Liberty, Uzbekistan has sent a smaller proportion of its population to the Islamic State than Belgium–33 per million compared with 40–although some of these fighters are Islamic Movement members who have been banished from Uzbekistan for years. Kazakhstan has as few Islamic State militants per million as Germany–only eight.

Even the United States, which only has one Islamic State fighter per million residents, and has harsher terrorism laws than European nations, provides better opportunities to preach and practice militant Islam than Uzbekistan does. But this isn’t something to lament. US citizens shouldn’t be looking to Central Asian dictatorships for guidance on social policy.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A16 Monday, March 2, 2015

Bank lending grew 17.3% in January

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By Bianca Cuaresma

ank lending grew at a slower pace in January, averaging only 17.3 percent, essentially a validation of the slowdown in so-called productive loans during the period.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the outstanding loans of commercial banks slowed to only 17.3 percent during the month, significantly down from the revised 19.9-percent bank loan growth reported last December.

Still, the BSP said the funds the banks deployed in January proved sufficient for the country’s growing economy.

“The sustained expansion in bank lending amid adequate liquidity continues to provide a meaningful boost to domestic economic activity,” the central bank said.

Bank lending growth during the period was driven for the most part by loans extended to the productive sectors. These loans, the central bank said, accounted for 80 percent or four-fifths of the industry’s total loan portfolio.

The other fifth, meanwhile, were loans for household consumption.

Production loans expanded by 16 percent in January. This represented a slowdown from the previous month’s 18.7 percent.

Production-loan growth was driven primarily by increased lending to real estate, renting and business services, which grew by 15.4 percent; the wholesale and retail trade, at 17.7 percent; manufacturing, at 12.8 percent; electricity; gas and water, at 18.5 percent; financial intermediation, at 18.8 percent; and transportation, storage and communication, at 19 percent.

Lending to other sectors similarly rose for the period with the exception of public administration and defense, which contracted by 3.2 percent, while other community, social and personal services loans declined by 2.5 percent.

Loans for household consumption grew by 20.5 percent in January, also slower from the 21.1 percent seen in December last year.

This was due to the sustained growth in credit card and auto loans, which offset the slowdown in other types of loans.

“Going forward, the BSP will ensure that credit and liquidity conditions remain supportive of overall economic growth in a manner consistent with the BSP’s price and financial-stability objectives,” the BSP said.

Mindanao power supply seen to exceed demand

F

By Lenie Lectura

or the first time since 2009, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said the region will have excess power supply this year.

“There are good things coming in for Mindanao, and power is one of them,” MinDa Chairman Luwalhati Antonino said.

Additional power supply will come from Therma South’s 300megawatt (MW) power plant and from an initial 100 MW out of a total 200-MW power capacity from Sarangani Energy Corp.

Antonino, however, said the

expected entry of more baseload capacities from coal-fired power plants totaling 2,000 MW until 2018 should be complemented by the accelerated deployment of renewable-energ y (R E) projects, such as hydro, biomass, geothermal, and solar, among others.

A total of 231 RE projects spread across Mindanao could

potentially generate at least 2,419 MW of sustainable power for the region between 2020 and 2025, the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee said.

The surge of RE power applications may be attributed to the One Stop Facilitation and Monitoring Center Web portal, an online database developed

by MinDA and the Department of Energy (DoE), with the assistance of the US Agency for International Development.

Launched in October last year, the Web-based mechanism aims to accelerate the duration of the permitting process for RE projects for up to only two years, instead of the usual three to five.

The same online-monitoring facility initiated in Mindanao

was also adapted by the DoE, and led to the formulation of the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop, which will also provide the same services for power proponents in Luzon and the Visayas regions.

“A diversified mix of fossil and renewable-energy sources is integral to our overall strategy of pursuing balanced and holistic economic growth in Mindanao,” said Romeo Montenegro, MinDA director for Investment Promotions and Public Affairs.

He added that pursuing RE development is also aligned with the MinDA’s Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework Plan, which recognizes power as a major enabling factor for socioeconomic development.

MALAYSIA MUMS A gardener in La Trinidad, Benguet, checks the Malaysian mums that are set to be cut and brought to various markets, including Dangwa in Manila. NONIE REYES

SM Prime. . .

TAXI DRIVERS’ DAY Taxis assemble at Makati Circuit to take part in Grabtaxi Philippines’s first-ever Drivers’ Day. The event is also open to other drivers who want to become part of the Grabtaxi family. Grabtaxi is the first and largest taxi app in the Philippines that helps passengers find a safe cab with ease. Currently, it has over 300 taxi operators on its roster and is used by more than 210,000 Filipinos. ROY DOMINGO

Continued from A1

“So, just like the one in Cabanatuan, they open there, and everybody knows it’s a Megacenter. So I did not really change it to SM City or SM Center. I just put an SM in the name,” he said.

“First thing I look into is the location. It’s all about location. If the location is good, chances are it’s not limited on price alone,” he said. The other malls SM will open this year include one each in San Mateo in Rizal, Sangandaan in Caloocan, Tianjin in China and possibly SM Seaside Cebu, which will become one of its major shopping malls in the country.

Its Tianjin mall has an area of 530,000 square meters, or equivalent to 10 community malls, while the Cebu mall has an area of 430,000 sq m.

Meanwhile, SM Retail has opened its 30th Alfamart store last week. Expanding it further depends on the market.

Joey Maria Mendoza, SM Retail head for supermarkets, said Alfamart, an Indonesian brand, ended 2014 with 22 stores and opened eight more during the first two months of the year.

He said, however, that the company is still playing it by ear when it comes to further expanding the venture.

“It’s a model in progress,” Mendoza said, adding that the pilot-test may reach 100 in order to determine the viability of the business.

“In a convenience store, it takes a while before you hit critical mass to know if it’s worth it or not,” he said.

Alfamart stores measure an average of 150 squaremeters, operate 24 hours a day and typically located in “high-density places that would provide a good mix of potential customers.”

“Before, convenience stores did not focus on dine-in customers. Then they put in hotpots and now, even outside the stores, you’ll find seats,” he said.

Established in 1989, Alfamart is one of Indonesia’s leading convenience-store operators, serving more than 2.5 million customers daily at 7,000 stores. VG Cabuag

www.businessmirror.com.ph

₧50.11-B prison PPP to be bid out in May

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

he government disclosed that the bidding for the country’s first-ever prison Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project has been set in May 2015.

In the recent invitation to prequalify and bid issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the government said the new penal facility to be built through the P50.11-billion Regional Prison Facilities project will be in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

“It [the project] envisions to create a ‘humane’ prison condition that will provide adequate living spaces, facilities, and address the basic needs of inmates incarcerated in the existing penal facilities,” the PPP Center said.

The new facility will house some 26,880 inmates and staff from the New Bilibid Prison and the Correctional Institution for Women, as well as housing and administrative buildings. It will also contain rehabilitation facilities, such as for sports, work and religious activities.

The project will be implemented using a build-transfer-maintain (BTM) contractual arrangement, where a private entity will undertake the financing and construction of the infrastructure facility.

After the facility is completed, the private entity will turn over the facility to the DOJ. The agency will then pay the private firm its total investment, plus a reasonable rate of return, for undertaking the project.

The government also said the maintenance of the facility will also be granted to the private-sector firm on behalf of the DOJ based on specifications contained in the BTM agreement.

In 2011 PPP Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said undertaking a PPP for the prison facilities to allow the government to also undertake a PPP for the utilization of the present location of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

Mark Rathbone of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Professional Advisors Inc. said prisons is one of the easiest PPP projects to undertake. He said New Zealand’s first PPP was to privatize a prison.

The United Kingdom pioneered PPP in the 1980s, when it first developed the program to fund school and hospital projects. The UK’s PPP portfolio has since expanded to include many other sectors.

The government aims to focus on the PPP and the need to further strengthen investor and the public's confidence in the revised PPP framework.

China. . .

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The one-year deposit rate will be lowered by 25 basis points to 2.5 percent and the oneyear lending rate will also drop by a quarter percentage point to 5.35 percent on March 1, the Beijing-based PBOC said on its web site late Saturday.

The PBOC also increased the deposit-rate ceiling to 1.3 times from 1.2, meaning banks can pay a larger margin over the benchmark.

That eases the financial repression that has seen China’s savers effectively subsidize debtfunded investment.

The monetary authority lowered interest rates for the first time in two years last November. It followed that up with a cut in banks’ required reserve ratio announced on February 4, the first across-the-board reduction since May 2012.

The central bank said that, while the November rate cut achieved “certain effects” in lowering financing costs, economic restructuring and falling global commodity prices cut consumer and industrial prices in recent months, leading to higher real interest rates.

Consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in more than five years in January and factory-gate deflation deepened to the lowest level since 2009.

The rate reduction is aimed at creating a “neutral and appropriate”monetary environment, the PBOC said. In a question-and-answer statement explaining the cut, the central bank said it doesn’t “represent a change in the prudent monetarypolicy stance.” Bloomberg News